Mrs. Salvatore leaned forward against the counter, her soft hair sweeping across her cheek. “What did you do?”

Sophia shrugged and bit into a carrot stick. “I kept playing. It seemed like the best thing to do, you know? What’s another bare ass”

Sophia’s Fridays at work, whether they happened at one of her DJ gigs or at her second job, were way more interesting than mine. You could hardly call my computer crashing or the break room running out of coffee exciting.

Reading my mind, Mrs. Salvatore turned her brown eyes on mine. “And how is your job, Paige? Are you enjoying working for Victor?”

I sat up a little straighter on the stool. “Yes. Very much.”

“Paige likes to stay busy,” Sophia offered.

I murmured an agreement. “It’s good to have a regular job after temping for so long. It helps stop me from going crazy.”

Mrs. Salvatore gave the counter a quick rap with her nails. “I understand that all too well. I think I’ve come close to redecorating this house three times in the last year.”

“It’s beautiful,” I told her. “Amazing.”

“Yeah,” Sophia agreed, her eyes roving towards the window. Past the back patio with a fire pit, a covered pool sat waiting for summer, and beyond that a hot tub. There was even a tiny building that housed an outdoor kitchen, its two open sides shuttered for the winter.

I sighed to think of summer in that back yard. Between the pool, the blender, and the ample sunning space, there seemed to be no reason to ever leave the spot.

“Do you have a boyfriend, Sophia?” Mrs. Salvatore asked.

“Nu-uh. I can’t handle that right now. My career is pretty all encompassing at this point. Plus Paige and Angelo’s relationship has me covered. Just hearing about it all the time is enough, you know?”

I stuck out my tongue at her and she blew a kiss my way.

Female voices came from a room nearby. I turned around in my stool just in time to see Mariel and a tall, brown haired girl emerge in the doorway.

“Hello,” the girl said simply, her eyes grazing across the three of us in one quick swoop. She had one of those faces that was impossible to put an exact age on. She could have been anywhere from eighteen to thirty.

“Where have you been?” Mrs. Salvatore asked.

The girl ignored her and looked pointedly at me and Sophia.

“Lia,” Mrs. Salvatore said, “You remember Paige and Sophia?”

Her eyes flicked up and down my body. “Yeah.”

Lia was a woman of few words.

“How’s it going?” Soph asked her.

“Good,” she nodded. “It’s been a while.”

Mariel patted Lia on the shoulder and went to the fridge. “Mr. Salvatore needs ice,” she explained to no one in particular.

Lia squinted her eyes at Sophia. “I have a faint memory of TPing someone’s car… Were you there?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sophia replied. “Mr. Stanley’s. He was our eighth-grade math teacher.”

“That’s right! God, he was a prick.”

Sophia chuckled. “He was cute though.”

“That must have been the second reason we did it. Who else was there?”

“Amber, I think… And Brooke Melton.”

I looked down at my hands. I had no recollection of this event. Probably not because I’d repressed the memory. Probably because I was too much of a Goody Two-Shoes at that age to even think of committing such a heinous crime.

Or what I would have considered to be a heinous crime at the time.

No, I probably spent the night at home reading or drawing comics in my room.

“Where is everyone?” Lia asked her mother.

“They took off somewhere,” she answered with a shrug. “Oh, did you cut your hair?”

Lia briefly touched the shoulder length waves. “Yeah, like six inches. You didn’t notice?”

“It’s not that different.”

Lia’s lips pursed slightly.

Sophia spoke up. “I like the bangs. They’re kind of seventies style.”

“Thanks, Sophia,” she pointedly replied.

Thundering footsteps beat down the hallway. Franko and Tre jogged into the kitchen, both of them going so fast they nearly bumped into the island.

“Aw, it’s Lia!” Franko whooped in exaggeration. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground. She beat against his shoulder.

“Put me down! You two sound like a herd of elephants.”

Franko complied. Lia straightened her top and brushed hair from her face.

“How’s it going, Lia?” Tre asked, taking a small step backwards.

“Fine,” she answered, turning away and headed for the fridge.

“We playing football yet?” Franko asked the room.

I exchanged a glance with Sophia. She shrugged. “I’m in.”

“I’ll probably fall flat on my ass,” I explained. “But I’m down for giving it a go.”

Over at the fridge, Lia snickered. I glanced over at her, but she busied herself with opening a bottle of water.

Was I just imagining it, or did Lia seem less than thrilled to find me at her parents’ house?

But no. That couldn’t be. She didn’t even know me. Not really.

Sure, we’d known each other years ago, but I still didn’t remember any of that. If I’d had to guess, I probably was the third wheel whenever she and Sophia got together to hang out.

So maybe something that happened when we were teens put her off.

But that didn’t seem enough reason to hold a grudge into adulthood.

My stomach twisted. I watched the easygoing trip I’d gotten to believe in for about twenty minutes head right down the drain.

Numb, I followed the group down the hall.

Angelo waited in the foyer, mine and his coats in his arms. The bright smile on his face drew me in and comforted me instantly. A secure and reliable blanket, one that blocked out the world, made the noise outside muffle. That’s what he was to me.

“They’re playing football,” he explained.

“Yeah, I heard.”

“Are you joining?”

“Sure.” I took my coat from his hand.

“You might get too hot for this after a few minutes, but I thought I’d grab it anyway.”

“Thanks,” I smiled up at him.

Out of the corner of my eye, Lia stared. I turned to look at her but she’d already turned her back and begun walking away.

Angelo wrapped his arm around my shoulder and lead me through the foyer and across some kind of small sitting room, then through a back door.

We crossed the edge of the patio, walked past the covered pool, and ended up in a grassy area beneath some tall trees. ‘Grassy’ being a loose term, since anything once green on the ground died months ago. Not far off, a tall iron fence signaled the end of the property. Through another line of trees hints of another house were just visible. I started to turn away but stopped when I noticed the security camera mounted on the fence.

Sliding my eyes towards the other end of the yard, I spotted another one.

Again: Just when I’d conveniently forgotten about the big-time Mafia family my boyfriend came from...

Franko explained the rules of the game, ones which barely made sense, then split everyone into two groups. As Tre played college football, he counted as two people.

I went where I was told to, ran where it seemed I needed to, and even managed to evade capture for a few seconds the one time I had the ball.

Surprisingly, the game that at first seemed so boring turned out to be loads of fun. Mrs. Salvatore, delicate though she looked, was a badass on the field. Having her on my team became a plus.

It was probably a good that Franko declared the game over when he did. I was panting and perspiring underneath my sweater. Bits of hair stuck to my face and I probably looked a mess, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t wheezing.

Angelo came over from the other team and planted a kiss on my lips. “Sorry to have to beat you.”

I shrugged as he looped his arm over my shoulder. “All’s fair in love and war, right?”

His mouth dropped to right next to my ear. “I’ll let you win at something else later tonight.”

A wonderful shiver went down my back.

Mrs. Salvatore checked her wrist watch. “Dinner is in twenty minutes.”

We all tramped across the yard. I glanced surreptitiously around, thinking Lia might still be watching me.

Instead, though, she ran past me and Angelo and jumped onto Franko’s back. He wailed and tried to shake her off. Refusing to go, she locked her arms and legs around him.

“Carry me back to the house!” she demanded.

“I’ll dump you in the pool, that’s what I’ll do.”

Nearby, Tre watched with what seemed like a look of longing on his face. He had it bad for Lia.

“Huh,” I said out loud.

“What?” Angelo questioned.

I quickly shook my head and gave his waist a squeeze. “Nothing. I just can’t believe how hungry football made me.”