“Really?”
“Of course!”
“It’s a date then.”
A goofy grin came to my face at the thought of dancing the night away with Isabella. Dim light, love songs, and the romantic decorations. What better place to find our spark? There was no way we wouldn’t walk out of that dance as just friends.Homecoming,I thought,is going to be just what we need.
The girls started chatting about dresses and I knew better than to get drawn into that discussion. Isabella seemed excited about Homecoming and now I felt like a jerk for not thinking about asking her sooner. Giovanni looked like he had just enough girl talk to abandon me when Mr. Bianco joined us.
“Liam, would you mind showing Vinny the car? He keeps missing it when you come for Izzy.”
As if his father had just saved his life, Gio jumped out of his seat.
“I’m coming too.”
Laughing, I looked to Isabella.
“Would you mind if we go outside for a few minutes?”
Giovanni’s mouth dropped.
“Are you seriously asking my sister’s permission?”
Isabella smiled, and her father hit Giovanni in his head.
“You should be taking lessons on how to treat a woman.”
“All of you go have fun. I’m sure all the women are dying to get me alone to gossip about Liam anyways. Might as well get it over with.”
Reaching out, I lifted her hand to my lips before joining the men and heading outside. It really wasn’t a hardship at all to show off the car. I’m still half convinced it was the only reason Mr. Bianco liked me so much, which was fine with me. All that mattered was that he let me hang out with his daughter.
As I started to exit the building, I looked back at Isabella. Her family had already started to crowd around her, but her eyes caught mine. The large brown orbs were filled with happiness, humor, and just a twinge of envy. No doubt she would have much preferred joining us to admire my car than have to gush about our relationship with the rest of her family. I offered her a wink before walking into the cool night air.
Her uncle let out a slow whistle as he looked at the car, and slowly more and more of Isabella’s male relatives started to trickle outside as Mr. Bianco started bragging about how he had actually driven the Ferrari that day I had asked to date Isabella. As we laughed and chatted, I prayed this wouldn’t be my last family dinner with this bunch.
The cost of family dinner with the Biancos: a charming smile and an amazing car.
Chapter 18
Week7–Saturday
Liam
Time was moving quickly. Isabella and I had grown even closer. Since I had been determined to keep her away from Cassidy, we had spent the next couple of weekends trying to find a new hobby. Painting was a complete bust, and although we had much more fun attempting to make bowls at a pottery class, we hadn’t quite found our thing yet.
It didn’t stop me from proudly displaying our lopsided attempt and horrifying painting. Isabella made me hide it in the closet in one of the spare rooms since I refused to throw it out.
We still hadn’t found a spark, but neither of us was willing to cry uncle on the possibility yet. Which led to tonight. If cuddling didn’t work, our next adventure was the next best attempt.
“Are you ready for this?”
Beside me, Isabella smiled. She looked spectacular. I thought that my attraction to her had just been more of an emotional thing, but I was starting to realize how often I thought about how beautiful she was. It had snuck up on me, but it was clearly here to stay. When I first realized it, I thought for sure we’d spark, but still nothing. I simply couldn’t understand what was wrong. She was amazing, beautiful, easy to be with. We should just have something between us by now.
We approached the gym and I couldn’t help but twirl her. Her Homecoming dress was completely unexpected. It was soft and airy. Honestly, she looked like she belonged on the wall of a Drop of Heaven. Her dress was pale pink and off the shoulders. Her bosom looked spectacular, and her skirt fell in three puffy ruffles that floated in the air whenever she spun. Her hair was curled; she had decorated it with tiny pink roses. She linked her arm through mine and smiled brightly at me.
“I’m walking into Homecoming with the hottest guy in the school. How could I not be ready for that?”
We entered the dance, and I was pleasantly surprised by how transformed it actually was. The party was already going since Isabella and I both agreed to show up slightly late. Which was beneficial because the line to take photos was empty. Slipping my hand in hers, I dragged Isabella to the arch of roses.
