“How’s work going?” Uncle Sal asked.

“Good. Good.”

“He’s been a huge help, Pop.” Thomas gave me a brief nod. “We really needed him. Hell, we still could use a few guys to help pick up the slack.”

“It’s always good to be in demand, son.”

I should’ve felt guilty about Friday night, but I didn’t. I didn’t regret a moment I’d spent with Race.

“Yeah. James and I are throwing around a couple names of people we could recruit to join us,” Thomas said as he put his feet up on the coffee table.

“Anyone I know?” Uncle Sal asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You do, but I don’t want to talk about work today. I’m still trying to convince James that he’s the right man for the job.”

“Oh. Sam?” he asked.

James mashed his hands together and gritted his teeth. “You know I hate him.”

Thomas looked over at James and grinned. “We’ve already been over this.”

“Have you talked to your mom today, Morgan?” Auntie Mar asked as she walked into the living room.

“Not today. Something happen?” I asked as my heart began to beat erratically.

“She said she’d be here by next weekend.” She smiled as she sat on the arm of the couch.

“Great,” I said in a quiet voice through closed teeth.

“You’re a horrible liar.” Auntie Mar hit me with the kitchen towel.

I sighed. “I love her, but the woman is so overbearing sometimes.”

“We’re mothers. We’re supposed to be.”

That was always the excuse my mother gave me. It was their job to be annoying and nosy as hell.

“But it would be nice if she could let go just a little.”

Aunt Mar laughed. “Never going to happen,” she said before she stood and headed back to the kitchen.

Joe nudged me with his elbow. “You just have to learn how to handle them.”

“Yep,” Mike agreed from the chair in the corner, nodding slowly.

“Pretend like you’re listening and learn to ignore her. That’s what I do with Ma.” Anthony pulled his wife, Max, into his lap.

“I can hear you!” Auntie Mar yelled from the kitchen.

“Ma isn’t that bad,” Thomas added.

All eyes turned to him.

“That’s because you were gone so long. If it weren’t for that, you’d get the same bullshit we all do,” Joe said quietly as his eyes darted toward the kitchen.

“Oh, please. She just loves us.” Thomas puffed his chest out.

“Lies. All lies,” Izzy said as she slid between James’s legs on the floor.

I felt envious of the Gallos.

They had each other.

I’d been alone my entire life, with no brothers or sister to tease or have my back. I missed my ma, but I’d never admit it. And if I was being entirely truthful, I wished Race were here with me.

“What’s wrong?” Joe asked.

I blinked a couple of times and focused on him. “Me?” I asked, scrunching my nose.

“Yeah, you.”

“Nothing, man.”

“Something’s on your mind, cousin. Spit it out,” Joe said, running his finger across his lip.

I sighed and scrubbed my hands across my face. “Just thinking about how lucky you are to have each other.”

“Dude, it must’ve sucked being an only child,” Mike chimed in, shaking his head as he winced.

I shrugged. “At times, it was great. I didn’t have to share shit with anyone, but then at other times…”

“Yeah. It has to be lonely,” Mike said.

“I call bullshit. I’d love to be an only child,” Izzy blurted out. “I’d want all the attention. Plus, I wouldn’t have had to put up with your asses my entire life.”

“Izzy,” Anthony said as he gave her a nasty look, “please stop with your crap. You’ve been treated like an only child for years. You’re a girl, and that’s afforded you a pretty charmed existence.”

“That’s such a crock of crap.” She rolled her eyes.

In the other room, the older kids played in the new playroom Auntie Mar had made for them. The Gallos were creating a small army. Izzy had twin boys about six months before her wedding and named them Rocco and Carmello, but everyone called him Mello. Thomas and Angel had a little boy, Nick, who was just learning to walk. Anthony, Joe, and Mike each had little girls named Tamara, Gigi, and Lily respectively.

“I better go get Nick up so he’s ready to eat, baby,” Angel said to Thomas before kissing him on the cheek and heading upstairs.

“James,” Izzy said, glancing at him.

“What?”

“I need help carrying those two beasts you helped create.” Izzy stood and put her hands on her hips.

“I got ya. I’ll get them both, love. You rest.” He pulled her back down onto the floor and nuzzled his face into her neck. “I love waking the boys up,” he mumbled against her skin.

“Nah. I want to help you,” she said with a giggle as she climbed to her feet and pulled James with her.

The living room thinned quickly. I took it as a cue to go see if Auntie Mar needed any help. The least I could do was pitch in, since she had been gracious enough to invite me.

“Hey, Auntie Mar.” I walked into the kitchen, finding her spooning the meatballs into a giant bowl. “Let me help you.”

“You’re such a dear, Morgan.” She turned and gave me a magnificent smile. “Can you finish this while I get the gnocchi ready?”

“Hell yeah,” I replied, because gnocchi were my favorite. Shit sat in my stomach like a ton of bricks, but it was amazingly soft.

She handed me the spoon. “You’re really a good man. You’ve changed so much since you were a teenager.”

“I hope so. I was a punk back then.”

“We all have to grow up sometime. You just took the harder road.” She bent over and pulled a strainer that could fit at least three pounds of pasta in it without a problem out of the cupboard.

“Joining the army was the best thing for me. My mom would disagree, but I don’t know if I’d be alive today if it weren’t for them.”

She placed the strainer in the sink and turned toward me. “Morgan,” she said, placing her hand on my shoulder, “your mom knows it was the best thing for you. She just likes to complain. Plus,” she added as she turned her attention back to the pasta, “it’s the job of a mother to make her children feel guilty.” She was surrounded by a cloud of steam as she dumped the boiling water and pasta into the sink.

I dropped the last meatball in the bowl and watched as she shook the water out of the pasta. “You’re all crazy.”

“We’d be boring if we weren’t. Be a dear and go set those meatballs on the dining room table. We’re just about done here.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I teased, saluting her.

“Smartass. You’re all the same.”

“Touché, Aunt Mar.” I wished I had used a potholder to carry the damn bowl.

For the first time in forever, I felt like I had a family again. I belonged somewhere. Although they were my cousins, I loved them like we were more. We’d spent our youth together, tearing shit up and causing trouble in the neighborhood.

That was until Joe and I had gotten into just enough trouble to make Auntie Mar and Uncle Sal pack the kids up and leave town. It was the worst feeling ever.

I stared around the dining room table, looking at each of the chairs, and said to myself, “I’m a lucky son of a bitch.” I left out the bit about Race.

Just then, Aunt Mar yelled, “Dinner!” as she carried the gnocchi into the dining room with the potholders I’d decided not to use.

“Thanks,” I said as I turned to her.

“For what?” she asked as she set the bowl on the table.

“For being my family,” I replied, and then I gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Who knew you were such a softy, Morgan?”

“This doesn’t go any further. Got me?”

“Too late,” Joe said as he walked in the room. “I’m going to buy your ass a purse to carry around all those feelings in.”

“Don’t you start, Joseph,” Aunt Mar warned him. “You aren’t as tough as you look, son. People in glass houses—”

“Yeah, yeah,” he interrupted. “I got ya.”

“What did I miss?” Izzy asked as she walked in behind Suzy, carrying Mello. Or maybe it was Rocco. I couldn’t tell them apart yet.

“Nothing, Izzy. Let’s eat,” Joe said as he pulled the chair out for his wife.

One by one, everyone entered the dining room, taking their spots at the table. Even I had my own chair. I was a full-fledged member of the family.

This time, I wouldn’t do anything to fuck it up.