Her breath hitches. “We don’t know for sure yet.”
“There’s a test waiting for us when we get back.”
I can sense she’s nervous at that, and I wish I hadn’t told her. I slow our pace to give us privacy, rubbing the small of her back.
“Is there a certain result you’re hoping for?”
Her eyes go wide as she bites her bottom lip, looking up at me. “Part of me is dying for it to be positive. I think the amount of…” She looks around us and then mouths the word ‘orgasms,’ “you’ve given me has messed with my head. But I didn’t expect this to happen so quickly.”
I kiss the top of her head, not knowing what to say because I agree with every word she’s saying. I resented this marriage so much when it was arranged, and now I can’t stop myself from thinking about a little Sofia running around my section of the castle?
I should be exhausted after spending so much time wandering around in the sun, but sitting across from Sofia, along with a sunset almost as beautiful as she is, is giving me a second wind for the evening.
Everyone is seated at a long table at a restaurant I rented out privately for ourselves. Sofia and I are seated at the far end next to Sal and his wife, who are engaged in a discussion with the rest of the group. Which is wonderful because it almost feels like the two of us are on our own date.
“Something has been bothering me for a long time,” Sofia says. I brace myself for whatever it is she’s going to say, my mind assuming the worst. “That you don’t know when your birthday is. So, you don’t even pick a day to celebrate it every year?”
“Seriously? That’s what’s been bothering you?” I tease. But my heart pounds in my chest at the words she just said. No one has ever cared about that before. Even Elena. Which is surprising, but I figure she’d assume I’d be too proud to go along with anything like that.
Sofia narrows her eyes at me. “This doesn’t bother you at all? Knowing that literally everyone on the planet excluding a religion or two gathers with their family to celebrate aging up a year? And not only do you miss out on that, but you don’t even know exactly when you turn into a new age. You could be forty right now, and we don’t even know for sure.”
Forty.
Where the fuck has time gone?
I glance towards the others at the table, wondering if they’re overhearing our conversation because the last thing I need is for them to witness this pity party from my wife, but no one is paying a lick of attention to us.
I sigh. “Not really. I mean, what do people do on their birthdays? Receive presents? Eat cake? Get drunk? Have sex? Well, I can buy anything I want, and now that I have you… there just isn’t much of a point.” I keep my voice down. “It stung when I was younger, going to Elena and Vincenzo’s celebrations if I was even invited, and then realizing that I was the odd one for not getting a birthday party thrown yearly.”
“Marco was such a monster.” She shakes her head.
I can’t help but laugh at that. “Of all the complaints I had about Marco, him not getting me a dessert for my birthday is pretty far down on that list.”
“I know, but… I just think it’s something we can change.”
“How?”
“Pick a day.”
“What?”
“Pick a day and I’ll plan a party—”
“I don’t want a party.”
She rolls her eyes. “What about the two of us doing something nice?”
I take a moment to consider why I’m even resistant to this idea. And I realize that reason is beyond fucked up—that this type of gesture is so foreign to me I perceive it to be a threat. It’s as if I’m expecting Sofia to use this opportunity to murder me somehow, even though I know she wouldn’t do that.
“Fine.”
She exhales in relief. “You really make things impossible for no reason. Now pick a day so we can talk about something else.”
Pick a day? A day doesn’t matter. I’ve always mused about what astrology sign I was, so I suppose I could choose my favorite one and pick a birth date in that range.
But I love messing with Sofia too much.
“April twenty-first.”
