Sophie Love - Love Like Ours

Cristiano just shrugged.

They strolled along the sidewalk hand in hand towards the Hudson River. Keira was acutely aware of the amounts of stares Cristiano garnered. She knew there was a discrepancy between their respective attractiveness, but she felt even more like the plain Jane back in New York, because here Cristiano was more than just a catch, he was a rare beast. Bryn had been right. There were far worse than her in the city. Having him here was going to be exhausting.

“What do you think about my sister?” she asked.

Cristiano laughed. “She’s interesting.”

“Interesting how?”

There was a pause, during which Cristiano was clearly trying to choose his words carefully. Finally he settled on; “Pazza.”

“What does that mean?” Keira asked, her mind conjuring up all kinds of options; beautiful, wonderful, alluring, mesmerizing.

“Crazy,” Cristiano said.

Keira laughed. It was a relief to hear him say as much. Unless he had a secret thing for crazy, she was probably safe. From Bryn, at least. There was still the rest of the female population of New York City to contend with.

They walked through Riverside Park, looking at the beautiful river, then headed towards Central Park. Since Cristiano had noticed it from the air as their plane had flown over, Keira deduced that he would also appreciate seeing it from ground level.

“This is so amazing,” he said, looking at the distant skyscrapers that surrounded them. “It doesn’t seem real.”

Keira smiled, remembering how she had said very similar things to him about Italy. It was cool to see him so entranced by her hometown, to see him marvel at things she had long ago forgotten to be inspired by.

They headed eastward, towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The culture in Italy had been astounding but Keira was competitive by nature and didn’t want Cristiano to think that his ancient European country had more going for it than New York City did! But there was so much to pack in to the day, they were only inside for an hour or so before Cristiano asked to see more of the actual city.

They took a subway to fifth avenue so Keira could show him Times Square, then headed to eleventh avenue for a stroll along the High Line so he could really take in the sights of the Manhattan skyline. They bought more coffee from one of the vendors along the bridge.

As the afternoon drew on, Keira took Cristiano to SoHo where they grabbed some lunch in one of the cafes. Cristiano seemed to especially like this part of the city, particularly all the fashionistas and interesting clothes shops. In fact, he fit right in in his Italian clothes, and found himself a new jacket that looked remarkably similar to the cut-price one they’d bought from the outlet beside the airport, the main difference being that this one cost fifty dollars instead of ten.

While they were eating lunch, Keira’s phone started ringing. Her first instinct was Bryn trying to find some way to lure them back to the apartment. But when Keira looked at her phone, she saw it was her mom calling. She answered the call.

“Darling, I’ve just been speaking to your sister,” her mom announced. “You have to bring Cristiano around tonight for dinner.”

“No, mom,” Keira said with a wince. “We want to spend the day together. We’ve planned everything out.”

“But I’ve already been to the store,” Mallory replied with a sad whine to her voice. I’ve bought everything to make lasagne.”

“Why?” Keira hissed. “You didn’t even ask me.”

She knew why. If her mom had asked her first she’d have no leverage, no way to bargain and nothing to guilt trip Keira with. This way, she had the upper hand. Keira’s refusal made her look spoiled and ungrateful.

From across the table, Cristiano looked concerned. “Is everything okay?” he asked.

Keira nodded, trying to play it cool. She spoke again into the phone. “Mom, I have to go now. We’ll do dinner another time.”

Her mom sighed loudly. “Have you even asked Cristiano if he’d like to meet me? Because it doesn’t sound like you’ve given him the choice.”

Keira grit her teeth. Rolling her eyes, she looked up at Cristiano. “My mom wants us to go around there for dinner tonight. But we were planning on going to that meatball restaurant, weren’t we? So I’m just telling her we’ll take a rain check.”

But rather than the response she was hoping to get from him, Cristiano looked thrilled by the prospect of meeting Keira’s mom.

“We can get meatballs anytime,” he said with a shrug. “If your mom wants to cook for us, we should really let her. I’d love to meet her.”

Keira let her head drop into her hands. With a sigh, she relented.

“Fine,” she said into the phone. “You win, mom. We’ll be round at eight.”

“Seven,” her mom corrected.

“Seven,” Keira repeated glumly.

“Oh how wonderful!” her mom gushed. But Keira cut the call off before she’d even finished speaking. She looked up at Cristiano. “You don’t need to be so polite, you know.”

He laughed. “Politeness isn’t my motivation, Keira. I’d very much like to meet your mom.”

“She’s cooking lasagne,” Keira added in a dry voice. “I can only assume because you’re Italian.”

“Well that’s perfect,” he replied. “Because I love lasagne.”

Keira sighed. Cristiano may be ready to meet more of her pazza family members but she certainly wasn’t. Having him here was becoming more and more stressful for her by the second.

Mallory Swanson still lived in the same apartment where she’d raised her two daughters. Keira always felt a strange sense of nostalgia whenever she returned home. Though her childhood had been filled with love and laughter, the absence of her father was always presence. That he’d lived in that house with Bryn and her mom before she had been born was always at the back of her mind, because shortly after she’d been born, he’d left the family. She’d always grown up feeling like his shadows lurked in the house, like things just weren’t quite at they were supposed to be.

She and Cristiano took a cab straight from town. Keira hadn’t wanted to return to Bryn’s apartment first and have to endure the journey with all three of them in the cramped conditions, so had told her sister just to meet them there. At least Bryn’s ability to keep time was useless so they’d have a bit of breathing space on arrival.

They walked up the steps to the red brick apartment building. The basement apartment was owned by the same old woman who had been living there for her whole life. Her numerous cats lay out on the sidewalk or sat perched on the railings meowing at them.

Keira rang the bell and a moment later, her mom appeared at the door. She was wearing a stained apron over her clothes and her hair was in disarray.

“There she is! My wandering nomad of a daughter!” Mallory cried. She flung her arms around Keira and squeezed tightly. Then she released her and looked at Cristiano. “Well, aren’t you handsome?” she gushed. She hugged him too. “Now, quick, everyone inside. I left the lasagne in the oven and I don’t want it to burn.”

She ushered them inside. Keira walked up the dingy staircase that led to the first floor apartment. It seemed narrower than usual, the dark green walls more stained than she remembered. It didn’t help that most of the bulbs in the corridor had blown. It gave the corridor a horror film vibe.

They made it into the apartment and were immediately assaulted by heat radiating from the oven. The smell of strong cheese permeated the air.

“So this is where you grew up?” Cristiano asked, looking politely around Mallory’s modest apartment.