As Diana sat at her desk at the end of a long marketing meeting, her office phone rang. A few days had passed since her fight with Enzo, and they were doing better. He hadn't brought up moving to Staten Island, and neither had she.
"Hello, this is Filomena."
"Well, I didn't expect you to call, but what would you like to discuss," she said curtly. Diana momentarily was upset with Kari, then realized Filomena probably scared the timid young lady into transferring her call.
"I want you to meet me for lunch. I want to talk to you alone." Filomena's voice was calm, sweet even.
Reluctantly, Diana agreed. Filomena gave her the name of a restaurant that was a bit out of the way, but she knew the owner and liked the food. Diana told Liza and Kari where she was going and when to expect her back. "I feel like I'm walking to my execution. Enzo won't even be there with me."
"Oh, it isn't that bad, just hear what she has to say," Liza reassured her.
As they sat down with their drinks, Filomena started to gather her thoughts. "I realize now we are more alike than I thought. My family and our home is most important to me. Your independence, your home and marriage to my dear son is most important to you."
"You're not wrong," Diana agreed.
"I need someone to inherit our family home who understands me. Even if you don't want to live there, maybe when I'm gone you can find one of the grandchildren who will honor its memory. My other children are wonderful people, but they will sell the house without thinking and move on. But Enzo, he won't. He's a good boy, and he loves his mama. And now I see you are the same. Even if we aren't close, you want to honor a person's legacy, what they find important. Like you do your own."
Diana softened a little hearing those words. "I might consider it. But I'm not a caretaker. I don't have a maternal bone in my body."
"That's why I will tell Enzo I'm hiring a service. To take care of my needs during the day. I just hope to have you stay on the weekends. Maybe not every weekend, but often. I only see the whole family on Sunday dinners and I always have to cook."
"And then one day you want us to have the house?"
"Yes. Sooner than later. So it doesn't count against me. You know they take your assets if you become ill and need government help. I won't stand for that."
Diana saw in Filomena's eyes that she respected her. Diana never thought they were very much alike until now.
"I'll talk to Enzo about it. I see your side now, why this is important."
They finished their lunch and parted ways. "Did you drive here?" Diana asked. She honestly wasn't sure if Filomena drove. In the past, her children took her everywhere.
"No, I took a cab. I don't like to take a cab, but sometimes you have to." Filomena shrugged as they left the restaurant, hailing the next cab before Diana could reach it. Filomena smiled and waved from the backseat. At that moment, Diana realized they were similar creatures.
…..
That evening, Diana broached the subject with Enzo. He was looking disheveled and seemed to have had a tough day.
"How is the new job going?" Diana asked.
"It's coming along. So many issues with their pipes," Enzo sighed. "The building is so old. I'm glad we have a few new guys working on it with me. I can't stretch my body into spots like that anymore."
"Really? That's not what you said a few days ago," she teased him.
He laughed and pulled her toward him. "Thank God for you. Always making my day better."
She leaned in for a kiss and he asked "You want to join me in the shower?"
"I would like that. But I do have to bring up something with you, and maybe I should do it right now, get it out of the way."
"Alright, what is it?"
"I talked to your mother today. She met me for lunch. I agreed to go along with her plan that we inherit the house."
Enzo smiled. "That's great news. But wait, she didn't pressure you? I want this to be your decision. I felt bad about this today, the way she just told you what we are doing. I have been letting you have some time to think. We can't both gang up on you."
"No, it was my choice. But we are also keeping this place. She agreed to hire help for her daily care. I told her I'm no nursemaid."
"She was alright with that? Well, okay. Ma can be very focused on what she wants."
"Yeah, well, so can I. And she recognized that. So we talked it over. We can spend some time with her on the weekends and she won't feel so lonely. I didn't realize your family only came for Sunday dinners. No wonder she feels alone."
"Oh, so she did guilt you a little?" he joked. "Maybe she is right about you being similar. Don't get mad at my saying that."
Diana smacked him on the arm and then took his hand. "We can work out the details later. Let's get to our other business while the night is young."
"Okay. You're a wonderful woman. I'm lucky to have met you. I love you," he said.
"I love you too."
…..
Diana felt more settled in their plan after some time elapsed. She was getting ready to leave work, with a lot on her mind. They were to meet Filomena's attorney to go over the property transfer. The editing meeting was coming to an end, which was good because she had to trek to Staten Island. She had informed Liza, and Diana could tell that Liza was working to get Charles to speed it up about this baseball memoir. Brevity was never his style, especially not now when discussing a highly sought after author.
"And so, you'll see in my notes, I've taken some salacious details out of this chapter. We have to find a way that he can get his message across without outing upper management," Charles continued. "They wouldn't sign the agreement."
They glanced at where Charles had recommended some further editing. "I did want to know, how much of this will affect our marketing strategy, do you think?" Charles asked.
"I think we can work with it. It won't generate as much buzz, but since you're the editor, try to be creative in the wording," was all Diana could muster. The truth was that she was too focused on wanting to get the family home ownership worked out, that she wasn't making much sense.
"We can figure this out, I think on our own if you need to go," Liza stated.
Turning to Charles, Liza said, "I'll be back in a few minutes. Let me just have a word with Diana."
"Sure. But can I have my notes back?" he asked.
"As you wish," Liza said, handing him his editing notes.
Diana and Liza walked out to the hallway. Liza knew about Diana's meeting with the DeLuca family attorney, and what was on her mind.
"You know I have seen that movie. I know why you do that," Diana announced. "I mean the 'as you wish' thing that you say."
"Hmm, so you do," Liza said. "Well, Charles thinks it's our thing, so don't say anything to him to ruin it. That's sort of our love language, our secret phrases and inside jokes."
"Enzo and I are working on that. I'm understanding what he needs to feel loved."
"Aww, I'm happy for you."
"So it looks like we are going to be homeowners soon. I've been a bit preoccupied all day. I'm sorry."
"I want you to go. Charles and I will work on this. Luckily, I had a good teacher for the marketing aspect of my job, so I'll channel my inner Diana. I'll send you a draft once Charles gets his notes shaped up to meet our standards. I'll tell him what we want and he will do it."
"I believe you enjoy ordering him around."
"I do sometimes. But he enjoys it too. And that's all I'm going to say about that," Liza said, her face turning pink. Clearly her mind was somewhere else, and Diana was glad to be leaving the office for the evening.
"Lauren was right, you do have a dirty mind. I'll see you tomorrow."
Diana went to her meeting, secure in the knowledge that she was gaining a positive relationship with Filomena. Diana knew there would be more battles ahead with her headstrong mother-in-law, but they were on the same side now. That night, Filomena gave her and Enzo a few of her treasured recipes as a thank you gift.
"I just create it, I don't know the exact measures of ingredients, but I wrote it down for you here. We have to keep all of our family traditions alive," Filomena said.
Diana smiled, knowing full well that if they ever made this complicated dish, Enzo would be doing most of the cooking. He was becoming a magnificent chef.
"Thank you, Filomena," she offered.
"Nonsense, call me Ma. All my family does."
Diana broke into a smile as Enzo gave her an approving nod. Maybe she and Filomena could be friends after all, or even family.