Read Online A Family Affair: The Secret by Mary Campisi - Free Book Online Page B

if the talk ended up being a discussion about his sex life. Anything was better than hearing about his parents’ sex life. “Talking about me?”
    “Sure.” Sal nodded. “How we wanted to see you settled before we meet our maker. It could happen at any minute. Look at me. Stacking bags of celery one minute, and the next, doubled over the crate, clutching my chest. If it hadn’t been for the paramedics, who knows if I would’ve made it. There’s no time to waste, Roman, because my clock is ticking.”
    Roman picked around his father’s rambling and spotted the real meaning glaring straight at him. We want you to give us a grandchild . Yeah, well, in his current status, that wasn’t likely. Since his split with Jess eight months ago, he’d been casually linked to a few models, a newspaper reporter, a socialite, and a country singer. None of them were long-term or interested in babies. His friends were married and having kids, working toward a legacy that was a helluva lot more important than their name in the business section of the newspaper. They had families, people who really mattered. He’d thought he and Jess would have that, too, until the night she informed him plans change, people change, and she had no interest in having a child with him. She did agree to a dog, though; maximum fifteen pounds so she could carry it into boutiques with her and lift it without worrying about injuring herself. And outfits, she liked the idea of dressing a Chihuahua in a ballerina outfit. That could be our baby, baby. Wouldn’t that be so much fun? We could get a girl and a boy, have parties for them, take family portraits, go on vacation.
    Yeah, that’s when he knew the marriage was over. He’d had women friends who complained they hung onto a guy for years, waiting for him to pop the question and make the commitment that would send them into “family mode.” When they reached the other side of thirty, they got desperate, and that’s when they started with the “full-court press,” making demands that included ultimatums. Guys didn’t like being forced into anything, especially a lifetime commitment. When the guys bailed, and they all did, with the exception of two Roman knew who got trapped by a pregnancy, the women were shocked, then ticked, and then depressed, not necessarily in that order.
    “Roman, are you listening?” His father poked through his thoughts, yanked him back to the present. “Let your mother and me help you find a nice girl.” He offered a smile and a nod. “One who doesn’t mind losing her flat belly to a baby.” His voice dipped to just above a whisper when he added, “And she doesn’t even have to be Italian.”

Chapter 4
     
    Entertainment magazines and gossip tabloids were Angie’s weakness, and though she hated to admit it, peeking at the train wrecks that often became other people’s lives fascinated her. When she read about celebrities who supposedly “had everything” and still bombed in their personal lives, it made the whole getting-dumped-by-your-fiancé less humiliating. And when those same people played leapfrog from one bed to the next, Angie sucked in a breath and considered herself lucky she’d cut men out of her life. Who needed that pain? Even if you found somebody who might be halfway decent, how did you know he’d stay that way? Heck, how did you know he’d stay ? You didn’t. End of story, close the gate on relationships with guys. If the fallout turned out to be an occasional bone-deep loneliness, she’d get another dog.
    Diving into magazines that peeled the varnish from celebrities was Angie’s favorite pastime. Who wouldn’t want to look at a glamorous model without makeup or boob and butt “enhancers”? That was what made it feel real. Every week, a new magazine arrived in Angie’s mailbox filling her in on who broke up, who cheated, who got pregnant, married, and any number of other life issues that almost always ended in one heartache or another.