“I think so.”
“You’ll do great. I’m pretty certain the family will love you,” Leo teased.
Yes, the Travati family did love her. She just hoped that her best friend didn’t hate her after her arrival today on Leo’s arm, for not telling her the truth.
The elevator doors slid open into Aubrey and Justin’s home. Max walked by, carrying a tray of crudités, on his way to the living room, where Anthony and Justin yelled at the TV screen. Gwen guessed basketball, since football season was over.
“Hey, Uncle Leo. Going public, huh?” A smile crossed Max’s face. “I thought I saw a little something going on at New Year’s.”
Aubrey’s face flamed, and she pulled her coat tighter around her body.
“Funny, Max.” Leo punched him in the shoulder. “Where’s your mom?”
“She’s in the kitchen. The doctor said last week he’ll probably take her off bed rest when she goes in on Monday, so some sitting up now probably won’t hurt her. Said if she went into labor now, no worries.” Max leaned toward them and lowered his voice. “Gotta say, it’s pretty awesome. Except for yesterday with the party, she’s been really cranky. I’d love to lay around all day, but it seems to make Mom crazy.”
“Where’s the food?” Anthony bellowed from the living room.
“Coming,” Max yelled and rolled his eyes. “See you guys in a bit. Good luck.” Max vanished into the living room.
“That kid’s too smart for sixteen.” Leo took Gwen’s coat and put both his and hers in the closet. He threaded his fingers through Gwen’s, squeezed, smiled, and they walked hand in hand through the dining room and toward the kitchen. “Figured we should get this over with quickly.”
Gwen wished he’d chosen different words. Over with quickly. Jeez, she felt like she was marching to the guillotine, and all they were doing was telling her closest friend and Leo’s family that they were dating. She turned the corner into the kitchen. Aubrey sat on a stool at the stove, her back to them, and Nina chopped peppers at the counter. Shelly carried a cup of coffee and a plate of cookies to the kitchen table where her grandmother sat.
“Hey,” Nina said, her eyes lighting up. “Leo, so where’s the lucky lady? We’ve been taking bets on—” Her words halted as she saw Leo and Gwen’s clasped hands. To Nina’s credit, her smile froze onto her face, instead of twisting into a frown.
“Yes, where is she?” Aubrey turned on perch, her belly so very huge. She swept a loose curl from her forehead. She glanced from Leo to Gwen. “You didn’t bring her? Did you bump into Gwen in the elevator?”
“Ahhmm.” Nina cleared her throat and sidled over to Aubrey, dropping her gaze again pointedly to Gwen and Leo’s clasped hands.
“Ha, very funny,” Aubrey said, smiling. “What? The woman you’ve been dating bailed, so you made Gwen pretend?” Aubrey caught Gwen’s eyes and laughed. “What’d he offer you? Reduced rent on office space?”
Gwen couldn’t swallow. She couldn’t speak. Her heart hammered an erratic beat against her ribs. Oh no. This was going to be bad. Very bad.
“We’re not pretending.” Leo wrapped both arms around Gwen so she stood in front of him facing Aubrey and Nina. “Gwen is the woman I’ve been seeing.”
The smile slid from Aubrey’s face like melted ice cream dripping down a cone. She stared at Leo’s arms, holding Gwen close. Her expression glazed over, as though she couldn’t quite process what she saw or what she’d just heard.
“Hey Aubs, you got any more of that spinach artichoke dip?” Justin rounded the corner and pulled up short. “Hey Leo, did you bring the girl?”
“I did.” Leo turned, moving Gwen with him. Justin’s head jerked back and tilted to the side. “Uhhh…wow. Seriously?” His gaze flashed from Aubrey and back to Gwen.
Gwen fought the urge to cry. This wasn’t going as bad as she’d expected—oh no, this was worse, way worse. Nobody was even trying to hide their looks of utter shock. My goodness, how much did everyone not want her to date Leo?
“This is”—he walked toward Aubrey and put his arm around her—“this is a big surprise. Right?” He looked from Aubrey to Nina and over to Shelly. “I mean I’m not the only one who didn’t know, right? This is a surprise for everyone?”
“Not for me,” Mrs. Bello chimed in from the kitchen table. “I’ve suspected this for a while now. You people couldn’t see how these two have looked at each other for months now?”