11 A Friend of the Family

I go straight to my room to take a shower, I then put on a hoodie and a pair of skinny jeans and head to the dining room for dinner. 

“Olivia! How are you? I haven’t seen you all weekend, I was afraid you were going to miss tonight’s dinner too.”

The voice of my cousin Mike startles me as I walk in the dining room. I find him sitting at the table giving me a big kind smile as always. I totally forgot he’d be here. Mike works for my dad, he manages some of the flower shops outside the city and he comes the last weekend of every month to give my dad a report on how business is doing. I ignore why he doesn’t just email or give the updates via phone, but this is something that’s been happening for many years now. He spends the whole weekend with us and it used to be a visit we looked forward to because Mike is such a charming man, but then he got married to Roxana, who he brings along and who is probably the most annoying woman alive, so now I hate it every time he’s here. I’m glad I missed them last night, this means I only have to endure them for today and then they’ll be gone.

“Hey, Mike! Sorry, I was out. It slipped my mind you were here. Hi, everybody,” I greet as I take my seat.

My dad’s reading something on his IPad, he lifts his eyes for a second to look at me and then back at the screen, uninterested by my presence. My mom, on the contrary, is giving me a resentful glare. What’s her problem? What did I do wrong?

“So how’s your friend Miranda. What did you gals do last night?” Roxana asks with her high pitched voice.  

I hesitate for a second, not sure what to reply. I know my dad knows where I was last night, but after all this time of me being prohibited from dating, it feels weird to say out loud I was with a guy. 

“I wasn’t with Miranda,” I say reluctantly. 

Roxana raises her eyebrows with surprise. I get it, Miranda is the only friend my parents approve of. 

“So... where were you last night?” She asks intrigued.

My mom sighs loudly and shakes her head, something is definitely bothering her.

“She was with a friend of the family,” my dad answers curtly for me. 

I stare at my dad, baffled. A friend of the family? Stefan’s just an intruder, another of his many employees. When did he become a friend of the family?

“What friend?” Mike and Roxana ask in unison. 

Roxana looks eager for gossip, but Mike’s expression is different. He seems alert like he’s afraid of getting bad news. 

“A friend,” says my dad gesturing them with his hand to leave him alone. “Olivia, Stefan is a valuable guy. Be good to him.” My dad warns me.

I have to pinch myself because I can’t believe what I just heard. Did my dad just tell me to be good to Stefan? The man who almost shoots a guy for kissing me is now encouraging me to be good to an intruder? 

My mom gets up and leaves the room, fuming. Mike, Roxana, and I watch her go and then our eyes go straight back to my dad. 

“Stefan? As in Stefan Corvino?” Mike grumbles with contempt.

“Yes,” My dad answers in a challenging tone as if he’s daring Mike to reply back.  

I look at them narrowing my eyes. What’s the problem? Why is my mom angry? And why does Mike say Stefan’s name as if it’s a dirty word?

“So Olivia finally has a boyfriend?” Roxana says maliciously. 

“Shut up, Rox,” Mike orders rudely. 

I look at him surprised, I’ve never heard him be rude to his wife before. Roxana gazes at him unsure of how to react, she probably doesn’t want to make a scene in front of us, but she’s definitely hurt.

After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Mike speaks again, this time he uses his usual kind and lighthearted tone.   

“So... Olivia, I was thinking that maybe Rox could help you and your mom with the planning of the Ricci’s annual gathering. If that’s ok with you.”

“Yes, of course. It would be nice to have extra help,” I lie. 

I can’t think of anything worse than planning an event with Roxana and I’m sure my mom would think the same if she was here. The Ricci’s annual gathering is an event my dad hosts every year for the family, all of our relatives come from every corner of the country (and some from abroad) to spend a weekend together. The planning is exhausting, but my mom and I have become very good at it, we don’t need Roxana and her annoying opinions disrupting our tradition. Besides, the planning is going to be hard enough as it is since it’s the first time we host the event since Alex died, we canceled last year and I thought we would do the same this time, but my dad insisted on resuming the tradition for this year. We don’t need to add Roxana to the list of stressful factors. 

“Good, because I have a lot of great ideas!” Roxana exclaims in a better mood. “Later I’ll send you some photos of an outdoor buffet I saw...”

“You can just show me now. I don’t have my phone with me,” I say already annoyed by her. 

“What do you mean you don’t have your phone? Where is it? I just bought it for you two months ago,” My father complains. 

Now I’m twice as irritated. My dad’s the reason I have to keep my phone turned off. 

“I left it in the office.” I lie. 

“Office? You have a job now?” Mike asks and I nod apathetically.

“Why?” Roxana inquires with a disgusted look on her face. “You’re rich, you don’t need to work.”

“Yes, I know,” I shrug.

“It makes her happy,” my dad explains. 

I give him a discreet smile and he gives me one back. 

We spend the rest of the dinner eating in silence. I appreciate it since I have a million questions swirling in my mind. 

As soon as we are done, I go up to my mom’s room. I want to know what’s wrong, why did she get so mad during dinner. But she’s already asleep. She probably took one of those sleeping pills she’s so fond of.

Mike and Roxana leave shortly after dinner. My dad is in his office and my mom is knocked out, so I'm the only one left to see them off. I wave from the front door as they drive away and almost simultaneously as they go, I see Stefan’s blue BMW approaching the house. My first instinct is to hide because I’m not wearing any makeup and my clothes are not cute, but it’s too late now, he’s already parking. Why is he back? He gets out of his car and walks towards me. He’s carrying a brown paper bag. 

“I didn’t expect to see you again today,” I say with a shy smile. 

He encloses me in his arms and kisses me passionately. 

“I missed you,” He says a few inches away from my face. “And also, I brought you this.” 

He hands me the paper bag.

“What’s this?” I ask. Does his first gift to me really come in a brown paper bag? 

“What you wanted,” he replies.

I open the bag and find a morning-after pill, a case with birth control pills, and a candy bar.

“Oh!” I exclaim with surprise. I was planning to go to a pharmacy before work tomorrow, I forgot he told me he was going to get the emergency pill for me, and not just that, but he got me contraceptives for a whole month. I guess this proves the whole let’s get married thing it’s nothing but a sham, but I refrain from mentioning it because I don’t want him to think I felt for his lies. “How did you get this?” I ask waving the pill case in the air. 

“I’m good friends with a doctor,” He replies. “I thought you’d be pleased.” 

“I am. Thank you,” I take out the candy bar. “And this?”

“Oh, sorry, that is for me, unless you want it, then it’s yours,” He says with a smile. I hand it to him. 

“It’s funny, that was my brother’s favorite.” 

Stefan’s eyes darken, his smile fades and he clears his throat. His discomfort is palpable.

“So how was dinner?” He asks clearly trying to change subjects.

Why is he reacting like this? Maybe he’s afraid I’m going to start crying over my departed brother. I hesitate, not sure of how to react... maybe it’s better to keep a light mood, for the time being, It’s not like I want to get deep into the subject right now. And there’s another thing on my mind.

“Weird. My dad called you a friend of the family.” 

“I told you, he knows I’m the best guy for you,” Stefan chuckles. 

I roll my eyes back. So smug!

“I’m serious, why does my dad consider you a friend? I’ve never heard him say that about anyone he worked with, except those who are actually family like Mike or my uncle Gus. What have you done to win him over?”

Stefan shrugs. “I’m that charming, doll.” 

“Ok... at least tell me what is it that you do for the business. What are you in charge of?” I demand with my arms folded across my chest. 

Stefan looks over his shoulder and leans closer to me like he’s about to tell me a big secret. 

“I’m in charge of taking care of the cute daughter,” He teases.

I sigh, he’s just playing, just like yesterday, he’s not willing to share any information with me.

“Why do you always have to act so mysterious? I’m never going to get to know you like that,” I complain. 

“The only thing you have to know about me is how much I care for you,” Stefan grabs me by the waist, pulls me towards him, and kisses me. My head gets cloudy, suddenly knowing the details of his job seems irrelevant. I care about him too, that’s all that matters now. 

Stefan goes back to his apartment and I run inside to get to the phone. I have to talk to Miranda right this second. 

“I’m so glad you called! I have a million things to tell you!” Miranda exclaims as soon as I say hi. “Barney asked me out! We ran into each other last night at the party and he said he’s been wanting to ask me on a date for a while now, but he was afraid I’d said no, and yesterday he summoned the courage and ask me out. I’m so happy!” 

Miranda talks incessantly for half an hour, I barely even say a word, she is too excited. Once she’s done narrating every detail of her night, I get the chance to tell her about my time with Stefan. 

“I’m so happy for you! He’s gorgeous,” she says with genuine joy. “I feel so much better now. I felt guilty for going to that party without you, I thought you’d be home alone, I’m so glad you were with Handsome Intruder.”

“Did anyone mention me?” I ask because apparently, I’m a masochist. 

“Well... I...” By Miranda’s hesitation I can already guess I’m not going to like what she has to say. “They’re all stupid. Seriously, don’t even bother thinking about them... they are still going on about that theory that your dad’s a mobster... so ridiculous! Anyway, somehow they found out your dad is not in jail, I promise I didn’t tell anyone, and they claim that’s proof he’s a mobster who has dirty cops on his pocket.”

“Great. The plot thickens,” I sigh distressed. When is this issue going away?

“Hey! Don’t be sad!” Miranda says on the other side of the line. “Look at the bright side. Martin, Sam’s stupid brother, wanted to go by your house to continue with his so-called revenge. He was planning to throw some rocks to smash your windows or something as childish as that, but now that he thinks your dad’s a mobster he and his friends are too afraid to go ahead with their plans. So at least you can be sure no one is going to harm you or your things.” 

“A little too late for that. Someone already ruined my bike.” 

“What? When?” Miranda asks shocked. 

“Last week. I was too ashamed to tell you. I left my bike parked for a few minutes and when I came back it was in tatters.”

“Oh, Oli, I’m really sorry about that. People suck. Hey, don’t worry ok, this will go away eventually, you just have to hang in there for a little longer. At least you have Handsome Intruder to keep yourself entertained in the meantime. ” 

I smile and blush. Yes, I do.