Page 37 of Destiny

“Good. I’d keep it that way until you know for sure what her intentions are.”

“Okay, mother. Is there anything else I can help you with? I have a client coming in any minute?”

“I’d like to have dinner with you tonight.”

My stomach drops. “But Bea is going to be over.”

“That’s fine. I’d like to meet her. Plus, I want to see Aurora and Alessia.”

“Uh—”

“Great. It’s sorted. Are there any decent Italian restaurants we can get takeout from around here?”

“Actually, yeah. Anthony’s Ristorante is pretty good.”

“Wonderful. You know my taste, so I’ll leave it up to you to order for me.”

“Okay.”

“Should we say six o’clock?”

“Sure.”

Chapter 3 – Bea

I’m helping another customer when my phone goes off. I wait to wrap up with her before looking at it.

But when I do, I see that it’s a text from Marco.

“What is it? Your face is pale?” Micky asks after sweeping nearby, which was kind of an Evergreen task, seeing as there were permanent stains from years past.

“Marco’s mother is in town. She wants to have dinner with all of us tonight.”

“Whoa. Meeting the mother. That’s intense.”

“Yeah. I don’t know anything about her—other than the fact that she’s from Italy and has a successful jewelry business there.”

“Oh! Maybe she’ll have some pieces for you!”

“Yeah, right.” It’s not like I cared for jewelry that much in the first place—I just had the staples that I constantly wore.

“Well? Are you going to go?”

“I guess so . . .”

“Does that mean that she knows about the two of you?”

“I would assume that she does, right?”

“You’d think.”

I go to text him back several times but bail each time. Then, my anxiety bubbles over, and I feel like I have to do a little dance to shake it out of my body. “Ahhh!”

“What?”

“I’m just nervous.”

“Of course you are. If you don’t get mommy’s approval, you can practically say goodbye forever.”

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