Page 181 of Obsessed by My Ex's Mafia Uncle

“What’s the actual reason for this dinner?” I ask again.

“Christine, can’t I do something nice?” Atelia grabs the wine opener.

“You can,” Aisha answers… “But you don’t usually do nice.”

Atelia scoffs, but she doesn’t deny or defend it.

“Okay.” She surrenders. “I’m having relationship troubles.”

That makes me pause because somehow that sentence sounds impossible coming from her.

“You?” I blink. “You date people?”

“Unfortunately.”

“With your personality?”

“See?” She points at me immediately. “This is why I will die single.”

Aisha bursts out laughing.

I finally sit down, curiosity winning.

“There’s a man?” I ask carefully.

“There’s always a man,” she mumbles darkly while pouring wine into the glasses. “That’s the tragedy.”

“What happened?” Aisha asks, poking.

“This man…” Atelia drifts, staring into her wine for a second, her lips flattening. She takes her time, fussing through something in her head.

Then she suddenly sighs deeply. The kind of sigh that belongs in period dramas and funerals.

We both look at each other, then back at her.

“This man,” she announces again like she’s confessing to tax fraud.

“You already said that,” Aisha points out.

“Yes, give me time.” She snaps. “I’m trying to progress emotionally.”

“That sounds ghastly,” I scoff into my wine.

“It is.” Atelia points at me immediately. “Because the idiot is in love with someone else.”

The air stills.

“He is?” Aisha leans back first. “How do you know?”

“He has told me in more ways than words ever could.”

“Ouch,” I hiss softly.

“I know.” She nods solemnly. “It’s very cinematic. And very humiliating.”

“But you still want him?” Aisha asks carefully.

“Well…” Atelia looks out toward the ocean for a second before shrugging. “Yes.”