Love by the Slice

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Mom must’ve heard the car door because she appeared before I could get all the way up the steps. Then she had me in her arms before I knew what happened, squeezing tightly to the point I almost couldn’t breathe. What was it about Moms and their ability to crush the ones they say they love the most? When her arms loosened, I knew she saw Gio coming up the walk by the wide-eyed surprise on her face. She pulled back with a cocked eyebrow and her focus zeroing in on me to the point I felt like a teenager again. A teenager who’d been caught sneaking out to a party past curfew.

  “So, I’ve got some news,” I said with a completely fake smile.

  “Uh-huh.” She kept her eyes on me. “Well, come on in.” She waved Gio up like there wasn’t a care in the world. He climbed slowly until his hand found the small of my back. I relaxed, he unclenched his muscles. It was a good thing.

  Inside, Mom lead us to the kitchen waving her hand toward the chairs under the table for us to take a seat.

  “Dad at work?” I asked to break the ice while Mom poured us all a cup of coffee. The day turned out pretty chilly and the liquid gold warmed me up as it went down. Mom’s coffee was stronger than most people’s. Something she picked up from Dad and his all-nighters at the hospital. It was hot enough to smooth and bitter enough to be perfect.

  “Course,” she replied eying Gio like she was watching for sudden movements or searching for signs of something.

  “Ok, good actually.” I took a deep breath before continuing. “So, Gio and I are back together.”

  “Clearly,” she rolled her eyes at me. A move she never yelled at me for during my teen years because she did it more than I did. It bugs the crap out of my dad.

  “Mom, I know I wasn’t in great shape when I came here this summer and I could never repay you for how you helped, but this is what I want and I’m hoping you can help make Dad behave.”

  “I’m your mother, Bianca. Helping you is what I do. As for your father, even I don’t have that kind of control.” Her focused changed to Gio for the first time. “You’re serious?” He nodded meeting her eyes. He’d told me on the ride he had tried to prepare himself to take whatever they wanted to dish out. “And your family?”

  “Not going to be a problem. My parents are in jail and out of my life.”

  He didn’t mention that I’d punched and kneed his father in Chicago. I’m glad he didn’t because my mother would have given me the look. The one that said she was proud of me but she didn’t raise me to resort to physical violence. But damn I was still proud of myself for doing it. It made me open and close my right fist at the memory of how it felt.

  “I don’t know. I’d kind of like to show them that they didn’t succeed in ruining my life or yours,” I said.

  “Not gonna happen,” Gio said shaking his head at the same time my mom said, “Are you nuts?”

  “Why? I don’t know if you realize this or not, Gio, but I usually get my way.”

  “That’s the truth right there,” Mom snorted.

  “Not this time. At least as long as I’m around, those people won’t come within a county of you.”

  “But—”

  “You’re not winning this one, Bianca,” Gio set his lips to a firm line. He wouldn’t be budging no matter how hard I fought, what he had to do, or even if it pissed me off. I wasn’t meeting his parents.

  “Fine,” I sighed giving in.

  “Huh, maybe I like this one.” Mom took a long drink of her coffee.

  Dad came home a few hours later after working the night shift and having to stay for a multi-casualty incident. He could never walk away from something like that. My heart started thumping and I felt my blood pressure rising the minute he came in.

  “Maria,” he called out as soon as the front door shut. We were still in the kitchen having spent the last several hours chatting with Mom. “Do we have company?” He burst through the door and stopped in his tracks. Rage covered his face as soon as he saw Gio sitting across from me. I’d expected his reaction so I jumped up before he could cross the room. Gio stood to his full height. He’d see it as being cowardly. Just in time, I wedged myself between the two of them.

  “I have half a mind to punch him in the face,” Dad ground out through clenched teeth. Moving toward him to make him take a few steps back I came to a stop once enough space stood between them.

  “You could break his jaw but then you’d have to fix it,” I smirked back at my jumbo sized dad. He and Gio were pretty evenly matched physically, but Dad had one thing Gio didn’t. Gio wouldn’t fight my dad. Because whether I’d forgiven him or not, he still felt guilty and that he deserved whatever Dad dished out.

  “Bianca, he—”

  “Yeah, I know. Trust me.” I sighed. “We’re together, Dad. He moved to Harbor Point and he got his job back. That was all before we started seeing each other again.”

  Dad turned to Mom. “Get your Dad on the phone, Maria.”

  “I’m a big girl, Dad.” I needed his attention back on me. This wasn’t Gramps fault. “I can make these decisions myself and you leave Gramps out of it.” My body tensed and my teeth mashed together as my breathing sped up.

  “Bianca, it broke my heart to see you in that much pain. Pain he caused.”

  Gio groaned under his breath behind me causing me to glance over my shoulder and found his face contorted in anger and pain over what he did to me. I’d deal with it later.

  “Look, you don’t have to be ok with this but you do have to be ok with me. This is what I want. And you liked him before so you can learn to like him again. Or not. Either way, I’m fine with it.”

  Dad scratched his jaw as we remained in a standoff.

  “Listen. One thing you always told me growing up is that the things I knew I’d look back on and regret not doing were the things I had to do. Even if I failed. This is one of those, Dad.” I grabbed each of his arms to drive my point home. “Not trying with Gio would be something I’d regret every single day of my life.” Unsure of what made him relent, I decided I didn’t care as long as it meant he’d back off.

  He gave a strangled sigh before speaking to let me know he didn’t like the words he was about to say. “If he hurts you again, I’m cutting his balls off.”

  “I’ll hand you the kitchen shears,” I agreed and nodded.

  Even though things were tense, we made dinner and ate together at the table. Mom asked Gio questions but Dad grunted and gave one-word responses. By the time Mom served dessert, he relaxed enough to reveal a little of himself and tried to get to know Gio again. They’d only met the week my parents had been in Harbor Point and we hadn’t spent much time with them then. Gio answered every question, no matter how personal (thanks, Mom), without hesitation. She wanted to know about his childhood and past girlfriends.

  I knew what she wanted to know. If he’d had someone who wasn’t a job. He said he’d never been in love before as a way of not answering while at the same time not lying. A lot of what she asked were the normal things a parent would ask their child’s significant other, which I appreciated.

  During clean-up, Dad went back to being standoffish and I thought it’d be a good time to leave. Everyone needed to process things in their own time. I know I did.

  “I guess we’ll get going then,” I said handing mom the last plate to dry. Gio got to me in record time almost like he’d been on pins and needles to get the hell out of there and just waited to hear me say the words. To be honest, I couldn’t blame him. Even though the temperature in the house had thawed somewhat, it was still too chilly for my liking.

  “Back to Chicago?” Mom asked.

  “It’s getting kind of late to head back, so a hotel?” Gio asked. I was about to agree when Mom burst in.

  “Nonsense. You’ll stay here. Your room is always ready.”

  “Maria…” Dad’s voice carried a hint of a warning.

  “Tony, this is family.”

  Dad had no comeback or he reserved it for when they were alone. I’m sure he’d been
about to say that a hotel sounded like a fabulous idea or some Dad equivalent to that. I could read the man like a book. Maybe he wouldn’t have said fabulous because it wasn’t his style. Either way, he stayed silent, which in his world was as good as agreeing. Gio went out to the car to grab the bag we’d packed, to have on hand in case we didn’t make it to Chicago that night.

  It wasn’t too late so we settled around the TV much like we did at The Palace. This time, though, Gio and I sat on the floor together. He leaned against one end of the couch where I could sit between his legs and push my back against his chest. Mom and Dad sat together on the other end, his arm thrown across the back around her. They were kind of cute together even for a couple having been married as long as they had been. I only hoped that in the end, I’d have what they did. One comedy after another passed as my eyelids became too heavy to keep open.

  Sleeping against Gio was comfortable no matter the location but when he gently woke me, I realized we were still on the floor which couldn’t have been comfy for him. He didn’t complain. He never complained.

  “Hey, Dad,” I said standing and stretching as Gio got to his feet, “you working in the morning?”

  “Yup. Early.”

  “Ok, well, we’re going back to Chicago tomorrow to grab a plane home so we won’t see you.” Dad got to his full height to pull me into one of his trademark bear hugs. He held on a few seconds longer than usual then kissed the top of my head.

  “Fly safe and we’ll be to The Point soon.” Snickering at the use of his favorite pun, I kind of got the feeling that he said the last part more as a warning to Gio, but I wasn’t worried. They’d figure it out eventually. Mom said she’d see us off in the morning as we headed up the stairs to my room.

  “So they’re just going to let us stay together in your room? And not say anything?” Gio whispered as we got to my door.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “I don’t know. I figured they’d hate me, maybe not let me in the house let alone stay with you in your room. We’re not married.”

  I snorted a hard one. “Please.” My eyes couldn’t have rolled any harder. “Besides,” I shut the door behind me but didn’t bother to lock it. I didn’t think either of us felt particularly amorous tonight. “They’ve never liked the guys I’ve had in here so you’re no different.” He stopped mid-taking off his shirt then pulled it back down.

  “All the guys?”

  Smirking, I waited for him to understand that I was messing with him.

  “Oh, you think you’re funny.”

  He crossed the room in two long strides, lifted me in the air then tossed me on the bed like I weighed nothing. Giggling, I tried hard to keep quiet but failed miserably. Instead, I stripped my clothes away, snatched his shirt off his body, and put it on me. It was the most comfortable way to sleep.

  My bed here left us a lot less room than the one back home, but we made it work. Actually, it worked well and I might have been mistaken when I thought neither of us felt remotely amorous. He was. He definitely was because I could feel it. I could feel it even better when I ran my hand over him. His body jerked a little at my touch then sighed into the air around us. I wasn’t trying to start anything but it was there and I couldn’t resist.

  “Why does everyone keep threatening the pride and joy?” Gio asked quietly once we were settled in the darkness of the room. He’d moved my hand to fuse with his instead of allowing me to push him toward our favorite edge.

  “Because it’s something that would hurt like a son of a bitch. but you could still live through.” I totally got why guys always had such a personal area threatened. ‘Kick you in the nuts’ was an easy way to drop a guy instantly.

  “Yes, but would I want to?”

  Giggling, I answered, “I would hope so.”

  “Yeah, but one of my favorite things to do with you involves that organ so if I couldn’t make love to you maybe death would be better.”

  “Awww, that’s sweet.” I kissed him softly on the lips. “But I’d want you to live. Besides, I could find somebody else to take care of those needs.”

  “Still trying to be funny.”

  My body molded back to his and once the quiet laughter died down, I fell into a restful sleep. And all was right in my world.

  Epilogue

  I hated moving. I loved that I was finally moving in with Gio, that we’d go to bed and wake up together which we did most nights anyway but it wouldn’t be at my place or his. It would be our place. Yet I still hated the actual moving.

  After we got back from Chicago we already knew this would be happening. And we knew I’d move in with him because he had this beautiful house and although my apartment had a lot of great memories, it was the size of a Cracker Jack box. And if we were going to have kids one day (since the thought made me want to vomit at this time), we’d need the room.

  It took a few weeks to make it happen, which felt like a lifetime. Now that it was happening it felt like it’d gone by in a blink. Gio wanted to move all my stuff while I worked the day we got back from Chicago, but I wanted to talk to Gramps first because he was used to having me around and I didn’t want him to feel abandoned. He scoffed at the idea. He encouraged me to live my own life.

  Gio truly surprised me with how at ease he seemed with the whole thing. He’d been the one raised believing love wouldn’t be part of his life, couldn’t be part of his life. It would be one business transaction after another. Until he met me.

  Mom and Dad wanted to help me do the actual moving, saying it was their parental right for having raised me. One of the few they still had I was told. Marrying me off, babysitting grandchildren, all fell on them. Oh, and Dad said moving me in with the devil also fell under their jurisdiction. Luckily he chuckled deeply when he said it so I’d know he was at least sort of joking.

  Then the day arrived.

  “Since when do you pack bricks, Bianca-bear?” Gramps asked as he struggled with a heavy box. He seemed to forget I didn’t pack every single one. Someone else, someone who’d been in a rush to get me out of my apartment, threw a hodge-podge of everything into each box.

  “You’re getting weak, Old Man,” Dad surged through the door past Gramps, carrying two large boxes. There were all being dropped in the foyer for Gio and me to deal with later. I didn’t have much which meant it didn’t take long.

  “Wow,” Mom continued looking from room to room, “this place is beautiful.”

  It really was. Gio had chosen a large beautiful home that stood in Harbor Point for a hundred years but had been completely updated since then.

  “He’s got good taste, I’ll give him that,” Dad agreed. “So, this is the last one. You’re sure you want to live with him? We can load all this back up.”

  “Dad,” I rolled my eyes, “he’s sitting right here.”

  “I know.” He let a big grin cross his face. Dad hadn’t totally resigned himself to the new arrangements, but in the weeks since we’d been to see my parents, his comments had started to turn more playful toward Gio. For that I was thankful.

  After they left, I fell onto the couch in the living room tired, not wanting to do another thing. Mom had decided to help Gramps get my apartment in order to use as a guest house because my parents were planning on visiting more. Yay us. On the upside, Gemma and Sal could also use it when they came out. Even though we had the room to accommodate overnighters, it didn’t mean we wouldn’t prefer privacy. And I knew we’d need a lot of it.

  “Unpack tonight or tomorrow?” I asked with a yawn. We’d packed everything at my place, loaded the truck and unloaded the truck all the same day because honestly, I hadn’t started at all before they all showed up. Some things stayed, though because we didn’t need multiple sets of everything. It only took two trips in Gio’s’ truck, yet still felt like a whole lot of work.

  “I vote tomorrow,” Gio leaned down to nibble on my neck. “There are other things we could do to celebrate you finally being here.”

  “Yeah,” I s
miled against his head, “but my clothes are dirty and I won’t have any to change into.”

  His head snapped up, his eyes burning into mine.

  “Somehow I’m ok with that.”

  He stood and I figured he’d grab my hand to pull me to my feet and lead me to the bedroom. He did, sort of. Instead of leading me, he picked me up, threw me over his shoulder like a caveman and trotted up the stairs himself.

  I laughed the entire way. He used all his mad skills to show me over and over how much he loved me. I returned the favor knowing that if our relationship had made it through the summer of hell, we could fix anything.

  See what happens next in Harbor Point next! Pre-order Love by the Mile now!

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  There are bunches of people who need to be acknowledged once a book is ready for the world. Honestly, I’ll probably also forget some so I’m sorry if I do.

  First up is Emma Wicker, or as I know her, Telula Trixiebell, who saw Love by the Slice in a pile of many and thought it just might be worth taking on. You taught me a lot but most of all you helped Love by the Slice become what is today which is something I’m extremely proud to say I wrote.

  Nancy Colbert Hardy, you make all the best covers. I love all of mine (remember the original Up for Forever cover? Thank the universe I had you to make it gooder). And Nancy always reminds me how easy I am…to work with…I think. You’re stuck with me and not just for your mad graphic skills.

  My family puts up with a lot and that’s ok, I don’t feel bad about that because I put up with a lot. That’s part of being in a family. But I have to thank the husband for not complaining (much) when he has to do all the laundry and the dishes (hey, I cooked) because my day had been filled with kid stuff and I didn’t get any work done. Did I mention I also have the best kids? Like legit the best? They’re growing up too fast and won’t stop when I tell them to but other than that I don’t have to deal with some of the things others do, like kids at each other’s throats, which helps me keep my sanity.

  My first reader has always been Sarah Arthur and that means a lot. As we both get busy, I understand how hard it is to stop what you’re doing to do what I need done. But we do it for each other and that’s awesome.