“Thankfully, no. And I don’t want one. I’m going to sit here with your mother until she wakes up, if that’s okay with you?”
Kenny smiled. “Of course it’s okay. That’s why I called you.”
Frank gave Justine’s son a long, penetrating stare, wondering if the boy may have had an ulterior motive to get them back together. After the incident in the kitchen when he’d attempted to make love to Justine, everything between them changed. They’d become polite strangers whenever he came over to pick and drop off Kenny every Saturday morning since the school year ended.
However, when Frank picked up the phone and registered the fear in Kenny’s voice, he realized the boy had reached out to him because he was his mother’s friend. And as her friend, he had come to see about her.
“I’ll be in my room,” Kenny said.
“And, you know where to find me.”
Frank sat on the side of the bed, watching Justine sleep, then got up, took off his shoes, and lay beside her. It was something he knew he wouldn’t have been able to do if she had been awake. The room was so quiet, he could detect her measured breathing. He turned over with his back to her so he wouldn’t have to stare at the roundness of her breasts under the delicate white nightgown.
He lay there thinking about what could’ve been if things were different between them before he, too, succumbed to the comforting arms of Morpheus.
Justine opened her eyes and went completely still when she stared up at Francis D’Allesandro sitting up in the bed next to her. She reached down to pull up a lightweight blanket to cover her chest when she saw the direction of his gaze.
“What are you doing here?” She didn’t recognize her own voice, because her mouth hadn’t caught up with her brain.
“I was waiting for you to wake up, Sleeping Beauty.” Frank smiled at her under lowered lids. “Don’t go and get your cute nose out of joint. I’m here because Kenny called and told me he couldn’t wake you up.”
Justine groaned as she sank back down to the pillows under her head. “That’s because I took something for my headache.”
“Headache or migraine?”
She closed her eyes, grateful the medication had worked. “Migraine.”
“How often do you have them?”
“Not too often.”
“Have you always had them?” Frank asked.
Justine opened her eyes, noticing the stubble on his chin and jaw. It was the first time she’d seen him unshaven. “No. They started right after I began taking an oral contraceptive.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You’re on birth control?”
She nodded. “Yes. My doctor recommended it to regulate my menstrual cycle.”
“Have you always had a problem with it?”
Justine sighed. “No. Before I had Kenny, it would come like clockwork.”
“Can’t you stop taking the pill if you’re having migraines?”
“Hopefully the migraines will stop now that I’ve been prescribed the lowest dose.” She smiled, her expression appearingmore like a grimace. “Thank you for coming and allaying Kenny’s fear that he’d lost his mother.”
“There’s no need to thank me, Justine. I’m just glad I can be here for you and Kenny.”
“How’s he doing with his cooking lessons?”
Frank shifted and sat at the foot of the bed. “He’s a natural. My mother is also teaching him Italian.”
“That’s a skill he’ll be able to use if he does get a part-time position in an Italian restaurant.”
“I told you before that I’ll make certain of that once he’s in high school.”
“That all depends where we’ll live,” Justine said, meeting his eyes. “I got a notice from the city’s department of buildings that they’re going to demolish this entire block of buildings in the coming year. I spoke to my social worker about moving, who gave me a choice of several public housing projects in Manhattan and in the Bronx.”
