wall at my local.”
Cristiano looked excited. “I love to climb!”
“You do?” Keira asked, surprised. Somehow that had never come up in conversation.
“Yes,” he said, nodding excitedly before turning his attention back to Bryn. “You will have to take me sometime.”
“I’d love to,” Bryn replied.
Keira cringed. This whole conversation was putting her on edge. She wanted to put as much distance between her sister and Cristiano as possible.
Mallory seemed suitably impressed by Cristiano’s climbing background. “What else can you do, then?” she asked. “Physically?”
“Mom,” Keira groaned. “What kind of a question is that?”
“I like to swim,” Cristiano replied. Then with a wink at Keira, he added, “And dance the night away.”
“Really?” Mallory asked. “Do you Flamenco?”
“That’s Spanish, mom!” Keira cried.
Cristiano burst out laughing. Bryn chuckled too. Even Mallory seemed to find her error amusing. Keira was the only one who didn’t. Maybe Bryn was right about her being uptight?
“So how was your Italian adventure?” Mallory asked Keira, leaning over the table to pat her hand. “Another success?” Her eyes darted to Cristiano.
Keira felt the blush rise in her cheeks. “It was beautiful,” she said, trying to steer the conversation away from the fact she’d instigated another romance and towards the country itself. “The scenery is out of this world. The food is incredible. And the culture!”
“Don’t forget the men,” Bryn added, wiggling her eyebrows.
Keira shot her a look. “Yes, the people are wonderful too. Cristiano took me to meet his parents in Florence. They were super friendly.”
Mallory looked over at Cristiano, impressed. “You’re close with your family?”
He smiled and nodded. “Very. Apart from when I’m working out of town, I see them at least once a week.”
“That’s so nice,” Mallory said, looking down contemplatively at her lasagne. “My girls are always too busy to see me. I’m only a cab ride away but I may as well live in Canada.”
Bryn rolled her eyes. “We’re modern women, mom. We work.”
“I’ve spent about forty eight hours in New York City in the last two months!” Keira added.
Mallory just shrugged, keeping the wounded expression on her face for maximum effect. Bryn seemed immune to that sort of thing, but it always irked Keira. She felt like her relationship with her mom was pretty good. She certainly spoke to her on the phone a lot, and visited her frequently. And it was hardly like Mallory was a lonely old woman sitting at home all day! She may be retired now but she had friends a plenty and all kinds of hobbies to occupy herself with.
“How’s your lasagne?” Mallory asked Cristiano then. “I suppose it doesn’t compare to your super mom’s recipe, does it?”
Bryn just laughed at her mom’s forlorn tone. Keira wasn’t in the mood to mollycoddle her. She responded before Cristiano even had the chance to, attempting to relieve him of an awkward social encounter.
“Of course it doesn’t,” she said. “Our food is completely different. Most of it is imported. I mean the Italian ingredients are so fresh and nutritious.” She prodded her rubbery pasta with her fork. “Even the tomatoes taste different in Italy.”
“But American food is good too,” Cristiano added diplomatically. “Keira and I had bagels for breakfast this morning. It was very exciting.”
Bryn made a face that indicated she found Cristiano's bagel excitement adorable. Keira couldn’t stand the way she was looking at Cristiano like he was a cute puppy.
“And how long are you staying in New York?” Mallory asked.
‘Great,’ Keira thought. ‘That question again.’
“I don’t know yet,” Cristiano replied. “I have no reason to rush off though.”
A small furrow appeared on Mallory’s forehead. “No? Don’t you have a job at home to get back to?”
Cristiano shook his head nonchalantly. “I only do casual work and most of that is during the summer. Tour guiding. Waiting tables. That sort of thing.”
Keira noted the way the furrow on her mom’s forehead deepened.
“Casual work?” she repeated, the tone in her voice betraying her distaste.
“Things are different over there,” Keira explained. “The culture is different. People aren’t clamoring over each other for promotions like they are here.”
“But he’s not a kid anymore,” Mallory said with exasperation to Keira. “Shouldn’t he have some idea what he wants to do with his life?”
“Mom!” Keira cried.
Cristiano just laughed, somehow finding humor in the situation. “I’ll find my path one day, Mallory,” he reassured her. “I’m not in a hurry.”
He turned his serene gaze down to his lasagne. Over his head, Mallory shot Keira a pained expression. If she thought Keira was leaving it late to settle down and have kids, what on earth must she think about the fact Cristiano hadn’t found a career path yet?
With their plates empty, Mallory went to fetch dessert. Ice-cream. Keira had eaten so much gelato in Italy it was the last thing she wanted, especially the poor American substitute her mom bought. But Cristiano was as polite as ever and made all the appropriate noises as he ate.
“Are you all squeezed into Bryn’s apartment at the moment?” Mallory asked.
“I’m letting them have the bed,” Bryn said, looking proud of herself for actually putting someone else’s needs before her own for possibly the first time in her life.
“Why don’t you stay here?” Mallory suggested. “Keira’s has her own bedroom.”
“You do?” Cristiano asked, frowning slightly as though he couldn’t understand why Keira had chosen her sister’s couch over her own room.
Keira shook her head. “It’s not a good idea,” she told him under her breath. “The commute to work from here is such a pain.”
“What’s she saying?” Mallory asked Cristiano in a loud voice. “Let me guess. The commute. It’s always the commute. When she moved out of her apartment with Zach she went straight to Bryn’s! As if I didn’t even exist. And when I ask why, oh, it’s the commute.”
“Mom, it takes me over an hour to get to work from here,” Keira told her for what must have been the millionth time.
“An hour is standard,” Bryn replied. “You were just lucky before with where your apartment was. And that’s only because Zach paid for most of it.”
“Bryn!”
