Page 34 of Trina Gabrini: Bring Him Back Home to Me

“We know that,” Tommy said. “But look where we are. In some fucking deserted junkyard in the fucking boonies. Moose don’t know what happened. All his men are deceased. Who’s gonna tell him? You? Only we know what happened out here.”

Reno realized what Tommy was saying and stood back up.

“As far as he knows, she is our hostage,” Tommy continued. “We can still force him out.”

“Gotdamn, Tommy, you’re right,” said a grinning Sal. “You’re right!”

Reno was still exhausted, but he knew it too.

“Now will your ass go back home?” Tommy asked him. “It’s cold out here.”

But that faraway look of dread appeared in Reno’s eyes. Because he knew forcing Moose out was just the half of it. Trina finding out why he had to force him out, and what that meant for their marriage, was the other half.

Going home wasn’t the great solution Tommy was making it out to be.

Going home was even riskier than staying in the cold.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Trina, Jimmy, Dominic and young Carmine, along with Tommy’s wife Grace, sat around the dining room table as if they were at a Wake. Other than Carmine, the younger members of the family were in the game room and family room, but you could hear a feather drop around that table. They were all sipping coffee. Even Carmine. They were all too afraid to even discuss what was going on with Reno.

Trina knew more than they knew, but she knew Sal wasn’t telling her all he knew. That’s up to Reno, he continued to say. And he also implied that that woman, that Lydia, wasn’t the whole story.

Then why would Reno bark out that D word if it wasn’t about Lydia? Who, then, was it about?

Trina felt more uneasy the more she learned. She couldn’t get out of her head the way Reno looked. He’d been spooked. That was for damn sure. And probably had been into some kind of altercation that scared him too. But Reno was never the kind of man who would tell Trina everything. That was never going to happen. But if she ever saw him again, he was going to tell her something! He was going to tell her way more than she already knew.

Grace looked at Jimmy. She knew how close he was to his father, and how often he had to defend him against evidence to the contrary. She could see how worried he truly was. She placed her hand on Jimmy’s hand and squeezed it. “He’ll be okay, Jimmy. He’s Reno. He always lands on his feet.”

Jimmy smiled and placed his other hand on top of Grace’s small hand. “Thanks, Auntie Grace. I know you’re right.”

“Although that’s not the point,” said Carmine.

Dom looked at him. “What your lil’ ass know about that? And why aren’t you in the back with the other kids?”

But Grace, like most adults, valued Carmine’s insights. “Why isn’t it the point, Carmine?” she asked him.

“Our father is a grown-ass man,” said Carmine.

“Watch your language, young man,” ordered Grace.

“But it’s a fact, Auntie Grace,” Carmine shot back. “All of this talk about how he always lands on his feet is not germane to the more salient point.”

“Which is?” Grace asked him.

“At our father’s age he shouldn’t still be landing on his feet,” Carmine said. “He should be grounded by now. That’s the point.”

Trina nodded her hand. “Carmine’s right as rain. Reno’s ass should be tired of landing on his feet or his ass or wherever else he lands. He should be grounded. He should be beyond all of this cloak and dagger bullshit he knows I hate.”

Grace was astounded by the way Trina and Reno used profanity around their minor son. They did it when Jimmy and Sophia and Dominic were minors too. Tommy would set Grace straight in a heartbeat if she even thought about speaking that way around their children. Which she would try her best to never do anyway. But that was Reno and Trina. They were like going to a car race when you know there was going to be wrecks all over the place because of the recklessness of their driving, but somehow they escape unscathed. That was Reno and Trina.

Grace’s prayer was that they would make one of those same escapes this time too.

But by the way Tommy was looking during their entire flight to Vegas, and wouldn’t even discuss it with her, she doubted if it was possible.

And then the door to the penthouse could be heard opening and without hesitation everybody jumped up and raced out of the dining room to get into the living room.

Trina moved the slowest as her heart wasn’t beating anymore, but was hammering against her chest. She was terrified of what kind of news was on the other side of that foyer. Was the other woman, that Lydia, on the other side? Was bad news on the other side? Was Reno and that woman on the other side?