Girl Gone Viral (Modern Love #2)(73)

Tara cleared her throat. “Katrina, this pizza is divine.”

Katrina smiled. Her skin glowed. She looked the same whenever she cooked for anyone, like she was getting nourishment from nourishing others. “Thank you.”

“What’s the crust made of?” Bikram took a bite of his slice, the crunch loud and satisfying.

“It’s sourdough.”

“Katrina has a starter handed down from her mother,” Tara enthused. “Isn’t that lovely? She said it’s traveled all around the world with her.”

“I’m happy to give you some,” Katrina offered.

“Daisy might like that.” Tara wrinkled her nose. “You know now I’m no chef.”

“You don’t have to be a chef. Baking with sourdough requires some science and some patience, is all. It seems complicated, but using it is more heart and care than talent.”

Tara took a sip of her wine. “Oh, there’s definitely talent in this meal. Right, Dad?”

Jas’s grandfather broke his silence with a grunt and helped himself to another slice of pizza. He’d devoured his salad and soup and his first helping, leaving only crumbs on his plate. He hadn’t looked in Katrina’s direction too much, which told Jas his grandfather might be embarrassed she had witnessed his outburst last night. “The food’s not bad, Katrina.”

Jas’s repressed resentment toward his grandfather needed only a spark to ignite. “She cooked for hours. You can give her a better compliment than that.”

Andrés plopped his slice onto his plate and pointed at his grandson. “Listen up, you little—”

“Nope, we are not doing this.” Tara interrupted her father without raising her voice, and he immediately subsided. “If we cannot speak to each other in civil tones, we will not speak to each other at all.”

Jas sniffed, and he busied himself with his food. His grandfather did the same. A tense silence consumed the room.

His mother finally sighed. “Oh shit. I should have known better than to give you lot the option of not talking at all.”

Andrés finished off his second slice of pizza and reached for a third. Jas bit his tongue to keep from commenting on his grandpa bypassing all the other healthier sides on the table in favor of the pizza. “I don’t have a problem with anyone talking. I do have a problem with us airing our dirty laundry in front of a guest who isn’t family,” his grandpa muttered.

“Katrina is my family,” Jas snapped, and it was only as he said the words that he realized how true they were.

And, when Bikram choked and hid his laugh with a napkin, how telling.

Jas ducked his head and avoided looking at Katrina. They hadn’t defined their relationship privately. It was beyond presumptuous to claim her as his family when—

“I’ve already seen your laundry.” Katrina’s tone was easy. “Last night, when you threatened to disown your grandson.”

Andrés looked down at his plate, but didn’t answer that pointed reminder.

“Would you like my completely unsolicited opinion?” Katrina asked.

“It’s hardly unsolicited if you’re family,” Tara said to Katrina.

Katrina’s cheeks turned red, but she continued. “You all love each other deeply. You have a family anyone would envy.”

“Everything I have ever done in my life has been for my family.”

Jas’s throat closed up at his grandpa’s fervent words. They were true. His grandpa had sacrificed so much for all of them.

Anger and resentment and guilt and love swirled together inside of him, creating the most annoying, overwhelming mix of emotions.

Katrina’s tone was gentle. “You can’t seem to talk to each other is all.”

“That is an absolutely accurate assessment.” His mother’s eyes were wet with unshed tears. “You two are breaking my heart. I want you both to be happy.”

Andrés surprised Jas by speaking. “Whenever I try to talk to him, he doesn’t listen.”

Jas took a sip of his water. “You don’t listen either.”

Bikram rested his arm on the back of their mother’s seat. “The funny thing is, you two are each other’s Kryptonite, and you can’t even see it. You both interact like adults with other people. It’s only when you’re together that everything falls apart.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Jas wasn’t exactly forthcoming with everyone else.

He slid a surreptitious glance at his grandfather’s stubborn jaw. His immediate instinct was to stick his chin out, too.

Okay, there might be some truth to Bikram’s observation.

“Dad, you cannot seriously consider never speaking to Jas again over something so foolish as him not attending the parade. You can’t possibly be that angry.”

Andrés’s eyes glinted. “I’m not angry, I’m disappointed.”

Tara scowled. “It’s not only disappointment.”

“So what? I’m allowed to be angry my flesh and blood turned their back on everything I worked for.”

Bikram cleared his throat. “If I may, Grandpa: Mom didn’t want the farm, either, but you’re not mad at her for picking a different career path.”

Tara sighed. “Because I’m a girl, my love.”