Mr. Castorini folded his arms. “Were the oranges still on the tree in Florida yesterday? And if they were, how much did it cost to get them here today?”

Tessa’s eyes darted over to Leo, who looked a little strange. His color was high, and his lips were pressed tightly together. If he were a normal person who wasn’t happy all the time, she’d think he was actually getting a little…angry.

“Actually, Mr. Castorini,” Tessa surprised herself by saying. “because the climate is changing, there are orange trees in southern Indiana now.” Did she actually say that? She did a mental head slap. Because that was an awful joke.

Loretta laughed. Cosmo frowned. And Leo…blinked.

Okay, that wasn’t funny—at all. But it had possibly prevented Leo from saying something nasty to his dad.

“Actually, blood oranges come from Sicily,” she continued. “They’re known to have raspberry notes in addition to the usual citrusy ones. I know that because I’ve made granita before. That’s—well, you know what that is. It’s an Italian shaved ice. In fact, I’d love to make you some if you happen to have more of those oranges, Leo.”

Now she was rambling and going overboard. But at least she’d said something. And that felt really good. And it was a little scary, but she was still alive. So…brava for her.

The side of Mr. Castorini’s mouth quirked up a little. “Thank you very much, Tessa.” He speared some salad on his fork and examined it carefully. Tessa wanted to tell him to just eat it already—because all this tension was killing her—when the gate clinked open.

Her mom stood on the new patio. Her apron was gone, and she was wearing a dress. And makeup. She looked really nice. And she was holding up a bottle of wine.

If she wasn’t mistaken, it happened to be the really expensive vintage sent by Great Aunt Adele from Provence. French wine at this very Italian meal? Oh no.

“Hi, Leo,” her mom said pleasantly. “Loretta, Cosmo, Marco.” She said their names like she said hi to them every day instead of not for the past twenty years. Then she addressed Leo’s dad directly. “I brought some wine in celebration of our children’s accomplishments.”

“They haven’t accomplished anything yet,” Marco said practically under his breath.

“Of course they have,” Tessa’s mom said with a big smile. Her mom looked really pretty when she smiled. Which she needed to do more often. “They’ve had the courage to marry despite us, and they’ve come up with these incredible plans.” She waved her arms over the patio to demonstrate. “That’s a reason to celebrate, isn’t it? That we’ve raised children with minds of their own who have come together to help save our businesses.”