'Bread?'

'Warming in the oven.'

'Wine?

'Chilling in the fridge.'

'My sanity?'

'Flushing down the toilet.'

Meredeth laughed a little as she watched Esposito peel carrots at the kitchen sink. 'True say. But can you blame me? It's the first time they're coming here, plus Lili and Cam are going to be here as well.'

She went to the fridge, pulled out a head of red cabbage. 'Fish was a good idea, right? I'm not Catholic, and I know your family is, so I figured fish on Friday, but some people don't eat even that, and-'

'Mere, you're doing it again,' Esposito interrupted her, pointing the peeled carrot at her. Much as he loved her, she was a handful when her nerves got the better of her; he understood why his family made her edgy, though. Having grown up an only child and raised by her grandmother, Alejandro and Rosalita's open acceptance of her always threw her a little off kilter. Steering her back to a task he knew would keep her occupied, he showed off his colander of peeled carrots. 'Okay, these are ready, what now?'

'They need to be grated and mixed with the green cabbage in the bowl.'

'Got it.'

'When are your family getting here?' Meredeth asked, hoping she sounded casual.

'Around four. They went to eleven o'clock mass, then out for late lunch with my cousins.' Esposito dutifully tossed the carrots in with the cabbage, dried his hands on the apron she'd insisted he wear. He scooted closer to her, watched the way she diced the cabbage. 'You know, there's nothing hotter than a woman with a knife.'

'I thought last night it was a woman in a kimono?'

He only laughed, pressed a loud kiss to her cheek. 'We have a little time, we could play pastry chefs. There's a bowl of whipped cream in the fridge.'

'Dirty boy.' But she set her knife down, turned to return the kiss with a twinkle in her eye. 'It is Good Friday, wouldn't naughty school girl goes to confession be more appropriate?'

'Depends. Was she caught stealing chocolate?'

'She could be.'

'Then once our guests have gone,' he told her, tapping his index finger on her forehead, her nose and each of her cheeks, 'you'll have to tell me all your sins .'

He braced his hands on the counter so she was trapped between his arms, bumping his nose against hers so his mouth was a whisper from hers. He heard her swallow lightly before he laid his lips against hers, parting them ever so slightly with his tongue, just enough to tease and stir her senses.

They were rudely interrupted by the ringing doorbell, which set Arturo to barking like it was the end of the world. With a a chuckle, he thumped his forehead against hers. 'Better go see who that is.'

'Can you go? I want to get this finished up.'

'Umm...' Esposito pursed his mouth, pressed his body against Meredeth's. 'You tell me if that's a good idea.'

She giggled, realizing what he meant, and strolled out to control her barking dog. 'Arturo, knock it off, you bonehead,' she admonished him as she opened the door. 'Sorry about that, he...Momo!'

Her jaw dropped open in shock when she saw her grandmother on the other side of the door, suitcase in one hand and purse in the other with a wide grin on her face. 'Surprise, pige!'

'No shit! I mean, what are you doing here? I thought you were flying in tomorrow?' Reeling, Meredeth hugged her automatically as Constance walked in and closed the door behind her.

'I know, but I wanted to surprise you and clearly I did.' Constance toed off her shoes, hung her coat on the hook behind the door. 'I took an early flight up with Terrance, he's visiting his daughter and son-in-law and going to church with them, and since that's not really my scene I came here.'

'Oh, well, yea!' Meredeth forced herself to smile as they walked into the kitchen. 'Javi, honey, look who's here!'

Before he even turned around, Esposito went on alert. She only called him honey when she was about to lose her mind; he'd discovered that when he'd powered down her computer for her during a thunderstorm without realizing she hadn't saved her work and she'd lost almost three hours worth of drafted material. A quick glance over his shoulder made him do a double take. He set the knife aside and turned around fully to see Constance standing there with Meredeth, who looked about as shocked as he felt. 'Constance, hey! What are you doing here?'

'Surprising you two, and I guess I can check that off the list.' Constance walked into the kitchen, saw the meal preparation in progress. 'Am I interrupting something?'

Esposito nearly opened his mouth to say yes but saw Meredeth shake her head fiercely out of the corner of his eye and replied, 'Not at all. Why don't you grab a drink and I'll give Meredeth a hand with your bags.'

Before Constance could protest, he was across the room and following Meredeth to the hallway to deal with her grandmother's luggage. 'Are you okay?' he asked hesitantly, taking the heavier of the two suitcases up the stairs.

'I'll get back to you on that one.'

'She's not going to freak out when you tell her we're officially living together as of next Tuesday, right?'

'No, of course not, only...' Meredeth blew out a breath as they reached the second floor, turned down the hallway to the guest room. 'Us moving in together is big, right? And we're telling your family when they come for dinner, which is even bigger. And we're having your parents here for the first time, which puts us into the huge category. Add my grandmother in there so your parents meet my grandmother for the first time. That's like four big relationship things all at once, it's a lot to take!'

'I know, babe, I know.'

'And it's not that I don't want them to meet, because I do, it's important, right? But...this is like trying to cram all of Disneyland into a two-day visit, so it feels like a chore instead of enjoying it.'

'Mere.' Esposito set Constance's suitcase on the floor of the guest room, put his hands on her shoulders. 'Breathe, okay? It'll be fine. Besides, having them all here together might not be so bad, you know? We can tell them I'm moving in with you at the same time, and if we tell them before dinner, we won't seem all twitchy and nervous like we're hiding something.'

'Never thought of that.'

'Because you're too busy freaking out. And if things don't go smoothly, I'll get Lili to whip up some brass monkeys and that'll cure your over-thinking, if not your thinking full-stop.'

He gave her a kiss, sweet and reassuring to let her know that they'd sort it out; as they were walking out of the guest room, the sound of Lili's delighted voice in full babble floated up the stairs. Meredeth's fingers tightened immediately on the banister but she kept walking, Esposito rubbing her shoulders as he followed her down.

Sure enough, they reached the foot of the stairs and saw all four of them being greeted by Constance, who was carrying a wrapped platter into the kitchen while she chatted with Rosalita like they were fast friends. Lili was there, helping Cam out of his coat, her smile turning just a little cheeky when she saw her brother and Meredeth coming down stairs.

'And where did you two scamper off to?' she asked with a knowing tone.

'Taking my grandmother's things upstairs. You're here early,' Meredeth replied, embracing Lili tightly.

'Yeah, lunch kinda went south. My cousin Jorge isn't exactly quiet about his opinion on the American military in Iraq, and it was really bothering Cam so we booked it out of there.'

'How's he doing?' Esposito asked in a low voice, watching Cam walk with a limp into the kitchen, clutching a slender lacquered cane for support.

'Doc says his knee is healing well, and his shrink says he's still got a long way to go but he's making good progress so far.'

'Good. I know what it's like to have someone you love go through therapy,' he said, giving Meredeth a kiss on the temple, missing the soft-hearted look Lili gave them.

The trio headed into the kitchen, where Meredeth saw her grandmother had opened the wine Rosalita and Alejandro had brought while Cam had taken a seat at the kitchen table and was making fast friends with Arturo. Lili immediately went over to her mother, wrapped her arms around her in a light hug, while Constance appeared deeply engrossed in a conversation with Alejandro.

'So, um, since we're all here together, a little unexpectedly,' Meredeth said, slipping her arm around Esposito waist, 'we have a little anouncement we'd like to make.'

'Oh! You're engaged!' Lili burst out.

'No, not quite, hermana,' Esposito laughed. 'As of next Tuesday, April first, Meredeth and I will officially be living together.'

The room burst with a congratulatory cheer, Lili leading the charge as she wrapped an arm tightly around each of Esposito and Meredeth's necks, effectively throwing them into a double hammerlock. 'Oh, yea! That's fantastic!'

'My boy,' Rosalita said, a small sob in her voice, 'all grown up.'

'I know what you mean,' Constance chipped in, her unshakable voice noticeably unsteady. Knowing she wouldn't be able to keep it together if Meredeth said anything to her, and not wanting to embarrass herself in front of Esposito's parents, she went to the fridge and pulled out the bottle of champagne she'd brought with her. 'I had a feeling we'd be needing this over the weekend, so why don't we crack it open now?'

Several hours later, after a couple glasses of champagne to toast the happy couple's news and Meredeth's verifiable feast had been consumed, only Constance, Meredeth and Esposito remained. Lili and Cam had left early by taxi, owing to Cam needing to rest; despite his upbeat attitude, he was still in recovery mode. Not long after Rosalita and Alejandro had departed as well, but not before Rosalita had traded emails with Constance for sharing baking recipes back and forth from New York to Florida.

Once everyone had gone, the remaining three had decided it was time for hot beverages and strawberry apple pie in the living room, with Esposito and Meredeth sitting on the couch while Constance took the chair closest to the fireplace.

'I swear, I'll either need bigger belts or a few more hours at the gym living with your cooking all the time now, Mere,' Esposito said on a stretch before wrapping his arms around her waist. Dinner had indeed been a sumptuous affair. Broiled white fish and hand-cut potato wedges seasoned with garlic and red peppers, fresh cole-slaw Esposito insisted everyone, cracked wheat bread from Meredeth's bread-maker, along with fresh vegetables and bleu cheese dip had not gone to waste in the slightest. Rosalita had brought a tray of sweet rolls from the bakery, as well as the delicious plonk Meredeth remembered trying at Christmas to wash it all down.

'I'd bank on a few more miles on the treadmill. Meredeth learned long ago the way to bribe people is with their favourite sweet-treats. And speaking of which,' Constance wiped her mouth on her napkin and momentarily left the table before returning with a pair of envelopes and a small jewelery box. 'I wanted to wait until the right time to give these to you.'

'Presents?'

'Just a few things I don't need anymore, I thought you might find useful. Javier the blue one is for you, the jewelery box is for Meredeth and the green one is for the both of you. Consider it happy housewarming gifts.'

Meredeth wasted no time in untying the ribbon around the flat velvet box; she gasped dramatically, grabbing Esposito's wrist as she lifted the lid. 'Momo, are you kidding me? You're giving me Cleo?'

'Cleo is my grandmother's Nissan Maxima,' Meredeth explained, lifting out the set of keys from the box. 'I just...this is unbelievable!'

Constance just smiled and scooped up more pie. 'Come on, there, flatfoot, your turn now.'

Esposito set his fork aside, shredded through the paper and wondered if his eyes were still in their sockets as he saw what he'd unwrapped. 'Constance, these are your Mets season's tickets!'

'What?' Meredeth's head whipped over so fast she gave herself a crick in the neck. 'Your season's tickets, Momo? Are you dying?'

'No, dear, just living in Florida. I didn't renew them for next year but I still have them for the summer and I figured since you live here and have friends who are baseball fans, you'd get more use out of them than me. Now open that last one.'

With each choosing an end, they tore open the last package, found an airline brochure. 'It's round-trip coach airfare to Miami, whenever you can afford the time, to come and visit me,' she explained. 'There is one condition.'

'What's that?'

'Bring along that homemade wine your mother made. Plonk, is it? That stuff will put Terrance on his ass for sure.'

Esposito laughed. 'I'll see what I can do.'

R&R&Enjoy.