Still, he shot his mother a warning look that she pretended not to notice.
To his right, the elevator doors slid open, and a child’s squeal pierced the air. His seven-year-old niece, Sadie, burst out of the car like a thoroughbred at Monmouth Park, ignoring her mother’s command to slow down, and tore off in his direction. Dark-haired with olive skin, a slender build, and classic Italian features, she looked just like her mother had at that age. The Pinto genes were strong.
He dropped to a crouch, scooped the girl up, and spun her in the air. “Christ, you got big. What’s your mom been feeding you?”
The little girl giggled, while her mother said, “Everything. She’s eating me out of house and home.”
Pinto set Sadie down and gave his sister a hug that briefly lifted her off the ground as well. She’d lost weight since the last time he did this. “You look great, sis.”
Stephanie scoffed in true New Jersey fashion. “You always were such a suck-up.”
At thirty-one, she was younger than Pinto, the oldest girl, and third in the overall pecking order. Growing up, she’d been the responsible one, though she’d scandalized his Catholic family by getting divorced six years after her daughter was born. Personally, he thought it was the best decision she’d ever made. Her ex was an ass.
“I only suck up to Nonna.” Pinto ruffled her hair, and she playfully batted his arm.
His sister turned her attention to Fiona. “And you must be the unfortunate woman who puts up with my brother. I’m Stephanie, and this is my daughter Sadie. I was hoping my brother would introduce us, but apparently he’s forgotten his manners.”
“I’m Fiona.” She smiled. “It’s nice to meet you both.”
“Sheesh, if you’d given me a second, I would have done it. Way to throw your big brother under the bus.” He wrapped an arm around Fiona’s shoulders. “See what I had to put up with growing up? No wonder I moved a thousand miles away.”
“And they say women are drama queens.” Stephanie shook her head. “Come on, let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.”
They ended up at a Tex-Mex restaurant less than a mile from the hotel. Luckily, with the dinner hour winding down, the wait to be seated wasn’t long. The hostess led them to a table in the outdoor dining area, handed out menus, and told them the waitress would be with them shortly.
“Are the fajitas good here?” Stephanie asked as she opened the menu.
“Beats me,” Pinto said. “I’ve heard this place is good, but I’ve never eaten here before.”
Like many of the locals, he treated the tourist areas as if they were radioactive. Too many people, too much congestion. Everything was overpriced. It wasn’t worth an hour’s drive when he could find anything he wanted closer to home for a lot less money.
Fiona glanced up from her menu. “The steak fajitas were delicious the last time I was here. And if you’re in the mood for something spicy, I recommend the chicken diablo.”
“Cool.” Stephanie gave Fiona a smile, and some of the tension in Pinto’s muscles relaxed. With the exception of her asshole ex-husband, his sister was a good judge of character, and it pleased him to know she liked Fiona.
His mother, on the other hand, kept eyeing Fiona with the same level of scrutiny typically reserved for people selling timeshares, which meant he wasn’t out of the woods yet.
“Did you have a good day at the parks?” Pinto asked nobody in particular. When it came to his family, his strategy for conversation was simple: keep asking questions—open-ended if possible—because the more they talked about themselves, the fewer opportunities they had to pry into his personal business.
As expected, Sadie launched into an animated recap of the day’s events, from the moment they walked through the gates of the Magic Kingdom to the moment she’d seen Pinto as the elevator doors opened in the hotel lobby. Head bobbing, hands wildly gesturing, and voice pitched with excitement, the little girl practically vibrated with energy, an amazing feat, considering she’d spent the entire day exploring the theme park. When she finally crashed—probably once she had a belly full of food—it was going to be epic.
“What was your favorite ride?” Fiona asked her.
“The Jungle Cruise—no, wait—Pirates of the Caribbean! It had Jack Sparrow and everything! We were going to ride it again, but the line was too long, and Mommy said we can try again tomorrow. Right, Mommy?”
“That’s right, sweetheart.” Stephanie gave her daughter a tired smile. Chasing a kid around Disney all day had to be exhausting. “Now that we know which rides you like the best, we’ll hit those first thing in the morning before it gets crowded.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me.” Pinto gave his niece a smile. The worst part about living in Florida was being so far away from this kid. “If you see Goofy, give him a hug for me, will you?”
The waiter arrived with chips and salsa, gave a quick rundown of the night’s specials, and took everyone’s drink orders.
“I almost forgot to tell you,” his mother said after the waiter left. “I saw Gina at the supermarket last week. She looked really good.”
Every muscle in Pinto’s body tensed. He had a sinking feeling about where she was going with this. “That’s nice.”
“She asked about you.”
Yep, that was exactly where he thought she was going. No way in hell was he going there with her. “Ma…”
