Mila's Reckoning

Chapter 15

Mila

Today, Gino and I are heading out for Boston! I'm glad he knows me well enough to make sure the schedule allotted for me to be able to have all of yesterday to just focus on packing while he went home to tie up a few things. There was so much that I wanted to take with me, but I knew only a few things really needed to go.
From the moment the boys told me that I was going, I had begun planning and plotting each of the places I wanted to visit. There was no way to visit all of the places my parents had been, so I picked out a handful of my favorites and had the list packed in my carry-on.
This trip truly couldn't have come at a better time. Things were so great at home with Claire working so often, that I knew I could leave Papa in her hands without any worries. Aunt Margaret even planned on spending most evenings here. On top of that, I needed to get out of here so that I could stop thinking about my LSAT scores. They were bound to come in the mail any day, and the anticipation was absolutely killing me. All of my law-school applications were on a 'pending' status until I turned in my LSAT scores, and it made me a nervous wreck thinking about losing my spot because I waited too long to take the test.
Even with Gino, it seemed like a perfect time to get away. We hadn't discussed the event much since it had happened, mainly because we both knew that it would lead to a dead-end. There were things he wasn't comfortable sharing with me just yet, and I understood that. Heck, I'd been keeping secrets and feelings to myself for my entire life. I wanted to know more, but I was doing my best to practice patience and understanding with him. I would expect him to do the same.
Lyn insists that I am rationalizing his behavior with excuses. And, maybe I am. Gino had been so supportive of everything, so who was I to pry into pieces of his life that he didn't want to share? He was taking me to Boston, and he even bought me a few new outfits to wear while there! I'm not sure if he is excited about going, but he is doing everything in his power to make sure that I am going to have the best time possible.
I checked the clock: 15 minutes until Gino would be here. I glanced around the room, making sure that all of my piles had made it into my suitcases. Seeing nothing, I went over to my bed and looked at all of the scrapbooks. There was no way to take them all, so I had to choose just one. I needed my parents with me because it felt like I was picking up where they left off. So, I took the scrapbook that Gino and Papa had put the plane tickets in.
"Mila, Gino is here!" Papa called from the living room. Of course, he's early. I put the scrapbook in my suitcase, zipped it up, and headed to the living room.

---

When we made it to the airport, I was a little overwhelmed. There were so many lines with hardly any signs about where to go - this place was like a maze! Gino saw my face, and laughed. He grabbed my duffle so that I was only rolling one suitcase.
"Just hold my hand, and you'll be fine, okay," he said with a teeth-filled grin, trying to encourage me that I had nothing to worry about.
We checked our luggage, and started heading through security. We had to practically take off every inch of anything that wasn't clothing, put it into a bucket, and then walk through a machine that scans your body. Gino laughed at my terrified face as the machine scanned me. I swear, if they pull me in to strip search me, I'm going home. In the movies, stuff like that happened all of the time. But it sure as heck wasn't going to happen to me.
"Alright, we're done with the hard part," Gino said, grabbing my hand after I put all of my jewelry back on.
He walked us over to the terminal, and we sat in the corner by ourselves.
"So, what now?" I asked.
"Now, we wait. In about 20 minutes or so, they'll call us by row to board the plane," he said, checking his watch.
"So, what's the plan for the week? Are we visiting about 30 places per day?" he asked, smiling as he brought my hand up and kissed it.
"Actually," I said, digging through my carry-on, "I've made a list of about 10 places that I'd like to visit - in order of necessity. I figured we would just start at one and go from there!"
"Sounds good to me, babe," he said, leaning his head back against the wall.

***
Gino

Mila was like a little girl riding on an airplane for the first time. We were riding coach - which was something that I hadn't done in a very long time, but I knew that it would be more comfortable for Mila. Luckily, this plane was a small one, and Mila and I were the only two people in our row. We were in the third to last row from the back. Being able to see most of the plane and passengers was a necessity for me, I guess I'm like Paap in that area as well.
I insisted that Mila sit at the window seat because I knew that she would love watching the take-off and landing from that viewpoint. During the take-off, her chest was rapidly bouncing as she took shallow breaths, but she wasn't about to let me know that she was nervous.
I reached for her hand right before we left the ground, and she squeezed a little tighter as she heard the engine begin rattling as it always does during lift off. I reassured Mila that the rattling was normal. Once we were in the air, Mila distracted herself by taking plenty of pictures of the clouds as we passed them, she was in awe of how beautiful the sky was up-close.
We had to stop in Atlanta to catch our flight to Boston. Mila was starving, so she grabbed a big gourmet hot dog at the Atlanta airport.
"I've never seen a hot dog so big," she exclaimed as she began to devour it.
We landed in Boston just a few hours later, and made our way to the baggage claim.
"I've seen it on so many movies where they lose their luggage, Gino. Do you think that will happen to us?" she asked, wide-eyed.
"I highly doubt it, but you never know," I said, raising one eyebrow as I grabbed her hand and walked to an open spot next to the baggage claim area. Luckily, I was right, and all of our baggage was loaded on the circle thing and was spinning around. We grabbed our luggage and headed for the taxi.

---

"Alright," I said, walking toward Mila after checking in at the hotel, "We've got our keys, so let's head on up." I grabbed the cart with our luggage and headed toward the elevator.
Mila looked a little anxious in the elevator, but I couldn't ask her what was up because there was a family of 7 crowded in there with us. I hoped that she wasn't disappointed that we weren't staying in the inn that her parents loved. By the time I concocted this plan, there was no availability at the inn. So I just booked rooms at the Hilton knowing that it would be a good spot with my favorite pillows. I'm just a little spoiled.
We exited the elevator, and walked down the long hallway that led to our rooms. When I was booking the rooms, I knew that I would have to get two. Mila wasn't like any other girl I had dated, in that, she likes to keep her privacy. At this point in any other relationship I'd been in, I had already slept with and dumped the girl. Yet, here I am, at age 23, taking a girl on a vacation with whom I had barely even seen her shoulders. I sure as hell couldn't let the boys ever find out about this.
We made it to our doors, and I began to explain the room situation.
"Alright, miss Mila, here is your key. Our rooms are right next to each other and have an adjoining door - so instead of calling, you can just open up the door when you need me," I said, handing Mila her key. I could see Mila's body relax when she realized we wouldn't be sleeping in the same room. Ah, that's why she looked nervous.
"Okay," she said, "so what's the plan for tonight?"
I checked my watch, and it was about a quarter to eight. Mila hadn't eaten anything since Atlanta around 4 o'clock, so I'm sure she was starting to get hungry again.
"Well, we could hit up one of the places you have on your list for food if they're open," I said.
"Actually, I was thinking maybe we would just relax tonight and start the adventure tomorrow. Could we like order takeout or something and have it delivered here?" she asked.
"Sure," I said, "I'll meet you inside in a minute and we can check out the list that the hotel has."
"Splendid," she said, giggling. Then she slid her key card in the door and slipped inside.