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“Pa.” I place my napkin on the table, preparing to follow him, but he puts his hand out and continues on to the kitchen.
“Valentina, this is true?” Giada asks her daughter.
“Yes, Mama, it’s true. We’ve already signed the papers.” She looks into her lap where she’s fiddling with her fingers. “It’s not real.”
“But…” Giada looks between the two of us. “You two were always—”
“No, Mama.” Val shakes her head. “We were never meant to be.”
Giada swallows, and her gaze veers to her husband. “I’m going to check on Anna.” She leaves.
Now it’s just the two of us with Mr. Cavallo. Great. I feel like a teenager who got caught feeling up someone’s daughter.
We sit in strained silence because no one really knows what to say.
“When we got the news, I was upset because what good Catholic Italian boy doesn’t ask the father to marry his only daughter.” His gaze is on me. “But Giada said it must’ve been impromptu. That you didn’t have time to call me. I thought she was crazy, but after talking with your parents about this secret wedding, I made amends with the anger because you’ve always looked out for our Valentina, Dominic. Looked out for us.” He gives me a knowing look, and I shift in my seat. “You’d make a great husband.”
Husband? I’m no damn husband.
“Now you tell us it was a mistake and that you’re going to get an annulment. Valentina, that’s two marriages for you. When I was young, marriage meant something. It wasn’t something you do when you’re drunk in Vegas and then if you change your mind, you just sign some paperwork and act like it never happened. Now, I’m going in there to comfort your mother, and I suggest the two of you think about your carelessness and how it’s affected your families.”
I feel like the lowest of the low right now.
Mr. Cavallo stands, leaving me with Val.
Her head drops into her hands and her back vibrates with her sobs. “I’m a disgrace.”
I place my arm over her shoulder, and she turns into me, burying her face in my chest as I smooth my hand over her long chestnut hair. A few minutes later, all four parents come out of the kitchen and stop in their tracks when they take in the scene.
“New plan,” Ma says.
Giada smiles, and all four of them take a seat.
Call me psychic, but I’m pretty sure I won’t like this.
