Ani’s heart instead plummeted to the depths of her stomach. Not this talk, not now. The vineyard seemed to crawl on and on forever. Ani hadn’t walked far, but she felt suddenly lost in a labyrinth.
“Mom—”
“Listen, tsakougus,” her mother replied, using the endearing word for “my child.” “It’s been two years since Kami—”
A sharp pain pierced Ani’s heart. “Mom—”
The name alone,Kami, made Ani shrivel up inside. She wished she had her drink, wished she could feel the ice-cold matcha latte flow down her throat and douse the embers Kami had left on her heart.
Her mother barged on. “We are worried about you. You have not dated one single person since then.”
“I have,” Ani insisted, trying not to get angry and failing.“I’ve been on the apps and gone on dates, and they’ve all been terrible. Or nothing, bland. I don’t feel anything for anyone.” “Anymore,” she wanted to add. Not since Kami.
“This is why I am saying,” her mother continued, “meeting online does not work for everyone. You have a chance to meet this handsome man in person—”
“Maybe. I might not.”
“—and charm him the way you do everyone.”
Before Ani could say that she didn’twantto charm him, she had to respond to the compliment, which was simply untrue. “I do not.”
“You do. You are special.”
Ani let out a sardonic laugh. Right. Her, special. The B student, the one who got stood up more often than not, the one who couldn’t get her business off the ground and was instead running it into the ground. The one who got dumped bythe one.
A crow cawed overhead. Ani snapped out of her spiral and checked the time.
“I gotta go. I don’t want to be late.”
“Okay, Ani jan, promise me. Open your heart.”
Easy for you to say, Ani thought. Her mom and dad had been madly in love since they were sixteen. Giggling like teenagers and sneaking off on dates for forty years.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“Listen to your mother. Bye, shakaruhs,” her father added helpfully.
Ani stared at the horizon a moment in silence, then paced back to her car. When she arrived, her phone dinged twice and she saw two notifications.
One from her kick-ass assistant, Sanan, which read,Good luck today, boss!
The second, an overdraft fee notification from her bank. Goddamn it. She knew she shouldn’t have indulged in that extra-large matcha latte, but Ani couldn’t help it. The iced green tea always put her in the best mood, and lately she needed all the help she could get. She’d deal with the bank later.
Ani swiped away the tough-luck notification and responded to Sanan.
Thank you! I’m here now, it’s gorgeous. Hopefully I can close this.
Sanan responded:Btw I googled Grace’s IMDB page and noticed her latest credit.
Grace was the bride-to-be who had emailed Ani, filling out Ani’s contact form and plopping in that jaw-dropping budget. From the sound of Grace’s message, she was the one in charge of planning and wanted to surprise her fiancée, Mimi, with this venue. Ani and Sanan promptly Instagram-stalked their potential client and discovered that Grace was an indie movie actress originally from the Bay Area.
Sanan continued,Her new movie is in post-production and it stars…Robert De Niro! Granddaughter taking over the mob family business. Title? Mafia Princess.
A whole new flurry of both excitement and worry hit Ani. She was about to meet someone who had breathed the same air as Robert De Niro? Grace’s expectations were probablygoing to be high. Ani needed to believe she could do a wedding of this caliber.
Mafia Princess!Ani texted back.Damn, I’d watch that. Gotta go now, I’ll update you!
Two mob references in one day. Ani wondered what type of astrological retrograde caused that to happen. She also wondered if Mimi was an actress, perhaps someone Grace met on set. Grace’s Instagram didn’t include any photos of her fiancée, but she did have a picture of their hands holding, with eye-popping engagement rings on each of their respective ring fingers.
