Tonight's the Night

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The Christmas Eve dinner was probably spectacular, but it might as well have been crackers and tea for all Maria tasted it. Her mouth felt dry despite the glass of wine she was sipping, and her thoughts kept turning to what she and Ritchie would be doing once Joey was tucked into the cuddy cabin on the boat for the night. At any rate, there'd be plenty of leftovers tomorrow.

"Eat," Ritchie said. "You need to keep your energy up." He gave her a slow smile, and she felt the color creeping into her cheeks.

"That's right," Joey said. "I bet you have lots of presents to put under the tree tonight. You'll probably be up really late."

There would be lots of presents for him under the tree this year. She was still paying the rent on her now-empty apartment, but thanks to Ritchie insisting on footing the bill for their food and all of Joey's other necessities, she'd had enough expendable income to go a little crazy with Christmas shopping. Joey wasn't going to be a kid much longer, and although she'd done her best since their mom died, the holidays had still been a bit sparse.

"This stuff is great!" Joey said, helping himself to another big serving of the seafood and pasta medley Jillian had said would reheat really well or could be served cold tomorrow.

"Hey," Joey continued, "Jillian said she saw you guys out there on the paddleboard."

Maria's fork clattered onto the table. "What did she say?"

Joey shrugged. "Just that you looked like you were having a good time."

She wanted to reach across the table and wipe the smirk off Ritchie's face. Joey went on, oblivious.

"Jillian said she'll be back before New Years because she has this big catering job. She said maybe I can go out paddleboarding with her and her partner sometime." Joey was beaming.

"She has a partner in her catering business? I've only seen Jillian here by herself."

"Not a business partner," Ritchie said, eyes twinkling.

"Yeah," Joey piped in. "You don't have to be jealous of Jillian, Sis, 'cause she has a girlfriend."

"I am not the least bit jealous of Jillian," Maria said.

"Right," Joey said. "Sis, you're so busted."

Maria gave him a stern look. "Do I have to remind you again what day this is?"

"You're the best sister in the whole world," Joey proclaimed, recovering nicely.

"Um hmm. We'll see," Maria said, but what she was thinking was, Jillian is gay? She supposed Ritchie thought he was pretty funny with all those comments about Jillian this and Jillian that.

She gave him a hard look, but when she caught the grin on his face, she had to break out laughing. Suddenly, Jillian's seafood salad tasted a lot better. But her nerves still kept her from really enjoying the meal. The last time she and Ritchie had been in a bed together, he was the one who put on the brakes. For good reasons. The thing was, she didn't think any of those reasons had really changed. Sure, she no longer looked at him as the one-dimensional ambitious young prosecutor who had counted her brother as just another notch on his career path. But the fact remained, he had been ruthless in his prosecution of not only the gang members but also anyone who – like Tito – had been even peripherally involved in drug and weapons cases.

It was like Ritchie was two different people. The man she had come to know over recent months could at times seem both arrogant and demanding — he had taken over their lives, uprooting them from their apartment and controlling every aspect of Joey's daily life. In the process, he'd swept her up into a completely different world.

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