“It’s too full of serendipity,” Jimmy said.
Reno frowned. “What the fuck is serendipity. It sounds like a whore who likes to go skinny dipping.”
Trina frowned.“What?”
Sal shook his head. “He’s crazy.”
“Then what it mean, Sal?” Reno asked him point blank. “What does serendipity mean?”
“How should I know? I never said I knew.” Then he looked at Jimmy. “What that shit mean, Jimmy?”
“Providence,” Jimmy said.
Reno and Sal still didn’t get it. They looked to Tommy to break it down further.
“Too much happens in the mob life by chance,” said Tommy. “If A or B didn’t happen, then we’d be dead. That’s what it means.”
“And that’s the truth,” said Reno.
“And that’s why I hate it,” said Jimmy. “Because what will happen if A or B didn’t happen?”
“We’d be dead,” said Reno.
“Exactly,” said Jimmy.
It was a casual joke to the men as they all laughed. But to Trina, it was agonizing. Her son was now a full-fletched mobster. Change thebto annand it summed it up perfectly for her. It summed up just what her son could morph into just as easily as transposing one letter. And that wasn’t funny at all.
Talk about serendipity.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Trina spent the balance of the day working from home, and then she had dinner with her children. Later that night she showered and got into bed. It had been a long, arduous day. But before she could finally close her eyes, Reno was walking into their bedroom.
It was so amazing to see him that she sat up in bed. She even grabbed her phone off of the nightstand and checked the time. Reno at home and it wasn’t even eleven yet? She couldn’t remember the last time that was true.
Unless something else had happened.
“Everything okay?”
Reno looked at her as he undressed. “As far as I know. Why you asking me a question like that?”
“Why do you think?”
Reno continued to stare at her as if he still didn’t get it.
“Reno, when was the last time you were home this early?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just what I said. When was the last time you came home this early?”
“When was the last time my son was kidnapped, I found out he was a mob boss, and I found out my wife was sneaking around my back with her lover? And I find all this shit out on back-to-back days? And you ask me why I’m home early? My ass tired. That’s why I’m home early.”
Trina felt horrible because she knew he didn’t know the half of it. But she also got his little comment too. “He’s not my lover,” she said.
“He was,” Reno said and dared her to dispute it. When she didn’t, he nodded as if he told her so. Then he finished undressing and got into bed.
He laid on his back. Trina hesitated, but then she laid back down and on her back too. Then she looked at him. He looked tired just like he said.
