Bachelor at the Wedding by Kate Little

Author:Kate Little
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2006-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Matt glanced at her and then back to her mother.

“Well…something does smell awfully good.”

“It’s just linguine with white clam sauce to start…and a little shrimp scampi for the entree. Oh, and some sauteéd escarole. Nothing fancy,” her mother said. “Do you like seafood?”

Stephanie glared at him but he carefully avoided making eye contact.

“I love it,” he said sincerely.

“Then you got to stay. Fran makes the best clam sauce you ever tasted. Fresh clams, too. None of that canned stuff around here.”

“Dominic, please. Don’t be bragging about my cooking, you embarrass me.”

“Embarrass you? What are you talking about?” Stephanie’s father turned back to Matt, his expression doubly sincere. “My right hand to God. She’s some cook…ask anybody. That’s one thing a young man doesn’t think about much when he gets married, but later…well, it matters, believe me.”

Matt thoughtfully chewed a slice of pepperoni, nodding at her father’s sage advice.

“So…you married, Matt?”

The pepperoni seemed to ball up in his throat and his eyes bugged out slightly. He swallowed hard.

“Uh, no….” He coughed, covering his mouth with the napkin. “Not at the present.”

Her father looked shocked a minute by the answer, then suddenly laughed. “Not at the present time. That’s a good one!” He laughed again and took another sip of wine. “I love it. Not at the present,” he repeated again. “Me, I was born married,” he confided with mock seriousness. “Fran and me raised five girls.” He held out his wide, work-gnarled hand, spreading the fingers. “Five… Count ’em.” He shook his head.

“They’re all grown up now, and three down and two to go. Married, I mean. Angie, the baby, she’ll be married next weekend,” he added proudly. “That just leaves Stephanie. But her time will come,” he added with a loving sigh. “She’s the career girl. The fussy one.”

“She’s just waiting for the right man, that’s all,” her mother chimed in.

“Of course she is.” Matt glanced at Stephanie. She couldn’t meet his gaze. She didn’t know if she wanted to scream…or cry.

Her father hadn’t meant to mortify her. But everyone in her family tended to talk too much, especially once the bottle of Chianti came out. It didn’t take long for a complete stranger to learn more than they ever wanted to know about the Rossis. All you had to do was sit in the living room and eat antipasto.

Stephanie sank deeper into the gold brocade couch, wishing the couch would just swallow her up whole.

“Stephanie, you set an extra place for your boss,” her mother said. “I’m going to see if the water’s boiling yet for the pasta.”

Stephanie stood up and smoothed out her skirt, glad for an excuse to leave the room. Just as she headed for the kitchen, the front door flew open and she heard the rustling sounds of someone coming from the rain.

“Hey, anybody home?” her sister Angie called out. “Geez, it’s wet out there. I sure hope to heck it doesn’t rain like this on my wedding.”

The remark made Stephanie smile as she walked out to greet her baby sister.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.