Early on Sunday morning, I slip out of bed and pull on shorts and my hoodie. As I pass Ellie’s room, I notice she isn’t in bed anymore. Panic grips my chest. Before I jump to any conclusions, I tiptoe downstairs and search the living room and the basement. He wasn’t joking about the full gym down there. When I reach the kitchen, I find it empty as well.
Then I hear it. The telltale sound of the inside of a foot against a soccer ball. I glance outside and find Ellie doing drills in the backyard before seven on a weekend. Temporarily relieved, I make a cup of coffee, slide on my shoes, and step onto the porch.
Ellie dribbles through the gates she set up on the lawn and then shoots into the goal with her left foot. She follows the same path but this time with her right foot. When she turned around after the second one, she sees me standing on the porch.
“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” Ellie mumbles as she approaches.
“No, not at all. Do you want to talk?”
“No, this helps me clear my head. Thank you.”
“Of course.” All I want is for Ellie to know she can come to me. It’s not my place to push her to talk. That’s on Tommy and Tess.
“Will you defend though?”
I smile. “I won’t go easy on you.” My words are in jest because I’m not in soccer shape at all anymore.
“Can’t get better if you go easy on me.”
“Game on, Ellie.”
Ellie clears the gates and passes the ball to me. We move along the thick grass at least ten times before either of us take a shot on a goal. Ellie is up by two goals after fifteen trips across the yard. It isn’t until near trip thirty I see Tommy sitting on the top step of the steps watching us.
“Morning, Dad.”
“Hi, Ellie. Morning, Sunshine.”
“Morning.” We continue until I trip over the ball and land on the ground in a heap of laughter. Once the laughter subsides, I see blood running down my ankle. There’s a cut on my shin from a pointy rock.
“I’ll get you a towel.” Ellie runs inside as Tommy races to my side.
“I’m fine. It’s just a little scratch.”
“I missed you when I woke up. Then I heard you two out here. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but you don’t need to thank me. I want to spend time with both of you. She didn’t share anything else, but she seemed to relax a bit more since I got out here. Just so you know, I won’t share anything she asks me to keep in confidence unless it’s about her safety.”
“Fair.”
Ellie is back with a towel and some water.
“Thanks.” I take the towel and pour some water over it.
“Let me.” Extending his hand with the wet towel, he cleans up my leg and adds a bandage to cover it before hauling me to my feet. “What do you want for breakfast, Ellie?”
“Pancakes.” She shouts from behind the workshop where she’s putting the goal away.
“You got it. Ready, Sunshine? You have some coffee and side dishes to prepare.”
“I’m in.”
He kisses my temple as we head inside. The three of us move around the kitchen and prepare breakfast. We eat outside on the patio. Soon the weather will be more seasonable, and it’ll be too cold. Ellie rushes up to her room to talk to Kylie on the phone after breakfast. While I prepare fresh coffee, my phone chimes on the island.
“It’s a text from Luca,” Tommy informs me.
I set a cup in front of him and check my messages.
Luca: You are coming today, right?
Me: Yes, Luca. The three of us will be there.
Luca: Three?
Me: Yes, Tommy has a daughter.
Luca: Cool. See you then.
“He making sure we’re going to show this time?”
I shrug. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“Nothing for you to be sorry about. It was Tess, and I’ll share the truth myself if it comes to it. Should I bring a bottle of wine or flowers for your mom?”
“It would be nice of you but unnecessary.”
“Either way, I want to do it.”
My phone chimes in my hand. Lily this time.
Lily: See you later.
I know the rest of my siblings will message me too. Whether Mama put them up to it or not, it’s annoying.
In our group chat, I add, “We will be there for dinner. Please stop with the guilt trip messages.”
Lina: Good.
Lia: Sweet. You guys beat me too it.
Lily: Love you more.
Me: Love you all most.
“Are you worried?” Tommy pulls me in close.
“Not at all. The two of you are amazing, and my family will see it too. The only thing I need to do at some point soon is tell Lina about Tess. I don’t want her to be blindsided.”
“Makes sense. Your parents are Luciano and Rosalie. To clarify in my mind, the birth order is Lina, Luca, you, Lily, and then Lia, right?”
“Yes, and correct.”
“Lina is divorced, and her kids are Antonio and Emilia. Luca is married to Willa. Everyone else is single.”
“Yes. Perfect. We should get ready soon.”
After we dress, Tommy selects a bottle of Tramin Pinot Grigio. As we make our way to the front door, Ellie falls in beside us.
“Can you tell me more about your family, Frankie?”
“Sure.” On the car ride over, I fill her in on the details Tommy already knows. It shouldn’t surprise me that, when we pull up, my sisters are pacing the front porch.
“Don’t worry about them, Ellie. They’re harmless though they might hug too tight.”
Ellie giggles and hops out of the car. Emilia runs down the steps and throws her arms around Ellie.
“Hi, Ellie! I’m really excited you’re here.”
“Hi, Em. How are you?”
“I’m good. Your card has a soccer ball on it with glitter. Lots of glitter.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll show you.” Emilia drags Ellie into the house.
“About time you brought him over,” Lily states.
I shake my head.
“Hi, Lily. Nice to see you again.” Tommy extends his hand to her.
Lily pulls him in for a hug. “I’m glad she didn’t run away from your first date.”
“Me too,” Tommy replies. He greets Lia and Antonio before Willa joins us on the porch.
“Tommy, this is my sister-in-law, Willa.”
“Pleasure to meet you. I warn you though, the girls are easy to impress. My husband, not so much.”
“You as well. Thank you for the warning.”
As if on cue, Luca appears in the doorway. “Thornton?”
Willa simply shakes her head.
“Your brother is Sprinter?” Tommy turns to face me, our fingers laced together. A sense of impending dread flows through me.
“Um, you two know each other?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how I didn’t put it together before. We were on the same relay team for two years in high school. I ran second, and Luca ran anchor.” Tommy lifts my hand to his lips and kisses the back.
“Let’s get you inside and meet everyone else so we can catch up over dinner,” Luca ushers us inside.
As much as I’ve been dreading introducing my boyfriend to my brother, it seems to be turning out fine. I completely understand why Lina is worried about which cop friend of Luca’s she’s into. Maybe it won’t matter.
“Who’s left?” Luca asks me.
“Lina, Mama, and Papa,” I reply.
“Lina is in the playroom, Papa in the office, and Mama in the kitchen,” Luca shares.
“I’ve got this.” I all but drag Tommy to the playroom. Lina hovers as Em shows Ellie her place card making materials. “Hi, Lina. Tommy, this is my sister, Lina.”
“You were married to Tess Kohl?”
“Yes.”
Damn it! I didn’t know she knew Tommy from high school too. I should have, but I didn’t make the connection. I see the concern etched on her face, considering Emilia and Ellie are thick as thieves already.
“My daughter is nothing like my ex-wife,” Tommy assures her, looking over at Ellie and Emilia.
“I appreciate your reassurance. It’s a pleasure to see you again.” Lina excuses herself to the kitchen.
We continue down the hall to the office.
“Papa.”
“La mia bellissima figlia. So happy you’re here.” He rounds his desk, kisses both cheeks, and pulls me into a tight hug.
“Papa, this is Tommy.”
Tommy extends his hand to my father. “Pleasure to see you again, sir.”
My father looks puzzled but takes his hand anyway. I fill him in. “Tommy ran track with Luca in high school. I’m guessing you have met before, although I didn’t recall myself.”
“Frankie is correct. We met at the year-end banquets.”
“Welcome.”
“Thank you, sir.” Tommy exhales.
“You’re doing fine. Honestly, I thought Luca would be the tough one,” I offer as assurance.
He kisses my temple, and we enter the kitchen. I’m floored with what we find.
Ellie is wearing an apron and stirring a pot of sauce on the stove while Mama adds a dash of this and a dash of that.
“Hi, Dad. Mama Cappelli is letting me cook with her,” Ellie exclaims.
“That’s fantastic, Ellie. Mrs. Cappelli, pleasure to see you again.” He sets the bottle of wine on the granite island.
“This bottle will go well with dinner. Thank you. I remember you, young man. Please call me Rosalie. Welcome to our home.”
“Thank you for having us.”
I squeeze his hand to make him look at me. “Drink?”
“Sure.”
I release his hand and grab two waters from the fridge. “Will you be good here? I need to talk to Lina.”
He leans in to kiss me but doesn’t. We probably should have discussed PDA before we arrived. Instead, he leans near my ear. “I’ll be fine. I hope she isn’t too upset.”
“I didn’t recall the track angle. I wanted to tell her in person. Now it seems like it might have been a misstep on my part.”
“I’ll be fine, Sunshine.”
I notice a coy smile on my mother’s face when she hears him call me Sunshine. Making my way through the house, I locate Lina in the backyard.
“Hey.”
“I’m sorry, Lina. I wanted to tell you in person. I didn’t know Luca already knew Tommy or you would recognize him.”
“Initially, I was concerned for Em, but Tommy is right. Ellie is nothing like Tess. It was obvious in how they were interacting.”
“No, she isn’t.”
“I’m happy for you, Frankie.”
“Thanks. Why are you upset then?”
Lina pushes out a harsh breath. “I’m upset I don’t have the courage to bring a guy here for dinner.”
“You went out with him? I’m so happy for you choosing you, Lina.” I hug her.
“Yeah, we had lunch twice this week. He’s… sweet, has a stable career, and he knows about the kids, my ex, and he doesn’t seem bothered at all.”
“You deserve to be happy, sis. If you think G is the guy, let him chase you. Let me know when you need a babysitter in the evening.”
Her mouth is agape. “I didn’t tell you his name. How do you know?”
I smirk at her. “Process of elimination. Davis is still hooking up with Tabi. I’ve seen Scarlett leaving Smithson’s early in the morning. Plus, you know I live across the street from him. That leaves only two, and Craven joined right as Luca was leaving YPD.”
“Please don’t say anything, especially to Luca,” Lina begs.
“I won’t, but you should if you think it’s going somewhere.”
She nods as Lily calls us in for dinner. Once inside, we take our seats at the table. Emilia’s place cards are super cute yet again. When Willa came to her first dinner, Em made a card for her on the fly. On the same day, Willa made a template that made it easier for Em to make the cards. Mine has a flower on it, Tommy’s says, “Mr. Ellie’s Dad,” and Ellie’s has a huge soccer ball with so much glitter. The cards are perfect.
As usual, Mama cooked more food than we could possibly eat. Ziti, manicotti, chicken parmesan with nuggets and fries for the kids. We dig in and chat about everyday things. Tommy’s left hand is crossed over his lap and intertwined with mine beneath the table.
Not once does the conversation stray to the fact Tommy and Ellie are here for the first time. I’m grateful. I want them to be comfortable and willing to come back as many Sundays as possible. The sense of dread never came. It’s a stroke of sheer luck Luca already knows Tommy and didn’t have to play the overprotective brother card to interrogate him. I’m thankful. Luckily, Lina sees with her own two eyes Ellie is nothing like Tess. I’m grateful to Tommy for bringing her up well despite his ex-wife.
Overall, family dinner is a success. After dessert and Ellie schooling Antonio at soccer in the backyard, we head to Tommy’s.
“Thank you for inviting us, Frankie. Your family is awesome! Grandma T never lets me help in the kitchen. It was fun to help out.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll be sure to tell my mom you had a wonderful time.”
When we arrive home, Ellie hurries to her room to call Kylie. We also turn in early as well. We’re in the bedroom—sleeping, not so much.