"Hello?", I said answering my phone.
"Giovanni", I heard my mother say.
"Hi, ma", I said.
My mother and I are very close, I never left her side when I was a little boy. I loved my mother much and I'd never let anyone hurt her. I was a bit of a mama's boy and I didn't care if anyone knew it.
"How's my boy and his wife enjoying their honeymoon", she asked.
"Now doing any honeymoon activities, if that's what you mean.", I laughed, making my mother sigh. I could picture her rolling her eyes.
"No, I mean are you two getting to know each other? You both are married now and you two should get to know each other.", my mother said.
One thing about my mom was that she was nice to everyone, even if our family was against them she always treated everyone with respect. She liked Aria a lot when they met each other at the wedding. She introduced Aria to our family members and made Aria feel welcome.
"I guess you could say we are. Nothing much to know about me, I'm a closed book", I said truthfully.
There was not much to know about me. I didn't let anyone in on anything that I felt because what was the point? For pity? The only people I've ever expressed my feelings with was Greta, Valeria, and my mother. I was comfortable with them, I trusted them.
"Gio, honey. Try, she doesn't have to know every detail but don't shut her out. Talk to her and get to know the basic stuff. I know you didn't want this marriage, I know you are still grieving.", she said.
I knew she was right, my mother was always right and gave the best advice but it felt wrong for me to open up a bit to another woman other than Greta.
"It's hard, Mom. It doesn't feel right, I feel like I'm disappointing Greta in a way", I said softly.
"I know, honey. You aren't disappointing her with opening up to someone but you are disappointing her with not opening up to someone. Greta was nice to everyone and she wouldn't want you to shut people out completely.", my mother said.
I never thought of it that way, my mother had a point but there was still something in me that felt uncomfortable. I didn't know what to do, I was confused about everything.
"Maybe, I don't know", I told her.
"Just try and I'll call you again soon", She said.
We said our goodbyes and I sighed before walking inside to see Aria reading a book, sitting on the couch. She glanced up from her book and gave me a smile. "What do you want to eat tonight?", she asked.
"I'll cook us some steak", I said.
Aria nodded before turning her attention back to her book. We have been here for a week already and not much has been going on. Aria tried to have a normal conversation again and I tried my best to not be so closed off. She didn't try and bring up the kiss last week, which I'm glad about. I figured she thought I didn't remember it because I had been drinking the night it happened. We also didn't bring up the story that Aria told me about when she was younger.
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you", Aria said sitting up, placing a bookmark in her book and closing it. "There's this boat ride that I would like to do. You just sit in the boat and relax", Aria said pulling out a pamphlet and handing it to me.
"Boat tour", I read.
I looked up to see Aria smiling brightly. I did feel bad for not doing much while we were here. It was a beautiful place and lots of things to do. I could tell Aria really wanted to go. Things like this aren't my thing, I didn't even like wearing clothes that weren't business attire. I handed the pamphlet back to Aria, she took it and looked through it.
"They are private so it will just be us and the tour guy on the boat", Aria said, crossing her legs.
"Get the tickets", I said.
Aria looked up at me and stared for a moment.
"Wait, really?", she asked.
"Yes", I replied.
Aria smiled brightly and jumped off the couch and laughed. She clapped her hands in excitement and wrapped her arms around me. She hugged me tightly and I became stiff, she gave one good squeeze before letting go.
"My card is in my wallet", I said.
I smiled softly to myself, I knew she was bored being here doing nothing. I didn't like the idea of being on a boat tour but it wasn't fair to Aria that we were here in the Bahamas and we didn't do anything. Her father, along with mine, paid for this trip, though I asked them not to they insisted. Since being away from home, Lorenzo was in charge of everything. I needed to get back home soon because of Aria's brother, Antonio. He was causing trouble with Lorenzo, but we can't do anything and neither can Antonio because of the peace arrangement. If I didn't agree, Antonio would probably have a broken nose and maybe worse. Antonio and I hated each other but it wasn't always like that.
Aria walked towards me with my wallet and took out my card.
"She was just as pretty back then as she was before...", Aria said softly.
I looked to see her looking at a picture of a seventeen-year-old Greta in my wallet. I quickly grabbed my wallet from her and she looked up at me. She opened her mouth to say something but I held my hand up.
"Just go", I snapped.
How stupid could I be? To even give in slightly to Aria and make her somewhat happy on this trip. I tried to do something nice but she had to ruin it. She should have just grabbed my card and be done with it. She shouldn't have looked at the photos in my wallet. She could have seen that picture, and that was the last thing I needed her to see.