“Ha, no way. If she’s coming here, it’s because a man she’s meeting has a room upstairs.”
“Wow. Is it common for a daughter to know these things about her mother?”
“I hope not,” she says and I hear the sadness in her voice.
“Well, tonight is our night, and in case you’re wondering, I don’t have a room upstairs.”
She smiles at me as we’re escorted to our table, and I wonder exactly what’s going through her head. Everything about her piques my curiosity. I’ve never been here before and I’m pleased to see that, although the place is exclusive, the atmosphere is very comfortable and quiet. It’s the perfect place to have an intimate conversation.
“This is not what I expected at all,” Aria says as she looks around the crowded restaurant.
“What did you expect?” I ask.
“Well, since my mother comes here, I expected it to be flashy. I guess I should have figured that if you picked it, it would be like this. This isn’t her but it’s definitely you, if you get what I mean.”
“So, you see me as a stiff, old academic who wouldn’t be caught in a hip place,” I tease.
“No, nothing like that. I see you as more sophisticated than my mother.”
“Sophisticated boring or sophisticated sexy?”
“The second one obviously,” she takes a bit of a carrot from her salad and grins. Jesus, this girl.
“Should we have some wine?” I ask her.
“I’m not twenty-one,” she whispers.
“You’re also not in America. The drinking age in Italy is eighteen. How can you go to school here and not know that? Don’t your friends have drinking parties?”
“What friends?”
“You can’t tell me that you don’t have friends. You’re smart, funny, beautiful, and an American. These kids should be falling all over you.”
“I don’t know. I’m just not into that. I know some people and talk to them at school, but I spend most of my after-school time alone. I think I’ve been to like two movies with people from my class and took a trip to the coast last summer, but the friendships didn’t really stick if that makes sense.”
“Maybe you’re just a bit more mature than them. Is that it?”
“I don’t want to sound like I think I’m better than them. I guess, I’ve pretty much raised myself since the age of twelve so I had to be more responsible and grow up faster than them.”
“Does that bother you?”
“No, not at all. Do I wonder what it would have been like to have a stay-at-home mother and an actual father? Sure I do, but I really like who I am.”
I take her hand in mine and brush my lips along her knuckles. “I really like who you are, too.”
“Enough of this nonsense. You were supposed to make me forget about my mother and everything we talk about seems to circle back to her.”
“Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
“You? Tell me about you,” she leans in close. “You’re built like a bodybuilder but you’re a scholar. Nobody seems to know anything about your personal life like where you live or what you do in your spare time.”
“Well, let’s see, I’m a big guy who used to have a lot of difficulty handling my emotions so I had two choices. I could eat my feelings or I could go lift weights and punch things. Lifting weights and punching things feels better than stuffing my face.”
“Did you have anger issues?”
“Not from my perspective, but I guess my anger tends to be an issue for other people. Now, what else did you ask me?”
“Family? Hobbies?”
