Page 23 of Bad Husband

“No, I need to know what else your daughter would like from me.”

There was silence.

“Angelo, this is not working.”

“You’re the one who arranged to have her hurt,” Angelo said. “It is going to take a little more than a week to break down her walls.”

Marco cursed. He didn’t have a lot of time.

“Look, for now, I’ve got it covered here, and when I need you, I’ll call. Until then, do what you can to bring our girl back.”

“What am I missing?” Marco asked.

“Patience?” Angelo said, and hung up.

He had a feeling something was going on back home, but Angelo didn’t want to worry him. He turned off his cell phone and saw it was now a little after nine, and if he hoped to have a good night’s sleep, he needed to walk the dogs. All of them.

He grabbed the leads, and as he stepped out, he turned to look toward Chiara’s trailer. He was not going to pass up an opportunity to spend time with her. He slapped his hand on the door and waited.

Chiara opened, still wearing a pair of shorts and a crop top.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I need help.”

“Marco Volpi is admitting he needs help?” she asked.

He held up the dog leads. “There are a lot of dogs, and this will go a lot easier with you. The dogs like you, and please, I just need help.” And it would be a good hour, maybe two, where he’d be able to keep her in his company.

She let out a giggle, especially as Poodles seemed to know what he wanted, and wriggled his little butt right on over. Then of course, the rest of the pack of dogs came over. He didn’t know if a litter of dogs could even be called a pack. They were not wolves. Either way, he looked at her, with a smile and a bunch of leads.

She stepped out of her trailer with a smile he hadn’t seen on her face in forever. She looked absolutely stunning and completely stole his breath away. He had to force himself to hold out the dog leads for her, and they spent the next ten minutes getting them prepared and ready.

“Did you get the poop bags?” she asked.

“Poop bags?”

“That is one of the reasons we have to take them for a walk. To let them do their business.”

Again, another chuckle, and he immediately went into his trailer, handing her the leads, as he grabbed the bag of poop bags he needed to use so his dogs didn’t foul everywhere. Perhaps getting a bunch of dogs before wooing your wife back hadn’t exactly been the best idea.

Chiara fell in line beside him, and then he reevaluated the situation and knew without the dogs, his wife wouldn’t even look at him.

For several minutes, as they made their way out of the trailer park, they walked in silence. Marco didn’t want to spoil their time together by saying something stupid. He needed to come up with small talk. Throughout their short marriage, Chiara had always been the one who had something to say.

“This weather is a fucking nightmare,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s boiling, but I did see a weather report the other day that suggested by the end of next week, we’re going to start getting colder weather. You’re not going to be able to leave the dogs outside when it gets colder. They’re going to need somewhere warm.”

“Duly noted.”

Chiara stopped. “Why don’t you go home? You’ve got staff who can handle the dogs, and you’ve got your life to get back to.”

“I’m not going without you.”

“Marco, you and I ... this is never going to happen.”

He took a step closer to her. “I fucked up. I know I did, and you’re not going to believe how sorry I am. I know it is going to take a lot more than saying ‘I’m sorry’ for you to forgive me, and I accept that. You’re mine, Chiara, and I’m not giving up on you. I’m not giving up on this.”