Page 78 of Vows of a Mobster

It could be my life.I wanted it to be my life. I wanted her to be my family, and the yearning for it shook me to the core. It was an unfamiliar feeling till she came around. It was as if everything in me was in numb mode till the moment she ran into me with that coffee.

“What song is this, Brianna?” I asked her.

““Without Me” by Halsey,” she replied. “You like it?” She turned her head to me, challenging me.

“Not particularly,” I replied, although smiling. I enjoyed her spirit.

“Did your parents let you listen to that stuff?” Antonio asked, slightly appalled.

This time she chuckled, although there was a hint of bitterness in it. “No, my mother preferred classical music.”

“So where in California did you grow up?” Antonio casually snuck in the question. It was his way to find additional bits and pieces of information that would allow him to get what he needed to get me information I wanted. I wondered if I straight out asked her, would she tell me. She was so relaxed but there were invisible walls around her. I needed to know why they were there.

“Napa Valley.”

“Oh, that must have been nice.”

“Hmmm,” was all she replied. “So where did you grow up, Antonio?”

“Italy.”

“Oh, that must have been nice,” she continued on and I smiled. She turned it right around on him. “Where in Italy?”

“Positano.”

“Oh, that sounds cool. Close to Sorrento, right?”

Both I and Antonio shot her a surprised look but she didn’t see it since she was focused on preparing the meal.

“You must be good with geography,” I told her.

“Not really. I spent a year in Italy. Exchange program in high school.”

“Interesting,” Antonio was getting more and more fascinated with Brianna. “How did you like it?”

“I liked it. Food was good and the boys were cute.”

“That is all that matters,” Antonio commented, chuckling. But I knew him, he was storing away all the information… just as I was.

“In high school it did,” she cackled. “Anyhow, would one of you turn on the grill? I should have everything ready in ten minutes. Just enough for the grill to heat to the right temperature.”

Antonio immediately jumped up and turned it on for her, then glanced at the food.

“I’m impressed,” he muttered under his breath.

“Well, now I can die in peace,” she retorted dryly.

Her phone buzzed and she glanced at the table. She went to the sink, quickly washed her hands then dried them off. While she hurried through the motions, I saw Marissa’s name come up, then another one by Daphne, immediately followed by Giovanni. What the hell were they up to? Brianna took the phone and unlocked her phone, her eyes darting through the messages.

She frowned, then shook her head. Then another buzz and she rolled her eyes. She typed a message back, then closed her phone and put it back. She started cutting up ingredients for the salad while marinating her salmon with citrus and spices.

“Okay, dinner should be done in fifteen minutes,” she announced as she placed the salmon over the grill once it hit the right temperature.

Brianna convinced both Antonio and me that we should eat dinner in the kitchen, and I honestly couldn’t remember enjoying myself more during dinner. We sat around the table in the kitchen, Antonio entertaining us with stories from his younger days.

“You must have been quite a ladies’ man, Antonio,” she chuckled. “I never ran across anyone that was taken on a date to the opera. I’m impressed. Very original,” she commended him.

“You have never been to an opera performance?” he asked her.