“Don’t let me interrupt. You were saying?” “I was just talking to myself.” “Do you hear a lot of gossip about me?” “Not a lot,” I say, heat searing my cheeks. “Just stuff my mom and her sisters sometimes say.” “Ah, yes. Carmen and her big fucking mouth.” The animosity in his tone catches me off guard; I know he and my parents have a relationship that predates his time as a Ricci Inc. employee, but it was always my understanding that he was like family to the two of them. The distant, mysterious extended relative who only came to town when he absolutely had to and made a stink about it every
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