5

Ginevra

I want to throw up on the table badly as Tommaso fake laughs at my father’s joke.

At least he is diplomatic.

I’m sitting in a noble restaurant between my father and my mother and trying not to look sick at this grotesque situation. Tommaso is indeed a tall and slender man with the smallest lips I’ve ever seen.

Labbra da traditore, as Nina would say.

Like me, he must have been pressed into wearing something screaming wealth and so he is wearing a light blue tailored suit with a dark blue satin tie and is sitting between his parents. I was convinced all would be going well but as I’m sitting in front of him trying to make casual conversation my heart sinks more and more. My pondering on the question of what would be wrong with him, that even with all that money, he would need an agency to be married to someone, gets even worse as I want to gag at his honied voice.

Well, just like me…

I push down the urge to sigh deeply, not wanting to be punished by my mother as soon as we get home. At least, I know that he isn’t my type at all as much as I seem not to be his.

At all!

Great, just great!

At the beginning, I flashed my best smile and tried to get him to talk about him, but I just got one-sided answers and had to recognize soon that we have nothing in common. By the time I asked him if he gets called “Tommy.” by his friends, he just stared at me incredulously, answering my supposedly stupid question with a dry “no!”.

Now, I’m just picking at my food and smiling from time to time. Not-Tommy prefers to talk to my dad anyway. How blame him, he is the one to be impressed. As I drink my second sip of my wine, my mother reprimands me lowly.

“Easy on that, we don’t want to make a bad impression, do we?!”

She returns laughing with my new mother-in-law and I re-focus on my food. My light blue satin gown starts getting dangerously tight, risking choking me as Tommaso finally directs his first question to me.

“How many kids do you want?”

I push down the urge to empty my wine glass in one go as I flash him my best smile.

“Oh, I always thought about having 3 at least. I love my big family.”

I have been trained well, but he must love the act because he reacts perfectly.

“How wonderful. A big family has always been my dream as well.”

Bleh.

It is apparently also my last question as I finish my dinner in silence while my parents talk with my future husband and in-laws enthusiastically.

Stepping out of the restaurant into the warm summer air, I hear my mother exit the restaurant chatting happily with Tommaso’s mother, Anna Rita. As they pass me, Tommaso halts standing next to me. My father and his are still fighting over who will pay the bill and I know that my father will win. Not because he is the most stubborn person, I know, but also because I’m the cow to be sold.

“Maybe we could start walking too.”

“Sure.”

I smile up at him and we start walking along the artificial pond of the venue.

“Is there a certain kind of ring you would like me to get you?”

Oh, he is one of the romantics.

“No, no. I have no special requirement, but thank you.”

He seems to be displeased by my answer as he snorts, his honeyed voice getting a snarky edge.

“Well, don’t come crying to me if you don’t like what I’ll have to get you by myself.”

Wow! Go cry for mommy, then!

I just smile fighting the urge to drag him into the water and drown him.

“Don’t worry. I’m not that spoiled.”

He laughs and the sound of it has me covered in goosebumps. And not the kind you yearn for while on a stroll with a man.

God, I hate everything about him.

On the other hand, this just confirms my suspicions that he doesn’t feel different about me. He takes another running start on being his charming self.

“I can really picture us with 3 children and more. You are attractive, and I like you, even if you are a bit dense and hyper, but we will get that in check, won’t we?”

That arsehole.

I suddenly know why he needs this kind of deal to get a wife. I just smile as I suppress my murderous instinct once again.

I’ll show you dense.

“Of course, darling.”

The moment we reach our mothers and the cars, I feel like reborn. Bidding goodbye to my future husband and his lovely mother, I put on my best smile.

“Thank you very much for this beautiful evening, Tommaso. And thank you, Anna Rita, it was a real pleasure meeting you.”

After the most awkward goodbye I had in my life where Tommaso tried to kiss me, but I diverted, having him land on my cheek, I exhale all the air I’d been holding as soon as I’m in my parents’ car. I can hear my parents say goodbye and they soon join me. As my father sets the gear into drive to leave the parking lot of the venue, my mother is fast to turn to look at me.

“Can you never leave a good first impression?!”

“Simona, don’t be so strict with the girl. She surely was nervous, weren’t you, Principessa?”

I smile at my father, who looks at me through the rearview mirror.

“Don’t always come to her defense. That’s why she is so spoiled! She should have made a little more effort to please the Paridios. You must do better the next time you see him.”

She turns around with a scoff and discusses with my father what a shame it would be for the family name if Tommaso Paridio would reject me and not take me as his wife.

Yeah. What a ghastly vision of my sad future.

Before we reach our home, I shoot a text to Nina.

Ginevra: I changed my mind. Count me in!