Read Our Kind of Love for Free Online Page B

tip-toes in an attempt to look over the crowd, which was useless given they’d inherited their mother’s height. They were smack bang in the midst of one hundred and fifty people who had filled the local Italian club on a Saturday night in late February in the heart of Adelaide’s Italian north-eastern suburbs. People were milling about in family groups, kissing and saying hello to each other and trying to find their tables.
    ‘It’s interesting,’ Anna replied with a wink to her sister. Of course she was being polite. The young woman of the moment was decked out in what could only be described as an elongated boob tube. The hot pink fabric gripped her breasts like cling wrap and ended so high on her thighs that Anna predicted any move would display her underwear. Not that she was probably wearing any. Anna didn’t like to make harsh judgments but she looked exactly like that kind of girl. And girl she was. Anna figured she didn’t look any older than about twenty. So young. So full of hopes and dreams. So ripe for disappointments and heartache.
    ‘Interesting?’ Grace repeated with disgust. ‘Nonna is here. Half the crowd are pensioners. That is so inappropriate.’
    Anna glanced around the crowd. ‘And half of that half seem to be quite enjoying her legs.’
    Grace sighed. ‘I interrupted a perfectly decent night at home on the couch for this. Tell me again why we’re here, Anna?’
    ‘Because the fiancé – Alberto – is your godmother’s second cousin’s son. On her father’s side. She’s Nicole. Not Italian. But we are and this is what we do, right? We spend our weekends at engagement parties, weddings, christenings. We put on our best dresses and our most stylish suits and we parade for each other. La bella figura , Gracie. We put on a show.’ Anna didn’t mean it to sound like a burden, because it usually wasn’t. Tonight, however, Grace was right. She would rather have been at home on the couch, too.
    Grace grabbed Anna’s hand and elbowed her way through the crowd until they reached their table. ‘I don’t want to add up the number of engagement parties I’ve been too this year. Too many. It’s depressing. All I can say is that when I get engaged, the presents had better be spectacular to repay me for all the gifts we’ve given over the years.’
    Weddings, engagement parties. Anna was struggling to believe in any of it anymore and words to that effect almost tumbled from her lips until she caught herself just in time. She was still holding on to her secret but knew it couldn’t be long. And her impending divorce made her think of her own wedding and all she could think about was why the hell she’d worn such a ridiculous meringue of a dress.
    ‘Graciella! Anna!’ Across the table, their mother called to them with a beaming smile and a waving hand. Anna was relieved to find their table was almost at the back of the venue in one of the rear corners. She was perfectly happy to be put in a corner. It was easier to hide back there in the dark. And if she was really lucky, fewer people would swing by and ask the kinds of questions she would have to lie to answer. Call it Catholic guilt, even of the most severely lapsed variety, but all the lying made her feel empty.
    ‘ Ciao Mum. Hi Dad.’ Grace found her way to her parents for kisses on each cheek, then bestowed the same on Nonna and found her seat.
    ‘Anna,’ her mother called out across the glassware, crockery and the bomboniere.
    ‘Hi Ma.’ Anna waved and grabbed the back of her chair to pull it out from the table. She stopped. There was an empty seat next to hers. A chair for Alex. She gritted her teeth. She hadn’t called and let Alberto’s family know that she would be flying solo tonight, of course she hadn’t. How could she when she hadn’t even told her own family? She sat and busied herself rearranging the cutlery and the crockery set out in front of her.
    ‘Where’s your husband?’
    Anna smoothed her fingers over