Page 119 of Dirty Pool

Get this started.

That was a great way to describe this.

“That sounds grand,” Gabbie said, “I take mine black.”

Catrina cracked a smile. “Me, too. It’s an acquired taste.”

Dante chuckled next to his wife. “Something Catrina can relate to being herself, I assure you.”

“That’s quite enough of that, Dante.”

“But also, not a lie,” Michel murmured in Gabbie’s ear. At the same time, she smiled at his whispered secret, Catrina turned to look back at them. Her stance softened momentarily at the sight of the two together, but she quickly spun back around. “Come on, babe, let’s get comfortable for this.”

• • •

Gabbie palmed the mug as Michel finished explaining to his father just how they had gotten to this point. Coming to New York, being married, and finally, sitting at this very table. He’d skimped on some details, leaving out the fact he had been the one to drop the final straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back in Detroit, but she didn’t mind.

She understood why.

Dante exhaled heavily and rested back in his chair. “Give me a second, Michel. To digest.”

Michel nodded. “Yeah, I know. It’s a lot.”

Catrina, on the other hand, eyed her son pensively. “You stopped calling as much as you used to this last year.”

“I’m sorry, Ma, I just—”

“Is this why?”

Michel shifted in his chair. “I mean, part of it, yeah.”

Gabbie had never felt more awkward than she did in those moments. Maybe it was because the conversation had quickly turned serious, and she realized just how much of her private moments with Michel were being laid out bare on the table for basically strangers to dissect. Oh, sure, they were his parents.

But she didn’t know them.

Not that well.

It didn’t help that whenever Catrina spoke, she did so shortly, and with little emotion to her tone. Yet, the woman’s eyes blazed. Gabbie understood why, sure, but it didn’t make it anymore comfortable to sit there at the table like nothing was wrong.

“The Irish …” Dante trailed off, giving Michel a raised brow. “Will I need to handle that?”

“I don’t think so,” Michel returned. “Charles made his position clear.”

Catrina’s gaze flicked to Gabbie, then. “Yes, shame, that.”

She didn’t know what to say.

So, she said nothing.

It was only the roar of a car’s engine somewhere outside the house that stopped their conversation. Soon after, the front door slammed closed, and footsteps echoed down the hallway leading to the dining room.

“I thought you weren’t coming home for Christmas this year?”

Everyone, including Gabbie, turned to find a young woman standing in the entryway. Catherine, Gabbie thought … Michel’s one and only sibling. He’d never talked much about her, but the two siblings looked fondly at one another all the same.

Michel smiled. “Nice to see you, too, little sister.”

Catherine stuck her tongue out in response. “Seriously, no one thought to tell me?”