She lifted a hand. “I’m being serious. I remember it. Sometimes the lady would give her squash. She grew it in her backyard. It was big and long, almost like a baseball bat orsomething.” To give me an idea, she put a long and wide stretch of space between her hands. “Sometimes it was a little twisted, and it was a real light green. Mom would fuss at me when I tried to smack things with it.”
“Cucuzza,”Placido said from the front seat, and he grinned after.
It wasn’t his normal grin. It was a grin I recognized as him thinking about something private. I was sure there was some fucking joke between the men about the gourd and their fucking gourds.
“No.” Stella shook her head. “That doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Sometimes it’s called gagootz,” I said.
“Yes!” She smiled at me. “That’s it! I remember how fun the word sounded. Mom would say,We must eat our gagootz from Mrs. Mary to keep strong, bestie boo!”
“Is that what she called you?” I asked. It was the first time she’d ever, so openly, shared something like that with me.
“Yes. I was her bestie boo.”
It was the “was” that got her. As soon she’d said the word, the entire car fell silent. I took her hand in mine, covering it completely, and then brought it to my mouth, kissing her fingers. She glanced at what I was doing, looked at me, and then looked away.
Even when we’re on opposite sides of whatever we’re feeling, I was conveying to her,I’ll still take care of you. I’ll always love you and I’ll never leave you. I vowed this to you.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
My eyes flew to hers.
“For...” she sighed “…not having them tear down the glass around the pool. I really like the idea of swimming all year long.”
“I’ll talk to you first next time.”
“Okay,” she said, but it seemed like she wanted to say more.
Say something like, we both know that wasn’t what last night was about. But until she came to terms with how she was feeling, and why, I couldn’t answer for her. I could only speculate. We might know each other down to the bone, but she was still free to speak her own mind, her thoughts, her feelings.
“Do you want to know why Mrs. Mary thought people never die here?”
“Sì,”Placido said, riveted.
I shot him a look in the mirror, and he looked away.
Stella took a deep breath. “If I remember correctly, it was because when Mrs. Mary came to visit a cousin who was getting married in…San Francisco, I think… she said they had no cemeteries. She didn’t see one. She was from New Orleans, and they have plenty out in the open. So, when Mrs. Mary couldn’t find one in California, she assumed no one died. Where did they all go?”
The two men up front became quiet, but their eyes started pinging nonstop. They were looking for cemeteries. We didn’t see any, but bodies were easily dropped in the ocean.
It was like my thought went straight to Armando because he met my eyes in the mirror again and gave me a subtle nod.
As we pulled to a stop in front of the hotel in Hollywood, Stella sighed. Placido opened my door for me, and I smoothed my suit as I went around the car to open my wife’s door. I gave her my hand and she stepped out, just like the star she is. She was in a black dress and blazer, and her heels were high and sharp.
We were shown to the suite I’d secured. A few minutes later, Noemi knocked and Placido let her in. Oscar emerged from one of the rooms. He’d gotten there before us with some of the other soldiers to make sure the room stayed secure.
Stella poured herself a glass a water and took a seat next to me at the bar. It was early, but my tongue was craving thetaste of bourbon. Preferably licked off my wife’s inner thighs, but since we had an audience…later.
“So,” Stella said, trying to break the awkward tension between Noemi and Oscar. “Where are you taking Noemi on a date, Oscar?”
Oscar glanced at my wife before his eyes settled on Noemi. “To an Italiano restaurant-ah, then to a, ah, outside concert.”
“Oh!” Stella smiled at them. “That sounds like fun!”
When my wife’s voice got like that, careless and free, I studied her. I wanted to know the cause. I’d end it all to put a smile on her face and to hear the joy in her voice. That was stolen from her for much too long, and now I was the fucking thief who’d steal it and give it back to her.
“Yeah,” Noemi said, going for grapes on the counter. “Fun!”
