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“How do you feel about background checks?” I ask, rubbing my hands together.
Realistically, I probably should have had one done on her. Having a tech wiz in the mafia family connotes that we’re extra careful about who we invite into our lives.
Sophia arches an eyebrow.
“I feel like I should perform one. You know? Just to be sure you’re not going to grab a gun out of those fancy bags you carry and shoot me. I’m a very important man, Soph. I can’t die because a beautiful woman threw me off my game.”
“I’m not going to shoot you, Tony,” she says and for some reason I believe her.
“Sure. But I do want to know you,” I state. She stares at me blankly. I continue, “I could find out, you know? It would be so easy.”
I’m not sure why I’m telling her that. Sophia’s expression doesn’t so much as flicker.
“Go ahead.”
We stare each other down for a few seconds before I shrug and lean back in my chair.
“Nah, it’s fine,” I say easily. “I’ll work for whatever information you want to give me. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt growing up it’s that the easiest path isn’t always the best path. The best things are hard won.”
Sophia leans back against her chair with a smile. “That sounds insightful.”
“Yeah, I was thinking about my sister’s relationship with her husband. It was a hot mess at the start.”
“You have a sister?”
“Her name’s Elena. She’s a fucking pain in my ass but I love her more than anything else in the world. Besides my niece of course.”
“And your parents?”
“They’re-” I hesitate, my breath hitching slightly. “They’re dead. Both my parents are dead.”
Something flashes in Sophia’s eyes at that, too quick for me to notice.
“At the risk of giving the most mundane, cliché reply ever, I’m so sorry, Tony.”
“It’s fine. How about you? Siblings? Parents?”
“I have one sister as well. She’s two years older than me and she’s amazing. My mom passed away when I was little,” she says quietly.
“She would have been proud of the woman you’ve become,” I tell her.
Sophia smiles. “You don’t even know who that is yet.”
“I know she’s pretty special. And that’s enough.”
She changes the subject after that and I’m glad. We leave the deep stuff, instead talking about the little things like favorite foods and movies. She has never seen any of the spider man movies. Which is blasphemous.
“I’m just more of a romcom girl,” she tells me. Which is surprising and yet somehow on brand for the persona I’ve managed to cultivate of her in my mind so far. “Have you seen Sleepless in Seattle? How to lose a guy in 10 days?” she retorts.
“Not really interested in seeing two idiots fall in love when it’s pretty clear from the first scene that they will. Rom coms are boring. Action movies, thrillers, those have you on the edge of your seat,” I argue.
She makes a low noise of disagreement. “I can’t even look at you right now.”
“Honestly, same.”
And then she’s laughing and I’m laughing too which is pretty crazy because I haven’t laughed in days. When we finally stop, I look her straight in the eyes.
“How about each of us watch a movie of the other’s choosing and the next time we meet up you can tell me how amazing my recommendation is and how wrong you were?”
