"YES?"
"Can I and my boyfriend get to New Zealand one day before the others? Like, can you fix the ticket?"
She arched her eyebrows, "Why? What happened?"
"I may have fought with Amelia and Paolo. There's no way I'll be going on the same plane as them. Besides, I wanted to go with Tiago to the Nevis Swing. He's been whining about it for a while, since we didn't go in the midsummer because we were too busy on other things. And I may have told him that you said you would take us there, since you've been there more than 10 times," 10 times? On the biggest swing in the world? Well, seems like she has an adventurer soul just like I do.
I popped on the phone again, "Don't worry, we'll take you too there. We've been there a while ago together. It'll be good to go again with you."
He beamed, "Really? Meu Deus, I love, you cunhadinho. You are the best. Then make it for us to go two days before mamãe and the rest, sister!" Then he hang up.
Inhaling deeply, she glared at me, "Maldito, because of that, now they will say I'm biased towards him!"
"But you kind are, sweetheart," I chuckled.
She rolled her eyes, "Now I'll have to take care of their accommodations here and call Arya, my secretary," she side-looked Graham so he wouldn't be lost, in a way to also tell me who it was. "It's a lot. Thankfully I have some people in the airlines here and there."
"You are very affluent, sister-in-law. Even though you kept a low profile about yourself."
"I have to have some contacts always in hand. And well, they get what they want from me too, so it's a double edged sword. Thankfully I'm able to easily offer what everyone wants. Some free time in a paradise of their choice, without having to pay a penny!" Indeed, that's quite hard to refuse.
She called Giovanni and he came closer with his iPad in hands. "Ready to pay?"
Before I could get my wallet, she stopped my hand, "Darling, you paid for the clothes earlier, now it's my time." She took her black card and handed it to him, then took 200 dollars in cash and put it on his pocket. "A good tip for a good worker. Make good use of it."
He blushed, "No, Mrs. Rossetti. You don't need to."
"Take it as a present," she winked and took her card back after it was all done, then intertwined our hands and got up, so I stood up with her. "Although it was embarrassing at first, it was good finally meeting you after Aaron talked so much about you and the other troublemakers, Graham."
My brother nodded, still dumbfounded by her paying it all, "The honor was all mine, sister-in-law. You are way more than I thought you would be. I'm looking forward for our time in the island."
"Me too!" She smiled and turned to me again, "Shall we go now, darling?"
I nodded, "Yes. Take care, G. Anything you need, just give me a call. Tell the others about her, it'll make it all easier for us," then I winked at him and we left.
As we got to my car again, I took her to her door and opened it for her, as she got in, I turned around and when I was going to open it for her, she opened it for me from the inside, taking me genuinely by surprise. "What? A girl never opened the door for you?" She grinned.
"No," I mumbled with a ghost of a smile on.
"Come in," she motioned her head for me to get inside and as I did, I locked the car and turned it on.
"Do you always… open the door like that?"
"Only when they open it for me first," she rolled her shoulders. "It's only worthy when it's a reciprocate action. And do you always open the door for the girls?"
Of course. "Since I was a kid."
She scoffed, "If I didn't knew how you are, I would be thinking you are a gentleman," ouch.
"And I am. Just not with all the people I know. Many aren't worthy," I mocked and began to get the car out of the parking lot. "What did you think of Graham?"
"He's cool," but then she growled. "And why the fuck didn't you tell me he was married? I was totally dumbfounded."
"I thought you knew. Since you read mom's blog."
Thays gasped, "I did. But only about you, desgraçado. There were no reasons for me to read about anyone else other than you. It's not like I ever expected to meet your family like this."
Her words made me feel strangely happy. "My mistake then. But you were quick there. Really a good liar."
"You learn to lie a lot when you have 9 siblings. And when you were a troublemaker kid as I was, me and my siblings would always hide what I did from my parents and lie together. It was fun," she seems relaxed saying that.
"I get it. We also lied a lot, although I'm not the best."
"Well, you are also a good lie though."
"I know," I grinned. "But Luke is still the best at it."
She rolled her eyes, "Hah." When we got to a red light, she turned to me. "Now, tell me. What are your other brothers marital status? I already know that Graham is married, and that Ethan is engaged to his highschool sweetheart since you said it yesterday. What else should I be aware of?"
"Ethan is engaged to Bradley Holland, he's from Toronto and moved her in middle school. Together since highschool. They are set to get married on March, although they are still preparing everything."
"Sweet. What about Luke?"
"He has a girlfriend, Nithya Mannava, she's Indian and came to New Zealand 12 years ago. They became best friends in college, and she's like a female version of him, all funny and a prankster. Her family is friends with ours, and they have a luxurious gourmet Buffett here. Luke and her began dating on February this year, although we saw it coming for a while."
She seemed amused, "And you really think he would still flirt with me having her as a girlfriend?"
"Oh, he will. I know that asshole. She might flirt with you too, just to mess around. That one also loves mocking me," I rolled my eyes, "a troublemaker like him."
"She sounds amazing!"
"Hah, and she is. For him. I can't even phantom a better match for him than that girl. She has him wrapped around her finger, just as he has hers," then we stopped on another red light again. "I bet she's anxious to know you, since Luke probably told her that we have a hate-and-love kind of relationship."
Thays avoided my eyes and turned to the window, grinning, "Yeah, this is the best story we could come up with. Quick recap," she looked at her hand with four fingers up. "Luke is dating his best friend. Graham is married to his favorite writer. Ethan is dating his highschool sweetheart. What about the youngest one? Henry?" She turned to me with those big beautiful curious eyes, after putting down three of the fingers that were up.