How Gia Acquaviva Spends Her Thanksgiving
While the genocidal roots of Thanksgiving are troubling, I have to admit that I do appreciate the opportunity the holiday gives us to come together with friends or family and focus on eating. Whether you’re gathering with loved ones, eating alone or not celebrating at all, I thought it might be fun to share this epic Thanksgiving scene from Mermaid of Venice, the first book in the series about mermaid serial killer, Gia Acquaviva. Read below to discover how she spent her (super dramatic) first Thanksgiving…
Excerpt from Mermaid of Venice, Chapter 38
When they arrived at the house, the smells of the pending feast greeted Gia and Cameron at the door.
“Just in time!” Harper said, swinging the front door wide open. “Cam-Cam, it’s time for our tradition.”
“My favorite part of the day!” He ran behind Harper into the kitchen. “You grab the pie, I’ll scoop the ice cream.”
Gia sauntered in behind them, watching them scramble around. Harper stole a pumpkin pie out of the oven, and Cameron took a vat of freshly-made ice cream from the walk-in freezer.
“Hello, lover,” Harper whispered to the pie. She sliced a piece out and let it plop onto her mother’s bone china.
“MEXICAN VANILLA, HARPIE!” Cameron whisper-screamed to his sister, as two big balls of ice cream fell onto the plate beside the pie.
“I could cry,” Harper said, eyeing the pie. “In fact, I think I might. Fork!”
Cameron kicked his knees high as he danced his way over to the silverware and back. Gia, standing to the side of the kitchen, watched in quiet fascination as the seemingly adolescent scene played out in front of her.
“Kids?” Bronwyn called them from somewhere far away.
“Hurry up!” Cameron said, distributing three forks. “Eat before they get in here.”
Harper dug in and with a full mouth mumbled, “I’m definitely going to cry. I haven’t had dessert since last year. Fuck TV. Oh. My. Goddddddd.”
Cam laughed, and a small stream of ice cream leaked onto his chin.
The kitchen door opened with a thud, and Bronwyn stood there mouth agape.
“Not again! Give me that pie right now.”
Cameron and Gia giggled, and he put an oven mitt on, picked up the pie, and made a run for it.
“You can have it if you can catch me!”
“Cameron Charles Langley! If you drop my pumpkin pie, I swear I will ship you on a slow boat back to London! Put down the pie!”
He lapped a few times around the kitchen for dramatic effect.
“Honestly, I don’t understand the two of you,” Bronwyn stole back her beloved pumpkin pie and placed in it a safe location. “I think next year I might just have the pie delivered at the end of the meal and put a stop to this wretched tradition. It just ruins the look of the table when the centerpiece... the pie... has been all nibbled.”
Cameron and Harper exchanged conspiratorial glances and snickered silently.
They are very lucky, Gia thought. They have each other.
She stifled a pang in her heart. The truth was when Cameron was around his family, she felt superfluous. To him, he believed as though she fit right in, like she’d always been there. The experience for Gia was very much like a long rack focus; the more Cameron and his family talked, the more she faded into the background. Sometimes when they droned on and on and gesticulated in their distinctly animated ways, she could feel herself merging with the sofa or melting into the floor. Being with Cameron was one thing; she could handle that. However, she did love walking away to be at her own
But being with his family? It was exhausting having to be “on” all the time.
They gathered around the dining table just after lunchtime, so that they could eat as a family before the driver took Harper and Royce into the city. Even the holidays couldn’t keep Harper from her prime nine o’clock time slot.
Bronwyn laid out the Thanksgiving table herself—the epitome of Martha Stewart chic. Featuring a runner of small pastel gourds and tapered candles of different heights, the pale colors made Bronwyn’s light green china the star of the setting.
Suddenly, Royce powered up the electric carver as if it were a chainsaw and held it in the air, “Let’s get this show on the road!”
“Before we start,” Harper stood up with her champagne flute in her hand, “I’d like to make a toast.”
“What a lovely idea, sweetheart,” Bronwyn said, head high. “I’m all for it.”
Harper raised her glass to Gia. “To Gia Acquaviva... I never thought my brother would settle down, so you have worked your magic on him. I’m finding out something new about you every day.” Harper glanced down at the table and picked up her knife, holding its edge against the rim of the crystal. She took a deep breath before she continued, “I know you killed Nico you fucking bitch, and if you so much as touch my brother in a way I don’t like, I will slice your fucking throat myself.” With that, she swung her knife so hard that her glass broke.
“Jesus Christ, Harper!” Cameron screamed.
Gia admired Harper’s guts, she really did. Keeping her cool, she pushed her chair back and rose to face Harper, eye-to-eye, across the table.
“I believe I am intruding on your family time,” Gia said, words falling silky smooth from her lips. “How rude of me.” She turned her attention to Bronwyn. “Mrs. Langley, thank you very much for this beautiful meal and for your hospitality. However, it is time for me to go home.”
Gia strode away from the table with an easy grace, like she was walking to the shops on a Sunday afternoon. With each step she took, the world fell away. Behind her, all sounds blended together—like Cameron and Harper yelling at each other and the swishing of Bronwyn sweeping up broken glass…
Haven’t Started the Series Yet?
Dive into the extremely glamorous life of Gia Acquaviva, an ultra-rich Venetian mogul with a portfolio of clubs and casinos around the globe. Gia harbors dark secrets––and an underwater graveyard filled with the bones of her former lovers.
IndieReader Approved with 4.8 of 5 Stars: “MERMAID OF VENICE is an electrifying series starter that immerses readers in a world filled with glamor, sex, murder, and mermaids.”