“Aw, give her a break, Lea,” Joni broke in from Nonna’s other side. “I read in the Post that her husband is a real jerk and won’t let her go. Like I said last night, it’s not all her fault.”
So, that was it. The harpies hadn’t said a word to me about Nina over the last year or more since most of them had seen her last, but that didn’t mean they weren’t gossiping about us behind my back, especially since someone obviously told them she was coming today. And since everyone (especially Frankie) knew Nina was still married, they also apparently knew the shitty press version of the events. Fan-fuckin’-tastic.
I turned to question Frankie, who was messing with her bracelet, which looked perfectly fine. When she finally looked up, it was with a casual shrug, as if to say, “What did you expect?”
And with that, guilt punched me in the gut.
I should have known better than to do it like this. I should have prepared them first. I should have prepared her. I was just so damn starstruck, blown over by the fact that Nina de Vries had actually agreed to be my wife one day, and that she was finally ready to make it real. I’d stupidly believed my sisters and grandmother would be equally happy once they knew.
But somehow I had forgotten that at any sign of a threat, my family went from puppies to a pack of Dobermans, all snapping at the slight hint of a threat to the family sanctuary. When Joni and Marie started dating, Lea had been known to interview their boyfriends, and had actually asked one of Marie’s for a resume. Hell, I’d casually threatened more than once to pass some of my sisters’ boyfriends’ names on to my contact with the NYPD—and that was tame compared to some of the shakedowns I’d delivered as a mouthy teenager with an anger problem.
Once again, the pack mentality was out in full, right here in the middle of the church. It had just been a while—a really long while—since I’d been with anyone on the receiving end of it.
“I’m sorry,” Nina spoke up. “I don’t understand. Did I do something—”
“Yes, you did something wrong,” Lea snapped, apparently not caring at all that other parishioners were watching us curiously, or that her voice was echoing around the marble columns. “You took my brother for a ride. You wrapped him around that little lacy finger of yours and made him fall in love with you. And then you ruined his life. He lost his job because of you, did you know that?”
I turned around to glare at Frankie. This time she lifted her chin right back at me. Yeah, she wasn’t happy about any of this either. That little brat organized this entire coup.
“So, he lost his whole career, everything he cared about, not to mention you wrecked him for other women who could actually make him happy,” Marie counted out methodically on her fingers.
“And every time he thinks he’s rid of you, somehow you come waltzing back to stick your claws into him all over again,” finished Joni.
“I think that about covers it, don’t you?” Kate asked sweetly.
“I—I—” Nina looked at me helplessly. “Matthew, I—”
“It’s not just that,” Frankie said. “He’s been moping around this city for almost a year at this point, pining for a woman he can’t have.”
“No offense, Nina. You’re fabulous and everything, but you shouldn’t be here,” Joni said.
“Ever,” Kate added.
In the middle of all of them, Nonna crossed her arms, presiding over them like a hen over her chicks while they pecked the hell out of a corncob. What did that make me? Used fuckin’ corn?
I snatched my hat and jacket off the pew. “That’s how you feel? Fine, then. We’re going. We don’t need this.”
I started towing Nina toward the aisle, ignoring the resistance on her end.
“Matthew, wait, I—”
“No,” I said sharply, glaring over her shoulder at my family members, who all wore matching expressions of disdain and worry. “I brought you here to see my family, but all that showed up were a pack of feral cats. You don’t need to put up with this, baby. And neither do I.”
“But, Matthew,” Nina protested gently. “They’re your family. You have to—”
“No,” I interrupted stubbornly. “I don’t.”
“Mattie?”
The voice behind me, plus the five identical expressions of shock and disgust facing me meant this was really, really not my day.
Because I knew the owner of that voice. That tone. I hadn’t heard it in close to ten years, nor had I wanted to. But some things you never forget.
Instead of closing my eyes and acting like I hadn’t heard, I put my hat back on and turned to face the proverbial music.
“Ah, hey, Sherry,” I said. “Long time.”
Nina’s fingers around my hand tightened. Yeah, she recognized that name.
It was one of those moments where time felt really, really heavy. When you reach your late thirties, some people haven’t changed at all. And others have aged a lot.
Sherry was the former. She was thirty-four now, but time had been kind to my ex-girlfriend, who was still petite, dark-haired and dark-eyed. She had a body shaped like a Coke bottle and a come-hither smile that once made her the object of both boys’ and men’s fantasies for about a twenty-block radius, and made me the envy of most of my friends, even after I left for Iraq.
Once, she’d broken my heart; fuckin’ smashed it all over this neighborhood. Right now, though, I was wondering what the hell I’d ever seen in her compared to the woman next to me.
Sherry didn’t seem to pick up on that vibe, though. Instead, her mouth curved to one side with the knowledge of a woman who knew she could wrap most men around her finger without even trying.
“I see you still like those old-fashioned hats,” she said. “Some things never change, huh?”
Sherry winked. Nina’s hand gripped mine so hard I thought she might break it
