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That didn’t leave time in her schedule for being a rich brat’s entertainment; his plaything. She couldn’t risk it anyway. What if she fell in love with him? He would surely be one that would break her heart and not even feel bad about it later. Not that she harbored any sort of feelings for him at the moment, but she was wise enough to know that such feelings could develop if she spent enough time with him.
It was best to stay away at all costs.
The next week, another invitation came in the mail from Paolo Peretti. And, again, she tossed it into the trash without opening it and went on with her schedule of working and doing the best she could to make ends meet. Soon, she forgot about the trashed invitations.
Until the next one showed up in her mail a couple weeks later.
Laughing at the persistence, she fought the urge to open this one—just to see what kind of event he was inviting her to attend. No one could have so many events in a month. Could they? Sofia tossed the third invitation and left for her shift at the diner.
Returning home that evening late, Sofia was surprised to see her mother sitting at the little kitchen table with all three of the previously discarded invitations from Paolo.
“Mother, are you feeling better?” Sofia dropped her purse and keys on the table by the front door and walked into the kitchen to sit at the table with her mother. She really didn’t want to discuss the invitations with her, but they were lying open on the table and Sofia really saw no way around the subject.
“I’m feeling a bit better this evening compared to most evenings.” Mother smiled and waited for Sofia to sit. “So, what’s this all about, Sofia? Is there something going on here that I should know about? Is it serious?”
“What? No! There’s absolutely nothing between us and there never will be, Mother.”
“Oh. Really? Well, one of you is sure about that anyway.” She raised her eyebrows and motioned to the invitations with one finger. “Does he know there’s nothing between you? Or, did someone forget to give him that memo?”
Rolling her eyes dramatically, Sofia huffed out a sigh. “I don’t know why he wouldn’t know after that dinner party I tried to attend.” Sofia recounted the whole long story about the dinner party, and made sure to include everything she thought about Paolo and his indulgent lifestyle.
Nodding slowly, Mother smiled. Sofia hated that small, knowing smile that said her mother knew more about something than she was going to tell.
“If you say so, Sofia, I believe you. But you should take a read before you throw them back into the trash, I think. You might change your mind, dear. I’m not always going to be here for you to have to look after, you know. You should find you a good man; there’s nothing wrong with finding a wealthy and good man.” She tapped the table with her fingernail and stood. “I’m going to take a rest now before I take a shower. I’ll talk to you again about this later, Sofia.”
“Mother, I don’t want to talk about this later. There’s nothing to talk about. This has nothing to do with you; it has everything to do with Paolo—he’s arrogant, proud, and has not a single good trait, in my opinion. Please. I don’t want to talk about him later. I’d rather talk about something nice with you over dinner.” She tried to smile at her mother, but she had already turned to walk away, chuckling.
She was glad her mother had a good time reading the invitations and that she thought it was nice that her daughter was having a tiff with a boyfriend, but it wasn’t so. Sofia picked up the invitations and started to crumple them without reading again, but decided to take a peek at just one of them. What could it hurt? The events were over anyway.
Standard invitation. That’s all she saw from the one she looked at. Dinner party starting at six in the evening on a Saturday already past. She crumpled the papers and tossed them into the trash without looking at the other two.
Three days later, as she started out the door to go to work, she opened the front door and nearly bumped into Paolo’s man, Tomas. Sofia was so startled that she whacked him with her purse and jumped backward into her apartment before realizing who it was.
“I’m sorry, Miss Romano. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just delivering yet another invitation from Mr. Peretti to you. Since you’re here, you could just take the invitation and I’ll be on my way. It’ll please him to know I actually handed it to you this time instead of just leaving it in your mail.” Tomas smiled and offered her the envelope.
Recovering from her shock, Sofia reached for it reluctantly. “Tomas? Right?”
“Yes, Miss Romano, my name’s Tomas.” He didn’t smile but he didn’t actually frown either.
“Tomas, would you do me a huge favor when you return to Mr. Peretti?” She smiled.
“Certainly, Miss.” He broke a tiny smile out, tried it on, found it lacking and put it away again quickly.
Sofia chuckled at his stoicism. “Could you please tell him to stop sending invitations to events that I’m not going to attend? I did it once only to go in my mother’s stead because she was ill and couldn’t make it; it’s not something I shall be repeating in the future.”
Tomas’ eyes grew large and he looked like a fish out of water for a moment.
“Well, Miss, he doesn’t like bad news, and I’m afraid that he would take that as very bad news indeed. Have you read the invitations at all?” He looked suspiciou
sly at her.
Looking away, she said, “Not exactly but Mother did. I don’t have time for games, Tomas. I work for a living.”
“Yes, Miss. I am aware of that. These aren’t events per se; they are more like personal invitations to you to spend time with him. Alone. Not parties.”
“Okay. That doesn’t change who or how he is; nor does it change my answer, Tomas. Please tell him. Now, I really must go to work before I’m late. Thank you.” She waved the invitation at him as she walked to her car, tossing the envelope to the passenger’s floorboard.
Chapter 5
