“When I saw the name, I knew it was you. There’s not too many Benito’s in this part of the country.” Lexi places her hand on his arm, and my brother does nothing to pull away. She turns to glance around the table at each of us. “I hope you don’t mind me crashing your family dinner.”

  “Not at all,” Gracie replies. “What brings you back to town, Lexi? I don’t remember you from school.”

  “I didn’t go to school here. I moved to Star Falls after college when I started working for a local advertising agency. I stayed a few years and then headed to California to work in Hollywood.”

  “No shit,” Vito whispers. “That’s pretty fucking cool. Meet any celebrities?”

  Lexi laughs, but she nods. “They’re everywhere out there. They blend in after a while, and you stop being so starstruck when you run into them.”

  “No way. I’d never get used to it,” Vito says. “If I ran into a hot actress or two, I guarantee I’d at least get a date out of it. It wouldn’t ever get old for me.”

  I roll my eyes. “They wouldn’t want your ass.”

  He folds his hands together on the table. “They all want a piece of what I have.”

  “And that would be?” I raise an eyebrow. “They want a guy who lives in his parents’ basement? What else do you have except the same bed you’ve been sleeping on since you were pissing the mattress?”

  “You’re a real douche,” he says to me. “I have a lot to offer.”

  “You forgot about the stint with the stripper wife,” Gracie adds like I could’ve forgotten that clusterfuck.

  “No one gives dick like me.” Vito’s gaze swings to Lexi. “I don’t mean to be so crude. My apologies.”

  My brother thinks his cock is the greatest thing he can give a woman. He also truly believes no one fucks better. The man is delusional and somehow really confident, honestly believing his own bullshit.

  She covers her mouth, hiding her laughter. “No offense taken.”

  “How’s the store? It looked swamped today.” Gracie asks Chloe, ignoring Vito’s conversation about his abilities.

  “Busier than ever. I’m just hoping it stays that way after the holiday shopping season.”

  “Word will spread about the better selection of books. You’ve really outdone yourself with all the new changes.”

  Chloe smiles as she curls her fingers around mine underneath the table. "I'm trying. My aunt had a decent selection, but it was time to bring it into more current times and ride some trends."

  "You own the bookstore in town?" Lexi asks Chloe.

  "Yeah. It used to be my aunt’s, but when she passed, she left it to me.”

  “She was a kind woman. I had many conversations with her when I lived here. I didn’t have many friends, but she was always sweet and a good listener.”

  “Thank you,” Chloe tells Lexi. “It seemed she touched a lot of lives.”

  Lexi gives Chloe a warm and genuine smile. “And now you’re going to touch even more people. An entire new generation here in Star Falls.”

  I already know Lexi’s too nice for my brother. She deserves someone better than him and his womanizing ways.

  “They’re exactly as you described them,” Lexi says to Benito. “He told me so much about you all when we were younger, and when he said you were coming for dinner, I begged for him to allow me to stay.”

  “Lex, there was no begging involved. At least not this time.” He winks at her, and there’s a collective groan from everyone around the table.

  Chloe leans over, bringing her mouth close to my ear. “I love this.”

  I turn my head, looking into her eyes. “What?”

  “Your family.”

  “They’re your family now too,” I remind her. She’s one of us now, whether she realizes it or not.

  “What are you two whispering about over there?” Gracie asks, never wanting to be left out of a conversation, even a private one.

  Chloe straightens again in her seat but keeps her hand in mine. “Nothing.”

  “She said she loves our family.”

  Gracie reaches over and touches Chloe’s shoulder. “We’re your family too.”

  “Babe,” Vito says to Chloe, and the term doesn’t bother me at all. “You’re one of us now, even if you’re too good.”

  “Too good?” Chloe laughs. “I’m not perfect.”

  Gracie snorts. “You’re pretty damn close to Mother Teresa.”

  “Am not.”

  Vito leans forward, invested in this conversation. “Name one bad thing you’ve done in your life.”

  Chloe squirms in her chair but doesn’t answer right away.

  “See,” Gracie says, waving her hand at Chloe. “She’s a saint. I don’t know how Franco got her, but he did.”

  “Magic cock,” I tell her.

  “I stole a pack of gum when I was a kid.”

  All eyes at the table turn toward Chloe.

  “Babe, that’s normal kid shit. I wouldn’t call that bad,” I say to my girl, loving that she’s so completely innocent.

  “Ever steal a car?” Vito asks Chloe.

  “No,” she says with her eyebrows knitted together. “You?”

  Vito shrugs with a guilty look on his face. “I plead the fifth.”

  “Sweet Jesus,” Chloe mutters. “That’s so bad.”

  Vito chuckles.

  “Excuse me,” Benito says, sliding his chair back. “I better go check on our dinners before it gets too late.”

  “I’m starving,” Gracie says, rubbing her stomach. “I thought the food would be on the table when we got here.”

  “Is Benito ever in a hurry or on time?” I ask.

  “Some things never change,” Lexi states with her chin resting on her knuckles as she keeps an eye on the kitchen were my brother disappeared.

  “Especially when you’re talking about Benito,” Gracie mumbles against the rim of her wineglass.

  “He’s a good guy,” Lexi says to Gracie. “He really is. I’ve known some really shitty ones, and your brother isn’t. He can be incredibly sweet and caring.”

  “I love all my brothers,” Gracie replies. “They all have their flaws, but I wouldn’t change a thing about them.”

  I wish I could bottle up this moment forever. Not what’s being said, but all of us being together. Time is fleeting and life is precious. I’ve spent most of my life not putting too much thought into my family and the people who surround me. But as time slowly ticks away, I know there will be fewer and fewer moments like this.

  “Are you okay?” Chloe squeezes my hand.

  I turn to her and smile. “I’m perfect. This is perfect.”

  She leans over and offers me her lips. Without hesitation, I take them, kissing her roughly.

  “I love you,” she whispers against my mouth.

  “I love you too.”

  And I know, if my life ended in this moment, there is nothing more I would’ve wanted. I have the dream. A good family. A good woman and more love than one person could ever possibly deserve.

  Epilogue

  Franco

  “Ma.” I lift my face toward the ceiling and take a deep breath.

  The woman has been relentless lately. Not completely different from how she normally is, but she’s been outdoing herself.

  “The baby needs all the things,” she explains to me.

  “I think we have all the things,” I tell her, waving my arms around the construction zone that will become the nursery.

  Ma shakes her head and hooks her hand in the crook of my arm. “Franco, you have no idea how many things it requires to raise a child.”

  I peer down at her as she surveys her work, buying everything she can get her hands on—or at least it seems like it. “Did I have seventeen baby blankets?”

  She glances up, her lips pursed. “I had more.”

  I shake my head, not believing a word of what she’s saying. “No, you didn’t.”

  “Uh, yeah, I did.”

  “If I had three baby blankets, I’d be shocked.”

  Pops walks into the nursery and whistles. “Someone’s credit card is screaming,” he teases, thinking I bought all this shit.

  “Yeah, yours,” I snap.

  His eyes widen. “Lucia,” he says, his voice filled with disbelief and warning. “You didn’t do all this.”

  Her hand tightens on my arm, and her eyes narrow. If I were younger, that look would’ve had me quaking in my boots. “Mario, don’t start with me. This is our first grandchild.”

  “That you know of,” I grumble. We’ve all assumed Benny has at least one out there in the world since the guy sticks his dick in everything.

  “Hush,” she tells me in that mom tone. “You want our first grandchild to have the best of everything, right?”

  Pops walks around the room, running his finger down the stack of blankets I’d just been complaining about. “Finer things, yes. All the things…no.”

  “There’s still more to get,” she tells him, ignoring his concerns, like she often does. “The baby will want for nothing.”

  “Literally,” Pops adds. “But Lucia, darling, you need to stop. Wait until he or she is here. Babies grow. Their needs change as they get older. Save a little buying power for that time.”

  “I’ll get more,” she tells him.

  We know she isn’t going to listen. He’s wasting his breath trying to rein in her spending. By the time the baby is born, I’ll be shocked if he or she will even be able to fit in the room with all the things my mother drops off every few days.

  “Pops, how many baby blankets did I have?”

  He looks at me funny. “What do you mean?”

  “Did I have five, six, or three? You know, this,” I say, holding up a stack of perfectly folded fabric.

  His gaze drops to the pile, and his eyebrows knit together. “How many are there?”

  “Who the hell knows. It changes daily.” I drop the stack back on the dresser from where I grabbed them. “Did I have this many?”

  Pops shakes his head. “You had one, and when that wore out, we bought another. Lucia,” Pops says, turning his head toward my mother. “Did you buy all those?”

  Ma smiles nervously. “It needs to match their outfit,” she explains, like somehow it makes sense when it damn well doesn’t.

  “And which one is baby-puke color? Because everything is going to be covered in it for months,” he tells her, shaking his head. “And I mean everything.”

  “Remember when Franco threw up in your mouth?” Ma asks him, laughing. “I’ll never forget the look on your face.”

  I cringe thinking about it. Puke has never bothered me, but having someone, even a tiny human, throw up in my mouth is a hard pass. “That’s awful,” I whisper.

  Pops covers his mouth like he can still remember the taste. “I’ll never forget it. I learned not to hold him over my head after he ate. Some lessons are harder than others.”

  “I’m putting that away in my memory bank. No holding the baby over my head after eating,” I state to myself, hoping I’ll make it a lasting impression.

  “It’s best if you don’t hold the baby over your head any time, not just after eating. Babies sleep, eat, poop, and puke, and all of them at the worst times possible.”

  “You make it sound like a great experience,” I tease him.

  “Best thing I’ve ever done. There’s nothing like being a father.”

  My mother clears her throat.

  Dad smiles at her as he mindlessly runs his finger across the top of the blankets. “Besides marrying my beautiful bride, of course.”

  “Smart man,” Ma mutters under her breath before reaching up a hand to touch my face. “You’re going to be a great dad.”

  “I had great parents. You two taught me everything I know.”

  “Then you’re doomed,” Gracie says, coming into the room with a cup of coffee in her hand. “We’re all screwed up.”

  “Speak for yourself,” I tell her. “Name me a normal person.”

  She moves her head from side to side like she’s thinking, but we both know there’s no answer. Normalcy is a falsehood. Everyone has issues, but some people have more than others.

  “I’m kidding,” she adds, bumping my dad with her shoulder. “We had the best parents.”

  “Had?” Pops asks. “We’re still here.”

  “Yeah, but I’m grown.”

  “And still need a parent,” Ma adds. “Where would Franco be if it weren’t for me meddling in his life?”

  I sigh. She has a point, but not one I like to give in to. She’ll use it as an excuse to keep going on her butting-in, and that’s the last thing I want her to do. “You did good, Ma, but it doesn’t always work out.”

  Ma touches her chest with her fingertips, lowering her chin. “I know my children and what’s best for them.”

  “We’re not children anymore, Ma,” Gracie explains like it will make a damn bit of difference.

  “You’ll always be my children. I don’t care if you’re eighty years old and using a cane. Always my babies,” she repeats.

  Gracie rolls her eyes. “Pops, you need to keep her busy so she doesn’t butt into our lives.”

  Pops raises his hands and lifts his eyebrows. “I can only do so much. I’m just one man.”

  Gracie grunts into her coffee cup. “Bullshit.”

  Chloe waddles into the nursery, rubbing her belly. “I’m ready for this to be over,” she grumbles. “Soon, my ass won’t fit through a doorway.”

  I move away from my mother’s side and slide toward my wife. “Gives me so much more to love,” I whisper into her ear and touch her ass, which I’ve grown to love more than her flatter and less-full version. “We need to keep it.”

  Chloe looks at me with a horrified expression. “It’s going. As soon as I can work out, it’ll be disappearing.”

  “Shit never gets back to where it was,” Ma tells her, ruining all Chloe’s hopes and dreams of getting her pre-baby body back.

  “Great,” Chloe groans. “I could do without the extra padding.”

  I smile down at my girl. “It’s the best part.”

  She slaps my chest with the back of her hand. “Shut up.”

  “Your tits and ass are primo,” Gracie tells Chloe with a wink. “You get stares coming and going.”

  Chloe’s shoulders slump forward. “It’s hard to miss me.”

  I place my fingers under Chloe’s chin, raising her eyes to mine. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

  She sighs. “Oh, okay.”

  “Babe, you’re stunning.”

  Chloe grumbles.

  “You’re growing a life inside you. If we have a little girl, I want her to look like you and not me because let’s face it, I’d make one hell of an ugly woman.”

  “Amen to that,” Gracie says with a hint of laughter. “I tried to doll you up when we were kids, but nope, still ugly as hell.”

  Ma bursts into a fit of laughter. “Your brothers had patience then. They let you practice on them for hours.”

  Chloe’s face brightens. “You put makeup on them all?” she asks Gracie.

  “Yep. All of them.” Gracie beams with pride, but I feel nothing except annoyance.

  I hated when my sister would do our hair, of which we had very little, and makeup. She was so slow, and the shit was hard as hell to get off too. But I did it to make her happy, even if it was only for a little while.

  “I want that for our baby.”

  “Then you better work on another as soon as you have this one,” Ma explains with the biggest smile. “You don’t want them too far apart in age.”

  “You know, I did it most of the time just to annoy the shit out of you guys,” Gracie tells me.

  “It worked,” I mumble.

  “I’m going to need a little time in between,” Chloe says to my mother.

  “Don’t wait too long. It’s better when they’re closer together in age.”

  “More expensive, too,” I say.

  “It’s not cheaper to have kids far apart. They’re expensive no matter what, kiddo,” Pops says. “I’d be rich if it weren’t for you four.”

  “Rich in the bank, but poor in life and love,” Mom tells him.

  “Yeah, that too,” he says, but I’m not convinced he thinks or feels the same.

  “There’s no amount of money I’d take to replace my time with you kids,” Pops says. “You’ll see, son. You’ll give that child your last cent to see a smile on their face.”

  “Speaking of their… Do we know if we’re having a boy or a girl?” Ma asks.

  “We?” Gracie laughs. “Are you going to be in there pushing too, Ma?”

  Ma waves her hand to Gracie to shush. “Do we?”

  Chloe looks up at me and raises an eyebrow. We’ve known for weeks but have been keeping it a secret. Not an easy one to keep either. But we know once they know, the entire town will know. Not that it’s a bad thing, but it’s been nice to have a secret all to ourselves.

  “We do,” Chloe says softly as she looks me in the eye, waiting to see if I’ll react.

  I’m fine with them knowing. “Maybe Ma will stop buying yellow shit if we tell her.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with yellow,” Ma informs us like we’re monsters. “It’s a lovely color. Mint green, too.”

  “I agree,” Chloe says, squeezing my arm. “Maybe we should let it be a surprise.”

  “No. No. No. No,” my mother chants, shaking her head. “I want to know. I need to know.”

  “Don’t make her beg any longer, son,” Pops pleads with me.

  “Fine. Fine,” I say, looking down at my wife. “Do you want to tell her, or should I?”

  “Jesus,” Ma mutters. “Just spit it out. You’re killing me here.”

  “You do it,” I tell Chloe.

  Chloe’s smile widens as she gazes up at me. “Buy all the pink things,” she says to me, but she’s talking to my parents.

  Ma gasps. “A girl? We’re having a girl?” She squeals so loud I swear one of my eardrums bursts, and she runs to my father, throwing her arms around him. “Did you hear that, Mario? We’re having a baby girl.”