Starter Wife (The Jilted Wives Club Book 1)

by Bethany Lopez

  “Okay, if you’re sure, but you know we can make room. They’d be welcome.”

  “I know, Ma, but let’s take it one step at a time, okay. I don’t want to scare her off,” I said honestly. “Her divorce was pretty bad, and she was a bit skittish about even dating me, so the fact that she’s willing to come to family dinner at all is a big step. We can be pretty overwhelming.”

  “Don’t worry about a thing, son. I will talk to your siblings and everyone will be on their best behavior for you and your Whitney.” She sighed and then gushed, “Oh, I’m just so happy.”

  “Baby steps, Ma. Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I said lightly, even though I knew she’d be cleaning from now until Sunday dinner and planning a feast as if it were Christmas.

  “Of course…”

  “Okay, Ma, well, I have another meeting coming up, so I have to let you go, but I’ll call you later.”

  “Goodbye, sweetheart. I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” I replied. Then as she hung up I realized that she was the one who called me and said, “Wait, Ma, what did you call for?”

  But she was already off … Probably on her way to the market.

  Twenty-Nine

  Whitney

  “I can’t believe you’re going to meet Luca’s family. You must be so excited,” Summer said happily, doing a little jig in her seat.

  “I’d rather swallow a jar of nails than meet some guy’s family,” Margo said dryly.

  I laughed so suddenly I choked on my wine and it went down the wrong pipe.

  I was coughing, my eyes watering from the pain as I tried to catch my breath. Summer reached over and pounded on my back, which did nothing to help, but I appreciated the gesture.

  “Jeez, Margo, tell me how you really feel,” I replied once I could speak again.

  “I just did,” was her retort.

  “I think it’s wonderful,” Summer said, completely undeterred by Margo’s grouchiness.

  “I’m a little nervous,” I said truthfully. “It’s been a lifetime since I met someone’s family and I don’t know if I’m who they have in mind for Luca, ya know. I mean, a divorcee with two teenage kids who just went back to work … at their company, no less.”

  “They’d be crazy not to love you,” Margo said, signaling to the bartender to bring another round.

  We were doing drinks and appetizers tonight and so far the drinks had been flowing pretty generously.

  “I think I need to order more food,” I said to the bartender as he placed another lemontini in front of me.

  “What would you like?”

  “I think the sliders and the spinach artichoke dip,” I said, thinking the carbs would soak up some of the vodka. “You guys want anything?”

  “Mmmm, can I get some coconut shrimp?” Summer asked.

  “And another order of those Rueben bites,” Margo added.

  “Coming right up, ladies,” he said, then went off to place our orders.

  “And, thanks, Margo,” I said, referring back to what she’d said before the bartender came over. “That’s sweet of you to say. Still, I can’t help but worry about what kind of impression I’ll make. His family is obviously very important to him. They are a huge part of his life and their opinion of me is going to matter.”

  “Hey,” Summer said, resting her hand on my shoulder. “We’ve seen you and Luca together and anyone with eyes can see he thinks you’re amazing.”

  “Seriously, he’s completely smitten,” Margo agreed.

  “You know him, he’s a great guy, and a guy that sweet, sexy, and funny wouldn’t have been raised by assholes.”

  I almost spit out the water I’d just sipped over Summer’s rationalization.

  “Where’s this coming from?” Margo asked as the bartender started to bring out our appetizers. “Did something happen to make you think his family will have an issue with you? You’ve met his dad, he’s been cool, right?”

  “Yeah, it’s nothing like that,” I said with a wave of my hand. “You’re both right … Mr. Russo is such a nice person and I’m sure Mrs. Russo will be as well. They did raise a fantastic son. This is more my thing.”

  They both watched me without saying anything, silently supporting me and waiting for me to finish my thought when I was ready.

  Seriously, are there any two more tremendous women in the world?

  “I was completely confident in who I was in my marriage, and I got completely blindsided when Marcus left me, and I found out about Crystal. I know Luca is the best guy, but, you know what, I thought Marcus was a great guy too, and it turned out I was living a lie. He wasn’t great, he was a liar and a cheater, and he threw me and our twenty-five years together away like I was trash … and he never looked back. He tainted our marriage, he left his kids, and with that he took my naivete. My willingness to trust. I’ve been carrying this anger and hurt ever since it happened and even though I’ve talked it out in therapy, that anxiety still exists.”

  They each reached for one of my hands and I accepted them gratefully.

  “I know Luca is not Marcus, but these are the reasons I was so wary of starting anything up with him. I knew these doubts would resurface and I worried that I’m not whole enough to have a real relationship with anyone again.”

  “Have you talked with Luca about this at all?” Summer asked.

  “A little, but not all of it. I don’t want to scare him away, but on the other hand, I don’t want to get his hopes up either. What if he wants more than I’m able to give?”

  “I think you put way too much pressure on yourself, and if you let yourself, you’ll put too much pressure on this relationship,” Margo said softly. “You and Luca are still in the ‘getting to know each other’ stage of this thing. He’s not asking you to get married and have kids, but I think you still need to have these conversations. Be honest with him about what you’ve been through and how you feel and let him make his own decisions. He’s a big boy. He can handle it.”

  “I know,” I admitted. “I think I’ve just been freaking out ever since he brought up Sunday dinner and it’s been making me overthink everything. I’m going to go there with an open mind, enjoy what I’m sure is going to be one of the best meals of my life, and have fun seeing Luca in his element.”

  “Atta girl,” Summer said, lifting her drink and saying, “To Whit and Luca and the Russo family. May you give yourself a break and have a lovely meal.”

  We all raised our glasses, and I gave them each a small smile before saying, “In better news, Luca and I had sex.”

  “What?” Summer screeched. “Why didn’t you lead with that?”

  I chuckled as Margo added, “We want details. No detail is too small, spill everything.”

  I leaned back in my chair, feeling much better than I had a few seconds ago, and gave my friends the goods.

  Thirty

  Luca

  “You need help with anything, Ma?” I asked from the doorway of the kitchen.

  She’d banished me earlier after catching me with my hand literally in the cookie jar. Like it was my fault she always kept homemade cookies in there. What was I supposed to do, not want one?

  “You can help me by going back into the den with your father and getting out of my kitchen.”

  My ma tended to get stressed out and short-tempered when she was cooking big holiday meals. Even though this wasn’t a holiday, she was treating it as if it were the event of the century.

  I turned to go back to my dad when my ma said, “Luca, it’s almost one o’clock. Don’t you need to go pick up Whitney?”

  “No, she’s driving herself. I told her to be here by one-thirty.”

  “Doesn’t seem very gentlemanly,” she muttered under her breath.

  I decided it was in my best interest to remain quiet and let that go, so I quietly walked away from the kitchen and the ticking time bomb that was my mother.

  “How’d that go?” my dad asked when I sat back on the couch I’d vacated moment
s ago.

  “About as well as you’d expect.”

  He chuckled and said, “Your brother and Sara just pulled in, so they’ll help take some of the pressure off. She just wants to make a good impression on Whitney.”

  “I know, but I wish she wouldn’t make such a big deal out of it,” I was saying as my brother and his family came ambling inside.

  My dad snorted in response and Vanni shook his head.

  “You haven’t brought a girl home since two thousand and three, what’d you expect?” my brother asked.

  “Yeah, she’s called us like five times in the last hour,” Sara said, her eyes twinkling as she leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek. “I hope your woman knows what she’s walking into.”

  “I can’t believe you’ve managed to keep the fact that you’re seriously seeing someone a secret. And she works with you? What the heck, Dad? You didn’t even know?”

  “I knew he was interested,” our dad replied. “But had no idea they’d started dating and things had progressed to family dinner status. It’s a good thing I was in the dark, too. Your ma was ready to kill me when she thought I may have been keeping it from her.”

  “I bet,” Vanni said with a laugh.

  “Vanni, Sara, is that you?” Ma called out from the kitchen.

  “Duty calls,” Vanni said good-naturedly as he and Sara headed out of the den. “Boys, be good for Grandpa.”

  Peter and Paul both shouted, “We will,” before they took off running down the hall, presumably to the spare room where the video games were kept.

  “Walk,” my dad called after them.

  “Sorry!” one of them shouted back.

  My phone dinged, signaling a text, so I pulled out my phone and looked at it.

  I’m two minutes away.

  “It’s Whitney, she’s almost here,” I told my dad as I stood. “I’m gonna wait for her outside.”

  He nodded absently, his eyes on the TV.

  I stopped at the door to slip on my shoes, then went out front to watch for Whitney’s car. I knew she’d be nervous, and even though she hadn’t wanted me to go to the trouble of picking her up and taking her back home, I figured she’d want me to at least be there to walk inside with her.

  As soon as her car turned onto the street, I couldn’t stop smiling.

  This is really happening. Whitney is going to meet my family … of her own free will … and I want her to.

  It felt like a miracle.

  Before she’d parked the car, I was at the curb, ready to open her door and give her a big hug for actually showing up.

  I may have thought there was a ten percent chance she wouldn’t.

  “Hi,” I said happily as she got out of the car.

  “Hey,” she replied, laughing when I took her into my arms. “You good?”

  “Never been better.”

  I took her hand in mine and brought it to my lips to kiss it gently before leading her up the walkway to the house.

  “You ready?” I asked, pausing at the door to get a look at her face and gauge her level of nervousness.

  “As I’ll ever be,” Whitney answered with a quick nod. “Let’s do this.”

  I gave her a quick kiss on the lips, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

  Since she already knew my dad, I figured we’d start with him and ease her into things before going back to the kitchen.

  “Hi, Mr. Russo, thanks so much for having me,” Whitney said as we stepped into the den.

  My father rose from his chair and crossed to pull Whitney in for a hug. “You’re welcome anytime, and please, call me Giovanni.”

  She nodded and repeated, “Giovanni.”

  “My wife and I are thrilled you’re joining us today and hope next time you’ll bring your children. We’d love to meet them.”

  “Thank you, I will,” Whitney said easily.

  “Come on, my brother and his wife are here. They’re in the kitchen with my ma, so we can knock them all out at once.”

  When Whitney looked suddenly nervous, my father patted her on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, she’s harmless.”

  “Like a honey badger,” I muttered, and my dad slapped me upside the head. “Hey,” I grumbled, rubbing the spot where he’d hit me.

  Whitney chuckled and I knew he’d done it to take her mind off her worries.

  “Believe me, Franny’s just as nervous to meet you,” he told her.

  She gave him a grateful smile and let me lead her out of the safety of the den.

  “Ma,” I called out in warning, not wanting to startle her when she had a knife in her hand. “Whitney’s here.”

  “Oh,” I heard her exclaim, then there was some pounding and shuffling.

  When we entered the kitchen, she was wiping her hands on her apron, her eyes eagerly watching the doorway.

  “Welcome,” she said loudly, just a trifle too loudly, and came rushing toward us. “I’m so happy to meet you.”

  “Ma, this is Whitney. Whit, this is my mother, Francesca.”

  “Please, call me Franny, or Ma, if you’d like,” my ma said as she threw her arms around Whitney.

  Whitney wasn’t that tall, but my ma still only came up to her chin.

  “It’s so nice to meet you, Franny. Thanks for having me over today.”

  She masked her disappointment at Whitney choosing not to call her Ma, but I saw it and rubbed my hand over her back briefly before gesturing to our right.

  “And this big lug is my older brother, Vanni, and his beautiful wife Sara. Their rugrats, Peter and Paul, are running around here somewhere.”

  As they went around hugging and greeting each other, I heard the back door slam and glanced over to see Charlotte coming in carrying Sky, the diaper bag, and a look of utter exhaustion.

  “I came early because I wanted to be here to witness Ma being confronted by Luca’s new woman. I mean, a divorcee with two teenage kids is obviously going to be a lot older than our little brother. I have to see the look on Ma’s face when…”

  I felt Whitney stiffen beside me as my ma said sternly, “Charlotte Marie Russo Bonetti, you should be ashamed of yourself.”

  Char’s face went ashen, and she burst into tears.

  Whitney looked ready to bolt, so I said, “Please, stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  When she nodded, I moved to my sister, took the baby out of her arms, and said, “You … with me.”

  Thirty-One

  Whitney

  Luca’s family looked as embarrassed as I felt.

  Things had been going so great that I’d lost my nerves and was about to ask if I could help in the kitchen when Luca’s sister had come in and laid all of my fears about this relationship and meeting his family right out on the table.

  She’d looked truly upset when she realized I was already there and she looked so tired and sad that I almost felt sorry for her, even as I wanted to run from the house, get in my car, and go home.

  “She didn’t mean it,” Sara was saying, patting my back like she was soothing one of her kids. “Char’s been feeling really stressed lately with the new baby and all, and I’m sure she was just letting off steam.”

  “She really doesn’t have a mean bone in her body,” Vanni added.

  “I’m so sorry,” Franny said, moving to take my hands in hers. “Charlotte has no excuse to talk about you that way. You’re Luca’s girlfriend and a guest in our home. I’ll be talking to her, you can be sure of it.”

  “It’s fine, really,” I said, wanting the horrible moment to pass. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

  “Oh, no, we’ve got it, you go ahead and go have a seat in the den. Relax, and supper will be ready soon,” Franny said, giving me a little push toward the hallway.

  I walked out of the kitchen, unsure of what my next move should be.

  Do I go back into the den and sit with Mr. Russo, do I go in search of Luca, or do I ignore his plea and walk my ass right out the door and hop in my car?
r />   The sound of Charlotte crying answered my question for me, and I turned to head toward her.

  “Nigel has been out of town constantly and Sky never sleeps. I’m exhausted and sad and lonely,” Charlotte was saying between sobs. “I didn’t think it was going to be like this.”

  I peered around the corner to see Luca and Charlotte sitting on a bed. He was holding her as she cried, rubbing her back in soothing circles and looking absolutely out of his element. The baby was lying next to them, surrounded by pillows and kicking her legs happily.

  Not wanting it to seem like I was spying, I knocked lightly on the open door to alert them of my presence.

  “Hey, everything okay in here?” I asked as I took a step inside.

  They both looked up at me and Charlotte’s face immediately crumpled as her tears started coming full force.

  “Oh, Whitney … I’m so sorry. So embarrassed. The first person Luca actually likes and you’re gonna hate me,” she said, crying so hard she started to hiccup.

  “No, no, no … I don’t hate you,” I said softly as I crossed the room. “It sounds like you have a lot going on with the new baby and everything. I can completely relate. I remember how overwhelming it was when my kids were babies.”

  Luca’s gaze hit mine and his expression was so sweet it made my heart lurch.

  “That’s so nice … She’s so nice.” Charlotte hid her face in her brother’s shirt and took a couple deep breaths.

  I heard footsteps coming up behind me seconds before a male voice asked, “Everything okay in here?”

  I looked over my shoulder to see Luca’s friend, Damon, saunter into the room.

  “Hey, man, yeah, everything’s fine. Can you give us a minute and we’ll meet you in the den?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Damon said, shooting a look of concern at Charlotte before nodding at me and turning to go as Luca requested.