Donna Kauffman – Walk On The Wild Side (страница 7)
Other than that, she’d had no contact with her family. But then, she hadn’t expected to. Neither Edwin nor Frances would give in. She was certain they were waiting for her to come crawling home so they could pass judgment on her immature decision. Well, they had a long wait coming.
“So, Nick hired you for the kitchen?” Andrea asked.
Marina shushed her sister, then turned to Sunny. “How long has it been?”
“A week. This is my first day off.”
“Hey,” Marina said, surprised. “A new world record. And you don’t even speak Italian. Do you?”
Sunny smiled. “I’m learning. Quickly.”
“I think I’m glad we barged in today.” Andrea rubbed her hands. “We never can get enough information to use against our big brother. But this is too good. One week with both Nick and Carlo. You’re either Wonder Woman or really desperate.”
Sunny knew Andrea was fishing for information, but she realized she didn’t mind. She’d spent too much of her life mingling with pretentious bores—admittedly her fault as much as her grandparents’, as she’d suffered them in silence. She’d only just met Nick’s sisters, but she knew without a doubt they’d never suffer through anything silently. Maybe she was mingling with the right people. The right people for her.
Marina crossed her legs. “So why work here?”
“It’s a long story, but once I walked in the door and met Mama Bennie, I knew it was right.”
“And after five minutes with Carlo?”
She laughed. “I was ready to quit. But only after committing homicide.”
The sisters laughed and nodded in complete understanding, and Sunny knew she’d made two new friends. Friends of her own choosing. It was a ridiculously big moment for her, and she almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
“So why aren’t we planning the wake?” Andrea asked.
She explained about her grandfather. Then added, “And Nick didn’t think I could handle it, so I had that to prove, too.” She shrugged at Marina’s questioning lift of an eyebrow. “I am human.”
“And female,” Andrea said, her expression considering.
Sunny knew where Andrea was headed. “Yes, well, he’s not hard on the eyes, that’s for sure. But I’m not here to prove anything in that direction.” So what if she’d caught him staring at her a few times, and it made things heat up in a way that had nothing to do with Italian cooking? She was on a mission to get a life, not a lover.
“Well, I still say you deserve some kind of award,” Andrea said.
Sunny smiled. “A paycheck will suffice.”
Marina grinned. “I think you’re going to be a welcome addition. The women in this family have been providing all the entertainment for far too long now. It’ll be fun being the audience for a change. Especially if you can give my big brother a run for his money. Do him good to learn all women don’t swoon at the sight of his good looks.” She studied Sunny again. “And you say you haven’t swooned, right?”
Sunny blushed. She couldn’t believe she was sitting almost naked in her own bed, talking to her new boss’s sisters—women she’d just met—about her sex life. Or lack of one. “I definitely understand how he’d have a high swoon factor. But after this past week, I think we can safely say we see each other as points to be proven and nothing else.”
Marina stood. “Well, the least you deserve is some rest.” She stopped Sunny’s protestation. “We’ve all done time in Nick’s kitchen. Trust me, sleep when you can.”
Andrea stood, as well. “We only have a few hours of reprieve, anyway. Rachel and B.J.’s husbands are watching the brood while we help Father Sartori with all the festival plans. And even double teaming them, you’d think we were asking them to sacrifice a kidney or something.”
“I’m pretty sure John would be first in the donation line, given a choice,” Marina joked. To Sunny, she added, “John is B.J.’s husband. He’s a great guy, but with little Angelina being their only child and barely a toddler, he’s still a bit terrified of children running in packs.”
“Of course, with B.J. at the end of her second trimester and expecting twins, we saw it as our duty to help him get over his fears,” Andrea added. “After all, in this family, he must be assimilated into the pack mentality if he hopes to survive.”
Sunny felt a pang of commiseration for John. She was only dealing with the two sisters, and it was all she could do to keep up. “Twins?”
“The first in the D’Angelo family.”
“John is still adapting to the idea,” Andrea added.
“Like he has a choice.” Marina laughed. “Come on, we’d better get going. Leaving all the festival plans to the good father is never wise. Remember last time we left him in charge? He had Mrs. Amato running the ticket booth.”
Andrea groaned. “She only speaks Italian, can’t make change worth a hoot, is mostly deaf and sings all the time. Loudly. Off-key.” She shuddered. “It was a nightmare. You’re right, we better get over there.”
Curiosity got the best of Sunny. “What festival are you helping with?”
“It’s a summertime tradition in the neighborhood. Lots of music and games and dancing. And food. Enough to feed a small nation. Which is essentially what our neighborhood is, anyway,” she said with a laugh. “It’s three weeks away, but there’s a ton still to do. D’Angelo’s has been one of the caterers for this festival since it started over thirty years ago. The whole neighborhood pitches in with the decorations and such. Sometimes I think all the planning leading up to it is the true social occasion.”
“With all the gossip going on, it’s a wonder anything gets done.” Andrea laughed.
“It sounds like a lot of fun,” Sunny said. And it did. Her social calendar had never included something as fun-sounding as this event. Quite the opposite.
Marina shuttled her sister out the bedroom door, but Andrea ducked her head back in. With a speculative gleam in her eye, she said, “We never turn down an extra pair of hands. Just ask Nick for directions. We’ll be there until mid-afternoon at least. Or as long as the kids last after they get dropped off.”
Marina nodded. “Hey, if you lasted a week in Nick’s kitchen, this will be a breeze.”
“Or send you screaming back to wherever you came from,” Andrea added with a laugh. “Come if you dare.”
“I don’t think I’m running anywhere just yet. Let me shower and get dressed and I’ll be there. If it’s okay. I’m not really a resident.”
Marina’s eyebrows rose, and she really looked like her brother. “You pay rent, do you not? This is your mailing address, is it not? We’re like a village here, made up of decades of immigrants.” She shrugged. “What can I say? We are more open-minded than our ancestors, perhaps, but we still stick together. Show us what you’re made of. You’ll get a fair shake.”
Andrea agreed. “You won’t know unless you try.”
Marina smiled. “I’ll give you some advice. Good gossip is a great way to get in.”
“I don’t have any gossip.”
“You have the story about how a blond-haired rich girl got hired by Nick D’Angelo, to work in Carlo’s kitchen, no less. That will get you in the door. Trust me.” She winked. “After that, it’s all up to you.”
“That is, if you still want to try after stepping into this madness,” Andrea warned as they headed out.
“Welcome to the neighborhood, Sunny,” Marina called, then the front door slammed shut.
Sunny flopped back in bed. She’d just survived Hurricane D’Angelo. She didn’t feel sleepy. In fact, she felt invigorated. Enough to go stand on your feet on your day off? She thought of the two women she’d just met, their vivacity and the natural energy that emanated from them. She wanted to be a part of that.
She’d wanted a life of her own choosing. Never in her wildest imagination would she have chosen this one. But somehow it had chosen her. And she found she liked it.
“Grandfather, if you could only see your little CEO now.”
5
SUNNY STOPPED in front of the office door, hesitating before knocking. She’d been hoping Mama Bennie would be around so she wouldn’t have to bug Nick for directions to Father Sartori’s. No such luck. She knocked.
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