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"Not for you, maybe. But you are not a 19-year-old, afraid of marriage and the man she's supposed to spend the rest of her life with. Is it so much to ask that you take her out and let her get to know you? Let her see the softer side of your nature."
"I have no softer side to my nature," he informs me in a hard voice.
"I don't believe that." He was careful with me after the men attacked us. He was the reason I was able to let go of the gun and get out of the car.
"What you believe is irrelevant."
The words hurt. Though there is no reason they should. After all, that is exactly what my father believes. My opinions are as irrelevant to him as I am.
"That may be so." I cannot keep the hurt entirely out of my voice, no matter how hard I try. "However, Carlotta is not."
"I did not say you are irrelevant." He sounds offended. "Merely that your belief about my character does not matter to the truth of who I am."
Oh. It's weird having the don explain himself to me, but it sends a curl of warmth through my heart. Only my heart isn't the one he needs to penetrate.
"Please, think of Carlotta. Do you really want her terrified as she walks up the aisle?" I never plead with my father. I know it's useless. I can't help hoping Don De Luca will be different.
"Do you have a suggestion for these dates?"
Oh, my gosh, he's listening to me. He's willing to try.
"Maybe dinner at a trendy restaurant with a tour of the kitchen after?" I suggest.
"We have weekly dinners scheduled with my family." He sounds impatient now.
I don't let that deter me. "Yes, where apparently you spend the entire time discussing business with my father."
"What else should I discuss?"
"Anything that you can talk about with Carlotta, not your consigliere."
"I am a don. Carlotta must become accustomed to not being the center of my attention."
"No doubt," I say, too frustrated to hold back my disdain. "However, that should not mean that you ignore her entirely. I am sure your father did not treat your mother with such disregard."
Aria would not be the confident, self-contained woman that she is if that were true.
"My father and mother were practically strangers when they wed."
"And I'm sure if she could have had it differently, she would have."
"Fine, I will take Carlotta to dinner. Are you satisfied?"
"With a tour of the kitchen?" I press.
"I will arrange a tour of the kitchen if you believe that will please her."
"I do."
"Are we done here?"
TheI have more important things to attend toremains silent, but I hear it all the same. I don't care. He agreed to take Carlotta to dinner and do something that will make her happy. That's all that matters.
"Yes. Thank you for giving me some of your precious time." Okay, maybe gratitude isn't the only thing I'm feeling, but I managed to say the words without a bit of the sarcasm I feel.
I'm taking that as a win.
He hangs up without saying goodbye. I don't know why that makes me smile, but it does. I have never seen the don be anything but meticulously polite when talking to women. My aunt. His mother. My sister. Myself.
