Worth Gold

19 | Feelings: Caught

"Antonio, it really isn't a big deal, honey," Suzanne had called in to check on her son after their lunch date the previous day had gone south.

She didn't understand what his stressing was about but she summed it up to it being linked to Veronica. Suzanne was no racist but she was surprised to see her son out and about with a woman of colour. Antonio had never shown signs of being drawn to them, unlike Adriano who probably had a fetish for coloured women. Was that why he was embarrassed, Suzanne wondered. Was he scared of what people would say or think?

Antonio stood in his office with his phone to his ear, looking out his window at the buildings ahead. He hadn't gotten much sleep and his mother sticking her nose in his business wasn't helping either.

"I don't want to talk about it, mother," he closed his eyes briefly.

"I'm just trying to understand what the matter is," Suzanne said. "She seems like a lovely woman. Why are you freaking out?"

"I'm not freaking out. I'm just upset that you found out this way; that we had no privacy! You weren't supposed to find out until I was sure of my relationship with Danielle."

"So that's her name,"

Antonio rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you two come over for dinner? We'd love to meet her," Suzanne smiled.

"Did you not hear a word I just said, mother?"

"There's no use hiding her now. We might as well get to know her since your relationship is out in the open."

Antonio sighed, rubbing his temple. This was a huge ask from Suzanne. This wasn't meant to be happening-- everything was happening so fast.

"Toni, are you there, honey?"

"Yes, I'm here," he breathed. "I'll have to talk with Danielle first. I'll... I'll get back to you," he said.

"Perfect! It's going to be fun!"

____________

Danielle hopped out of her taxi cab and crossed the road to get to a five star restaurant in Manhattan that Sasha had found online. It was quite the place, she noted as she took her shades off and pushed the door open to enter. It was one of those places that you had to make reservations for, so Danielle confirmed her visit under Sasha's name.

"This way, ma'am," the hostess led her to an empty table with a menu in her hands.

"Bring me a tall glass of lemonade with crushed ice and lemon slices please?" Danielle took a seat and placed her YSL handbag on the seat next to her.

The hostess wasn't so happy with being mistaken for a waitress but she nodded anyway before heading off.

After Danielle looked through the menu and decided on what she'd be having, she got her phone out and checked for messages or missed calls specifically from Antonio.

It had been about three days since they got back from Los Angeles and he hadn't said a word to her since they last saw each other. Maybe he took Danielle's "give me some time" statement too literally but she'd texted him to check on him and he hadn't said anything back. Was he too busy? A whole week of basically doing nothing probably slowed him down a little; he had to get the train back on its tracks. 

Sasha arrived just as Danielle was served her lemonade and she looked like a flame in her new designer clothing. Danielle was in total shock.

"Hey, babe," Sasha set her handbag down in an empty seat and hugged Danielle.