“Quick?” A smirk dances on his lips. “I’m never quick.”
“Shut up.” I punch his shoulder playfully.
“How’s Ma?”
“Nuttier than ever. You’ll see.”
“I’ve missed her,” he admits with a soft smile.
“Well, you’ll get your fill this weekend.”
Vinnie glances around, and I realize I haven’t thrown out last week’s flowers or the ones before that. They’re wilted, and they look awful. “Someone likes you. Anything you want to tell me?”
I roll my eyes. “No. They’re from a friend.”
“I don’t send roses to my friends.” He smirks.
“I have to get to the bar,” I tell him, changing the subject.
He yawns, walking back to his room and stretching before collapsing back onto the bed. “I’m going to close my eyes for a minute, and I’ll be over.”
“Sure,” I mutter.
Vinnie is notorious for breaking promises—he has that much in common with my father.
“I swear to God, I’ll be there. Don’t give me shit. It was a long drive.” He’s so full of it. His college is a whopping two-hour drive from my place. That does not constitute a long drive in anyone’s book.
“Bye.” I close the door, leaving him to get his beauty sleep.
* * *
“Did Vinnie make it okay?”Angelo asks from behind the bar before I even have two feet inside Hook & Hustle.
“Depends on what your idea of okay is.”
He looks up for a moment and quirks an eyebrow. “Is he alive, at least?”
“Yeah, yeah. He’s alive and napping.” I shove my purse under the counter, wishing like hell I was napping too.
Angelo goes back to studying a stack of papers, running his pen down the sheet before flipping to the next page. “Is that what it’s like to be in college?”
“What? Laziness? I don’t fucking think so.”
“Must be a jock thing,” Lucio says as he walks into the front of the bar, overhearing our conversation.
“I’m sure he gets an easy ride because he’s the star football player,” I tell them, remembering the shit he got out of doing in high school. “It’s bullshit, but it’s always been that way with him.”
“It’s just a good thing he can actually read and write with all the homework he didn’t have to do,” Lucio says and starts to laugh. “That little prick.”
“Speaking of little pricks.” Angelo smirks and turns his attention to Lucio. “How’s the wife?” he asks.
I walk away as they start to talk about the honeymoon phase, something I know nothing about. At the rate I’m going, I’m not sure I’ll ever experience being that blissfully happy either.
“Tino!” a few old-timers yell as my father walks through the front door, making a spectacle and a grand entrance.
He strolls through the crowd, shaking hands with his friends like he’s a celebrity, before making his way to me. “Hey, doll, how’s business tonight?”
He’s been back a month now, but the man hasn’t put in an hour’s work at the bar, even though he’s required to as part of his early release program.
