“Just wondering.”
As I drive off the property, I ask. “Do you want to hear about that? The time I spent in the navy?”
Benny turns in her seat and gives me her attention. “I want to hear about everything.”
And so I tell her stories, realizing I’ve never actually had a woman ask me anything about me before. My princess is special.
7
The View, an Italian restaurant, sits on the Chicago River bay along with other properties my family owns. The View is as close to the river as one can legally get without getting penalized or sinking into the water.
The crisp weather tells me my wife might be cold, and I contemplate crossing the street to the mall and buying her a trench coat. It would keep her warm and hide her body.
I’m so crazy over what she’s wearing that I can’t walk next to her and definitely not in front of her. I walk behind her so I can scan the perimeter and catch all the ogling eyes.
Both women and men take notice of her. Some turn, then catch my feral gaze as they pass me. Our journey through the restaurant to get to the deck reminds me of the time I walked across the street to get to the coffee shop where my dad was making out with a young woman who wasn’t my mother. A walk that felt forever long.
I was nineteen and had come back home for the holidays. Also earlier than expected, just like this time with my wife.
I caught him cheating.
He saw me crossing the street. We exchanged looks as I bought coffee from the shop and left.
At home, we exchanged no words for the next three years. During the holiday week, Mom thought we had a fight, and since neither of us spent much time at home after that, us not speaking worked out well for everyone.
Until five years after the incident. She heard about him cheating from someone who wasn’t me. I never said a word. I couldn’t break her heart. But by that time, Dad had already broken it. What he didn’t expect was that I’d already secured more than half his net worth for my mother.
I hired a PI and the man tailed my dad for years, collecting evidence. I knew it would take quite a bit for my father to give up most of his life’s earnings, a substantial amount seeing as he’s a shark and Mom is a goldfish he would try to shortchange.
He would have left her with some money, no doubt. But not as much as I secured for her.
Blake rises from the table as Princess and I arrive at the deck. He’s wearing a black suit and a light mint tie, so mint must be the color of the season. Looking sharp and handsome, Blake smiles.
I watch how he embraces my wife. With cold disinterest while glaring over her shoulder at me. I check the clock. We’re late, even though we never agreed on a time. I think he must have promised his wife he’d be a bit more flexible, and maybe he is with her, but with me (and Bishop, I bet), he’s the same ol’ asshole.
I wink at him and greet his wife, Vanessa. Warmly this time, unlike the first time we met.
Sitting down, Vanessa folds her napkin over her lap and leans back. Blake motions for a server. Like I said, we sit, we eat, we get it done. That’s Blake. Me also, but I’m gonna try to at least enjoy the ladies’ company.
“You’re late,” Blake says, gaze scanning the inside of the restaurant, looking for a server he can flag down.
Vanessa purses her lips.
I wink at her too. “Just let him be,” I tell her. “He’ll get over it in five seconds. No time for wallowing.”
She giggles.
“I ordered appetizers,” he adds.
“And wine?” I ask.
He nods.
“Did you get me lobster rolls?”
“Mmhm.”
“They have lobster rolls?” my wife asks and takes off her giant sunglasses, then tucks them inside her purse slung over the back of the chair.
