Diamond geezer

‘Aw!’ thought Sofia, ‘that’s so sweet!” She’d taken Paolo’s tears to mean he’d recently lost his beloved mother. She was moved. She already liked Paolo, quite a lot in fact. This made her like him more. What’s more, the large, impressive diamond was the only thing his dying mother could leave Paolo and he’d given it to her, Sofia. ‘If ever he asks...’ she thought idly...’age gap...so what?’ But then she came back to Earth.

Paolo was making it up as he went along... playing ‘the advantage rule’. He’d expected Sofia to ask searching questions. And he’d supplied sparkling answers.