After ✔

30

"Your old high school." I mutter when we're seated in the car, with a damp umbrella in the back seat and the heating switched on.

He gives me a look of pure disappointment. "Thought you were better than that." He clicks his tongue playfully. "Actually, I know you can do better."

"Fine." I snap. "We could go to the graveyard. Or the supermarket. You would like that, wouldn't you? All the single moms out there carrying--"

"Shut up." He says lazily, like he's used to dealing with my crap by now. He watches the rain drum down the window and leans back with his hands behind his back. "We could always go to the strip club."

"The girls ran when they heard you were in town." I say dryly.

"Not all of them." He answers with a chuckle. "I heard what happened at Gabi's. Her parents thought you were a prostitute?"

My cheeks turn bright red as he raises a suggestive eyebrow. "Is there something your keeping from me?" He asks. "Maybe I did meet you at a strip club."

Instead of answering, I simply turn on the engine and place my hands on the wheel. "You have the brain of a seventeen year old."

"That's somewhat what my brain seems to think too." He mutters. 

I back the car out of the parking and swerved onto the empty street. Careful, I tell myself. Don't want the car to slide and kill us all.

"I remember this diner you were talking about when we first came. What was it called? Gionni's? Ginni's?"

"Giovanni's." I correct. Actually, it wasn't a bad idea. The local whisky shop was always open, and wasn't far from here either. 

I take the left from the street, willing the car to drive gently on the road. The windshield wipers are constantly moving.

Fifteen minutes later I stop the car in front of the little shop. It's painted a rustic white and green, with an antique sign hanging above that displayes the shop's name in perfect cursive lettering.

We get out as quickly as we can and rush inside. A little bell chimes as we enter.

"Did you ever bring me here before?" Dani takes off his jacket and sets it on a stool besides the one he sits on.

I take a seat besides him and place my hands on the wooden counter. "No. In fact, I haven't been here for a long time."

The sound of footsteps reach our ears and a moment later, a big, bulky woman is standing in front of us.

"Valencia! Is that you?" She peers her eyes at me. She has a strong accent that time could do nothing to fade, and her smile is just as wide as I remember it. "I have not seen you in ages!"

"Hello, Mrs. Giovanni." I smile back. She reaches out and pulls me into a hug. She smells like jasmine, just like she did eight years ago.

Adjusting the little flower in her streaked hair, she turns to Dani. "And who might this gentleman be? Say, you finally find yourself a husband, Valencia?"

"Not quite." I laugh awkwardly. Dani simply beams at her. "I'm Dani," he says.

She recognizes the accent in his voice. "A foreigner, just like me." She states.

"Where's Mr. Giovanni?" I ask her. 

"Gone to Vermont for the week, amore." She says. "Getting more ambitious every day. I tell him, you are too old for this kind of thing, no? But he doesn't listen to a word I say." 
She shakes her head. "Anyways, place closed for the day. But I get you some whisky."