Third Time's the Charm: a small town second chance sports romance (Calusa Key Book 4) by Alexis Anne

Author:Alexis Anne [Anne, Alexis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spinning Compass
Published: 2020-12-07T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 8

My pet manatee

Jack

I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or upset that Antonio was Pop’s complete opposite. Dad was tall and dorky and so very white. The whitest white dude you’ll ever meet. He was so strait-laced people thought he didn’t have a sense of humor, but he had one of those quiet super dry senses of humor that tended to hit you like a truck out of the blue. One minute you were in a serious conversation. The next, you were in tears, laughing.

Antonio was smooth. His accent seemed to be part of his personality. He had style and loved to talk about food. All in all, I liked the man.

“You’re staring at him,” Zoe whispered in my ear.

I leaned closer to her. “I’m not staring. I’m studying.”

“Well your ‘studying’ is reaching creepy levels.”

Okay fine. I guess it was time to back off. “The roast is delicious, Ma.” I held up my mojito in toast of yet another fine meal.

“Yes,” Antonio agreed, holding up his own glass. “This pork is like butter on the tongue. A true gift.”

Mom blushed. Blushed! “It’s more tradition than gift. Really.”

Oy. I was so over Ma always deflecting comments.

“I genuinely wish you’d stop being so modest,” Antonio said.

I think every one of us stared at him because he said exactly what we all used to say before we gave up.

“It’s just...how can I take credit for something generations of my family worked on and perfected? This isn’t my recipe. It’s my family’s.”

Antonio shook his head and gently placed his hand on Mom’s. “Bernice, my love. All recipes are built on the backs of others. I don’t take less credit for my work simply because my father and mother were my first teachers. I honor them, yes, but the food I create with my hands is mine. This meal is yours. Take credit for it.”

Ma blinked at him a few times, her blush deepening. I traded a shocked glance with Erik and Roberto, and shrugged. This guy wasn’t Pop, but he sure was who Ma needed today.

We had so many people in the house there was an actual kids table this year. Which was kind of crazy. It felt like just yesterday I was at the kids table. And now we were all the adults, having the kids who now sat at the little table. Man, oh man. Elena had two, Roberto had two, Ana was pregnant, and Nacho was talking about having kids soon. There was about to be an explosion of Cassidys.

And that made me a little sad. Berlin and I never got around to having kids, which was a good thing considering how we exploded, but in the back of my mind, we’d have kids at that table too. It felt like there was a space there, waiting to be filled.

“Look at Jack. All deep in thought,” Ana teased me. “Has your heart grown three sizes this year?”

Damn. My siblings were harsh. But they weren’t wrong. I was selfish and living on a mountain of my own making.

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