Chapter Two
“There wasn’t any draw. He moved the air conditioner then practically sprinted out of here.” I plop down on the couch and hug my favorite pink chenille pillow to my chest. It’s like putting a fluffy Band-aid over where I hurt.
“So start from the beginning, he got there and then what happened?”
A Dom-analysis could take an hour, five times longer than the actual date. I’m not up for it. “I don’t know. He got here, smelled the roast and pie, asked me if that’s what he smelled, then immediately started pulling the air conditioner out of the window. He was definitely on a mission to get the hell out of here. He even lied and said he had to go back to work. He wasn’t even wearing a uniform. I mean, what the hell, like I’m not going to notice that?”
That shuts Dom up. Danny is not known for lying. If anything he could be called too blunt, honest to a fault.
“I need an exorcism, Dom. I need to purge him from my soul.”
“I won’t argue with you there. I’ve been listening to you moan and drool over him for ten.”
“I know. I know.” I cut her off because I don’t want a review of all the stupid ways I’ve embarrassed myself over Danny. “Cut me some slack. I was fifteen.”
“Ok, when you met him, but this past year…V, if he hasn’t made a move by now…” I can tell she doesn’t want to say it and hurt my feelings and she doesn’t have to.
“He isn’t going to.” Ouch that hurts to say, but it’s like ripping off a Band-aid. I need to do it. I need to move on. “Just give me some time.”
“Sure. Yeah. I know.” A sad silence hangs heavy between us because only Dom knows how hard this will be for me.
I change the subject. “You and mama going to play bingo tonight?” I know they are.
Dom and her mama and her aunties all played bingo together every Thursday night at their church. “How goes the wedding fund?” They are all pooling their winnings and saving up for Dom’s wedding.
“Growing baby, growing. Luis’s aunt and grandma are going in with us now.” Dom’s family is the opposite of mine, huge and involved. Dom still lives with her mama and siblings and will until she marries Luis in a few months. “Do you want to come with us tonight? The girls will make you feel better. We’ll down a few cervezas…”
“No, not tonight. Besides, I’m an Irish girl…I’ve got to drown my sorrows in whiskey. I think it’s required.”
“Alright, you have the night off to drown your sorrows.”
“Thanks. And thank you for understanding. ”
“Hey, I get it. Believe me I’ve been there the whole time. The man’s smile and body alone could do any girl in. And he used to be really sweet to you. Ever since your dad moved away and his divorce, he’s changed.”
“Yeah, he has.” She’s right. “I guess he’s only nice to me because of my dad. Now that he’s not here…”
“Are you going to tell your dad to stop sending him over to help you? You know he’ll do it again.”
Damn, she’s right. It’s a losing battle with my dad to convince him to let me take care of myself. I spent half my life taking care of him, and me, and our house, and he still treats me like I’m a child. “Noooo. Oh hell, you’re right. If this weren’t the most perfect effing apartment in this city, I would move my ass to Sweden and get away from both of them.”
Dom laughs, “Then Big Mike would find some dude named Sven and have him at your place taking care of you.”
“As long as Sven isn’t frigid.” We both laugh that that one.
“Do you think that’s it.” Dom asks. “Do you think Danny’s frigid?”
“Oh, hell no. Like I’ve always said, there is something about the way he moves, still can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something in his stride that tells me he’d be a really great lay.”
“No, no, don’t go there. Assume he is a horrible lay and a shitty kisser.”
“With those lips?”
Even Dom can’t argue with that. “Ok, so he might be a good kisser, but he doesn’t deserve you.”
“Because…?”
“Because he is estúpido , a box of rocks. Come on V, how can he not see by now what an amazing catch you are? You are smart, successful, a gourmet cook, totally cute and if he ever gave you the chance I’m sure you would wear him out in bed until he died a happy man.”
“I would rock his world.”
“Save that for someone who deserves it.”
“Like who, Dom? In twenty-five years I have met one man, one, who meets my standards.”
“And don’t you dare lower them now.”
“I’m going to die alone as a cat lady, still looking for that perfect guy.”
“No you’re not. There is going to be a guy who appreciates how hard you work to make everything perfect. Did you pour yourself that drink yet?”
I put my phone on speaker and set it on the bar cart in the corner of the living room. “Pouring it now.” Dom can hear me put ice in a tumbler and pour Jameson over it.
“Of course you had ice in the bucket.”
“And little lemon wedges too.” I add one to my drink and water from the pitcher.
“What are you going to do now?” Dom is my mother hen. A job she and her mom took over when my mom died.
“Cut the roast into sandwich meat so I can take it to some guys who will appreciate it.”
“Ok, good. No single ones yet?”
Dom is always pushing me to find romance at work which, number one, goes against my policy of never dating at work, and two, she doesn’t know these guys like I do. They are salesmen, always polite and kind and joking and so full of shit it practically leaks out their ears. “No single ones.”
“At least Bob appreciates you.”
That he does. My boss, Bob Brockhaus is the lead salesman in international sales for JetStream Aerospace. He travels the world selling private jets to billionaires and he does a damn good job of it, in great part because he has me. I make his chaotic home and work life run like a well-oiled machine and he makes sure I am paid well to do that. At least I have Bob.