Walk On The Wild Side

Joey was totally unaffected by his brother’s demand. He shrugged. “Hey, you’re the one who hired her.”

Nick turned to Sunny. “Surely a Chandler can do better than renting a one-bedroom walk-up in this part of town.”

Joey started to say something, but Sunny cut him off. “This Chandler will reside wherever she sees fit. And right at this moment, I think Joey’s place sounds great. So, if you’ll excuse us?”

Nick swore under his breath. “I knew this was going to be a huge mistake.”

Joey punched his brother on the arm. “Lighten up, will ya? If she lasted a day with both you and Carlo on her case, she’s already outlasted the first six women you hired for the kitchen. And they were your cousins.”

Suddenly feeling better than she had all day, Sunny tossed Nick a victorious smile and allowed Joey to lead her to the back stairs.

4

SUNNY PRIED OPEN one eyelid, peered at the clock and groaned. It couldn’t be time already. Surely she’d just fallen into bed minutes ago. Then she remembered. It was her day off. Her first in a week. She didn’t have to rush out and run her errands before work. She had all afternoon. She might even put her errands off until evening. The idea of being off her feet for an entire day held an almost orgasmic appeal. She smiled sleepily and snuggled deeper beneath the covers.

Then shot dead upright when she heard a door banging open and people talking. Inside her apartment. Before she could wet her throat enough to call out, the invaders found her.

“Up and at ’em, sleepyhead. We need you. Father Sartori needs you. And you know the good father preaches patience better than he practices it.” A tall, striking brunette stopped short in the doorway. “Well, surprise, surprise.”

Sunny clutched the bedspread to her chest and pushed her hair from her face. “Um, who are you?” Had she been a little more awake, she’d have noticed the resemblance. But when the shorter, plumper woman pushed past the taller one, she knew without a doubt who had come calling. “Nick’s sisters?”

That stopped the shorter one, who glanced at her taller sister with a speculative look in her eyes. “She said Nick, not Joey.” They both turned their smiles to Sunny, who immediately understood what was going through their minds.

She shook her head. “No, no, you have it all wrong. I work for Nick. I’m the new kitchen help. Joey sublet me his apartment when his friend backed out. He’s with Mama Bennie until Sunday, then he’s going to school.”

The taller one nodded approvingly. “Smart, concise and rational.” She and her sister shared a laugh. “Definitely not Nick or Joey’s type.” She stepped forward and held out her hand. “Sorry to intrude on you like this, but since we have, I’m Marina.” She shook Sunny’s hand. “And this is my younger sister Andrea. And I might as well warn you, there are two more of us about to show up. Rachel and B.J., the younger ones, that is, except for Joey. He’s the baby.”

“In more ways than one,” Andrea added, looking at the various posters on the walls. “I don’t suppose he’ll let you redecorate while you’re here, will he?”

Sunny smiled. “With all that wonderful food I’m around all day, I figure staring at Heather Locklear and Elle MacPherson every night is a good thing. Keeps me on the straight and narrow.”

“Definitely not Joey’s type,” Andrea agreed. “Well, we’ll get ourselves out of your bedroom now. We’re all used to tramping in and out of each other’s houses, but had we known—”

“We’d have at least knocked first,” Marina finished with a smile. “And then barged in anyway.” She wasn’t in any apparent hurry to leave, however. “So, when did you start? Usually the D’Angelo grapevine works better than this, but with school just letting out and Cecelia’s new baby finally home from the hospital and B.J. announcing she’s expecting her second and third one early next year, it’s been, well—”

“Normal,” Andrea finished with a laugh.

Sunny felt like she was at a tennis match, her head was going back and forth so often. She wondered if they always completed each other’s sentences. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to grow up with so many siblings. Or any siblings, for that matter. Not for the first time, she felt a little pang of envy. “It must be wonderful to have that kind of support network.” She didn’t realize she’d spoken out loud until Marina answered.

“Yes, it is,” she said without hesitation. “Of course, we never had the bathroom to ourselves, Nick and Papa Sal scared off most of our potential dates—it’s a wonder any of us got married—and we had to live with Mama Bennie terrifying the teachers at conference time.” Her smile softened. “But there was always someone to help you with your homework, and splitting the chores was a bit easier.” She studied Sunny with renewed interest. “I take it you didn’t have those problems.”

Sunny shook her head. “Well, I probably had an even harder time dating. Papa Sal and Nick combined would pale in comparison to my grandfather. But the housekeepers did the chores and my nanny helped me with my homework. And I had plenty of bathroom space.” Her very own bathroom, in fact.

“Housekeepers and nannies?” Andrea sighed and sank into a chair. “Can I move in with your family? And bring my three kids with me?”

Marina sat on the end of the bed, making herself right at home. “With all that, why are you here? Since we’re bonding and all,” she added with a grin.

She really was gorgeous, Sunny thought. And Andrea was bright and pretty, as well. Both had thick, dark hair, shining brown eyes and beautiful skin. The D’Angelo genes were made of powerful stuff. All pale and blond, she should have felt lifeless next to such vibrancy. But somehow she didn’t. There was no phoniness and no pretense with these two. She liked that. She liked that a lot.

“Actually, living here isn’t that much different from my room at the sorority. Except we had different posters. I’ve adjusted pretty easily, and there’s only one person to clean up after.”

Marina and Andrea exchanged a look, then laughed. “We wouldn’t know much about that, either. The sorority or only cleaning up after one person.”

Sunny shrugged, but laughed with them. It had been a good week, better than she’d expected. She was dog tired, but it was a good tired. And she was already in love with the neighborhood. That part was very different from school or home. And she’d discovered she really enjoyed being on her own. Was thriving on it. The people were nice, and everything she needed was within walking distance.

She admitted to wanting to call home once or twice, just to let her grandparents know she was fine, but they knew where she was. She knew that because she’d spied Carl cruising down the street every so often in the limo. Edwin keeping an eye on her, no doubt. Well, that had worked to her advantage, too. She’d flagged Carl down the second time she’d seen him—thankful Edwin hadn’t been in the back seat—and coerced him into getting one of the housekeepers to throw some of her things in a bag, then sneak it to her.

Other than that, she’d had no contact with her family. But then, she hadn’t expected to. Neither Edwin nor Frances would give in. She was certain they were waiting for her to come crawling home so they could pass judgment on her immature decision. Well, they had a long wait coming.

“So, Nick hired you for the kitchen?” Andrea asked.

Marina shushed her sister, then turned to Sunny. “How long has it been?”

“A week. This is my first day off.”

“Hey,” Marina said, surprised. “A new world record. And you don’t even speak Italian. Do you?”

Sunny smiled. “I’m learning. Quickly.”

“I think I’m glad we barged in today.” Andrea rubbed her hands. “We never can get enough information to use against our big brother. But this is too good. One week with both Nick and Carlo. You’re either Wonder Woman or really desperate.”

Sunny knew Andrea was fishing for information, but she realized she didn’t mind. She’d spent too much of her life mingling with pretentious bores—admittedly her fault as much as her grandparents’, as she’d suffered them in silence. She’d only just met Nick’s sisters, but she knew without a doubt they’d never suffer through anything silently. Maybe she was mingling with the right people. The right people for her.

Marina crossed her legs. “So why work here?”

“It’s a long story, but once I walked in the door and met Mama Bennie, I knew it was right.”

“And after five minutes with Carlo?”

She laughed. “I was ready to quit. But only after committing homicide.”

The sisters laughed and nodded in complete understanding, and Sunny knew she’d made two new friends. Friends of her own choosing. It was a ridiculously big moment for her, and she almost laughed at the absurdity of it.

“So why aren’t we planning the wake?” Andrea asked.

She explained about her grandfather. Then added, “And Nick didn’t think I could handle it, so I had that to prove, too.” She shrugged at Marina’s questioning lift of an eyebrow. “I am human.”

“And female,” Andrea said, her expression considering.

Sunny knew where Andrea was headed. “Yes, well, he’s not hard on the eyes, that’s for sure. But I’m not here to prove anything in that direction.” So what if she’d caught him staring at her a few times, and it made things heat up in a way that had nothing to do with Italian cooking? She was on a mission to get a life, not a lover.

“Well, I still say you deserve some kind of award,” Andrea said.

Sunny smiled. “A paycheck will suffice.”

Marina grinned. “I think you’re going to be a welcome addition. The women in this family have been providing all the entertainment for far too long now. It’ll be fun being the audience for a change. Especially if you can give my big brother a run for his money. Do him good to learn all women don’t swoon at the sight of his good looks.” She studied Sunny again. “And you say you haven’t swooned, right?”

Sunny blushed. She couldn’t believe she was sitting almost naked in her own bed, talking to her new boss’s sisters—women she’d just met—about her sex life. Or lack of one. “I definitely understand how he’d have a high swoon factor. But after this past week, I think we can safely say we see each other as points to be proven and nothing else.”

Marina stood. “Well, the least you deserve is some rest.” She stopped Sunny’s protestation. “We’ve all done time in Nick’s kitchen. Trust me, sleep when you can.”

Andrea stood, as well. “We only have a few hours of reprieve, anyway. Rachel and B.J.’s husbands are watching the brood while we help Father Sartori with all the festival plans. And even double teaming them, you’d think we were asking them to sacrifice a kidney or something.”

“I’m pretty sure John would be first in the donation line, given a choice,” Marina joked. To Sunny, she added, “John is B.J.’s husband. He’s a great guy, but with little Angelina being their only child and barely a toddler, he’s still a bit terrified of children running in packs.”

“Of course, with B.J. at the end of her second trimester and expecting twins, we saw it as our duty to help him get over his fears,” Andrea added. “After all, in this family, he must be assimilated into the pack mentality if he hopes to survive.”

Sunny felt a pang of commiseration for John. She was only dealing with the two sisters, and it was all she could do to keep up. “Twins?”

“The first in the D’Angelo family.”

“John is still adapting to the idea,” Andrea added.

“Like he has a choice.” Marina laughed. “Come on, we’d better get going. Leaving all the festival plans to the good father is never wise. Remember last time we left him in charge? He had Mrs. Amato running the ticket booth.”

Andrea groaned. “She only speaks Italian, can’t make change worth a hoot, is mostly deaf and sings all the time. Loudly. Off-key.” She shuddered. “It was a nightmare. You’re right, we better get over there.”

Curiosity got the best of Sunny. “What festival are you helping with?”

“It’s a summertime tradition in the neighborhood. Lots of music and games and dancing. And food. Enough to feed a small nation. Which is essentially what our neighborhood is, anyway,” she said with a laugh. “It’s three weeks away, but there’s a ton still to do. D’Angelo’s has been one of the caterers for this festival since it started over thirty years ago. The whole neighborhood pitches in with the decorations and such. Sometimes I think all the planning leading up to it is the true social occasion.”

“With all the gossip going on, it’s a wonder anything gets done.” Andrea laughed.

“It sounds like a lot of fun,” Sunny said. And it did. Her social calendar had never included something as fun-sounding as this event. Quite the opposite.

Marina shuttled her sister out the bedroom door, but Andrea ducked her head back in. With a speculative gleam in her eye, she said, “We never turn down an extra pair of hands. Just ask Nick for directions. We’ll be there until mid-afternoon at least. Or as long as the kids last after they get dropped off.”

Marina nodded. “Hey, if you lasted a week in Nick’s kitchen, this will be a breeze.”

“Or send you screaming back to wherever you came from,” Andrea added with a laugh. “Come if you dare.”

“I don’t think I’m running anywhere just yet. Let me shower and get dressed and I’ll be there. If it’s okay. I’m not really a resident.”

Marina’s eyebrows rose, and she really looked like her brother. “You pay rent, do you not? This is your mailing address, is it not? We’re like a village here, made up of decades of immigrants.” She shrugged. “What can I say? We are more open-minded than our ancestors, perhaps, but we still stick together. Show us what you’re made of. You’ll get a fair shake.”

Andrea agreed. “You won’t know unless you try.”

Marina smiled. “I’ll give you some advice. Good gossip is a great way to get in.”

“I don’t have any gossip.”

“You have the story about how a blond-haired rich girl got hired by Nick D’Angelo, to work in Carlo’s kitchen, no less. That will get you in the door. Trust me.” She winked. “After that, it’s all up to you.”

“That is, if you still want to try after stepping into this madness,” Andrea warned as they headed out.

“Welcome to the neighborhood, Sunny,” Marina called, then the front door slammed shut.

Sunny flopped back in bed. She’d just survived Hurricane D’Angelo. She didn’t feel sleepy. In fact, she felt invigorated. Enough to go stand on your feet on your day off? She thought of the two women she’d just met, their vivacity and the natural energy that emanated from them. She wanted to be a part of that.

She’d wanted a life of her own choosing. Never in her wildest imagination would she have chosen this one. But somehow it had chosen her. And she found she liked it.

“Grandfather, if you could only see your little CEO now.”

5

SUNNY STOPPED in front of the office door, hesitating before knocking. She’d been hoping Mama Bennie would be around so she wouldn’t have to bug Nick for directions to Father Sartori’s. No such luck. She knocked.

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