Free Moments in Time by Karen Stivali Page B

long enough for me to know what he was thinking.
    “It made you miss Dad?”
    Sean nodded and looked down. Even though he was only slightly older than me, he had more memories of our father. As happy as he’d been after each of his kids had been born, I remembered him telling me every time that it made him sad that Dad wasn’t around. It always made me wonder if I’d feel that way if I had big news to share some day. Would I miss him more then too?
    “I’m sorry.”
    Sean shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m just glad the baby didn’t cry the whole time. He’s teething.”
    I’d babysat the older two when they were teething. That was the opposite of fun. “That sucks.”
    “It’s all right. Besides, sometimes it’s easier to deal with Mom when you’re delirious from lack of sleep.” He gave me a playful elbow in the ribs.
    I knew exactly what he meant. “How’s she been doing lately? Anything nutty?”
    “Nothing out of the ordinary. She leaving you alone?”
    “Yeah. Just phone calls telling me I should go to Mass.”
    Sean chuckled. “You’re in college. You must have some awesome sins to confess.”
    My face burned, and I tried to shove the biggest possible bite of cake in my mouth to make it look like maybe I was just having a sugar rush.
    Sean’s eyes widened. “Well, look at you. You do have something to confess. Good for you. At least one of us does.”
    Would he be so happy if he knew what I’d been doing? Sean wasn’t fanatical like Quinn and my mom, but still… how would he feel about a brother with… and there it was again. That missing word.
    Sean cleared his throat. “You’re not gonna tell me, are you?”
    I shook my head. “Not yet.”
    “Well, when you’re ready, I’m all ears.”
    When I’m ready . I didn’t have a clue when that might be.

C HAPTER E LEVEN
     
     
    I HADN ’ T seen Tanner in at least a half hour, so I went in search of him. I found him in the kitchen, chatting with my mom. Oh God .
    Mom’s eyes were round as she listened to whatever Tanner was telling her. Panic stirred in my chest, making me wonder if I could make it across the room to them without keeling over. Or if I even wanted to. Please don’t let him be talking to her about sex. Or politics. Or religion….
    “Yeah, I never went to church growing up. My dad’s half-Jewish and wasn’t really raised religious at all, and my mom’s sort of a free spirit….”
    “Oh.” Mom nodded, but I could tell she didn’t approve. “So where were your parents married?”
    Tanner chuckled. “They got married on Broadway, on stage.”
    Her jaw dropped. “Really?”
    “They met doing a play. My dad was the director, and my mom was one of the makeup artists. One of their friends from the production had gotten ordained to do weddings on things like cruise ships and stuff, and the night the show closed, they decided to turn the wrap party into their wedding celebration.”
    “That’s certainly an interesting wedding story.”
    “It’s pretty romantic, I guess. Would be a better story if they’d actually stayed together, but they’re both happy, so it all worked out.”
    “I’m sorry. Collin’s told me you’re from New York, and I just assumed with a last name like D’Amico that you’d be Catholic and you’d be from some big Italian family.”
    Tanner gave her his trademark grin. “No, ma’am. No big family here. Just my mom and dad and me. The D’Amico comes from the Italian side of my dad’s family, but the other half is Jewish. I know bits and pieces of all the different traditions. I just wasn’t raised in any of them formally. I really enjoyed the service this morning, though.”
    Her eyes brightened. “Did you?”
    “Yeah. The formal ceremony was cool, and it’s great to celebrate stuff as a family. My family’s nice and all, but we don’t do a ton of stuff together anymore.”
    She smiled. “Well, I’m glad you could join us. I’m sure Collin could bring you with him to Mass at