“Good point. I wonder if they’ve discussed it. Or if Jeff would be interested.”
“I don’t know.” Mia planted her elbows on the table. “That’s one thing I really like about David. He sees me as an equal. He knows I’m smart and capable and that I have goals. And he’s okay with that.”
Zach’s words drifted through Katie’s brain. She could hear him saying that Mia and David were too young to make it.
“You’re making a pretty big decision,” she said, even as she hated herself for bringing it up in the first place. “Marriage is forever. I envy you knowing it’s right.”
Mia’s smile faded as she reached for Katie’s hand. “Is all this wedding talk making you think about Greg?”
Oops. Not the direction she’d wanted the conversation to go. Ex-fiancés should best be forgotten. She squeezed her sister’s fingers. “I’m fine with Greg. To be honest, I’m not sorry we didn’t get married. I don’t think it would have worked. I guess my concern is that you have so much of your life in front of you. I want to make sure you’re marrying David because it’s what you want and not because of family pressure or feeling that it’s time.” She grinned. “After all, it would be much easier to rule the world if you were single.”
“I think I can handle a marriage and world domination. I’m a great multitasker.” Mia studied her. “Katie, I love him. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted. As for being pressured by the family, that’s impossible to escape. You know. You get hassled every time you walk in the door.”
“Tell me about it. I swear I’ve dated every single guy over the age of twenty in a fifty-mile radius. Well, except for the ordained priests.”
“If Grandma Tessa didn’t think it was a sin, she’d be dragging them home for you, as well.”
“One of these day’s I’ll find the right man.”
Mia smiled. “Your own handsome prince?”
“Sure.”
“I hope so. I found mine.”
Katie looked at her sister’s pretty face. Contentment radiated from her expression and happiness brightened her eyes.
“Of course you’ll be happy with David,” she said, wondering why she’d ever thought differently. Zach might have his reasons for worrying-in his line of work, who could blame him? But statistics were about other people. Marcelli marriages were forever.
Mia collected the mail, including a copy of Cosmo in French, and ran up the stairs to her apartment. She’d already seen David’s truck parked on the street, so she knew he was waiting for her. She burst into the front door.
“We picked out a dress,” she announced, tossing her mail and backpack on the floor and slamming the door shut behind her.
David lay stretched out on the sofa. He grinned at her and motioned for her to come closer. “Hello to you, too.”
“Hello.”
She kicked off her Nikes and straddled him, bending low to kiss him. His arms came around her.
She loved looking into his face. His eyes were a deep, true blue and made her melt a little inside when she gazed at them. In his arms she felt sure and safe. While everyone in the world thought she was so smart and together, what they didn’t see was she was always afraid of being just the baby. She’d been the baby her whole life, and getting out on her own and growing up hadn’t been easy. With David around, she didn’t have to try so hard.
“Tell me about your day,” she said, brushing his mouth again and feeling heat fill her body.
He nipped her lower lip. “Tell me about the dress.”
“I can’t. You know that. It’s a surprise. But it’s beautiful and we picked out the fabric and the lace. Katie’s going to make the pattern from a couple of different ones. In the meantime, we all start the beading.”
“What beading?”
“All the lace gets beaded by hand. The flower petals are outlined in seed pearls and filled in with little beads. It’s what we do. You know-a tradition.”
“Cool.” He kissed her jaw. “So who is Robert Anderson?”
She raised her head. “Who?”
“I asked first. He called while you were out. There’s a message. Something about him coming out to L.A. in a couple of weeks and wanting to know if you’d like to have dinner.”
Mia bounced off the sofa to her feet and raced for the machine. Sure enough, the red light blinked steadily.
“He called!” she crowed. “He called, he called, he called.”
David sat up slowly. “Mia, who’s the guy?”
She spun around and grinned at him. “Oh, don’t give me that look. This isn’t personal. It’s about my career. Robert Anderson is that guy I met last summer at the Arabic language course I took. Remember? He went to Georgetown, too. We’ve been e-mailing and he said if he got out here, we could hang out. He’s willing to write me a letter of recommendation to both Georgetown and the State Department.”
“Yeah, right.” David looked anything but convinced.
“David, don’t act like that. The man is in his forties. He has a daughter close to my age. Plus he’s married and I met his wife and they’re a totally cool couple. They took me to dinner a couple of times.”
David didn’t look convinced.
She hurried back to the sofa and squeezed onto his lap. “You’re the one I love.”
“I don’t like the idea of you having dinner with other guys.”
Mia really, really wanted to roll her eyes, but that never led to meaningful conversation with the opposite sex. She also wanted to smack David upside the head. Another bad idea. Instead, she kissed his face, all the while murmuring phrases like “lovey dovey” and “kissy wissy.” It usually worked. Just not today.
He moved her off his lap and set her on the sofa next to him. David might be tall and skinny, but he could sure push her around without breaking a sweat, which was one of the things she really hated about being short.
“Mia, I’m serious,” he said.
She sighed. “I’m serious, too, David. Robert Anderson is someone who can help me. I’m in my junior year, which means I’ll be applying to grad schools over the summer. Getting into Georgetown isn’t a sure thing. Robert can help. If you’re so concerned that it’s more than just that, then come with us to dinner. I don’t care.”
Instantly his face brightened. “You wouldn’t mind me being there?”
“As they say in the Valley, well, duh. Of course you’re welcome. It’s going to be boring, but if you want to be there, then be there.”
“Okay. Great.”
He reached for her, but instead of falling into his embrace, she rose and crossed to the window. Once there, she stared out at her view of the side street and the apartment building across the way.
“I don’t know why you don’t trust me,” she said softly, folding her arms over her chest. “You’re going to have to get over that, David, or we’re going to be in trouble.”
“I do trust you.”
Mia didn’t say anything. Although she and David were the same age, sometimes she felt years older. Maybe all that crap about girls maturing more quickly wasn’t exactly the crap she thought it was.
“I know things are different for you,” she said, not wanting to fight. “You’re in your first year of college. You haven’t even picked a major yet.”
“A lot of people haven’t.”
“I know.” She turned to face him. “I’m not being critical. I mean, most kids don’t know what they want when they enter college. I happen to be one of the ones who did.”
“You also started college when you were sixteen. What was that all about?”
He grinned as he spoke, reminding her that this was a familiar point of discussion. He accused her of being too smart for her own good while she called him a lazy bum who couldn’t pick a direction of study.