Until You Come Back To Me, Book 5 (11 page)

She
gave up.
 
“What did you think about her?”
she asked him.

Sal
continued to drive.
 
“I didn’t think
anything about her.”
 
He glanced at
Gemma.
 
“What you asking me that for?”

“I
just want your opinion of her.”

“I
don’t have an opinion of her.”
 
He sounded
far more defensive than he apparently realized, and that annoyed Gemma even
more.
 
Enough of this, she thought.

“What
was that about, Sal?” she asked him.

“It
wasn’t about nothing, what are you talking?
 
You keep talking in riddles.
 
I’m
not thinking about that woman.”

“Do
you know her?”

“No,
I don’t know her.”
 
When Gemma continued
to stare at him, he caved.
 
“I might have
seen her around.”

“Around
where?”

“On
business.
 
Around there.”

Gemma
didn’t want to ask it, but she felt it necessary.
 
“Who is she to you?” she asked him.

As
expected, he frowned and became defensive again.
 
“She’s nothing to me, what are you going on
about her for?
 
She’s nothing to me, all
right?
 
Nothing!
 
I might have had some business dealings with
her once upon a time, but that’s it.
 
That’s all.
 
So stop with the
insinuating.
 
Knock it off!”

“I
saw what I saw, Sal.
 
I saw that look on
your face when she showed up.”

Sal
frowned.
 
“What look?”

“The
look of a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
 
I saw that look.”

“You
saw wrong.”

“She’s
a madam in California.
 
She runs a whore
house.
 
Is that the business dealings you
had with her?
 
Are you one of her
customers?”

“It’s
nothing like that.
 
Was I surprised to
see her?
 
Yes.
 
Would I have preferred to not see her?
 
Yes.
 
When I had to negotiate with her, it didn’t go well.
 
Did I ever fuck her, any of her hookers, or
anybody else?
 
No.
 
Am I interested in her?
 
No.
 
Is
my wife getting on my nerve with this line of questioning?
 
Hell yeah!
 
Now knock it off, Gemma, I mean it.”
 
He looked at her with a look that made clear
he was not kidding around.
 

Gemma
didn’t like his tone, but she wasn’t going to badger him either.
 
She knocked it off.

And
that night, as she expected, he fucked her harder than usual.
 
Not that he was ever easy, but tonight, as
they lay naked in bed, with his body on top of hers, he was pumping her
hard.
 
His dick was inside of her,
pushing in deeper and deeper, and all she could do was hold on for the ride.
 
Because Sal was driving and he was driving
hard.
 
The mattress was singing and the
bed was bouncing and their quiet home reverberated with the sounds of Sal’s
lovemaking.
 
It was painful to Gemma, and
not just physically.
 
She knew he was
fucking her hard, and it wasn’t to remember something wonderful about their
coupling, but to forget something horrific about seeing
Rabina
Chen tonight.
 
He claimed it was nothing,
just a business deal that left a sour taste in his mouth.
 
But Gemma wasn’t buying it.
 
And exhibit A, as far as she was concerned,
was right here, right now.
 
He was
fucking her too hard.
 
He wasn’t taking
care.
 
He was angry.
 

And
when he came, when he squeezed out the last of his juices inside of her, even
he knew he had been harsh.
 
He looked at
his wife with sorrow in his eyes, and placed his hands on the side of her
face.
 
Usually, he would explain why he
was so angry, and why his sex had been so harsh.
 
But not this time.

He
got out of bed, and headed for the bathroom.
 

Gemma
was stunned.
 
Either something was still going
on with her husband and her client, or something had gone on between them that
was still too raw for Sal to even face himself.
 
Neither one of those realities sat well with Gemma.
 
But that was always her life with Sal.
 
They would be as high as the mountaintop one
day, and then as low as the valley the next.

She
turned over, and fought back tears.
 

Trina
Gabrini lifted her glass and began singing
Happy
Birthday
to Gemma.
 
Gemma smiled as
they sat in her living room.
 
She was
partied out.
 
It started early today, at
her office, when Barb and Curtis gave her gifts and a birthday cake.
 
Then at Champagne’s, a high-end clothing
store she co-owned with Trina and Liz Mertan, she was given gifts and a
cake.
 
Then this evening, at the
PaLargio, while she was having dinner with a few of her friends and colleagues,
the entire club sang
Happy Birthday
to her and Reno Gabrini himself brought a cake to her table.
 
It had been a lovely evening.
 
But Trina, Reno’s wife, had to close at Champagne’s
and therefore couldn’t make it.
 
But she
drove over after the fact to wish her a happy birthday.
 
And to add her voice to the chorus of voices
who didn’t understand why Sal wasn’t celebrating with her.

“This
don’t make no kind of sense,” Trina said as she sipped her wine.
 
“Did he even call you to wish you a happy
birthday?”

“Not
yet,” Gemma said.

“What
do you mean
not yet
?
 
It’s damn near ten at night!
 
When is he going to call you?
 
Tomorrow?
 
The day after?”

“What
do you want me to do about it, Tree?
 
Beg
him to come home?
 
Beg him to celebrate
my birthday with me?
 
Please.
 
That’s not going to happen.”

“But
where is he?” Trina asked.
 
“Is he out of
town?”

Gemma
shook her head.
 
“I don’t know.”

“What
do you mean you don’t know?”

“I
don’t know!
 
He left before I got
up.
 
Last night we had a little argument,
so I expected that.
 
But that doesn’t
mean I was going to call to ask where he was, and you know he wasn’t going to
call to tell me.”

“That’s
a crying shame, Gemma.
 
That’s a
shame.
 
Sal always pull this shit.”

“That’s
a lie,” Gemma said.
 
“He doesn’t always
pull anything.
 
This is the first time
since we’ve been married that he hasn’t been with me on my birthday, so don’t
get it twisted, Tree.
 
I love you, but
you aren’t going to defame Sal’s character like that.
 
This is the first time he hasn’t been here
for me on my birthday during our marriage.
 
The very first time.”

“I
remember once when he didn’t show up.”

“We
weren’t married then,” Gemma said, holding to her guns.
 
You had to with Trina, or she would gun you
down.
 

Trina
smiled.
 
“I can respect that,” she said
sincerely.
 
“And I apologize.”

“Apology
accepted.”

“But
where is his ass now?” Trina asked, causing Gemma to smile.
 
“I’m serious,” Trina continued.
 
“It makes no sense!
 
He knows it’s your birthday.
 
He should be here.
 
And if he went out of town, he should have
waited and left tomorrow.
 
He’s the boss
and he owns his own plane. He could make those kind of changes if he wanted
to.”

 
Gemma wasn’t about to get into her personal
business, not even with Trina.
 
She had
issues with Sal, but those were for her and Sal to work out.
 
“It’s okay, Tree,” she said.

“No,
it’s not okay!” Trina shot back.
 
She
could be as fiery as Reno.
 
“It’s not
okay.
 
He should be here with you.
 
I thought Reno was bad about being away a
lot, but Sal takes the cake.
 
He’s gone
all the time.
 
He’s gone more times than
he’s here and you need to start calling him out on his shit, Gemma.
 
Or he’ll never change.”

“What
are you talking about?” Gemma asked her.
 
“He built an entire office building, a very expensive luxurious one by
the way, so that he could conduct more Gabrini Corporation business here in
town and spend more time with me.”

“Yeah,
he built that,” Trina admitted, “and that was an awesome thing.
 
But how is that working out for you?
 
Is he spending more time with you?”

Gemma
smiled.
 
“He literally just completed the
project, Tree.
 
Now come on.
 
Cut the man some slack.
 
He’s a good guy.”

“I
know he’s a good guy.
 
I love Sal, you
know I do.
 
But I don’t know, Gem.
 
Look like he can do better by you.”

For
some reason, that offended Gemma.
 
“He’
doing just fine by me,” she said firmly.

Trina
smiled.
 
“Didn’t mean to hurt your
feelings.
 
I’m just saying.
 
I mean well.”

“And
I know you do.
 
But I’m going to have to
ask you to back off.
 
Just like you
wouldn’t like it if I tried preaching to you about Reno’s shortcomings, I don’t
like your sermon about my man either.
 
It
cuts both ways, Tree, because I know your ass.”

Trina
laughed.

“Let
me get all up in your business with Reno the way you’re getting all up in mine
with Sal and you’d tell me what I can do with my opinions.”

“No,
I won’t.”

“Yes,
you will,” Gemma said with a smile on her face.
 
“You’d read me from front to back telling me what I can do with my opinions.
  
So now I’m telling you what you can do with
yours.”

Trina
couldn’t help but agree. “I feel you,” she said.

Gemma
exhaled.
 
“And I feel you,” she said as
the doorbell rang.
 
“But my marriage has
to be between Sal and I.
 
I don’t need an
amen corner, I don’t need a counselor.”
 
Gemma began heading for the front door.
 
“But I’ll take a friend.”

“A
silent one?”

“That’s
a must,” Gemma said as she continued to head for the front door.

“Expecting
someone?” Trina asked her.

“Not
a soul,” Gemma said as she walked.

“Maybe
Sal decided to bring his Italian ass home,” Trina said, and took another sip of
her wine.

Gemma
looked out of her front door’s peephole.
 
And she was surprised.
 
“Rory?”
she asked as she began to open the door.

“Who’s
Rory?” Trina asked as she stood up and headed for the door too.

By
the time Trina made it up to the door and looked out, Gemma was hugging an
older, but very handsome black man who was standing on her front porch.
 
“What in the world are you doing here?” she
asked him.

“I
came to wish you a happy birthday,” he said.

“Oh,
Rory!”
 
Gemma didn’t even realize he knew
her birthday.
 
They’d spoken on the phone
only once since she saw him at Sal’s office building, and it probably wasn’t
hard for him to find out where she lived.
 
But still.
  
This seemed kind of
above and beyond.
 
“How nice of you,” she
said.

“Yes,”
Trina said, stepping out onto the porch too.
 
“How nice of you.”

Gemma
smiled.
 
“Judge Calhoun, I want you to
meet Katrina Gabrini, a very good, and very nosy friend of mine.”

Trina
and Rory smiled.
 
“So you’re a Gabrini
too?” Rory asked her.

“She’s
my husband’s cousin’s wife,” Gemma said.

Trina
extended her hand.
 
“Hello.”

Rory
shook it.
 
“Hello, young lady.
 
Very nice to meet you.”

“A
judge, are you?” Trina asked him.

“Yes,
Tree,” Gemma answered instead, “he’s a real judge.”

“At
least for a few more weeks,” Rory said.
 
“I’ll be stepping down soon.”

“He
was my mentor when I clerked for him while I was still in law school,” Gemma
said.
 
“He was the best judge I’ve ever
seen in action.
 
Still is.”

Trina
could see that gleam in Gemma’s eyes while she spoke about him.
 
She genuinely had strong affection for the
guy.
 

“I
came to wish you a happy birthday,” he said to Gemma, “and to give you your
birthday gift.”

“My
gift?” Gemma asked, surprised.
 
“You
didn’t have to give me any gift, Rory, come on!
 
We just reconnected.
 
I’m amazed
you even knew my birthday.”

“So
am I,” Trina said, and Gemma looked at her. “Considering how long it’s been,”
Trina added.

“I
know I didn’t have to do anything,” Rory responded.
 
“But I wanted to.
 
Since my wife died I don’t have a soul to
splurge on.
 
Let me splurge on you.”

Trina
coughed and smiled.
 
She could imagine
what Sal would say to such a suggestion.
 
“So where’s the gift?” Trina asked Rory, seeing nothing in his
hands.
 
Everything would hinge on exactly
what kind of gift he had for Gem.

Rory
pulled out a set of keys and handed them to Gemma.
 
Gemma was puzzled.
 
“What are these?”

“Keys
to that car.
 
It’s spanking brand new, and
it’s yours.”

Gemma
and Trina both looked at the white Bentley parked on the driveway.
 
And then they looked back at Rory.
 

Gemma
immediately attempted to hand him back his keys.
 
“I can’t accept that,” she said.

“I
know that’s right,” Trina agreed.

Rory
looked genuinely surprised.
 
“You can’t
accept it?
 
What do you mean,
Gemmanette?
 
It’s my birthday gift to
you.”

“And
I appreciate it,” Gemma said, “but there’s no way I can accept such a generous
gift like this.
 
Not from anyone.
 
Except my husband.”

“Now
you’re breaking my heart,” Rory said.
 
Trina was staring at the man.
 
“When we reconnected earlier, after so many years, it made me feel so
wonderful.
 
You were like a daughter to
me, a daughter I never had.
 
And it was
my fault that I didn’t stay in touch, I know it was primarily on me.
 
But Evelyn had been so ill for so long and my
docket was always so full that I didn’t have time for anybody or anything
else.
  
Then when she passed on, instead
of feeling renewed, my world kind of collapsed.”

Trina
looked at Gemma.
 
She was a tough lady,
but she had the heart of Sal.
 
They felt
people’s pain.
 

“But
then I ran into you,” Rory continued.
 
“My favorite clerk bar none.”
 
Gemma smiled.
 
“And things began
to look sunny again.
 
I’m about to embark
on the second act in my life with this new law practice, and that can be
daunting even for a man like me.
 
But you
gave me hope and courage, Gemma.
 
Just
seeing you again.
 
You’re the daughter I
never had, and all I want to do is share my blessings with you.”

Yeah, I’ll bet
, Trina thought.

“So
please accept this gift,” Rory continued, “as a token of my appreciation.
 
Nothing more.”

Trina
leaned into Gemma’s ear.
 
“Don’t accept
it girl,” she whispered.
 
“Don’t you
dare.”

“Accept
this gift,” Rory said, “from a father to his daughter.”

“You
accept that gift,” Trina whispered to Gemma, “and Sal is going to accept your
ass in a good beat down.”

“I’m
not thinking about Sal,” Gemma responded with a flash of anger that surprised
Trina.
 
Rory was surprised too.