Grasping for an answer, I threw out, “I think we should get to know our likes and dislikes better. Basic stuff.”
“Perfect,” she nodded. “Speed round, me first. How do you take your coffee?”
“Black,” I answered. “You?”
“So milky and sugary it shouldn’t count as coffee.”
I grimaced. “Gross. But okay, guess that means there’s no risk of either one of us accidentally picking up the wrong cup. Night owl or early bird?”
“Like I have a choice? My profession forces me to be both. Early morning meetings with vendors through to the last dance at a reception. I don’t sleep.”
“Yeah, I hear that,” I agreed. It was pretty similar for me. “Ocean or mountains?”
“Ocean, forever and always,” she said with conviction.
“Good. Same. See? We’re a perfect match.”
She rolled her eyes at me again.
“Family ties?” Emilia asked as she drained her wine glass. “Positive or dicey?”
“Uh,” I began then broke off, because for the first time in a while I wasn’t exactly sure. “It was touch and go for a while after my mom passed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Emilia said. She reached out to place her hand on top of mind and the simple gesture was surprisingly comforting.
“Yeah, thanks. She was the glue. Not that everything was perfect before. With three boys and a family business, rivalries are to be expected. But we all adored her, and she had a knack for calming thewaters before things got out of hand. Losing her made us all fracture apart. Now, we’re working on rebuilding. My father has made it a major goal for all of us to be closer.”
It was the most honest I’d been about my family with anyone, and it came as a shock that this woman I barely knew was getting me to open up this way.
“Well, that’s a huge positive to come out of a terrible situation. I’m happy for you guys.”
I fought off the conflicting feelings welling up inside of me when she squeezed my hand. Talking with her felt surprisingly cathartic. I’d only given her a high level overview of the challenges in my life and I sort of wanted to keep going.
But this dinner meeting wasn’t about me and my challenges. We needed to keep mapping out our plan.
She pulled her hand from mine and it refocused me on the task at hand.
“Your turn. What’s your family situation?” I asked.
Her shoulders slumped. “Oof.”
I winced. “That bad? Sorry to hear it.”
She gave me a weary half smile, like this was a hurt so old that she’d built callouses around it. “Yeah, I don’t have a great relationship with my parents. We have very different points of view. My dad is super traditional. Meat and potatoes guy, king of the castle, his way or the highway, and he picked a wife who was on board with all of that. My mom fell in line and did whatever he said. ThenIwas born.”
“And came out of the womb with a mind of your own?”
She laughed. “Oh, I absolutely did. Which he didnotlike. His worldview made it impossible for us to see eye-to-eye, so I sort of distancedmyself. My grandfather turned into my primary caregiver growing up. I didn’t officially live with him, but his house was my safe space when I needed to get away from the drama at home. It’s where I live now, ever since he moved into an assisted living facility. He gave me the house—and my hard-shelled roommate. Now it feels like Winston is this symbol of our relationship.” She blushed and shook her head. “Never mind. It’s stupid.”
“No, please explain what you mean,” I pushed. “I have a literal investment in that guy so I want to know more.”
“Winston is like …” she shrugged. “He’s like my grandfather in animal form. This wizened old survivor in my yard. When Win is doing good, I feel like my grandfather is as well. When he’s not I worry about himandmy grandfather. Even though I see my grandfather all the time and know that he’s doing fine. See? Ridiculous.”
“Not at all,” I insisted. “It shows your heart.”
We both fiddled with the stems of our wine glasses. We’d somehow just breezed past ‘getting to know you 101’ questions to deep territory. But it felt so natural, so easy.Tooeasy.
“So how did you propose?” Emilia asked me.
