I really want that. I want to have dinner with her family on Staten Island or anywhere. But I don’t think that’s on the table.
We walk up the steps of the front porch and stand in front of the door. I can hear Dean Martin blaring from the speakers in the living room—the only acceptable singer of Christmas songs in the Cannavale house because he was an Italian-American from Ohio. I can hear my ma yelling at my dad about something. I look down at Maddie, who’s straightening her coat and fidgeting with her gift bags. “They aren’t here yet. You ready?”
“Yep. Let’s do this.”
I ring the doorbell. I have a key, but I’m hoping my ma will stop yelling if she knows we’re out here.
“It’s on the top shelf!” she bellows. “Tony! No—the middle top shelf!”
No such luck.
The door flies open, and I already know from the look on her beautiful face that they somehow found out that I was in town yesterday and didn’t tell them. Fuck. And now I just have to wait for someone to bring it up.
“Awww, there’s my beautiful boy” is what she says though. “And who’s this beautiful lady? Come in, get inside! It’s colder than your nonna’s icy black heart out there.” She ushers us in, closing the door behind us while yelling at my dad. “Casey and them are in the family room watching a movie. Eddie’s here, Nonna’s in the kitchen of course, but no one else yet.” She clears her throat.
The living and dining room are decorated exactly like they are every year. I can see the Rudolph ornament I made when I was seven hanging on the fake white tree. My old stocking is hanging from the mantle, in between Casey’s and Eddie’s as always, and it isn’t filled with coal. I take a deep breath because I’m home, and I’m actually happy about it. But I feel more at home now than I have in years, and I wasn’t expecting that. I finally let go of Maddie’s hand to hug Ma. And then I watch these two women hug each other, and it’s pretty great. I’m way too much of a badass to tear up, but if I were ever going to tear up, it would be right this second.
The air in the house isn’t smoky exactly, but it’s thick with the aroma of several gallons of boiling hot cooking oil, seven kinds of seafood, tomatoes, basil, parmesan cheese, and four decades worth of unspoken cultural and personal tension between my Irish-American Ma and Nonna. But in a good way. And every now and then you get a whiff of all the sugary deep-fried dough as a reminder of the sweeter things to come if you can survive dinner and make it to dessert.
Tonight, I need to not only make it to dessert but back to the hotel and Maddie Cooper’s delicious pussy.
But I can’t think about that right now.
“Hiya, Maddie—welcome to our humble home. My name’s Mary Margaret, but you can call me Mamie.”
“You have a lovely home,” Maddie says, holding up one of the gift bags. “Merry Christmas. Here’s just a little something from the hotel gift shop. I’m so sorry I didn’t have time to go shopping before we left New York.”
“Ohhhh! Lookie lookie!” She tears into it immediately and holds up the Cleveland, Ohio tea towel and a Cleveland souvenir Christmas tree ornament. “Aww, so sweet. We never get to enjoy this kind of thing since we live here.” Maddie gets her cheek pinched. “Thank you, hon. Thought that counts. Let’s get your coats off. Tony! Dec and his girl are here!” she yells out. “That man, I swear. I hope my son is giving you less grief than my husband gives me.”
“Oh, he’s a real prince,” Maddie says, almost convincingly.
I take Maddie’s coat and hang both of ours up on the coat rack by the door.
My dad yells out from the kitchen, and it’s a wonder we can hear him over Dean Martin, but he’s got quite the voice. “You want me to find the platter, or you want me to come out and see the guests?!”
“I’ll get the platter!” she yells.
That’s when my favorite niece comes bounding in, followed by my sister. Casey is probably more relieved than anyone that I have a new girlfriend, because that means she won’t have to break up any fights tonight. Probably.
“Uncle Dec!” Penelope’s holding up the Rey Deluxe Lightsaber that I sent her. “Uncle Dec! I opened it already, look!”
“Hey there, Wookie.”
She jumps up into my arms, still holding the toy weapon. “I’m not a Wookie, I’m a Jedi.”
“Oh, that’s right. Have you been a good Jedi this year? Or did you switch to the dark side?”
I speak fluent Star Wars Nerd with my niece while watching Casey chat with Maddie and my ma and realize that all four of my favorite girls are in this room with me right now, and this is probably going to be the high point of the night.
It’s over as soon as my dad walks in, sighing loudly as if it’s such a burden to have to greet guests in his house when he’d rather be at a local football game in the freezing cold.
“There he is,” he says. “Finally gracing us with his presence.”
I let Penelope slide down the side of me and go over to Casey so she can introduce her to Maddie. Casey mouths to me from across the room, I love her! and gives me a thumbs-up.
“Merry Christmas,” I say to my dad, holding my hand out to shake his. His hair’s a little grayer than it was the last time I saw him, but Tony Cannavale still looks like a cross between Tony Soprano and Cake Boss. Except he’s Ohio-born and bred. And he’s never had anyone killed or baked anything in his life. As far as I know.
He gives my hand an abrupt shake
