He looks at me with big, hopeful eyes, and I chuckle, wiping my hands with a kitchen towel. “Yes, we are going to the zoo tomorrow…”
My voice trails off, and my gaze darts to Liss. I mean, it wouldn’t harm anyone if I just asked her, right?
“Liss, do you want to join us? I know it’s your day off, but we’d be happy to have you with us.”
“Oh.” Liss blinks, catching my gaze for a moment, and quickly looks away. “I don’t know, I don’t think it’s a good-”
But of course, Romeo doesn’t even let her finish one sentence. “Yes, yes, please! Come with us, Miss Liss, it will be fun!”
His enthusiasm seems to catch her off guard, and I see hesitance in her eyes as she looks between us. Perhaps I should tell Romeo to stop bothering her or tell Liss that it’s fine, she shouldn’t listen to him. But the truth is, I want her to go. I want to spend time with her, so I only shrug when she looks at me and give her a quick smile.
“Don’t think of it as a part of your job,” I can only say because, really, I don’t want her to feel like I’m asking her to work on her day off. “I’ll be looking after Romeo, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
She still looks hesitant and, following a deep urge to guide her, I add in a low voice, “You should come.”
Liss blinks and looks at me, and I can see that she caught the hint of an order in my words. Is she okay with that? Is she gonna be a good girl?
But Romeo distracts her, and Liss turns to him at the sound of the commotion, escaping my gaze. Interesting.
“Yes, Miss Liss, I just want to spend time with you.” Romeo leans on the table, looking at her with big, pleading eyes, and says in the cutest way possible, “Don’t you want to go out with us?”
Oh, that boy knows how to get what he wants.
“Well…” Liss chuckles, shaking her head, but I can see in her smile that Romeo has broken her resolve. “I don’t have any plans for tomorrow
anyway.”
Romeo immediately jumps up on his chair, almost falling over, and Liss and I laugh, sharing a quick glance that makes my heart beat so much faster. And I don’t care if I’m just imagining things, but I see the slightest tint of blush on her cheeks.
Because of our sudden change of plans, Liss stays with us for the night, snuggling with Romeo and Dolce on the couch while we watch a movie in the living room. I don’t get to sit too close to her, but the sight of all three of them is so precious and peaceful that I don’t even want to think about interfering.
In the morning, I insist on taking Liss and Romeo out for breakfast
-it’s her day off, after all. She has to relax and stop taking care of us. I want to take care of her today-but I don’t say it out loud and only smile when I finally catch her leaning back in the passenger seat and humming along to the radio with a mindless smile on her lips.
She looks so effortlessly beautiful when her heart is light and her mind isn’t on her duties, and I catch myself thinking that I have to go out with her more often. How? I don’t know. It’s not like I can just ask her out and expect her to agree, but-
“Papa! Someone’s calling you,” Romeo yells a few seconds after I hear the vibration of my phone and see Riccardo’s name flash on the panel of my car.
Shit. I glance at Liss who is looking curiously at the panel. He can’t be calling for work, can he? I don’t want to pick it up and hear about
someone being shot right in front of Liss-but it’s not like I can just ignore it. I asked for a day off, so if Riccardo is still calling me it must be
something important.
Finally, with one last glance Liss’s way, I accept the call and immediately say, “Hey, I’m in the car. Romeo is here.”
“I got it.” Riccardo chuckles, and judging by the relaxed tone of his voice, the call is not for work. Thank god. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yes, we’re having a day out-”
“With Miss Liss!” Romeo adds in a loud exclamation, and I give him a stern look, hearing Riccardo huff on the phone.
“Yeah, with Miss Liss. Why are you asking?”
“Oh, well, Max’s new console just got delivered, so he wanted to invite Romeo to try it out.” In the background, I hear Max yelling something about new characters and items that make no sense to me. “It’s okay if you already have plans, though, they can play some other time.”
Before he even finishes, Romeo bursts out with a loud protest. “No, no! I want to play, Papa, please! We haven’t played video games in months, I want to go!”
I hear Max screaming something similar on the other side before Riccardo hushes him. Well, I don’t even know what to say. Max and Romeo haven’t had a chance to hang out since Elena gave birth to Max’s younger sister, so it does mean a lot to both of them.
“But what about the zoo? And…” I glance at Liss. She looks awkward, staring out the window, and I can only imagine how she feels. I mean, Romeo was the one to talk her into giving up her day off! “What about Miss Liss? She agreed to come just because you asked her, and-”
“Oh, it’s alright. Don’t worry.” Liss immediately waves her hand and looks at me with a tight smile. “We can do it some other time.”
“Yes, some other time, Papa, please.”
“Are you sure?” I frown, ignoring Romeo’s whining, and glance at Liss before looking around for a parking spot. It looks like we’ll have to change our route.
“Yes, of course.” Liss smiles and looks at Romeo over her shoulder. “I wouldn’t want Romeo to miss out on a game night, right?”
“Yes!” he exclaims in excitement, and I hear Liss chuckle. She knows how much it means to him, but-
“So are you coming?” Riccardo asks, interrupting my thoughts, and I guess I have no choice.
“Yeah, we’ll be there in a few.”
But even as I turn the car around and drive to Riccardo’s place, I still feel like it’s wrong to finish the day here. I don’t want to admit it, but I was kind of excited to spend the day with Liss-and Romeo of course, but you know, it’s a little different. Should I just take her back home now?
Leave her there on her own after Romeo practically begged her to give up her day off for us?
I keep thinking about it all the way to Riccardo’s mansion, and when I take Romeo inside and reject Riccardo’s offer to stay-the least I can do is drive Liss home myself-I go back to the car with an idea in mind. It may be stupid, may be bold, but I want to give it a chance.
“Well, looks like I’m gonna spend the day at home after all,” Liss says with a chuckle that sounds too low to be amused. Was she excited to spend the day with us too?
The thought makes my heart heavy, and I clear my throat, keeping my eyes on the road. “You don’t have to.”
There’s a clear pause before Liss asks with confusion in her voice, “What do you mean?”
“I mean that we still can go out.” “Without Romeo?”
I hum in confirmation, holding the wheel tightly and feeling my heart beating in my throat. I’m surprised at how calm my voice still is, but I guess it’s all from the determination burning in my heart. I’m tired of playing and pretending like I’m not interested in her. If Liss rejects me, then so be it, but at least I’ll have a clear answer.
“So would it be…a date?” Liss asks rather carefully, and I almost want to avoid a clear answer-but that would bring me to the same point where I want to have her but can’t.
So I simply say, “Yes.”
She doesn’t say anything for a moment, and I can’t help myself. I glance at her, and I see her staring at the road with unfocused eyes, looking hesitant. She probably catches my movement from the corner of my eye because as soon as I look at her, Liss turns to me.
Our eyes meet, and the same intimacy, the same tension, charges the air between us-when Liss finally breathes out and smiles at me. God, she’s so beautiful.
“Well, where do you want to go?’