Frank looked flabbergasted. He cleared his throat. “I see.” He nodded at Grace. “I’ll give your mom a call.” He didn’t even glance at Sal, before spinning around and walking to the driver’s side of the car.

Sal didn’t wait for him to leave before heading back inside, holding Grace’s hand in his. Some of the busboys stood just inside the door. “It’s cool guys, get back to work.” They all walked back toward the kitchen. As soon as he locked the door, he turned to her, his eyes still on fire. “Why didn’t you just tell him the truth?”

Grace gulped. The intensity practically radiated off him and though it unnerved her, she stood her ground. “I just wanted to get rid of him as fast as I could, and let my mom do the rest. It’s her fault—let her deal with it.” Remembering how she felt when Melissa showed up wanting to see Sal, and how Sal had told her already that he was seeing someone, softened her. He had every right to be angry that she’d even consider going out with Frank, even one last time. She brought her hand to his face, caressing his cheek, and he leaned into it. “Don’t be mad. Please? I promise to set my mom straight as soon as I get a chance to talk to her.”

Her pulled her too his chest, hugging her tight, and she felt how hard his heart pounded. “Well, I set him straight already so if his ass ever shows up here again, he’ll be answering to me. I thought you said your step-dad got the job already. Why is your mom still asking you to entertain this guy?”

“I don’t know. He owns a hotel casino in Laughlin, and I guess she wants to stay in his good graces. Guess she thinks he might come in handy someday.”

Grace was so furious with her mom, especially because she knew her mom didn’t give up that easily. She’d seen Sal’s attempts to hide his contempt for her mother whenever Grace spoke of her. He didn’t even try hiding the disgust now. She could only hope Frank had enough sense to listen to Sal and not her mother.

~*~

That night, after spending another incredible evening with Sal in his backyard, he dropped her off late again. Only this time, her mom was waiting up. She’d texted Grace earlier, but after Sal had calmed down about Frank. She dared not even read another one of her mother’s texts for fear that he might ask her about it. She could only imagine what her mother would be texting her after talking with Frank.

Her mother sat slumped at the table in what was beginning to feel like an increasingly small kitchen. Spending so much time in Sal’s huge house made her realize how small this place really was.

“Who did you get to scare Frank off?”

“My boyfriend.” It felt so odd saying it out loud.

“Your boyfriend?” Her mother sat up straight. “Since when do you have a boyfriend?”

“Since last week. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to you all week.”

“Who is he?”

“His name is Sal Moreno.”

She literally saw the cha-ching go off in her mother’s brightened eyes. “Is he the owner of Moreno’s?”

“One of them. His family owns it. His parents are retired and he and his brothers have taken over.”

“I’ve heard a lot about Moreno’s. My girlfriends go there often for Sunday brunch. I didn’t realize you were involved with one of the brothers. I heard they’re all very good looking. How many are there?” It seemed her mother had suddenly forgotten all about Frank.

“Three. He wasn’t happy about Frank showing up there, mom. You can’t do that anymore.”

Her mother frowned. “I know. He told me. I didn’t know what to say. I thought maybe you just put up one of your co-workers to make him go away because you were being stubborn. I felt so bad that I invited him over tomorrow for lunch.”

Grace let out an exasperated sigh, then remembered and smiled. “I won’t be here.” She started to her room done talking to her mom.

“I thought you said Saturday was your day off this week?”

“It is. But I have a baby shower to go to. I’ll be gone all day.” She needed to get to bed. She was looking at a long day tomorrow. She’d made plans to have breakfast with Taylor and Joey, since they were both whining about being abandoned ever since she started seeing Sal. She’d kill two birds with one stone because while they were out she could pick up a gift for the shower.

~*~

Since Alex refused to take the babies out yet, even though they’d been cleared by the doctors to leave the hospital and were home now, the shower was being held at Alex’s home. As usual, his parents had gone overboard. When it came to throwing parties, their mother was insatiable. Nothing was ever too much.

Sal spent the entire morning helping get things together. He felt bad that they’d all gone over to help start setting things up last night and he’d chosen to spend another evening alone with Grace instead, so he’d headed to Alex’s early that morning.

The place was a madhouse already, as was usually the case the morning of any Moreno family party. Alex’s covered deck was big enough, but his mom still insisted on adding a huge canopy over the pool area to allow for extra tables and chairs around it, which only meant one thing—she’d invited everyone. He was surprised only a handful of family members from Mexico were there, but the day was still young.

He walked over to where Alex was setting up a popcorn machine. Next to it was a cotton candy machine. Alex frowned when he saw him. “Can you believe this shit?”