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“Thank you.”
The room became awkward all of a sudden. Rush shoved his hands into his jean pockets and looked out the window, seemingly lost in thought. Eventually, his focus came back and he glanced back and forth between Dad and me a few times. His face was sad. “I guess I should get going then. I have a seafood delivery coming this morning at the restaurant. I’ll come back after.”
My dad stood. “You go do what you have to do. I’ll take it from here. No need to come back. Thanks again for calling me.”
I didn’t want Rush to leave, and it didn’t look like he really wanted to leave, either. Or maybe that’s just what I wanted to see. But he kissed me goodbye on the forehead, nonetheless. “Text me, and let me know you’re home safe. Okay?”
I nodded.
He walked to the hospital room door and stopped. For a second, I got my hopes up that maybe he’d changed his mind. But instead, he looked back over his shoulder one last time and said, “Take care of yourself, Gia.”I had two channels lately: pissed off and really fucking pissed off.
“I don’t give a shit what you do with it!” I barked at one of my employees who had tried to ask me where he should put a case of champagne that had been delivered for the upcoming end-of-summer bash. “Just deal with it.” At least it was only Rhys. That fucker was lucky he still had a job anyway.
A few minutes later, Riley walked over and told me she’d lost her apron and asked where to find another one. I glared at her until she scurried away with her tail between her legs. I should’ve fucking fired her a second time. Or maybe it was a third. I’d lost count.
Not long after, I was sitting at the bar working on adding up some invoices when Oak tapped me on the shoulder. “Boss. You have a visitor.”
I didn’t look up. “Tell ’em to fuck off! I’m busy.”
It wasn’t Oak’s voice that responded. “I carry a gun. Not sure fuck off is a good answer to give me.”
Shit.
Gia’s father.
Just what I needed.
I turned around. “Sorry. It’s been one of those days.”
Tony chuckled and slapped me on the shoulder. “One of those days or three of ’em?”
I knew what he was getting at. After Gia got out of the hospital, I’d made her take a few days off as a precaution, even though the doctor had cleared her to return to work. It had been three days since I saw her—which happened to be the same number of days I had been fucking miserable. Tony was a cop. I didn’t bother to try and lie to him. Instead, I stood and walked around behind the bar.
“What can I get you to drink?”
He held up a hand. “Just a seltzer would be great. About to drive back to Queens.” Tony had stayed at Gia’s rental since she got out of the hospital. It gave me a modicum of relief to know someone was looking after her, at least.
I poured a seltzer and slid it across the bar, then proceeded to make myself something a fuck of a lot stronger. “I’m not driving anywhere. Hope you don’t mind, but something tells me that you showing up here alone…I’m gonna need it.”
He smiled. “Have your drink. Come sit.”
I finished mixing a vodka seltzer that was more vodka than seltzer, and took a seat on the stool next to Tony.
He reached behind his back into the waistband of his pants and pulled out a bag. Opening it, he dumped a stack of postcards bound together with a rubber band onto the bar.
I looked down at the pile. “Vacation souvenirs? You can probably pick up one in the drugstore in town if you’re looking to add to your collection.”
Tony shook his head. “No. Not vacation souvenirs. Well, not from any vacation I ever took, anyway. These are from Leah, Gia’s mother.”
Tony read the confusion on my face.
Removing the rubber band…he started to toss them one by one in front of me.
“Look at the postmark dates.”
I picked up a few and looked at the worn ink. “All on Gia’s birthday?”
“Yep. Every year on Gia’s birthday, her mother mailed her a different postcard from a different place.”
“She never mentioned that.”
Tony stopped his one-by-one toss of the postcards and turned to look me in the eyes. “That’s because she doesn’t know. And I hope to keep it that way, if you catch my drift.”
I nodded. “Understood.”
“Anyway.” He tossed a few more in front of me and kept one in his hands. “They’d come every year like clockwork. I know Leah’s handwriting, so I knew they were from her, but they were always blank.”
“Okay…”
“When Gia’s mother left, she told me she didn’t want to be pinned down with a child, that it was her destiny to travel and see the world. I’d met her while we were both vacationing down in New Mexico. We both had a bit of wanderlust in us. First year we got together, we saw fifteen states. After we got married, we planned to finish seeing the rest and start on Europe. We had big plans. We were saving money to take a year off and do nothing but travel.” Tony paused to drink some of his seltzer, but I got the feeling he needed a minute, too. “Anyway, Leah got pregnant and that changed everything. At first, she was excited about it, thinking it wouldn’t have to change our plans. But the reality of that hit real quick. I took the police test for a steady income and health insurance, and they called me right before Gia’s first birthday. Leah stayed home with Gia. With a baby, money was too tight to travel. It wasn’t what we planned, but life doesn’t always go as planned, does it?”
