Conversations in the Car
Okay... maybe Tricia had been too optimistic in her first thought of what this dinner would be like.
They left early that Sunday morning with Nicky driving. "Why so early?" Tricia grumbled, but she was there. THAT is the important fact. She was riding shot gun on the way to meet the fam. She didn't back out, this time.
Nicky glanced away from the road to give Tricia a very pointed look. "Night owl." Her tone wasn't condescending, but just a statement. Tricia is more comfortable doing things at night. The down side? The early morning is not her thing. "We're going to church, first. My family goes together and then meets up for family dinner when we can."
Tricia curled in her seat to be more comfortable. While Nicky had actually went to bed at a 'decent' hour, Tricia had stayed up quite a bit later to finish a paper that was due at the end of Sunday. Her original plan had been to work on it that day, but the dinner plans kind of changed that. "Tell me about your family." So what if it came out as more of an order than a question? It was too early to play nice.
"What do you want to know?" Nicky was probably just trying to keep Tricia awake, not the Tricia really cared. The seat wasn't getting any more comfortable no matter which ways she turned herself.
"I don't know." Tricia sighed, giving up on ever finding a comfortable position in this car. They seriously should have taken hers. "Siblings? Parents? Grandparents? Whatever you think I should know, I guess."
"Well..." Nicky had that calculating look in her eye that almost always led to her saying something that would make Tricia regret opening her mouth. "I tell you something and you tell me something in return."
Tricia must be part of the way asleep still because she just nods. "Sure. You go first."
"My parents are Erin and Jack. They divorced a while ago." Nicky said without looking away from the road. "Mom raised me. Dad? Well, he was busy." She seemed to be blocking whatever pain that could be causing her, or maybe she just accepted it long ago. "You?"
Tricia rubbed the back of her neck, but turned to look out the window. "Tony and Alessandra. Mom died when I was kid. Dad raised me and Little Tony." Tricia tried not to think about that time too much. The past was just that. Nothing could be done about it. Nothing.
Tricia catches the concerned look Nicky gives her, but mostly ignores it. She doesn't want or need anybody's sympathy. "I'm sorry."
She just shrugs, appearing nonchalant even as the emotions in the car swirled chaotically. "She was murdered. Me and Tony saw it. They..." Tricia shook her head, trying to knock her emotions back into place. "Never mind. Grandparents?"
Nicky's look said that this wasn't the end of the conversation, but she'll let it go for now. "I have three. Two on dad's side and Grandpa on mom's. You'll meet him today. His name is Frank. Also a great-grandfather on mom's side too. He's Henry."
"So... I should call them Frank and Henry? Seems a bit lax for a first meeting." Tricia added her comment with a wink, starting to wake up as the sun rose a bit higher in the sky.
Nicky softly laughed at that. "Their last names are Reagan, though they'll probably tell you to call them Frank and Henry. Who's Uncle Gino?"
"Work partner of my dad's. He was like a second father to me." Now Tricia can truly laugh at a memory. "I kissed his son when I was... thirteen? Something like that. Our dads have been trying to set us up since then." Tricia rolls her eyes at how non-subtle the two men have been. "Rin is mostly cool with it. His girlfriends over the years? Not so much." The laughter is still there when she returns a question with a question. "Any uncles of yours I'll be seeing?"
"Uncle Danny and his family. His wife is Linda and his two sons are Jack and Sean. Jack is the older one." Nicky takes a turn a bit sharper than she probably should and Tricia takes that as her cue to actually put her seat belt on. "There's also Uncle Jamie."
Tricia went through the names, but she's pretty sure she'll forget half of those before they even arrive. "I'm going to forget those names, you know?" Tricia was growing bored of the scenery and decided on studying Nicky's face. "This is important to you."
Nicky was looking nervous, and it was just proof to how much time they had been spending together lately that Tricia was able to see this kind of stuff from her. "It is. My family is very important to me."
Tricia nods, already feeling as though the conversation from earlier has been left behind. "Same here."