The next few days were busy for Harlow, she had a job interview lined up, one she was looking forward to. She also made sure the house was clean, stocked full of food and that they were well stocked of his mother's favorite wine.

Harlow was making Antonio breakfast while he was getting ready for work, when his phone rang. She kept hearing the phone ring, stop, and ring again and quickly ran upstairs. "Antonio?" she called out as she entered the room.

She walked into the room and heard he was still in the shower, then noticed his phone was sitting on the bed and decided to answer it.

"Hello?" she asked politely, when she saw his moms name on the caller ID. For a moment there was no answer, so, she said hello again.

I need to speak to Antonio; this is his mother calling. She said, sounding rude and in broken English.

"He's in the shower right now, I'll have him call you back when he's finished."

Please, tell him his mothers on the phone. He will take my call.

She rolled her eyes and couldn't believe how rude she was being towards her, by the way she was talking to her, she thought maybe it was an emergency and felt she should interrupt him. "Ah, hold on, I'll let him know you're on the phone."

She set the phone on the bed, walked into the bathroom and peeked her head inside the shower. "Hey you, are you coming to join me?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

"No, your mother is on the phone and very persistent you come to the phone."

"Tell her I'll call her back when I'm finished showering."

"I already told her that and she was kind of being rude, insisting that I get you anyway."

Antonio sighed and shut the water off. "Your phone is on the bed," she said, handing him a towel.

Harlow left the room and went back into the kitchen to finish making his breakfast. The sound of her voice kept running through her head, wondering if how she was on the phone is how she was going to be when she comes to visit.

Antonio walked up behind her while she was putting his scrambled eggs onto his plate, his hands rested onto her hips and leaned his head to her side, kissing her cheek. "Is everything okay? The way she was speaking to me, I thought it was an emergency."

He continued kissing her cheek, moving his kisses down along her neck, then spun her around and pulled her in for a kiss. "Everything is fine, she was calling to ask if it would be okay if they flew in a couple days early."

Her face fell, then felt her stomach drop and furrowed her eyebrows. "A couple days early? That would mean that she wants to fly in today."

Antonio pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "I know..."

"What did you tell her?"

"I couldn't say that they couldn't, especially since our pilot is out there already."

Harlow bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head up and down slowly. "You know I have an interview tomorrow."

"They'll be fine here by themselves."

She turned around and buttered his toast, placing it on his plate, then picked up his plate and turned around, handing it to him. "I'm sure this is cold now."

"I'll still eat it, thank you."

Antonio sat and ate quick, he had to meet with his client before court and was already running late. While he ate, he could see in Harlow's actions that she wasn't too thrilled about his parents coming earlier than planned. "I can call her back and tell them to just come as originally scheduled."

"Why would you do that? You already set it up. It is what it is."

"They're just excited to meet you and are really wanting to get to know who the girl I fell madly in love with. The one who will be my wife soon."

Harlow sat across from him and started eating her eggs. Talking with food her mouth. "I know, I just wasn't ready for them yet."

"Me either, but I didn't want to be rude and tell her that they couldn't. I haven't seen them in over a year and figured it would be okay."

After Antonio left for work, Harlow went through the house, starting from the bottom floor, working her way up and making sure everything looked perfect. She then had Gemma meet her at the house and they left to go shopping. She felt some of the rooms looked too bare and went out looking for items to liven them up.

She wasn't exactly sure when his parents would be in town, but knew they were eight hours ahead of them and figured by the time they got there, they would want to go to bed right away.

Not knowing if they would be hungry or not, she stopped at the store and got items to make spaghetti, figuring it was something she could make a lot of and have leftovers, something they'll be able to reheat while she and Antonio aren't home.

When she got home, she started making the spaghetti and began placing the items she bought in the rooms she intended them for. She also bought some fake plants to put around the house. She wanted real plants but couldn't find anything she liked that wasn't messy and figured the fake plants looked just as nice and somewhat real looking. For the price she paid for them, she hoped nobody would say anything about it.

She called Ethan earlier asking if he would like to come over for dinner and wanted him there for support for when Antonio's parents arrive. She was nervous and figured he could help with calming her nerves. Then again, maybe it's a bad idea, she thought over and over as the day went on.

Ethan left work and headed straight over to Antonio's, walking in like he owned the place. "Honey, I'm home!" Ethan chuckled as he took his shoes off. "Damn, it smells good in here, is the food done?"

Harlow walked out of the kitchen shaking her head. "No, but it's almost done. Antonio still isn't home. I'm guessing he's still at the airport waiting for his parents to arrive."

"Well, screw them. I'm hungry," he said, walking towards the table and sitting down.

"You can wait until they get here."

"That could be hours... fine, I'll just go help myself to Antonio's stash downstairs."

"Ethan."

"What? I'll just have one, would you like one?" he asked with a grin. "Just one shot, it may make you feel better."

"Okay, fine. Just one."

Ethan stood quickly and headed for the bar downstairs. He grabbed a bottle and poured himself a glass of straight bourbon, downing it and pouring himself another. He then grabbed a glass for Harlow and filled her glass with bourbon. Smiling while he poured it.

He walked back up the stairs and over to Harlow. "Here, drink up," he says, handing her a drink. "It's the perfect medicine."

"Screw the glass, where's the bottle?"

Ethan's eyes widened and choked as he drank his drink. "Seriously?"

Harlow set the glass down and shook her head covering her face "I'm so bad, I have no idea why I'm acting this way?" She picked up her glass and chugged down the booze Ethan poured her. "Yuck, that burns."

"Good shit huh!" Ethan laughed. They both heard the front door open and Harlow froze. She quickly grabbed the glasses and began rinsing them out then stuck her head under the faucet, trying to rinse her mouth out. Ethan couldn't help but laugh when he watched her go into panic mode.

"Something smells good in here," Antonio said loudly.

"Antonio, you're finally home, glad you could join us. You know, I've been slaving myself on your stove all day and cooking a nice wonderful meal, the least you could have done was, be home on time." Ethan said, walking towards him with a smile. "Oh? I see we have company... and who might you two lovely people be?" Ethan asked, holding his hand out to shake.

"Ethan." Antonio chuckled. "These are my parents, Giorgia and Giovanni."

"And who is this comedian?" Giorgia asked, looking at Ethan strangely.

"Mother, this is Ethan, Harlow's brother. He also works for me and has helped with getting me to where I am today."

Ethan shook their hands and smiled. "Don't mind me, I like to make people laugh. I see you didn't find me too funny; I'll have to work on that." he winked, leaning forward to Giorgia.

Harlow stood in the kitchen trying to avoid everyone and wanted to finish with dinner. Antonio walked into the kitchen and stopped next to Harlow. "My parents are here, would you like to meet them?"

"Give me a second, I have to pull the garlic bread out in a minute and I don't want it to burn." She looked at him nervously. He gave her a funny look and put his nose closer to her mouth. "Bourbon?" he questioned, surprised.

She smiled and twisted her lips. "I needed something to help me relax, so Ethan poured me a shot," she whispered.

Antonio couldn't believe she had a drink of his bourbon and chuckled. She pulled the garlic bread out and set it on the counter. "Foods done, maybe I can be introduced when we sit down to eat?" she asked quietly.

"I'll have them sit down, I'm sure they're starving."

Harlow closed her eyes and took in some deep breaths to relax. Feeling somewhat relaxed, she set the food in the center of the table then grabbed the bottle of wine his mother liked and set it on the table, then stood behind a chair waiting for them.

"Mom, dad... this is Harlow," he said grinning ear to ear, excited for them to finally meet his love as they walked over to the table.

She reached over the table, shaking their hands with a nervous smile. "It's nice to finally meet the both of you."

Giovanni smiled. "It's nice to meet you also. Looks like my son found a winner," he said happily. His English was okay, but it was still hard for her to understand, but understood what he was saying. She happened to glance over to Giorgia, and noticed she was glaring at her, almost like she was studying her every move.

Harlow looked away and grabbed the bottle of wine, handing it to her. "Antonio mentioned this is your favorite wine, if you would like a glass, I can have Antonio open it for you."

"Thank you, I'd love a glass." Her tone wasn't pleasant, but Harlow figured she must have been tired from the flight and let it go.

Antonio opened the wine, poured them all a glass and sat. Ethan couldn't wait any longer and began fixing his plate, passing the food down the table as he took what he wanted.

Giorgia began speaking to Antonio in Italian, both going back and forth. Ethan's eyes rolled over towards Harlow's and kicked her foot. curious if she knew what they were saying. She then heard Antonio get frustrated when he raised his voice. "Whatever you need to say, speak in English around here. It's not respectful to speak in a language where Harlow doesn't understand."

"That's the whole point." Giorgia blurted out in English.

Harlow curiously looked at Giorgia and felt she should break the ice. "How was your flight?" She wanted to be nice and could tell Antonio and Giorgia must have been arguing about her since she heard her name being said a couple times in their argument.

"It was nice, thank you." Giovanni politely spoke, as he glared at Giorgia.

Giorgia sipped on her wine and looked around the house. "The home is nice, but it looks like you need to hire a new interior decorator. Whoever decorated your home, should be fired."

Harlow bit her tongue and looked at Antonio. "Mother, the decorating is just fine. We like it as it is, there will be no need to hire anyone."

"What don't you like about it?" Harlow curiously asked, wondering what was so bad.

"Well... the color of the paint is outdated and the pictures on the walls are, so, so, unattractive to look at. The artwork looks very unprofessional and tacky, and the plants... what the hell are those? They look fake, they're horrible. From what I see already, I'm sure the other rooms are just as bad." Giovanni lowered his head while covering his face with his hands, shaking his head. He couldn't believe Giorgia was knocking something Antonio was so proud to show and was badly wanting them to see.

Harlow bit her tongue again, trying not to snap. She looked at Ethan and kicked his shin, hoping he would say something.

Ethan's mouth was full of food and looked at Harlow. He wasn't sure what to say, especially since Antonio just spoke up and told her to knock it off. He swallowed his food and looked at Giorgia. "I like the home; I think they did a wonderful job on it."

Harlow looked at Ethan again and partially smiled. "Thank you, Ethan," she quietly said with disappointment in her tone. She worked so hard to make the home look nice for them and couldn't believe his mother was knocking her for it.

After finishing his meal, Giovanni stood and stretched. "Where are we sleeping? It's been a long day for us and it looks and sounds like I need to get someone to bed."

"I don't want to go to bed just yet, I want to stay up and talk with them."

"Now... we're going to bed. You can talk to them tomorrow," Giovanni demanded.

Antonio stood and walked over to his parent's luggage, picking them up. "Follow me, I'll show you to your room." Antonio was surprised his mother was acting the way she was. This was the first time he ever had to deal with her acting like this and it was shocking him. He too, was hoping it was because of her being tired from the long flight and the time difference.

"Here's where you'll be staying," Antonio said, looking at his mom with disappointment. "What was all that up there?"

"What?" she asked, sounding surprised by his question.

"The way you were treating Harlow. You haven't even gotten to know her and you're already giving her a hard time."

"I've seen girls like her before, she wants your money dear."

Antonio laughed. He tilted his head back and covered his face. "You've got to be kidding me." He lowered his head back to face her and shook his head. "Get some sleep and sleep that nonsense off, I can't believe you just said that." He looked at his dad, saluting him. Happy he was being decent with Harlow. "Goodnight."

He walked away and noticed the bottle of bourbon sitting on top of the bar and grabbed it. He brought it upstairs and grabbed a glass, pouring himself a drink.

Ethan watched him pour a drink and walked over to him with a confused look. "Is your mom always like that?"

"No," he said quickly. "I don't know what got into her."

"I thought Harlow was going to reach over the table and strangle her," he chuckled.

"I've never seen her act like that before, ever. I'm hoping it was from the long flight and from being overtired." He finished his drink, then poured himself another. "Would you like one?"

Ethan smiled. "Sure."

Antonio looked around, saw the food still sitting on the table and Harlow not around. "Where is she?" he sighed.

"She went upstairs, she was pretty upset."

Antonio stared at his drink and groaned while rubbing his face hard, frustrated and feeling bad for the way his mother was talking to her. "I'm guessing she went to bed; would you like to help me clean up? You can stay the night if you'd like."

Ethan laughed. "I'll help you clean the mess, but I think I'll head home afterwards."

Ethan helped clean up then left after Harlow never came back down. Antonio had a feeling she was really upset and had gone to bed, and he didn't blame her one bit. He finished his drink and headed upstairs.

He walked in the bedroom and saw Harlow lying in bed, when she saw him, she quickly turned her back towards him, not wanting to look at him. He blew out some air and raked his fingers through his hair as he walked towards her and sat on the bed next to her. He started rubbing her back and leaned down to her, kissing the side of her forehead. "I have to apologize for my mother, she was way out of line."

Hope you enjoyed the chapter 🤨🤨🤨

Was Giorgia tired? Or is she going to be this way the entire visit?🤔🤔🤔🤔