Her parents opened a trattoria style restaurant in town about five years ago, and of course, named it after their only daughter. Her mother’s recipes made up the small menu, and I didn’t know a single person who’d had a less than stellar meal there. My stomach growled in protest that I hadn’t eaten, but it could wait. A dinner at nine meant they were testing a new menu item, and the place would be closed just for us.
My impulse control gave out. I tossed my phone aside and I took a running start and dove into the pool. The water doused the heat that was building on my skin from working in the setting sun, and the day finally started to look up as I broke the surface. I drifted around in the water, staring at the sky for a few minutes longer, and I was not surprised my mind drifted to Theo. It had been a few days since I’d seen him last, and I could already feel the need to be close to him again moving through me.
I was slow to drag myself out of the pool, but the need for food outweighed my desire to stay in longer. By the time I made it to the restaurant, I’d changed my mind a dozen times over if I really wanted to be set up on a blind date. I rapped on the door window while I bounced slightly on the balls of my feet, and just as Carina swung the door open, I made my final decision.
“Good, you’re here,” she greeted me as she flashed me a warm smile. Her blonde hair was piled up on top of her head with pieces falling out, and the red apron she had cinched around her small waist was dusted with flour. Abby was already seated at a table in the middle of the room, the red and white checkered tablecloth topped with plates of food. I collapsed into the chair across from Abby, who barely gave me a glance as she devoured the food in front of her.
“Are you even tasting it?” I questioned her as I poured myself a glass of water from the table carafe. She flipped me off before turning back to her food and scrolling on her phone. “I’ve missed you, little sister,” I said as I looked over the options on the table. Everything was like a home cooked meal, making it hard to choose.
Carina backed out of the doors that led to the kitchen, carrying three plates. “Okay, ladies, we have Penne alla Amatriciana. I have been begging Mamma to add this to the menu forever. It’s been my favorite since I was little.” She set the plates down in front of us and saliva pooled in my mouth. Without a second thought, I dug in. The first bite hit my mouth, and I practically moaned in relief.
“This is so good,” I mumbled out with a full mouth. Carina looked relieved and started on her plate.
After a while, our plates were empty, but we remained at the table, Carina’s face animated as she recounted an argument she was in with her co-worker today. “He does it on purpose, I swear. He is just so infuriating,” she growled out before her head fell forward onto the table.
“You know, Carina, the line between hate and love is often very thin,” Abby laughed out while patting her on the back. Carina mumbled something that sounded awfully like “I could only hope”, and I placed that little fact in my back pocket for another day.
My fingers fiddled with my napkin, and the skin on the inside of my mouth was chewed raw at this point. I needed to get the words out there. If I didn’t ask them tonight, I was liable to never ask them. That, and there was a tiny voice in the back of my mind pushing me to figure out if I could actually handle dating because there was a certain man that would benefit from it. I sucked in a long breath, and on the exhale, my request came flying out.
“Ineedyouguystosetmeuponadate.”
Carina’s head popped up from the table as Abby’s eyes widened as she stared back at me. They glanced at each other and then back at me, and the waiting started to eat at my self consciousness. “What did you say?” Carina said in a slightly more demanding tone than usual.
“I said I would like it if you guys could set me up with someone.” My voice was as calm as someone who was asking to set up their next eye appointment. “You know, like on a date.” I clarified, although it clearly wasn’t needed.
They turned back to each other, and one said, “I thought that’s what she said,” while the other said, “It’s about time.” I rolled my eyes at both of them, waiting for them to turn their attention back to me. Abby was the first to respond back to me by asking about Theo.
“I’m sitting right here, you know. And what about Theo?” I snap back. “We’re not together.”
“I know, but… you know what? No, I don’t know. You two kinda act like you’re together, so why are you asking to be set up with someone?” she interrogates. I cursed the amount of time I spent around her because, of course, she’d ended up in the same room as Theo and I. And apparently, she saw something I didn't.
“We do not act like we’re together,” I said with enough conviction that I almost convinced myself. Only to be met with a snort of laughter from Carina.
“Whatever you say,amore.”
Maybe this was a mistake. I thought I would be met with enthusiasm. That I could handle, but this push back they were giving wasnot what I had in mind, and I was growing more uncomfortable by the second.
“We’re not together, and I want to see what it would be like to try to actually date. That’s all.”
That wasn’t all, but they didn’t need to know all the details.
The girls shared a look, and when they did that, it meant nothing but trouble. If years of being around them had taught me anything, it was that when they worked together, only chaos ensued. I was getting ready to call off the whole thing when Carina spoke up. She leaned forward on the table and a glint of mischief flashed in her eye. This was a mistake.
“Okay,sorella.“ My demeanor shifted at her use of the word sister. Carina was as hardheaded as they come. She didn’t give her affection out to just anybody. You had to earn it. There were very few people who could say that they had it, and I counted myself lucky to be among them, along with Abby.
She called me sister, and it was a privilege that I would covet forever.
“We’ll set you up with someone, no worries.” Her voice was so sweet I could taste the ulterior motive. I had worries, lots and lots of worries, but I pushed them down. I could do this. It was one date. The worst that could happen was they were so boring that I never wanted to date again,
This shouldn’t be so bad, I hoped.
eighteen
Theo
Friends, that was whatshe said she needed. I could that. When it came down to it, I would be anything she needed me to be. What I didn’t anticipate was it being the hardest thing I’d ever do, but she was worth having in my life.
I was beginning to realize people didn’t run into the one person they’ve loved for most of their life out of coincidence and go on to ignore it. Fate, the universe, God, it doesn’t matter who was orchestrating it. I knew that I was meant to be close to her.
