Big Daddy Sinatra 3: The Best of My Love (The Sinatras of Jericho County) (13 page)

The
next day, Jenay sat inside the food court at the Jericho Mall and tried to get
Ashley to understand.
 
Carly was seated
at the table with them, and Norm Morgan, a gay chef who worked for Jenay at the
Inn and was also one of her closest friends, was seated at the table also.

“When
will Dad be back in town?” Carly asked.

“Tomorrow,”
Jenay said.
 
“And I can’t wait.”

“He
just left this morning,” Carly said. “You can’t possibly miss him already.”

“Wanna
bet?” Norm asked.
 
“Love is a crazy thing,
girl.
 
And especially established love.”

Carly
smiled.
 
“Found you somebody yet, Uncle
Norm?”

“Not
a soul.
 
But that’s why I pay attention.”

“Getting
back to your little party last night, Ashley,” Jenay said.
 
“I know it was Friday night and you wanted to
have some fun, but there’s such a thing as going too far.”

“But
I didn’t go too far,” Ashley said.
 
“What
did Dad tell you?”

“He
told me what happened, what do you mean what did he tell me?
 
He told me about your
rape
claim and the drugs at that party.”

“I
didn’t say he raped me,” Ashley said.

Jenay
looked sidelong at her.
 
“Are you calling
my husband a liar?” she asked.

“I
mean, I said it,” Ashley clarified, “but I didn’t mean it.”

“You
don’t play around with rape, little girl,” Norm said.
 
“That’s nothing to play with.”

“I
told her,” Carly said.

“But
Dad still didn’t have to slap me,” Ashley pointed out.
 
“Whether I cried rape or not, he still didn’t
have to slap me.”

“You
admitted you did drugs,” Jenay said, stunned she just didn’t get it.

“I
admitted I did weed,” Ashley corrected her.
 
“That’s all I admitted to.
 
Weed.”

“Weed
is still a drug too, child, don’t play with me,” Jenay said.

“But
I’m an adult, Ma!
 
Dad treats me like I’m
a kid.
 
I should be able to do whatever I
want.”

“You’re
a Sinatra,” Jenay reminded her.
 
“You
carry his name.
 
None of his children are
going to do drugs, that’s just a fact.
 
And he means it.
 
He once called
the police on Donald and wouldn’t bail him out either.
 
Donald did a year in prison behind that
stupid stuff.”
 

“But
Dad slapped me,” Ashley complained.
 
“He
slapped me down, Ma!”

“He’d
slap me down too,” Jenay said, “if he found out I was doing drugs.
 
Who the hell are you?”

Carly
smiled.
 
“He wouldn’t do any such thing
like that to you, Ma!
 
Why are you saying
that?”

“Because
it’s the truth,” both Jenay and Norm said in unison.
 
“You girls better understand your father,”
Jenay continued.
 
“He’s no joke.
 
He is not a compromiser, he doesn’t want to
hear it, he will leave your ass high and dry if you go around doing stupid
stuff.
 
You best believe what I’m telling
you.
 
Charles Sinatra does not play.
 
He expects you and Carly to comport
yourselves as proud, dignified African-American women.”

“Amen
to that!” Norm echoed.

Carly
smiled. “What do you mean amen to that, Uncle Norm?
 
You aren’t a proud, dignified
African-American woman.”

“No,”
Norm admitted, “but I play one in real life.”

Carly,
Jenay, and even Ash had to laugh at that.

Further
over, inside the Food Court, Willie Stiles sat at a back table.
 
He was staring at Jenay as he talked on his
cell phone.
 
He smiled.
 
“Yeah, I see her.
 
She’s wearing a nice little leather jacket
with a pair of jeans and some very nice boots.
 
She’s still got that style and that superfine body too.
 
Everybody can’t wear it like Jay can.
 
Only she’s wearing designer clothes these
days.
 
None of that off-the-rack shit she
used to wear when I knew her.”

“Who
cares about her clothing,” the voice on the other end of his cell phone
said.
 
“What is she doing?”

 
“She’s laughing up a storm, that’s what she’s
doing.
 
Having fun.
 
The same way she always was.
 
And man is she still beautiful.
 
That Sinatra’s got taste, you hear me?”

“Is
she alone?”

“She’s
got two pretty young ladies with her, and some fairy.
 
Some older white guy, I don’t know who he
is.”

“Your
job is to ruin her,” the voice on the other end of his cell phone said.
 
“Simple as that.
 
Take the glow off of her in the eyes of the
people of this town and destroy her.”

“I
told you I got this.
 
You hired the right
one.”

“You
don’t understand.
 
I want her
tarnished.
 
I want to knock that halo off
of her head.
 
You rape her if you have
to.”

Willie
smiled.
 
“Rape her?
 
You’re joking right?”

“Do
what you have to do to shake things up.
 
I know how you’re struggling.
 
I
know how you lost that job with the Patriots and you barely can pay your
bills.
 
I offered you good money, but you
won’t get a dime if she’s left unharmed.
 
Her reputation must be destroyed, or I will count all of your efforts as
failure.
 
And you won’t get a dime from
me.”

“I
got you,” Willie said.
 

“Now
what about
 
her husband?
 
How do you intend to handle him?”

“He’s
out of town right now, I found out that much.
 
This is the best time to make my move, and I will.
 
You picked the right one.
 
I’m going to earn that money.
 
I’ll win her over, don’t you worry about
that.
 
She has no reason not to trust
me.
 
We go way back.
 
That’s why you looked me up.
 
You knew what you were doing, and you won’t
be sorry.
 
I’ll rope her in then hang her
ass.
 
I got this.”

Then
Jenay and her party got up from their table and began leaving, with all of them
carrying clothing bags from their day of shopping.
 
Willie stood up.
 
“Gotta go,” he said into the phone.
 
“She’s taking off.
 
Yeah.
 
I’ll be in touch.”

He
ended the call, placed his cell phone in his jacket pocket, and began following
Jenay as she and her group made it to the Mall’s parking lot.
 
It was a cool September day and Jenay lifted
the collar of her jacket against the wind.
 
Carly and Ashley didn’t wear any extra covering and Norm wore a heavy
coat in a move Jenay thought earlier was way too much.
 
Now, with the biting wind picking up, Jenay
figured Norm had it just about right.
 

“Jenay!”
a voice said behind them and Jenay, Norm, and the girls turned to the sound.
 
Willie was walking behind them.
 
“Jenay Franklin?”

Jenay
hadn’t been called that name in almost a decade.
 
But she recognized the man who called her
that immediately.
 
She smiled.
 
“Willie?” she asked.
 
“Willie Stiles?
 
I don’t believe it!”

They
hurried to each other and gave each other a grand hug.
 

“Um,”
Ashley said as they looked on.
 
“Bet Dad
wouldn’t like this scene one bit.”

“What
are you talking about?” Carly asked her sister. “They’re old friends.”

“Uh
hun,” Ashley responded.
 
“That’s what you
say.”

“That’s
what it is,” Carly made clear.
 
“You’re
just too narrow-minded to see it.”

“Narrow-minded?”
Ashley asked, offended.
 
“Get your life,
girl.
 
Get your life!
 
Your mind is so narrow you can’t get a
thin-ass bicycle through that shit, who are you calling narrow-minded?”
 
But then Willie, while hugging Jenay, winked
at Ashley.
 
And she smiled.
 
He was one good looking brother, and she
loved good looking brothers.

Carly
looked at Norm.
 
“Do you know him?”

“I
think I might have met him before, when Jenay and I lived in Boston, but I
don’t know him, no.”

Jenay
and Willie stopped hugging and looked at each other.
 
“How long has it been?” Jenay asked.

“Oh,
man.
 
Years.
 
You were still working on your degree at that
Hospitality school in Boston, and I was managing Capani’s still.”

“And
I was waitressing there to make ends meet,” Jenay said with a smile.
 
“That seems like ages ago.”

“Yes,
it does,” Willie responded.

“Ahem,”
Ashley said, clearing her throat.

Jenay
smiled and she and Willie began walking over to Norm and the girls.
 
“That’s my beloved daughter,” she said to
Willie.
 
“She’s trying to get my
attention, as if nobody in America knows that little maneuver.”

“I’m
smart like that,” Ashley said with a smile. Then she extended her hand.
 
“Ashley Sinatra,” she said.

“Well
hello there, Ashley,” Willie said, shaking her hand. “What a gorgeous girl you
have, Jenay.
 
She looks more like your
sister though.”

“Thank-you.
 
And beside her is my other beloved daughter, Carly.”

Carly
nodded her head.
 
“Hi,” she said.

“And
beside her,” Jenay said, “is yet another one of my beloved daughters, Norm.”

Willie
and Norm laughed.
 
“I’m older than her,”
Norm said as he and Willie shook. “If she has a daughter my age, you’d better run
now.
 
We’ll talking alien crazy here!”

Willie
laughed.
 
“I get your point.”

“Norm
attended the same school I did, at the same time, and we’ve been friends ever
since.
 
I think you two may have met
before.”

“Oh,
okay,” Willie said.
 
“I don’t think I remember
him though, I’m afraid.”

“I
have that effect on men,” Norm said, “so don’t be afraid at all.”

“So,”
Jenay said, looking at Willie, “what in the world brings you to little
Jericho?”

“Business
actually.
 
I’m a scout for the New
England Patriots.”

“Wow,”
Ashley said.
 
“Really?”

“That’s
right,” Willie responded.
 
“And it’s my
job to come to every high school with any semblance of talent to see what they
have to offer.
 
There’s a school right
here in Jericho with some serious prospects.
 
I’m checking them out.”

“Well
that’s nice,” Jenay said. “How long will you be here?”

“I’m
heading back to Foxborough tomorrow,” Willie said.
 
“But listen, while I’m here, maybe we can
meet for drinks.
 
Just to talk about old
times, catch up on the old gang?”

Ashley
and Carly both looked at Jenay.
 
They
knew their father would not approve.

“Well
sure,” Jenay said.
 
“I’d love to catch
up.
 
When is a good time for you?”

“Since
I have to leave out tomorrow, what about tonight?” Willie asked.
 
“There’s a bar called Grogan’s.
 
I hear it’s pretty good.
 
Do you know it?”

“I
know it.”

“How
about we meet up there around seven and catch up then?”

Charles
was out of town, but Jenay didn’t see where meeting an old friend for a drink
would hurt.
 
“Sure,” she said.
 
“But I have a better place.
 
It’s called Jericho Inn.
 
They have an excellent restaurant there.
 
You know the place?”