There's Always Tomorrow (Immortal Series) (14 page)

Tony smiled as
he thought back to his life in Chicago.
 
Giada eventually married a man whose family owned hundreds of acres of
virgin forest and crystal clear lakes.
 
They built a dozen cozy cabins, and rented them out each year, to
serious sportsmen.
 
Her mama and
papa happily left Chicago, and opened a small Italian café on the same road as
Giada’s resort.
 
People traveled
for miles to partake of the delicious items found on the menu.

Oddly enough,
it was a young man, by the name of Capone, who had made it all possible.
 
Early, one morning, Giada’s papa was
unloading a vegetable truck parked in front of their old restaurant, when he
saw a car, with guns aimed out the windows, careening toward him.
 
He noticed the heavyset man standing
alone, on the sidewalk, gazing into his café.
 
He yelled to get down and knocked the man to the pavement,
just as the bullets sprayed the window, saving the man’s life.

Al Capone was
grateful.
 
He offered to set
Giada’s papa and his family up in a more peaceful part of the city, or even in
another city, if they preferred.
 
It was Mr. Capone that bought the little café, at the side of the
highway, leading to Giada’s woods.

Tony chuckled
as he thought of “Little Tony”.
 
Ten years after he’d last seen Giada, he learned that she and her
husband, after having four girls, finally had a son.
 
They named him Anthony, but called him “Little Tony”.
 
It was reported that the child was
stubborn and willful, but a pushover for a pretty face.
 
Undoubtedly, he would break many
hearts, it was said.

Giada had a
good life and it pleased Tony, immensely.
 
She was his angel and he thought of her often.
 
He could picture her pretty face as if it were only
yesterday, when they parted.

Speaking of
pretty faces, Tony missed Sophie.

* * *

“Stop it!”
Sophie shouted, as she slammed her fist into her wet pillow.
 
She sat up in bed, and furiously wiped
the tears from her eyes.
 
“He’s not
worth it.
 
He is no gentleman, no
matter what he thinks.
 
Tony’s
mean, and…and…old…and crabby.
 
He
doesn’t even kiss that well,” she blubbered.
 
The tears refilled her beautiful turquoise eyes.
 
“Oh, yes, he does,” she wailed, and
threw herself prostrate, across the bed.

Dinnertime came
and went unnoticed, and still Sophie sobbed at the mere thought of Mr. Anthony
Barton.
 
What had she done to make
him dislike her so, she wondered?
 
What
did I say?
She asked herself.
 
Sophie had always been popular among her peers, and therefore, she
simply didn’t understand someone disliking her for no obvious reason.

She got off the
bed and stumbled over to her full-length mirror.
 
For the longest time, she stared at the image reflected in
the glass, transfixed by what she saw.
 
A tall, slender woman stood looking back at her.
 
She had a very young face, but men
thought it was endearing.
 
Her eyes
and light blonde curls were very nice.
 
She never had to worry about injecting her lips with some substance to
plump them out, as they were naturally full and well formed... kissable, her
friend had said.
 
A pair of dimples
graced her soft cheeks, and her teeth had always been snow white and perfectly
aligned.
 
Her granny had been fond
of saying that the angels had smiled down on her when she was born, and gave
her the gift of great beauty.
 
If
that were true, why couldn’t Tony see it?

Sophie padded
barefoot over to the window and looked down from her apartment to the green
courtyard below.
 
She was a happy
person…most of the time.
 
That is,
she was happy when she didn’t dwell on the loss of her loved ones.
 
She was all alone now.
 
Through illness, accidents, and the
passage of time, she’d lost everyone she had ever loved, and now there was no
one left to love her.
 
Only in the
memories, tucked safely within her heart, could she find the solace she so
desperately craved.

But Sophie was
no fool.
 
She wouldn’t waste her
love on just anyone.
 
No, she
wouldn’t.
 
The man she chose to
spend the rest of her life with had to be kind and noble.
 
He had to show great love and
compassion for others.
 
Her ideal
man would have to be dependable, brave, and forthright.
 
It was important that he be smart, too,
for Sophie realized she wasn’t too gifted, in that department.
 
Most of all, her perfect mate would
have to be honest with her, in all things.
 
Deceit would not be tolerated.
 
Then, Sophie smiled.
 
It wouldn’t hurt if he was hot and incredibly good-looking, she thought.

“Sounds like a freakin’
knight,” Sophie smirked.

As the sky
began to darken, Sophie looked up and searched the heavens.
 
Locating the first star of night, she
repeated the age-old saying of young women, everywhere.
 
She closed her eyes and wished for such
a man.
 
“A man to love me...forever.”

Tony unfastened
his seatbelt, and longed for the days when you could light up your cigarette,
as soon as the No Smoking light went off.
 
Flying was definitely more fun, back in the day.
 
Flight attendants were all beautiful,
sexy women, and single.
 
They
spoiled their male, first-class passengers, while in flight, and sometimes
spoiled them later, just for fun.
 
“Yeah, those were definitely the days,” Tony grumbled.

“Excuse me,
sir, but did you say something?” the middle-aged, male flight attendant asked.

Tony burst out
laughing.
 
“No, but thank you.
 
Everything’s just peachy,” he quipped.

The flight
attendant didn’t know how to respond to the strange man, sitting in seat 12D,
but being the professional he was trained to be, he remained polite and offered
him a drink.

“Thank you...
Todd
.
 
I’ll take a seven-seven, no ice.”

“Right away,
sir.”
 
Todd smiled, as he
confidently walked away, knowing, once again, he had placated a potentially
difficult passenger.
 
He was well
pleased with himself.

Tony watched
the other passengers seated around him.
 
A little girl with bouncing yellow curls, was coloring, to pass the
hours.
 
Every once in a while, she
stole a look at Tony and giggled.
 
Two charming dimples bracketed her smile.

A young girl,
wearing a UCLA sweatshirt, walked past Tony as she searched for the
restroom.
 
She was tall, slender,
and had soft curves in all the right places.
 
Upon returning, she looked at Tony with bright, turquoise
eyes.

“That’s it!” he
snapped.
 
“I need to get off this
plane.”

“Sir?
 
Is there a problem?”
 
Todd was quick to respond.
 
“I have your drink.”

Tony was
shocked at how fast the flight attendant had appeared at his seat.
 
“Do you keep such a close eye on all
the passengers, or are you just watching me?” Tony accused.
 
He didn’t mean to sound paranoid, but
it seemed as if he’d fallen under FAA scrutiny.

Todd looked
slightly uncomfortable.
 
“You seem
to be agitated, sir.
 
I just want
to do my job and see that you arrive at your destination, with no undo
problems.
 
Are you feeling well,
sir?
 
Perhaps you need a
doctor?”
 
The man seemed to be
sincerely concerned.

“No, Todd. I am
definitely,
not
okay.
 
I am
the dumbest bastard on the planet.
 
You have no idea what I’ve done.”
 
Tony didn’t notice his voice had risen in volume, and was on the verge
of shouting.

Todd’s eyes
grew large with alarm.
 
Nowadays,
everyone was suspect.
 
Very softly,
so as not to frighten the other passengers, he asked, “What have you done,
sir?”
 
He swallowed; his enormous
Adam’s apple danced up and down, beneath his collar.

Tony put his
head in his hands and stared down at his lap.
 
“It’s too late, now.
 
Dammit, it’s just too late.”

The flight
attendant’s face went ashen.
 
Todd
took a step back.
 
There was no
guessing what horrific scenario would be played out that morning.
 
His breakfast threatened to come up and
choke him.
 
He stiffened his back,
took a deep breath and forced his knees to stop their quaking.
 
This was what he had been trained for,
and he prayed he didn’t fail the passengers entrusted to his care.

Crouching low,
in the aisle, he placed his firm hand on the distraught man’s arm.
 
Keeping his voice soft and calm, he
gently prompted.
 
“Tell me about,
sir.
 
It can’t be that bad.”

“Oh, Todd.
 
You have no idea.
 
I left the most wonderful woman in the
world, simply because I didn’t want to get hurt, again.
 
In saving myself, I think I broke her
heart.
 
I need to get back to New
York.
 
I need to get off this
plane.”
 
His eyes pleaded with the
flight attendant.

Todd smiled for
the first time in what seemed like hours.
 
The strange passenger was simply suffering from a lover’s quarrel.
 
That was something he knew something
about.
 
He made a mental note to
call Jeffrey and apologize.
 

“We don’t put
down for another three hours, sir.
 
I’m afraid there is nothing to be done about it…but you could call
her.
 
I would guess she’d be there,
waiting for your arrival.
 
Will you
be all right until then?”

“I apologize,
Todd.
 
After 9-11, it’s been
difficult for those of you, in the airline business, and it always seems to be
the customers doing all the complaining.
 
For what it’s worth, I think you’re a remarkable flight attendant, and
I’ll send word to the head of the airline, commending your professionalism and
the personal attention you give to the customer.
 
I know Richard, personally.

“For now, I
need cookies, mints, anything sweet.
 
In fact, break out the treats for all the children on the plane.
 
Fruit for them, too.”

Todd smiled
from ear to ear.
 
“Yes, sir.
 
Right after I get the permission from
all their parents.”
 
He turned on
his heel, and rushed up the aisle, heading for the cabin speaker.

Tony laid his
head back and laughed.
 
For the
first time in days, he felt happy.
 
He was going to see Sophie.
 
In fact, he was going to have a long talk with her, right before he made
love to her.
 
After so many years,
he felt he deserved to love again.

* * *

Sophie felt she
needed a drastic change.
 
She could
go red, but she felt like going black.
 
Stripes would be interesting, she thought.
 
“What would Tony like?” she pondered, just before she
pinched herself for caring.
 
“Who
cares what he would like?
 
His
opinion doesn’t matter to me,” she argued with herself.
 
She snapped her fingers.
 
“I know.
 
I’ll go Goth.
 
I’ll do black and asymmetrical cuts, with lots of metal studs.”
 
She grinned at herself in the
mirror.
 
Now that she had a plan,
she felt better.
 
She’d not let
Tony break her heart...at least, not more than he already had.

* * *

By the time
Tony’s plane landed at Kennedy, he’d been gone two whole days.
 
Two miserable days of longing and
dreaming about his golden Sophie.
 
Soft, cuddly Sophie.
 
Not
taking the time to go by his house, he decided to grab a cab and go directly to
Sophie’s neat and tidy apartment.
 
Grant had been reluctant to divulge her address, but was somewhat
appeased when Tony promised not to break her heart.
 
That was easy.
 
He’d die making her happy.
 
He chuckled at the thought.

The loud knock
sounded again.
 
Someone was
definitely standing outside, pounding on her door.
 
“Hold on,” she yelled.
 
“I’m coming.”

Sophie
grumbled, as she wrapped a towel around her wet head and pulled her pink robe
tightly around her body.
 
Reluctantly, she reached up and unlatched the chain.

“Oh, my
God!
 
It’s you!” she screamed, just
before slamming the door.

Tony stood in
the hallway, grinning, and placed his foot inside the door jam, blocking it’s
closing.
 
“Surprise!
 
Can I come in?”

Sophie looked
very uncomfortable.
 
She turned her
head and glanced around her small studio apartment.
 
Shaking her head, she said, most definitely, “No!”

Her reaction
was a total surprise, to Tony.
 
He
had suspected she might be annoyed with him for leaving, or perhaps she’d be a
little hurt, but it never occurred to him that she would not want to see him.
 
Maybe it was his male vanity, but he
honestly thought she’d be happy to see him.
 
There had to be another reason for her not allowing him into
her apartment.
 
It had to be
another man.

Tony shoved her
aside, as he charged into the room, accidentally knocking the wet towel from
her head.
 
He froze.
 
“What the fuck?”

“I don’t like
that language, Mr. Barton.
 
I would
like for you to leave now, please.”

“Sophie...what
have you done?”
 
Tony couldn’t
believe what he saw.
 
His
beautiful, delicate, and sweet Sophie had decorated her apartment in the
blackest, most demented style he’d ever seen.
 
That was saying a lot, since he’d seen real dungeons,
prisons, and witches lairs.
 
“Have
I done this to you, sweetness?”
 
His voice was suddenly soft and caring.
 
“Are you suffering this much?”

Sophie brushed
something from her eye.
 
“Don’t be
so vain.
 
I felt I needed a change,
that’s all.
 
I wanted my home to
reflect the real me.
 
This is the
way I feel inside.
 
If you don’t
like it, then that’s just too bad.
 
Other men like it.”
 
She tossed
her blonde curls in defiance, and walked to the refrigerator.

“Other men,
Sophie?
 
You’ve brought other men,
here?”
 
Tony couldn’t believe his
ears.
 
Surely he couldn’t have been
so wrong about her.

Sophie couldn’t
look at Tony, while she piled one lie on top of another.
 
It would be so simple to rush into his
strong arms and beg for his forgiveness.
 
She was willing to do anything for him, if he’d only return her love—and
wanting that, made her furious with herself.

“Sure.
 
Tons of men!
 
You have no right to judge me, Tony.
 
I invited you here, and you
refused.
 
Remember?”
 
She stuck her little chin high into the
air, trying to look worldly and more sophisticated.
 
“Now, if you don’t mind, you’ll have to leave.
 
I’m expecting someone.”

Tony was
speechless, as he looked around the small room.
 
Her apartment looked like the den of the Marquis de Sade,
right down to the chains hanging on the walls.
 
He’d never, in a million years, envision his Sophie living
like this.
 
She had to be playing
him.
 
He grinned.
 
Two could play this game.

Closing the
door behind him, Tony walked up to Sophie and wrapped his arms around her
waist.
 
“Oh, you wicked little
creature,” he growled.
 
“Why didn’t
you say you liked it rough?
 
And
here I thought you were such a timid little mouse.
 
I can show you things you’ve never imagined.”
 
Tony nipped her earlobes and trailed
hot kisses down her neck.
 
He
reveled in her squeals of delight.
 
Gently, he placed his hands over her firm breasts and began kneading
them slowly.
 
He heard her moan
with pleasure as his finger and thumb pulled on her extended nipple.

“Oh, Tony.
 
I never knew it could feel like this,”
she purred.

Tony lowered
his mouth to her hardened nipples and sucked them through the material of her
robe, creating two large, wet circles on the fabric.
 
He was ready to take her, but looking around the ghastly
apartment, he made a decision.

“Grab your
clothes.
 
I’m taking you to my
place and my bed.
 
Then, tomorrow,
I’m hiring a team to repaint this disaster.”

Sophie smiled
like a naughty child.
 
“I knew
you’d like it.”

She rushed to
the bureau and grabbed several pair of panties, two bras, a nightie, a very
short skirt and a few assorted blouses.
 
She emptied a blood-red pillowcase and dropped everything into it.
 
She swung by the bathroom vanity and
grabbed her makeup bag, toothbrush, and hairbrush.

Taking a final
look around her bizarre apartment, she shrieked.
 
“Abner!
 
Oh, my
God.
 
I almost forgot him.”
 
She ran to the shower and rescued a
worn out cardboard box containing a tiny turtle.