Her father tilted his head at me, and his brow furrowed.
“She lets you call her Bella, eh?”
That question was a bit odd, but I nodded.
“It’s Italian for beauty, is it not? I hope I haven’t been insulting her all this time.”
“Sì, sì… it means beautiful.”
Mr. Bianco waved his hand in the air like this was insignificant.
“And where would you like to take my Isabella?”
I took a deep breath.
“She mentioned your neighborhood has a place they gather to watch a movie from their cars. If you give us your permission, she asked if we could go see the one tomorrow. After dinner, of course.”
He seemed to be thinking this over.
“Myrtle Movie Night. The young men go to show off their cars and their dates. Which are you planning to show off?”
Isabella warned me to be honest no matter what. Well, as honest as possible, considering the whole dating thing was supposed to be fake. So, I smiled.
“Both.”
I motioned to my car; her father’s eyes almost popped out of his head. When he crossed over to look at it, I added, “Of course, your daughter’s presence in my car is what will make it worth showing off.”
Her father’s eyes bore into me.
“I will give you permission to take her to the movie night, but… I leave it up to Isabella if you get to continue to date her after that.”
Whew. That was one weight lifted off my shoulders. Her father wrapped his arm around me and patted my shoulder.
“You did good. I like you. But you hurt my daughter, I will slash all your tires and put sugar in your gas tank. Capisce?”
I nodded my head just as Isabella exited the restaurant. She looked at us and whispered, “Is everything alright out here?”
“You were supposed to stay inside, Isabella!”
“Papa….”
“’S okay, you can keep him. You both go inside. I make you a special pizza.”
Isabella just grinned at me, and I couldn’t help but grin back. Her father shook his head.
“Adesso!Adesso!I have a business to run.”
Isabella grabbed my hand and practically pulled me inside. She was looking around when I pointed to a booth.
“Our booth is open.”
She rolled her eyes but followed me to the table she had been forced to sit at the day we met. Her eyes went to her father, and she giggled.
“What did you say to him? He seems extremely pleased with himself.”
I laughed.
“His daughter just landed herself a prize stallion. Why shouldn’t he be pleased?”
