Page 69 of Better Than Gelato
He says it lightly, but it makes me think how doubly thoughtful his gift was.
“Okay, mine’s next,” Carmen says. She pushes a gift bag toward me.
I pull out a full-length dress in a dark slinky material.
“This is just what I needed!” I say delighted.
“I know,” she says. “It’s a wardrobe staple. It’s a mid-weight material, so you can wear it casually, or dress it up and wear it formally. I think the cut will be very flattering on you.”
“It looks perfect,” I say. “Thank you, Carmen.”
There’s one more gift left on the table wrapped in paper with a daisy print.
I unwrap it and discover a large canvas with a black and white photo of Milan. In the bottom right corner it says, Milano 1910. It’s stunning.
“I know you like photography,” Valentina says. “And I thought this would be a great way to remember your special year in this city.”
I feel tears pricking in my eyes. I give Valentina a hug.
“I love it,” I whisper to her.
“I’m so glad,” she whispers back.
“Thank you for the incredibly thoughtful gifts,” I say. “You guys are the best.”
“Hey, Jake, where’s your gift?” Diego asks. Carmen gives him an elbow.
Jake slips a white envelope from his jacket pocket and hands it to me. I pull out a sheet of paper and read through it.
It’s an email confirmation. For a plane ticket from Sacramento to Milan. For my mom.
I stare at Jake in shock. “How did you even do this?”
“Marco let me know the dates they’re going out of town for spring break. Your mom was reluctant to let me buy her ticket, but she came around when I told her what a great gift it would be for you.”
“What is it?” Diego hollers.
I hold up the ticket and wave it above my head like a maniac. “My mom is coming to Italy!” I let out a squeal and throw my arms around Jake. “You are the greatest human alive,” I tell him and then kiss him good. There are some whoops and hollers from the table, but I ignore them.
After dinner, we load all the gifts into Paolo’s trunk and then squish into his car. Me and Jake are wedged into the back seat with Carmen and Diego, and I start tickling Carmen just to make things worse. I feel silly with happiness. I’m twenty-one, and my mom is coming to Italy!
Paolo drives us to a new club that just opened. It’s a little tacky, decorated with more geometric shapes than is healthy for the eyes, but it plays very danceable 90s music. We spend the next two hours enjoying Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, and Backstreet Boys. Jake and I try and fail to teach the group the “Bye Bye Bye” dance.
At the end of the night, Paolo drives us to Jake’s apartment so we can pick up my shopping bags from the market. Jake loads them into Paolo’s trunk as Paolo counts each bag. “Good heavens, woman! What will you buy next week if you bought up the whole market today?”
I ignore his question and pull Jake in for a kiss. “Thank you for your amazing birthday gift. I can’t believe you did that for me.”
He kisses me and whispers in my ear, “There’s not much I wouldn’t do to make you happy.”
We drop off Diego, Carmen, and Valentina, and by the time we make it back to the Rossis’, the clock on Paolo’s dashboard says 1:05 a.m.
“Let’s get you and your ridiculous pile of birthday treasure up to your apartment,” Paolo says.
“I do have a lot of things, don’t I?”
“Yes, my Dolcetta, you have a lot of things.”
I load up my birthday treasures and my bags from the market and we head to the apartment. I hit the elevator button with my elbow and when it arrives, I let Paolo go in first. I squeeze in next to him and one of the bags lands on Paolo’s pile of stuff and two more land at my feet.
