With her head held high, she quietly walked out and returned to the kitchen. There she picked up the phone and called a cab to pick her up. She had fifteen minutes until it arrived. She called to the guard at the end of the street to inform him that the cab would be arriving and should be allowed down the street.
Then she went upstairs to her old room. Opening the door, she looked around at the pink and white room. The lace canopy was exactly as it had been while she was growing up. All the furniture was white, with porcelain knobs hand painted with delicate pink and yellow flowers. The walls and carpet were a soft pink as were the satin bows that held the white, lace curtains in place.
Leaning against the bed, she wished she could convince her brothers that she wasn’t like this anymore. She had a stock portfolio that would rival many brokers twice her age, she had a savings account that would pay her rent and monthly expenses for the next six months, and she had a job where she’d made good friends. The job wasn’t the best, but it provided her with an income that was better than some professionals.
Why couldn’t they trust her?
Looking at her watch, she realized that the cab would arrive any moment. She pulled a tissue out of the box on her old desk and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Being as quiet as possible, she made her way to the front door. She suspected that her brothers still thought one of them was going to drive her home, but she wouldn’t allow them to do that. She cringed as the massive oak and stained glass front door squeaked slightly when she opened it, but she was able to slip outside without anyone catching her.
Antonia walked down the long, tree-lined drive, convincing herself that she was doing the right thing. When the cab pulled up beside her, she jumped inside. She glanced back at the house to make sure she was getting away clean.
But of course, she wasn’t. As the cab turned around, Sal came out the front door with Thomas and Carlos behind him. They watched her drive away, all with furious expressions on their faces.
Monday morning wasn’t as pretty as Sunday, but it was nice enough to go for a walk. And since today was her day off, Antonia intended to take advantage of it. She stepped out of her building, looking up at the sky. It was going to be a great day. She’d make sure of it, she told herself.
“Hi Mrs. Penrose,” Antonia said to the elderly lady walking down the street with her walker. “How are you?”
Mrs. Penrose was at least one hundred years old, Antonia joked to herself. But she was always outside, moving around, getting groceries, and chatting with anyone who would talk.
“I’m fine, and you?” Mrs. Penrose said, stopping as she leaned against her walker and smiled up at Antonia.
“I’m well, thank you. You be careful!” Mrs. Penrose called as Antonia jumped onto her motorcycle, revving the engine as she propelled it into traffic.
Antonia meandered through the streets of D.C., finally coming to the long grassy strip connecting the Capital building to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial that was commonly called “The Mall”. Sitting on a wooden bench, she munched on the popcorn she’d bought from a street vendor, content to just watch the people rush back and forth during the lunch hour.
Brett drove out of the parking garage and headed north towards the Capital. He was leaving a meeting with some lobbyists who were recommended by a friend of his. There was legislation coming up in Congress that could cause several of his companies major headaches.
After a three-hour meeting with ten other representatives from his industry in which he mostly listened to the lobbyists’ proposal to fight the legislation, he was late for his next appointment. He drove his BMW down Constitution Avenue, but turned off when he saw a traffic jam ahead. Taking side streets, he was just about to turn left onto Independence Avenue when he spotted a woman walking along the street. She had dark black hair tied loosely at her neck, but wispy curls escaped and flew about her face. The jeans she wore should be illegal. They weren’t tight, but showed off her figure to its best advantage. And from what he’d seen of Antonia Attracelli, there wasn’t a bad side to her figure. A simple, white cotton shirt tucked into the jeans completed her outfit. He didn’t know what it was about this woman, but the simple, unrevealing outfit reminded him of a kitten. Albeit an incredibly sexy kitten.
His car seemed to turn into a parking space of its own accord and Brett found himself walking over towards her bench determinedly.
“Since you’ve made me late for another meeting, why don’t you just come with me for lunch,” he said from behind. Brett enjoyed the view as much as her gorgeous face.
Antonia turned at the sound of the deep voice behind her. It couldn’t be the man she’d been daydreaming about for the last hour. Life just wasn’t that coincidental.
Sure enough, there he stood. Tall and gorgeous and looking like he owned the grassy area. “How did I make you late for another appointment?” she asked, her voice breathy as she tried to keep the blush from forming on her face. If he knew what she’d been thinking, with him as the star player, she wasn’t sure if he’d want to speak to her again.
Brett shrugged his shoulders in answer. “Does it matter? Are you that interested in popcorn that you’d turn down a free meal?” he asked, laughing at himself because he couldn’t come up with an answer to her question that would make sense.
He didn’t understand it himself. He was rigid in his schedule usually. And now he’d changed it three times because of this woman. He shook his head at his actions of late. He’d never allowed a female to interrupt his schedule before he met her.
“I guess not,” she said. Antonia knew that she shouldn’t go with him. He was dangerous to her peace of mind. And somehow, they always ended up kissing. That can’t be allowed to happen. She couldn’t allow this man to get too close to her. If he found out what she did for a living, she suspected that he’d go right to Sal to disclose her actions.
But for some reason, she was drawn to him. So she tossed her bag of popcorn into the trash next to the bench and smiled up to him. “Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“How about La Choza around the corner?” He suggested the only restaurant in the immediate area that didn’t cater to tourists and might have an available table at this time of the day.
“Sounds good,” she said.
Antonia followed him to his car, all the while telling herself that this was a bad thing. But he sped off in the direction of the Capitol building, pulling up a few minutes later to a small restaurant with a blue portico.