Mila's Reckoning

Chapter 12

Gino

As I was getting ready to head over to Mila's, I couldn't help but feel nervous that tonight wasn't going to go as planned. Bob and I had concocted this plan together, so surely it wouldn't fall through.
Spring Break was just around the corner, and I wanted to do something special for Mila. After talking to Bob, it was clear that they hadn't ever taken a trip more than a few states away because he had to work in order to support Mila. When I asked him if there was anywhere that she'd ever really wanted to go, he immediately said, "Boston."
As soon as he said that, I remembered Mila mentioning how much her parents loved going to Boston for their anniversary and how special that place was to them. It was perfect! I asked Bob if he was comfortable with me taking her to Boston, and although he was a little hesitant, he agreed. I assured him that I would book two hotel rooms, and he liked that gesture.
He demanded that he pay for her round-trip plane tickets, but that he couldn't afford much else because of the medicine. Not wanting to offend him, I let him pay for the tickets and I covered the rest.
Tonight, we were going to do this week's lab at Mila's house, and then Bob was supposed to ask Mila to bring out the Boston scrapbooks. We had placed the tickets in the last page of the most recent trip's scrapbook for Mila to find. Well, here goes nothing, I thought, grabbing my jacket and heading out the door.

---

Mila and I had just finished the lab and were in the living room with Bob waiting for the pizza to arrive. No doubt, Bob loved lab nights because it always meant that we would be ordering out.
Just as I thought Bob was about to make his move, the doorbell rang. I jumped up and motioned for Mila to stay seated. I walked to the door, grabbed the pizza from the pizza guy, paid him, and headed back to the kitchen. Mila had already set out the plates, so I headed to the living room to see how hungry everyone was feeling.
When I turned the corner, I saw Bob with a huge smile as he was looking at Mila. She was looking through one of the Boston scrapbooks. Trying to play dumb I said, "What do we have here?"
"You remember how I told you about my parents' Boston scrapbooks?" she asked, then I nodded. "Well, Papa was feeling nostalgic so he wanted to look through them. Come here, I'll show you," she said, patting the couch for me to sit next to her.
"This one is their honeymoon trip, the first one ever. Each year they tried to do something different, but they always seemed to end up at this restaurant," she said, her face beaming. "This was the first one that they ever ate at in Boston, so it automatically became their favorite."
I smiled and started to say something, but she turned the page and began telling me the stories of each picture. It's crazy to think that a girl who's been through so much pain can sit here in complete ecstasy talking about her dead parents.
About thirty minutes of stories had passed by, and I had never seen Mila so happy. One minute she was telling stories, the next she was smacking me on the arm telling me to look at how cool a picture was. Finally, she made it to the last and final book. The book started with a picture just like the others, at their favorite restaurant. As she flipped to the last page, her eyebrows rose to the top of her forehead.
"Look, Papa, I don't remember seeing these before! It's their plane tickets from their last trip," she exclaimed. I giggled, waiting for her to look a little bit closer.
"Wait," she said, "how is my name on this ticket?"
I waited for Bob to respond, hoping he would take the lead on telling her the news.
"Well," he said, "that's odd. What's the date on the tickets?" he asked, winking at me.
"They," she said, pausing with a confused look on her face, "They're for two weeks from now. Papa, what's going on?"
"Well, this fine young man and I thought you should take a trip for Spring Break before you become some big dog lawyer," he said, smiling as he delivered the news.
"Wait, I'm going to Boston," she screamed, and then turned to me and said, "Gino, I'm going to Boston!"
"I know, babe. Isn't that awesome?" I said as she tackled me with a hug.
Bob was sitting in his recliner petting George when Mila jumped up to give him a hug.
"Now don't get too excited, because I'm sending a chaperone. You can't very well go by yourself, and we all know I can't go, so Gino is going to go with you."
Mila paused for a moment, looking at me, then back at Bob, then me, then Bob. Then, in seconds, she was back on the couch screaming, "Gino, we're going to Boston!!"
And when I saw that smile plastered across her face, all became right in my world.