COURTNEY POV
Courtney is now inside her flat and was checking some online classes for cooking and baking at the same time. She wrote down few of those phone numbers and planned to enroll one of these days. She was about to call the number when she received a call.
"Courtney! Thank God you're finally reachable! I've been trying to call you but I couldn't contact you earlier. Your Papà and I are worried about you." Her mother started ranting as soon as she picked up the call.
"Mamà." Courtney acknowledged her mother.
"Stai bene (Are you okay)? Where are you? What happened to your phone?" Mrs. Montini bombarded her daughter with questions.
"Mamà will you relax? How can I possibly answer you if you keep babbling?" Courtney finally had the chance to talk.
"Sorry go ahead Tesoro." Her mother paused for a minute.
"Prima di tutto (first of all), I'm okay and lastly, my phone battery was already drained." Courtney responded in order.
"Tesoro, I know you're mad at your father but I called to tell you he was sorry for what he did. So will you please talk to him for me?" Her mother has a pleading voice.
"I will Mamà but not now please understand me. " Courtney hoped she does.
"Capisco (I understand)." Mrs. Montini sounds defeated.
"I got to go Mamà and get myself some dinner." She excused herself.
"I can bring your food since I know you're bad at cooking." Her mother tried to cheer up.
"Grazie (Thanks) Mamà but I already brought my dinner." She stared at the menu card on her table.
"Very well, anyway I want to remind you about the family dinner with your future marito (husband). You need to be there, please Tesoro." Her mother pressed the same issue.
"I already told Ben about it, he was furious." Courtney lied smoothly.
"I know you're just making it up so I won't buy it." Her mother can tell a part of it was true and some are not.
"When are you going to believe me mother?" Courtney sounds disappointed a little.
"It's not that I don't believe you Tesoro, we just haven't met the guy that you claimed dating with for four months now." Her mother defended.
"If I let you meet him, tell Papa to hold off that engagement until then, I guess that's fair enough." Courtney negotiated.
"Yes I can do that Tesoro." Her mother gave in.
"Alright, I will send you the details on this but for now I gotta go Mamà. Addio (Goodbye)." Courtney hanged up.
She decided its better to tell this to Ben and make a plan for that meet up so her father will stop pestering her about that engagement. At least with Ben, she is sure he is a good guy and will not take advantage of her family status. After the stressing call with her mother, she went down to the pool area, took a dip, and got a bit of tanning. If there is one thing that can help her ease her mind, it's swimming. Its her stress reliever to clear her head and she will feel rejuvenated by doing laps for the whole 10 minutes. She was about to pick up the towel when her phone vibrated on the table.
"Hey wifey! Have you reached your flat yet?" Ben sent the message to her.
"Hey Ben!" Courtney typed away.
"Are you settled in your flat just fine?" Ben asked back.
"Yeah, I am settled here in Hotel Grand' Italia." Court replied back.
Ben can't figure out why he felt excited upon receiving the response from Courtney but something about her made him feel alive. Maybe it's because she is helping him with his dilemma and so to her.
"That's good. Is everything okay?" Ben asked since the text seems trouble.
"Not really, my mother called and still insisting about the engagement." Courtney ended it with sad emoticon.
"Don't worry about it, we got this and everything is planned." Ben can tell that she is really upset after mentioning her mother.
"Yeah I know but it's still stressing me out and I made a deal to meet her up with you, just didn't know when." She took a big sigh.
"We have enough time to plan for that and make this believable by starting to act on it." Ben motivated her.
"What do you mean by that exactly?" Courtney became interested.
"We need to be seen more often – like we go to dinner, do shopping together or whatever couple does." Ben opt the options.
"Yeah that's actually a good idea." Courtney thinks that's best too.
"It is, everyone will believe about the so called relationship we have specially our mothers." Ben encouraged her more.
"That's true they seem to know every little thing." Courtney added.
"Is it okay to call? I just need to tell you something can I call?" Ben asked permission.
"Sure." She quickly responded.
"Hi again." Ben started on the other line.
"Yeah - hi! So... what is it you want to tell me?" Courtney went straight to the point.
"I sent the contract to my lawyer to finalize it and he will be sending the copy tonight, can drop by tomorrow?" Ben suggested.
"That's great! I will see you then." Courtney absentmindedly nods.
"Cool!" Ben rolled the word.
"Anyway I better get my dinner started, I'm really starving." Courtney is now looking at the menu.
"Speaking of dinner, there's one more thing I need to say." He was his turn to take a deep breath this time.
"Shoot!" Courtney kept reading the menu.
"My mother called asked for dinner, I was wondering if you're up for it." Ben prayed she does.
Ben can only hope that his mother will not be disappointed when she meets her. Courtney is a nice woman that even a blind man can tell; in fact he thinks any guy will find her attractive including him.
"What am I saying this?! This is just a deal. I'm just helping her out just like the way she's doing to me. That's it!" Ben uttered to himself.
"Ben, are you there?" Courtney voice over the phone made him come back.
"Oh. Sorry. What are you saying again?" Ben apologized.
"I said, when and what time would the dinner will be?" She suddenly stopped reading.
"Around 1700, will you be able to come with me tonight?" Ben hopes she agrees.
"Tonight?" Courtney wants to make sure if she heard it correct.
"Yup! I want to surprise her so dress up and then I'll pick you up in two hours." Ben said.
"You don't even wait for my answer." Courtney complained.
"Nope. See you wifey, ciao!" Ben cut the line before she can even answer.
He placed the phone into his pocket and started shutting down the laptop when his brother came in.
"Fratello, my car broke down I need a ride to get home while mine is in auto-repair shop." Eric says casually.
"Sì certo (Yeah sure), I will drop you off then. Give me some more minutes I'm almost done." Ben closed the lid of his laptop.
"We can just go together saves you gas and time." Eric gave out his opinion.
"I actually invited Courtney tonight that's why you need to go home first." Ben checked if he got everything on his pocket his card and wallet.
"I wonder how you're able to convince her." Eric fixed his wrinkled pants.
"It was easy since we have the same case." Ben decided to tell him everything.
"I guessed you both saved yourselves from the trouble. See, what would you do without me?" Eric got a smug look.
"Asshole!" Ben hit him with the pen.
"Yet I'm the smartest ha!" Eric countered.
"Let's get going before your ego went too far." Ben unhooked his coat on the cloth hanger.
"Are you going to tell Mamà about the plan tonight?" Eric waited for his brother by the doorstep.
"Yeah." Ben locked the door.
"This is going to be exciting, what you think?" Eric has this tone of excitement.
"I don't want to know." Ben dismissed the thought for now.
They talked randomly on the way to the basement until they reached Ben's car. They head home and saw their mother sitting outside the gazebo. Ben parked the car to the front gate since he will be diving out again later to pick up Courtney.
"Hi Mamà!" They approached their mother by kissing her forehead.
"I miei figlio (my sons)! I'm glad both of you came in early so you can help me with the dinner." She hugged them.
"Eric can take of that I just came home to have a quick shower and--" Ben was suddenly cut off.
"What do you mean you can't Benjamin?" His mother used the full name as a sign she does not like the answer.
"I need to need to be somewhere in an hour Mama." Ben informed her.
"No, we already talked about this." His mother refused for him to go.
"Mama, don't you want to meet my fiancé?" Ben replied made his mother look to him in shock.
"I'm meeting my future daughter-in-law tonight?" Her voice pitched.
"Yeah that's why I need to prepare and pick her up in two hours." Ben informed his mother.
"Oh I'm excited to meet her! I can't wait for the wedding and to hold my first grand baby!" His mother keeps babbling.
"Mamà calm down before you have a heart attack." Eric led her inside the house.
"Bene (Fine), I will prepare a nice dinner for her." His mother went to the kitchen area.
"I'll get going Mamà. I'm running late. See you in less than two hours." Ben kissed his mother again to bid goodbye.
He drove for thirty minutes to his pad and as soon as he parked the car, he began getting ready. The hotel is about half hour away from his place so he still has an hour left.
================================================================================================
Please don't forget to follow, leave a comment or votes in every Chapter :)
Thank you so much!!
••••• MJ Cristine