“I got that for you,” she motioned toward the large cup in front of me.
“What do you want? And before you tell me lemme just say don’t even think about approaching someone I’m seeing. Ever. It’s not lost on me that you probably expected her to answer the door today, not me. If you wanted to see me in the middle of the day we both know you woulda come to my office. No games, Debbie. Make this quick. She is at home waiting for me. In bed.”
Shot to the heart. Deb’s expression dropped.
“Do you ever think about us? About how good it was?” she asked, giving me that submissive sex kitten look. That look she used to give me.
I narrowed my eyes.
“I do,” she continued, then licked her lips and gave me a few slow blinks, “I think about it. A lot.”
I shook my head and folded my arms across my chest.
“Don’t go back to her at your place. Come with me instead. Come to my place. Please?”
I let out a laugh. This was fucking rich.
“You talk about me with anyone, Deb? You ever have a conversation with my Pop in the last three years?”
She shook her head
, “No. Why?”
“No reason.”
“But I saw in the paper he was murdered. I’m very sorry about that, honey.” She reached across the table for my hand. My arms were still folded across my chest. I looked at her hand and shook my head, disgusted.
She pulled her hand back and got a desperate look.
“I never got over you,” she said quickly, “I haven’t stopped thinking about you for three years. Then I heard about Tom dying. I wanted to come to the funeral but I heard it was private. Then it hit me extra hard when I saw Luc the other day. She just joined my gym and I approached her to give my condolences about your father and she tried to rip me a new one and then she told me you were with someone else and that it was serious. Then the next day I saw you and it felt like fate. My chance to do something about it. It hit me really hard to see you with someone and I knew I had to act fast before I blinked and suddenly you were married with kids and it’d be too late. I know your sisters hate me because they said I froze your heart. I’ve changed. I was too young to settle down but after all this time not having you? I’ve grown up. The guy I’ve been seeing, he asked me to marry him.” She looked down at her lap, “I told him I’d think about it. But I don’t wanna say Yes. No one compares to you, Dario. If I’m ready to get married, and I am, it has to be you. I messed up so bad. I don’t deserve this but you have to know I think about you all the time. About how lucky I’d be if I were your wife, what beautiful babies we’d make together, I…”
I shot to my feet so fast that the chair fell down behind me and then people were staring.
“Go fuck yourself, Debbie. You think I don’t know that you killed the baby we might’ve made together?”
She flinched like I’d slapped her. I leaned forward and said in a low voice, almost a growl, “And it’s already too late. I don’t think about you at all. In three years I haven’t thought anything about you except for thinking I was lucky I caught you sucking that goof off because you are one skanky bitch that I was lucky to get rid of. I plan to get married just once and if I’d married you it would not have been forever. It would’ve been a huge mistake. Don’t darken my door again. Ever. If you do, I’ll fuck your life up so bad that what I did to that pencil dick DJ will seem like nothing. Do NOT underestimate me.”
Her mouth was wide open and she looked like she was gonna shit herself.
I left and didn’t look back.
I didn’t head home. I went in the other direction. There was a bakery a block away that I was heading to instead. I was picking up dessert. Then I stepped into a jewelry store next door to it and bought two more necklaces for Angel. In case the first one I bought wasn’t right. I told them not to put these ones in a gift bag; I slipped the necklace boxes into my jacket pocket instead.
** ** **
When I got into the apartment I smelled food. It smelled good.
“What’s cookin’?” I came up behind her; she was at the sink washing mushrooms. I kissed her earlobe.
“Loaded baked potatoes and pork chops with mushroom sauce,” she said.
“Mm.” I put the bakery box on the counter and said, “And angel food cake for my Angel.”
As I kissed her temple she smiled and said, “Mm, can we skip dinner and do dessert first?”
“That dinner smells too good to miss. We’ll do dessert later in bed. How ‘bout that?” I winked suggestively, “I’m gonna go check in on some work shit in the den. How long till dinner?”
“Twenty minutes,” she said, with a smile, “I’m not much of a cook but I did this meal for home ec and aced it. So we’ll see if I remember the recipe.” She chuckled.