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Gino narrowed his eyes. “You’re not thinking about throwing away your birthright for some girl, are you?”
I snorted. “You’re making it sound crazy.”
“It is,” Gino said. “Since when are you so set on settling down? You’ve always been single, free, traveling all over so you can get all the honey without committing to a hive.”
I burst out laughing. “The what?”
“Isn’t that a saying?” Gino asked, scratching his head.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“English is fucked up, man.”
I laughed again. “You can’t even speak that much Italian.”
Gino shrugged. “You’re avoiding the topic.”
I shook my head, glancing at the ledgers I hadn’t really been throwing myself into, anyway.
“I just think the whole thing is stupid. I’d think the family would rather want us to marry for love.”
“You can love an Italian woman as much as you can love an American one, Lorenzo.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true.”
Gino studied me. “You’re that serious about her?”
“I don’t know if I am,” I admitted. “But I know I could be, and that’s the part that has me thinking.”
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
“Then I guess it doesn’t matter. Then life goes on as if nothing happened until we get to the next stumbling block.”
Gino narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t usually refer to women as a stumbling block.”
I groaned. “Since when do you nitpick the words I use?”
“Since when are you this worked up over a woman? She really has to be something.”
I sighed heavily and closed the ledger. “That’s just the thing, bro. She really is.”
Celine was everything I wanted in this world, everything I’d never known I needed. She was a pain in my ass, a thorn in my side, a wild ride and a hell of a handful. I loved every bit of her, even the fighting, clawing, dramatic side of her. I knew who she was on the inside. She had this thing going where she believed no one saw the real person underneath because her act was so good but I saw right through it and the person she could be was worth fighting through all the thorns. The most beautiful rose had thorns on its stem, right? We could pick them and hold them but we had to do it carefully or we got hurt. But the rose was worth it, the colors, the scent, the soft touch.
The pure beauty.
“I asked her to join us on the camping trip,” I said to Gino.
His eyes widened. “Really?”
I nodded. “Why not? It will be a whole group of us, anyway. Anna’s coming, too, so it’s not a big deal if I invite one more.”
“No, I guess it isn’t,” Gino said. “I think you’re looking for trouble, though. Introducing her to our close friends, inviting her to an event… that’s taking the next step, bro.”
I laughed. “It’s a mixed company camping trip, not a romantic getaway for two.”
“It’s the thought that counts.”
“Maybe you’re reading more into this than there really is,” I pointed out. “Maybe it’s not nearly as serious as you’re trying to make it out to be.”
