Before I’d left, Remy had come to see if I needed anything else organized, and when he’d seen how nervous I was, he’d done his best to put my mind at ease.
Unfortunately, he had the source of the nerves all wrong.
They weren’t for Addy. They were for her father.
I hadn’t had the chance to apologize properly to him yet, and to be honest, I didn’t have a clue what I’d even say to him when I did. I’m sure underneath all the concern was also some anxiety about making this the best date Adrienne had ever been on, but it was eclipsed by her dad.
To make things even worse, this afternoon, after I’d decided on where to take her, I’d texted Addy to let her know just to wear jeans, sneakers, and a comfortable top. However, it’d started raining ten minutes ago, so I was going to have to warn her about getting wet—groan—and muddy, seeing as how I was on my motorcycle.
Coming to a stop in Mrs. V’s driveway, I glanced around when I didn’t see the number of vehicles I’d expected to. Her dad wouldn’t hide to ambush me, would he?
Looking at my surroundings more carefully, I didn’t see anything to indicate that’s what he was doing, but I was a Townsend—we were assholes who did shit like this all the time. You could never be too sure. Hell, I was never even confident one of my brothers or cousins wouldn’t just get a wild hair, drive to the ranch, and then try to make me shit my pants.
By the time I’d jogged up the steps to the porch, I was second-guessing my decision about not bringing my truck and had decided to tell her to standby while I swapped out vehicles.
Unfortunately, as I raised my hand to knock on the front door, I heard Adrienne gasp on the other side of it.
“Nonna, what in the hell do you have on your face? And why are you sitting in front of your laptop at my table?”
“Well, bella, I have the date on the worldwide Wi-Fi, and lighting is more good here than mine.”
“I don’t know how you can live in your place. What possessed you to paint the ceilings the same colors as the walls? It’s so dark. If you’d left them white, you wouldn’t have a lighting problem.” There was a pause, and then she asked, “You have an online date?”
“Si, on the up-close thing.”
“The up-close thing?”
“You know, the video thing. This!”
“Zoom, Nonna. Zoom.”
I was becoming concerned by Mrs. Valtolina’s speech. I’d never heard her struggle to find the correct words, so why was she having issues now?
And then it all clicked when Adrienne added, “You know full well it’s called Zoom. Why do you insist on tormenting me by pretending you don’t know how to speak English properly?”
“It’s—how do you say—fun.”
“No. It’s—how do you say—irritating.”
“Ah, that’s good, then.”
“You never answered me when I asked what you’ve got on your face.”
“Oh, I see recipe for mask on worldwide Wi-Fi and put it on.”
“How much longer do you have to wear it for?”
“Two hours.”
There was a silence, and then Adrienne sighed. “When’s your date?”
“Ten minute.” Mrs. V sounded like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“Nonna, your hair’s in rollers, and you have a mask on your face. Unless he has cataracts, he’s going to hang up on you or have a heart attack.”
There was a fart noise that I hoped came from Mrs. V’s mouth. “I have filter. Is okay.”
Hearing Addy let out a frustrated noise, I figured now was the time to knock. It took her all of a few seconds to open the door, and when she saw me, her scowl dropped and morphed into a shy smile.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” Looking over her shoulder, I almost burst out laughing when I saw her grandmother. “Hi, Mrs. V. How are you?”
Her response wound her granddaughter up even more. “Oh, hey, Marcus. I’m doing great, thanks. Did I hear a motorbike?”
There wasn’t one trip up in her English at all.
“Yeah, I came on the motorcycle.” I thumbed over my shoulder at it, not missing how excited Addy looked when she caught sight of it. Yeah, my bike was a beauty.
“In my country, we call it motorbike.”
Not knowing what to say, I just smiled and nodded. I hadn’t even picked up on her calling it a motorbike until I reran what she’d said through my head.
“Ignore her,” Addy whispered as she put a light jacket on.
“Have a good date, Mrs. V.” I lifted my hand to wave, but she was frowning as she clicked the screen.
Addy chuckled as we walked over to my bike. “I can’t wait for her to find out that Zoom doesn’t have filters that’ll get rid of that face mask.”
“That’s genius.” Passing her the spare helmet, I helped her put it on and then did my own before getting on the bike. “Take my hand. It’ll make it easier for you to get on.”