28. Ivy Jade
Ivy Jade
Antonio smiled, but he looked reluctant with Mami around. He stood much taller than I realized from across the patio, and he smelled like the inside of a luxury car. I quickly glanced down at his suit jacket. It was Brioni. Hand-tailored—not cheap.
“It’s so nice to meet you, Antonio. My mami has told me a lot about you,” I said, batting my eyes. I was pre-programmed for this very moment. Mami coached me to look like a doll, to cock my head, and to always smile as if I were a kitten.
“I certainly hope she hasn’t told you too much…” he laughed, deep and sincere.
“Only your entire life existence," I said jokingly, but he had no idea how serious I was.
Quiz me, I wanted to say. I know it all! He wore size thirteen shoes, had a goldendoodle named Potato Chip, and a fake front incisor from a basketball accident in college.
“I’m embarrassed if that’s true…” he said, still smiling. I think he was blushing.
“Isn’t he so charming?” Mami gushed annoyingly.
I rolled my eyes mentally. Had she caught me really rolling my eyes, she’d have whooped me behind closed doors.
“Yes, Mami. Very much so…” I said. All of us just stood around for a moment, painfully awkward.
Antonio cleared his throat. “So… would you like to carve a pumpkin with me?” he asked. He was gentlemanly; I’d give him that.
“Sure she would!” Mami answered for me.
Antonio nodded, then pulled my chair out for me.
I curtsied to him like I had just finished a ballet recital.
Why you ask? I don’t know. I was just anxious and weird, like when I failed my fourth driving test in junior year.
Mami stared at us lovingly. I thought she was going to kiss Antonio on the top of his head.
“I guess we’ll start now…” I said through my teeth, smiling. I gave her a quick look to let her know she needed to be gone. I wasn’t usually this rude to her, but come on… she literally was so rude to me when she treated me like a kid in front of Ro.
Was she really going to monitor this whole date?
She eventually got the hint as Antonio and I sat there for thirty seconds, silently holding the carving tools in our hands. "If you two need anything. Please let me know?" she said, losing her elegance as she nearly tripped on her Carolina Herrera dress while scurrying away.
I sighed and then spoke again once she was back at her end of the table. “She’s so exhausting. Sorry!”
“I get it, parents can be pretty overbearing,” Antonio said.
I felt bad for being a bit of a brat in front of him.
“I’m normally not that rude, I swear. It’s just—”
“My parents have been calling me nonstop since I landed here in Pennsylvania. They want to make sure this meeting goes well,” he said, fiddling with the knife on the table. “Which I think it is so far… given how strange this is.”
I looked up at him. His shoulders dropped.
He looked more relaxed now that Mami was gone.
“You think this is strange, too?” I whispered, making sure no one could hear us.
“I mean, forcing two strangers to meet and get married? Yeah. It’s a little different than finding a potential suitor at a bar,” he laughed, taking a deep breath.
“I’ve been hearing about the famous Ivy Jade since I was nineteen years old—the gorgeous Libra with long brown hair and size six shoes.
” Antonio moved the pumpkin to the perfect spot and began cutting the top off.
“You know my shoe size?” My mouth dropped.
“I also know you have a Pomeranian named Nelly and that your favorite animal is a horse… even though you’re afraid of them.”
“I don’t trust anything that can kick with two legs while still standing up,” I said, totally shocked that Antonio even knew that about me. I thought he was just some gorgeous brain surgeon from New York who didn’t know my name.
“That’s totally fair. Honestly, even though this is strange, at least it’s convenient. I’m sure you understand how exhausting the same repetitive questions from parents can be. Like, ‘When are you going to get married?’ Or ‘when are you going to give us grand babies?’”
“It’s arduous,” I said, agreeing one hundred percent.
“It’s depleting, is what it is. I do brain surgery, but dating sounds even more challenging at this point, especially with a family that always pushes me in the direction they see fit.”
That was sad to hear. Lately, it’d been the same for me, too. “Well, I’m sure it’s hard to find time to date as a doctor, right?”
“Yes, and no. Life’s about making time, but I have a hard time wanting to date when really I'm supposed to be waiting for you...
not to mention getting my degrees and completing my residency at the hospital.
It's probably for the best anyway. Most of the women I’ve met were after my family's fortune, and at least you already come from money. We're similar in that regard.”
I nodded. Maybe we were alike. He was rich, his family was controlling, and he gave off the vibe that he would rather walk on glass than sit here carving pumpkins. I wanted to know how he felt. “You’re looking to get married, though, right?” I asked.
“Are you?” he threw back at me.
“Honestly?” I said.
“Honestly. Let’s pull the guts out as we talk, huh?” he said, taking my hand into his.
Antonio seemed really open and sincere, so why not be honest with him? I wouldn’t tell Mami, and I doubt he would either.
“I love my life. So much! It’s incredible.
Obviously, look at where we are! The mountains are our backdrop while we live in a gorgeous chateau for the week?
It's all an incredible privilege. But it’s never felt like my own.
My parents never wanted me to pursue any kind of career, let alone have my own identity that could clash with their own.
Looks and reputation are a big deal to them. ”
"Mine too. Our name is literally all over a bunch of hospitals. But is that all we are? A reputation?"
"Exactly. Like, what about our happiness? What about pursuing our own interests?" I said, warming up to Antonio.
He looked over at me, curious. "If you have any interest, I'm sure I know about them. But oddly enough, my parents never told me what you do for a living."
"Nothing," I blew my hair out of my face, my wrists deep in the pumpkin. "My Mami thought I’d be much more efficient as a wife in training for the right wealthy man.” I cracked up at that. “It sounds pretty gross saying it out loud, but it’s the truth.”
He laughed. “I get it. I never wanted to be a doctor.”
“No!” I smacked his arm playfully, and some guts may have touched his suit. Shit. Oops. “Sorry!”
He looked at it, picked up a cloth napkin, and cleaned it off easily without complaining.
“There, it’s all clean now. My parents immigrated to the States and made a name for themselves.
They always told me they were setting me up to have the best life they could provide.
I’ll never want for anything, or my siblings and their families.
We’re set for life, but I’ve always felt indebted to them.
They wanted me to be a doctor. So I did it.
Hmmm. If anything, I’d want to marry someone who understands this, which it seems like you do. ”
“Oh, I do understand that, more than you know. Our parents share similar backgrounds. Maybe that’s why they thought we’d be good together.”
“You mean it has nothing to do with the obvious business agreement our parents are working out?” He cracked a handsome smile.
He knew the game.
I laughed at that. “I mean, if we get married now, I wonder if they'll offer us stock options on their joint venture."
Antonio really smiled at that. I made a joke, but it was the kind of thing Romeo would've said to ease the tension. Sarcastic and dry. It reminded me of him. I liked that it slipped out of me—a piece of him that I treasured.
“I like you, Ivy Jade,” he said sweetly, discreetly, “which is why I have to tell you… Don’t fall into the same trap I did. You should go after what your heart wants. Don’t get married if it’s for your parents. You only get one life. Do what I couldn't, and make it worthwhile.”
His advice settled over me, and it was ironic—my own potential husband telling me to follow my heart, when really, my heart was supposed to be his to have.
But Antonio was different.
He wasn't just a list of facts and preferences like Mami made him out to be. He was just a guy in a suit, carving pumpkins by my side because his parents told him to.
This wasn't what a relationship was supposed to look like.
Let alone a marriage.
I looked over at Ro. This time, he wasn’t looking at me because he wasn’t sitting down anymore. Did he leave?
Antonio and I continued to converse about life as we carved our pumpkin together and put lots of candles in it. The coordinator said these would be part of Tallulah’s wedding tomorrow. Then my stomach sank—two more days. I had to find her rings. I needed to stop messing around.
“If you see my mami later, can you tell her that we’re going to go to the rehearsal dinner together?” I asked somewhat desperately. I needed her off my case.
“Okay. Just don’t forget what I told you,” Antonio reiterated, letting me sneak away.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I knew for once in my life that I had to decide for myself.
Whether that involved Antonio was left to be seen.
But I couldn’t just give up on the alternative, not when it involved two different men: the one in the mask and the one I crushed on since I was just a girl.