Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Meeting Virginia (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Friendship, Texas Book 3)

by Magan Vernon

  I blinked hard. “You talked to Sammy?”

  She slipped on her shoes and tied her hair into a knot on the top of her head. “Yeah. He had a lot to say and really fast. His English is really bad, but once he figured out I was fluent in Italian, he couldn’t stop talking about how great you are and how you deserved a night off.”

  Now, I was out of excuses. If I really wanted to be with this girl, I’d have to survive a night with her and her colleagues. Maybe we could figure out a future together for the artist and Texas boy.

  ***

  The restaurant was one of the nicest ones in Palermo. It was settled near Garibaldi Giardinno and had indoor seating with white tablecloths and a wine list with prices higher than most of the food at my cousin’s place.

  Morgan and her boyfriend, Donnie, were there, along with three of Virgina’s professors. And I should have expected it. There sat Rick, smugly sipping a glass of red wine next to Virginia’s wild-haired professor, Dr. Mercato.

  I felt underdressed with the women in dresses and Virginia’s two male professors, along with the other guys, in button-downs and slacks. If I would have known that, I might have asked Sammy to borrow something or at least to help iron my one button-down shirt I brought. I maybe would have at least tried to get the wrinkles out of my t-shirt and jeans that I picked off Virginia’s floor that still smelled like swordfish from the restaurant.

  “So Sonny, are you attending the university as well? I don’t believe I’ve seen you in any of my classes,” Dr. Ventura said, his fingers lightly skimming his overgrown mustache.

  “No, sir. I graduated from UT Austin last May. I’m just here for the summer helping out my cousin,” I replied, trying to my best to use my Southern manners, even though Rick had been glaring at me since the first course, and I wanted to deck him in his smug face. I might have been a pain in the ass most of the time, but I knew how to charm someone in authority, even if it was only for a few moments. A lot of yes, ma’ams or sirs usually did the job.

  “Austin? I have some colleagues there. What department?” Dr. Mercato asked in her very refined Italian accent that either took years of practice, or she could have possibly been from a city in Italy instead of the streets of Palermo.

  “Uh, Mass Communications,” I said, rubbing my hands together. I wish I had something more promising or some accolades I could talk about, but I wasn’t like the people sitting at the table around me. I played football because that was what everyone else did in Texas, even though I sucked and sat on the bench most of the time. And I even tried joining a fraternity then I kind of accidentally slept with the president and vice president’s girlfriend at the same time in the treasurer’s bed, and my bid was quickly rescinded. I was nothing more than just a Sicilian kid with a useless degree, working at his parents’ restaurant in Texas.

  “Were you also a dumb jock? Or maybe some other kind of sport? Or just a restaurant worker?” Rick asked, with a slight laugh.

  Virginia glared at him, and Rick shook his head, taking a sip of his wine.

  “None of the above,” I grumbled, not wanting to start an argument in front of Virginia’s professors.

  Dr. Mercato changed the subject, looking at Virginia. “So tell us more about the Roma position.”

  Virginia smiled. Straightening in her seat, she was obviously eager to change the subject. “I’ll be working directly under the Manager UO at the Museo D’Arte Contemporanea, and if all goes well, I should be hired on full time by the spring.” I expected Virginia’s eyes to light up as she spoke about the great opportunity, but instead, there was a hint of sadness to them.

  “And what are you going to do, Sonny? I hear their cafeteria may be hiring,” Rick said with a laugh.

  “Enough,” Virginia snarled.

  I put my hand out. “It’s cool. I don’t need my girlfriend to fight my battles for me.”

  “Girlfriend? Wow. I didn’t think a guy like you would use those terms for someone you were just sleeping with,” Rick said, curling his upper lip.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I growled. I might have wanted to keep up with my manners and not make an ass out of myself in front of Virginia and her professors, but all resolve left me when it came to this douchebag.

  All eyes on the table were on us. I didn’t want to have this argument in front of all of these people who Virginia respected, but this guy had finally crossed a line, and it was about time he went back to his own side.

  Rick leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Look, we all know that Virginia is a brilliant artist. She’s had a really tough year and has raised to the top of the class. Obviously, you were something easy to blow off steam. Why else would she slum it with a guy with a communications degree and a Southern accent who sounds like he’s straight off the ranch?”

  I wanted to say something back to the smug prick or even deck him. But with all of these people’s eyes on me, it would just play into the stereotype this guy put on me. So instead, I pulled some euros out of my wallet and set them on the table. It was time I went back to the restaurant. Back to where I belonged. “Have a nice dinner, everyone,” I said before nodding and taking off.

  “Sonny, wait!” Virginia yelled, but I didn’t look back as I pushed through the door and into the muggy night air.

  I didn’t stop until I was halfway down the block, and then I finally turned around to face a wide-eyed Virginia. “Sonny!”

  I shook my head, raking my hands through my hair. “As much as I hate to admit it, that asshole’s right.”

  “What? Since when did you start listening to anything that Rick says?”

  Anywhere else, an argument in the middle of the sidewalk would look out of place, but since everyone communicated by yelling in Sicily, no one even batted an eye as they walked around us.

  “Since it’s making sense! You have this great future with this amazing internship and job in Rome, and I’ve got nothing. Literally, when this summer’s over and you’re hopping on a plane to Rome, I’m just going to go back to Dallas and back to working long-ass hours at my parents’ restaurant.”

  “Then do something else!” Virginia yelled, putting her arms out to the side.

  “What the hell else am I supposed to do? Like he said, I’m just a dumb Texan with a Mass Comm degree who hasn’t done anything but work in restaurants,” I yelled back, taking a step closer.

  “You’re a resourceful guy, Sonny. You can open your own restaurant even!”

  “What am I supposed to do? Follow you to Rome and hope someone will hire me then eventually croak so I can take over the business?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

  “I don’t know, okay? I’m not you. All I know is that I love you, and I don’t want to lose you!” she yelled, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

  “Yeah. Well, that’s good because I love you too.”

  It was the first time either of us had said those words out loud. Well, more like yelled them in the middle of a crowded street.

  We just stood there and stared at each other, breathing heavily. I finally put my arms around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her with all of the love and passion that I’d been holding in.

  I might not have known what our future was going to be, but I knew right then and there that I was going to work as hard as I could to figure it out.

  Chapter 12

  “Hey, Sammy, do we have any cousins in Roma?” I asked Sammy, who was practically falling asleep as he rolled the same piece of dough over and over.

  As the summer wound down, the closer the time came to Virginia leaving for Rome and for me to go back to Texas. Instead of coming up with a plan, I’d just been spending every free minute I could with the redhead who’d captured the heart I didn’t even know I had.

  Now that our time in Sicily was coming to an end, I needed a plan, for once in my life.

  “Roma? Uh, maybe. I think Maria might have an uncle in Civitavecchia who works at the port,” Sammy responded. Then he finally st
opped rolling the dough and looked at me. “Why do you ask?”

  I sighed, taking the dough from Sammy and kneading it before putting it in a pan and in the oven. “Virginia has an internship and then hopefully a job there. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I want to be with her, and the only way I can figure to do that is to find a job there.”

  “Why don’t you ask your pops?” Sammy asked, leaning against the counter.

  I shook my head. “I haven’t even mentioned Virginia to him, and he’ll think I’m stupid for chasing a girl to another country. I figured I’d just get a job there and tell him it’s a great opportunity.”

  Sammy laughed. “You know you’re not the first Conti to chase a girl to another country.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

  Sammy patted my back. “Why don’t you take some time while this bread bakes and FaceTime your parents. They may have the answer to that question.”

  ***

  It was five in the morning Sicily time, which meant it was nine at night back in Texas. I figured either Dad would be at the restaurant and ignore me, or if he had Dana close up, he’d be in bed.

  I took the chance, either way, connected to the Wi-Fi at a local café so I wouldn’t wake up Maria and the kids, and dialed my parents.

  It rang almost ten times. I was just about to hang up when my dad’s nose hairs showed up on the screen. “Sonny!”

  He pulled the camera back, and I got an aerial view of his graying mustache. “Mama! Sonny’s on the phone!”

  I saw the background of the restaurant as Dad walked through the kitchen to the bar where Ma’s face finally appeared on the screen next to him. “Sonny! My boy! I haven’t seen your face in so long! You look so handsome. Look at how handsome he is,” Ma said, looking at Dad.

  Dad nodded. “Very handsome.”

  I could have blamed my cockiness on my mama. All Sicilian mothers loved their boys, and I was the baby of the family. All my life, I’d always heard how handsome I was and how smart and talented even for just coloring a rock. I think Nicky and Lia both resented me for that.

  “How’s everything going at the restaurant?” I asked.

  “Good. Running smoothly. We miss your and Lia’s help, but I guess we have to get used to it with her in California and you running off with the femmina,” Dad said, wiggling his eyebrows.

  “Dammit! Sammy or Lia? Who told you? Is nothing a secret in this family?” I shook my head, wondering when in the hell Sammy had time to talk to my parents.

  Ma patted Dad’s shoulder. “I’ll finish the register. You talk to the boy.”

  Dad walked toward the back and through the kitchen.

  “Why’s Ma leaving? Why does she want you to talk to me?” I asked.

  Dad stopped as soon as he stepped outside, running his hands over his baldhead. “Your mother knows I’m no stranger to chasing the femmini. Neither are your sister or brother. Maybe that’s why I tried to stop them because I knew once the chase was over, they’d be gone.”

  “What are you even talking about? I’m not following at all.”

  Dad sighed. “Have I ever told you the story of how your mother and I met?”

  “Uh, yeah, something about a setup between your parents and you ditched her on the first date for a dice game?”

  Dad laughed, nodding his head. “Yes, that’s all true, but it’s not the whole story.”

  I raised an eyebrow, and Dad continued.

  “Your mother was a smart lady. Too smart for me. That night I was supposed to go on a date with her, she was tired of waiting for me, so she went out with another boy. She has that spunk that your sister, Rosalia, has that gets her into so much trouble.”

  “Ma? That doesn’t sound like her.”

  Sure, Ma always had a wicked tongue and would smack anyone if they got out of line, but I didn’t take her as the kind of lady who would get ditched by one guy and go out with another one.

  “Yes, your mother. Of course, my father beat the hell out of me when he found out, and the next morning, I went to visit your mother at her family’s stand at the market. I brought a bouquet of flowers and tried to apologize. And you know what she said to me?”

  “What?”

  Dad laughed. “In not so pleasant terms, she told me that she never wanted to see my face again. Of course, when a girl tells you that, you can’t help but keep pushing. So I spent every day at that mercato, asking her on a date again and again, and she kept telling me no.”

  “So that’s the point of this? You bothered Ma until she agreed to go on a date with you?”

  Dad shook his head. “No, she never actually said yes to me.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “So you two never went on a date?”

  He shrugged. “We went for walks. We talked. I brought her food. But never a date. Not until she told me of her dreams to leave Sicily for America, the land of opportunity. She had a degree. She was a smart girl, and I knew she would get there. I just didn’t want it to be without me. So I called your Uncle Guido in America and asked him for a favor. The next day, I asked your ma to marry me with a ticket to Texas.”

  I widened my eyes. “And she said yes to that?”

  He laughed. “Of course, not!”

  “Then how did you get her to go with you?”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “My good looks and a lot of convincing over time.” Dad sighed. “I loved her, Sonny. Us Conti men do crazy things for love. When we catch it, we know we can’t lose it, so we fight to keep it.”

  “What am I supposed to do, Dad? Give her a ticket to America? I can’t do that. She has a job in Rome, and I’ve got nothing in Rome or America.”

  “Nothing in America?” Dad asked.

  I groaned. “You know what I mean. I can’t just be a delivery boy and cook forever. That’s not going to keep her.”

  “If you’re saying you want to take over the business from me, I’m not ready to leave yet.”

  “Dad, I wasn’t saying that.”

  Dad lifted his hand. “But if you want to expand to Dallas or to Roma or wherever your feet fall, I’ll help you where I can. Your mother has a cousin in Rome, and we’ve wanted to expand to Dallas for a few years.”

  “Are you saying you want me to run a restaurant?” I’d never heard my father say those words. He’d been trying to get Nicky and Dan to expand for years, but Nicky wanted nothing to do with the business.

  Dad smiled. “I’m saying you have to chase your dreams, Sonny, wherever they may take you.”

  Chapter 13

  The summer nights were coming to an end and so was my time with Virginia. Her paints and supplies were packed in various boxes, ready to ship to Rome.

  I still didn’t have a plan with where I was going. I’d tried emailing and calling my family in Rome, but with the different Sicilian dialects, I wasn’t used to the proper Italian dialect, and the many language barriers just left us all frustrated.

  Virginia and I had arranged for our flights to leave that same August day.

  There were a lot of tears from Sammy and the kids as they hugged us goodbye. Maria was the last one to hug me before she pulled me close and whispered in my ear, “She’s going to let you catch her, Sonny. Don’t let her go.”

  I nodded and kissed Maria on the cheek. “I know, Maria.”

  She pinched my cheek before letting me go. I helped Virginia with the last of her luggage, and we climbed into Sammy’s car.

  We all stayed silent on the drive to the airport until Sammy helped us with our bags and we got out of the car. Sammy hugged Virginia then put his arms around me.

  “I’m gonna miss you, Sonny. Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

  “Of course not, Sammy. You’re gonna need someone to keep your ass in line,” I joked.

  “And don’t let her go, okay? I don’t know what kind of things you need to do to keep this going long distance, but we’re ready for another family wedding,” Sammy said, patting my back as he pointed at Virginia with th
e other hand.

  I shook my head, walking toward Virginia. “Don’t scare her away now. We’re already going to have enough miles between us.”

  “Okay, but I expect an invite, whether it’s in Roma or America!” Sammy yelled, getting into his car.

  Taking Virginia’s hand, I grabbed my suitcase with the other, and we rolled into Palermo’s airport.

  We only had a few more hours together before both of our flights. We’d talked about trips during the holidays, and I’d go to Chicago when she visited her family. But we both feared that maybe we weren’t strong enough for this. Many people did long distance relationships but after meeting Virginia, she’d become a part of me. A strong part of me.

  When we went to the separate counters to go through security and check in, I couldn’t help but stare at her. She looked so different yet so much the same as that girl I saw in the club all those months ago.

  I never thought after that one dance that I’d fall in love. That she would be the one. It was too soon to think about marriage and wedding bells, but I knew I was going to keep up the chase for as long as she’d have me.

  When we both got through security, I looked at the board for the departing flights.

  “Looks like your Rome flight is at Gate D22,” I muttered.

  Virginia nodded, squeezing my hand but not saying anything.

  “I’ll walk you there.”

  We headed down the terminal, not saying anything, just letting the silence hang between us.

  Once we finally got to D22, we stopped right at the entrance that was full of people, sitting in the uncomfortable blue chairs and staring at their phones.

  “Well, I don’t take off for another two hours, so we can maybe get a coffee or something,” I said absently, thinking of any excuse to spend more time with her.

  Virginia looked at the gate then down at her phone. “Oh. It looks like I have a gate change.”

  I looked at the board. “Um, that says Rome at 10:07. Did you change your flight?” I asked, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.