Robin Kaye | Meet Rich and Becca Ronaldi...

I walked into DiNicola’s Restaurant in Brooklyn, NY, and stopped at the
reception desk, the hostess was putting the daily specials inside each menu.

“Hi, I’m Robin Kaye, I’m here to meet Rich and Becca Ronaldi.”

When the woman turned around, I recognized her. She was Mona DiNicola’s cousin
Rita. She pointed toward the bar. “They’re waitin’ for ya in the family dining
room. I’ll tell Vinny you’re here.”

“Thanks, Rita.” I turned and walked through the small bar toward the family
dining room in the back. My stomach growled as the smell of good gravy made my
mouth water. I’d driven from Maryland to Brooklyn without stopping so I was well
past ready for lunch.

When I walked in, I found Rich and Becca with their heads together, sitting next
to each other at a table for four, holding hands. It’s nice to see they still
only have eyes for each other, even after a year of marriage. “Am I interrupting?”

Rich got up and gave me a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. “You? Never. How are you?”

“Good, you two look happy.”

Becca gave me a hug. “We are. Things are good. How are you?”

Rich helped me off with my coat and Vinny DiNicola, the owner, chef, and Mona’s
husband, came out with a bottle of Chianti and poured me a glass. “Thanks, Vinny.”

More kisses were exchanged and Vinny held my chair for me.

“I’ll make you a nice lunch, eh? Did you bring your appetite?”

“You ever know me to refuse your food?”

Vinny winked at me. “No, though you look like you lost weight.”

“Ha, you’re such a bad liar, but thanks for trying.”

Rich held his wine glass up. “Robin, benovenuto nella nostra casa e fa I nostri amici. Salute!”

We clinked glasses and took a sip of wine.

Becca looked from me to him. “Huh?”

“Rich just welcomed me to your home and your circle of friends. Grazi.” Rich nodded. “Prego.”

Becca still looked skinny and beautiful, if she wasn’t so nice, I’d really have
to hate her. Richie, well, he looked gorgeous in a hot professor sort of way
since he was dressed for work. He had this monochrome thing going that really
worked for him, me, and just about every other straight woman on the planet.
“So, I’m here to interview you two about your romance.”

Rich grinned, “Why? You wrote a whole book about us, what don’t you know?”

Becca patted his hand. “Rich, she’s interviewing us for her blog tour. It’s her
way of introducing us to her readers. Just try to be handsome and charming, and
don’t say anything embarrassing, please.”

He looked her up and down and shot her his crooked smile. “Hey, I’m handsome and
charming. I got you, didn’t I?”

Becca just about melted. “Yeah, you swept me off my feet.”

She leaned toward him and Richie closed the gap. “Thank God you taught me how to
use a broom.”

I’d just become invisible. I cleared my throat.

They shot apart and Becca turned red.

“Ah, young love. So Becca, why don’t you tell me what you thought of Rich the
first time you saw him.”

Rich sat back and grinned. “She hated me.”

Becca rolled her eyes. “Just because I didn’t drool all over you doesn’t mean I
hated you.” She turned toward me again. “I just didn’t like him. I couldn’t
stand the way he treated his sister Annabelle.”

“You came at me with a baseball bat.”

“Yeah, so? There was a strange man in my shower. I didn’t know it was you.”

Rich’s eyes twinkled. “The next morning, when she knew it was me, she threatened
she’d have me singing soprano for the rest of my life.”

Becca crossed her arms, “You were holding my underwear. What the hell did you
expect?”

“You were wearing my shirt and nothing else, I figured you could use them,
besides I love to jerk your chain.”

“Richie!” Becca hit him. “They’re gonna think-”

“That you fell head over heels in love with me at first sight?”

“No, they’re going to think I slept with you right after we met.”

“Well, technically, you did.”

Becca turned to me. “I did not. He’s the one who barged through a locked door.
Could I help it if I didn’t wake up?”

Richie shrugged. “Who knew those commercials about memory foam beds were so
accurate. I got in my own bed, I might add, and she didn’t even notice. This
still doesn’t explain why she woke up on top of me—not that I’m complaining,
mind you. All I know is that she was supposed to stay in the guest room and
instead, I woke up with her in my arms. Since I’d had such a bad night, I’d
forgotten she was in my apartment at all. I just thought I was having one hell
of a dream.”

Becca cleared her throat, “It was my apartment, remember? And the reason he had
a bad night was because his girlfriend, Gina had dumped him and he came here to
DiNicola’s to get drunk.”

Vinny came through the kitchen doors with a beautiful tray of antipasto. “Mangia, Mangia.”

It looked amazing. He set the tray in the middle of the table and passed around
plates before serving.

I placed my napkin in my lap. “Vinny, did Richie come here after Gina broke up
with him?”

Vinny stopped serving, a piece of melon draped with Prosciutto hung over the
table. I grabbed it and took a bite.

“Sure, sure, he always comes here after he’s gets dumped.”

Rich groaned. “You make it sound like I get dumped on a daily basis. I got
dumped twice in my whole life.”

Vinny shrugged and Becca shot him a disbelieving look and crossed her arms.

Rich rocked back in the chair, resting on the back two legs. “Fine, three times,
but only two stuck. I got you back, remember?”

Vinny moved behind Richie and smacked him upside the head, all four chair legs hit the floor. “He thought he was gonna go to a bookstore and find Martha’s new book, Cookin’ and Cleanin’ for Dummies and get Gina back. Me, Mike, and Nick all told him he needed a coach, but we were all too busy to do it. Besides, we figured he’s pretty much useless when it comes to anything domestic.”

Richie ignored Vinny. “So when I sobered up and remembered Becca needed a place
to stay until her apartment was remodeled, I thought I’d take advantage of the
situation. I told her she and Tripod, our cat, could stay as long as she became
my Domestic God Coach.”

Becca cut a piece of mozzarella and topped it with a little basil, and roasted
red pepper. She rolled her eyes. “I just didn’t have time to deal with finding a
new place so I agreed. I thought it was a good bargain, plus I’d get Richie do
all the cooking and cleaning—not a bad deal. Beside, he kind of grows on you.”
She popped the food in her mouth.

Richie took a hunk of bread and dipped it in olive oil. “I’m just lucky Aunt
Rose didn’t freak her out.”

Becca shook as if a chill ran up her spine. “The woman is psychic. She said all
this stuff about Richie and me, I thought she was nuts.”

Richie took a sip of wine. “Yeah, and Becca lied to me about what she said.”

Becca turned to Richie, “Like I was going to give you any more ammunition, I
couldn’t stand you, remember?”

Richie nodded to me. “See, I told you.”

Becca shook her head. “It’s just that he was so good looking and cocky, and he
had a girlfriend, or at least was trying to get her back. I couldn’t tell him
everything Aunt Rose said, he would have thought I was after him or something.
And believe me, the last thing I wanted was a relationship with Richie.”

“Yeah, that’s why she proposed to me in the end.” Rich pulled her chair closer
to his and put his arm around her.

Becca nuzzled his neck. “You proposed to me first.”

And I disappeared again.

Vinny helped me out of my chair, “They are always like this. Come into the
kitchen and we’ll catch up. You want I should make you some Ciambotto del
Pescatore? I got nice shrimp, clams, and muscles.”

“Mmm, sounds good.” I followed him to the kitchen and Nino gave me a bowl of
pasta Fagioli Soup to sip while Vinny made me lunch.

He tossed some onion and olive oil in a frying pan, “In a half hour or so,
they’ll come lookin’ for you. Just wait, you’ll see.

I sat back and enjoyed the busy kitchen, I wasn’t worried. I had plenty for my
interview. Now I could eat lunch.