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The craziness doesn’t stop there. Within five minutes I’ve got a glass of red wine in my hands and am being whisked outside onto the deck.
“Mom and Dad hate anyone in the kitchen while they’re cooking,” Lusanne says to me as she and Chari flank me on both sides and we sit.
“Evie lives over there.” Chari points to a cove across the lake. “How crazy is that. Such a small world.”
“Small town,” I clarify. “We are still in Bridgewater, after all.”
“Yes, but”—Lusanne leans forward—“you’ve been away for a while, right? I can’t believe you and Tris haven’t met before now. With Chari, and then he’s a friend of Cole’s. And I hear you’re good friends with Zara too. Plus the restaurants . . .”
She trails off.
“Is that weird at all?” she forges ahead. “I asked Tris, but of course he won’t tell me a thing.”
Chari smiles at her sister-in-law. “So, I’m going to warn you now. There is very little privacy in this family.”
Lusanne nods, as if she’s proud of that fact. “Exactly. So you can spill all the secrets now.”
“Maybe give her one full glass of wine?” Chari teases.
Clearly the two have a good relationship. I’ve never heard anything but praise from my friend for Lusanne, or any of Enzo’s family. Of course, they live in New York, so it’s a bit different, I would guess, than having your in-laws just down the road.
Although it’s not an overly sunny day, the lake breeze is still warm, the view one I can appreciate even waking up to it every day. I lean back in the cushioned deck chair.
“Is it awkward?” I repeat. “Kind of, to be honest. We don’t talk about work a ton. Which I know won’t last. Tris seems to be a lot like me.”
“That he lives for his job?” Lusanne asks. “Totally. I sometimes think he and Enzo have a secret competition to see who can work more.”
“Secret?” Chari asks, astonished. “I’d say it’s pretty out in the open.”
“The two of them have always been a bit competitive,” Lusanne admits.
That isn’t a surprise to me at all.
“I want to know everything,” Chari says. “I know you met at the wedding and that he didn’t know who you were. And that you got to know him at Festa. But what’s the deal with the ‘little PR thing’ that you said you’d tell me about later?”
Lusanne and I exchange glances.
“Yeah, that would be Gian.” Lusanne takes a sip of her own wine, making a face. If I didn’t know otherwise, I’d think she doesn’t like the wine. But I’m sure the face was in reference to her brother.
Chari groans. “If Gian is involved, I can only imagine.”
I peek into the oversized windows and spot Tris inside, looking out at us. He smiles, so I smile back, letting him know all is well.
“To be fair, I went along with it.”
I tell Chari all about Gian and Tris’s plan.
“Dear lord,” she says when I finish. “Only him.”
“It wasn’t the worst idea ever,” Lusanne adds. “I was just worried about you. I didn’t want Tris to lead you on in any way. Before now . . .”
She stops. And I can appreciate the fine line she’s toeing, her loyalty, of course, to her brother.
“Before now,” Chari finishes for her, “Tristano didn't really do commitments.”
“He did say that he’s a one-woman kind of guy,” I say, treading carefully.
“True,” Lusanne says. “One at a time, maybe. But not for more than a night. Or maybe a week or two.”
