Sofia (The Corsetti Empire)

“I’ve never seen her, but Malaki and Rocky were being all weird. I think they know her.”

“Weird how?” Ozzie asked as he crossed his office to see what was going on.

“You know how they get around a pretty lady? They were acting like that but with lots of ‘Oh shits’ and ‘Damn, she’s here’.”

“Remind me to talk to them about their language.”

As Ozzie made his way down the hallway, he could hear them going on about how he’d be shocked. It wasn’t until he heard the voice of the woman in question that he picked up speed.

“Nah bro, don’t let him lick you. He licks his balls,” Rocky said at the same time his eyes caught hers. Right there, sitting on the floor by the front doors to his youth center, was his little Nixie. Who at that current moment was being mauled by Samson.

“Sammy, come!” he said, calling his dog off her long enough so she could get a breath.

The laughter that she was caught up in and the smile on her face made his heart race. She’d come to him. After everything he had done to her, she showed up. Once Samson made his way back to the boys, he walked up and reached down to help her stand. The second her hand was in his, he felt that familiar tingling that ran through his body whenever they touched. It took everything in his power to keep from pulling her tight to his body and holding her so close she could never leave him again.

“You’re here,” he said, looking deep in her eyes, trying to determine what was going to happen next.

“I am.”

“And I see you met some of my kids.”

“I did,” she said, smiling over at the boys.

“Yo, Mr. A... we knew she was cute, but damn son, she’s hot as hell. How the heck did you mess this up?”

“Malaki, that’s enough, and watch your language around the ladies.” Ozzie went to reach for Sofia’s hand but thought better of it. “Do you want to take a walk? Privacy is kind of hard to find around here.”

“Yeah, sure. If you’re not busy.”

“He’s not busy! Go Mr. A. We good here,” Rocky added, handing over Sammy’s leash that the boys must have removed when they brought him back inside.

Once he was secured, Ozzie opened the front door for Sofia and they turned down the sidewalk, with Sammy leading the way.

“So...” he started, unsure of where the conversation should go, “Did you get my gift?”

“I did. I have to say it was the first time in my life someone gifted me food that I had to make,” she said, smiling up at him.

“I wasn’t sure when you’d find it, and I didn’t want the jelly to make the bread mushy. That would be grounds for a breakup.”

“You’re right it would.”

“Are we broken up, Sofia? I’m not even sure we ever decided if we were officially dating.”

“There are a lot of things we didn’t decide on or even discuss,” she said, stopping and reaching for his arm, “I’m sorry I ran out on you like that.”

“Please don’t apologize to me. I should have been upfront with everything from the beginning. This entire mess is my fault, not yours.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” she asked as she continued walking toward the park at the end of the road,” I know I just bailed on you, but some stupid part of me hoped you would fight to get me back.”

“I was fighting for you... for us, really. Do remember the other night when we were talking about what would happen when we got home? I had told you there were some things I needed to take care of when I got back. I needed to get that all handled before I even attempted to win you back.”

“Are you going to tell me what it all was, or is this going to be another one of those situations where I’m left in the dark?”

“I needed to deal with Monica and my parents.”

“How did she even end up in New York when we were there?”

“One of the staff members at the hotel told my father I was staying there. I thought I had everything covered, but apparently I didn’t. My father realized I was here for your brother’s wedding and immediately called my mother, who told Monica. She took her father’s plane and showed up Sunday morning at breakfast. The truth is Monica isn’t that bad of a person. We grew up together, but when we were both told how our lives would go, I bucked against it and she complied. She has spent her whole life counting on the two of us getting married because that’s what her father wanted. It didn’t matter how many times I told her it would never happen. She just didn’t believe me.”