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“And if I come over and join you, then I can probably run Peter’s plan by him and see where we’re making our mistake.”
“Exactly.”
“Be there in twenty minutes.”
Dominic grabbed a jacket and left. He didn’t give a thought to Joshua or Audra until the game was over and most of the guys had jumped out of their seats and headed for their coats and cars. Wives and kids were waiting for them.
Dominic half rose, guilt surfacing for the first time that afternoon. He had a temporary nanny and a baby boy who didn’t even know where he’d gone. He’d run because he was afraid of what he was beginning to feel for Audra. But he’d also come to Tom’s to see Alfred Longoria and he hadn’t even had a chance to talk to him. Wouldn’t it kill two birds with one stone to stay a bit longer?
“What’ll it be, Al?” Tom asked, heading for the bar. “Another beer or your coat?”
“I’m not in any hurry to get home,” Alfred said, laughing before he chugged the remainder of the beer he held. “So make it a beer.”
The thrill of an opportunity raced through Dominic and he sat down again.
Then Alfred added, “I could kick myself for not letting my lawyer draw up a prenup.”
And Dominic knew now was not the time to bring up his Internet-expansion problems.
“Trouble in paradise?” Tom asked as he rounded the bar and approached the seating arrangement with three beers.
“Hell, yeah,” Alfred said as Tom passed two brown bottles to Dominic and Alfred. “My wife likes the money. She just doesn’t want me to work.”
Dominic had heard his father scream a version of those words to his mother so many times that they still sent a rush of fear through him. His mother also had been a disappointment to his dad. He didn’t need a therapist to tell him that was another reason he’d never tried to be like his dad, why he paid little or no attention to him. Why he didn’t have a clue how to raise a child or run a business.
Ed Nevel emerged from the hall bathroom off Tom’s basement retreat. He grabbed his jacket from the rack by the bar. “Hey, Dom, I’m going to Shady Hady’s tonight. Wanna come with? Erin’s going to be there.”
Dominic and Erin had been Boston’s hot couple in the weeks before Peter’s death. And by hot he didn’t merely mean popular. From the second they’d met they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other. Yet he hadn’t even thought of her in weeks. Tonight, when he did remember her, he felt nothing. “Thanks, but no, thanks.”
Alfred groaned. “Oh, come on. You’ve got a hot woman waiting for you at a club and you don’t want to go?”
Visions of his awkward nights out, not having a good time but feeling trapped, filled Dominic’s head.
“No.”
But even as he declined the offer, Dominic regretted it. He didn’t exactly want to see Erin, but he needed a night out. He needed some fun. No, he didn’t need “fun” per se. The truth was he was lonely. Alone. Tired of being all by himself in a house with twenty or thirty servants and no one to talk to.
Except Audra. Maybe that’s why they were developing feelings for each other that were all wrong.
Ed shook his head. “Whatever, Dom. See you around.”
Tom said, “See you around, Ed.”
As Ed disappeared up the stairs, Tom skillfully directed the conversation to Manelli Holdings’ failing plan to launch three new Internet sites. In his element, Alfred rattled off six or eight reasons the plan was in trouble, as well as six or eight good ideas Dominic and his team hadn’t thought of. They debated all the angles. Almost completely revised Dominic’s simplistic impression of a very complicated enterprise and suddenly it was nine o’clock.
Alfred bounced off the couch, reaching for his cell phone. “Oh, crap. I’m going to be shot. By now Stella’s home. She’s tried on her purchases, had two glasses of wine and is getting angrier by the second that I’m not home.” He hit a speed-dial number and called his driver.
Dominic said, “Blame me. It was the discussion of my business that kept you.”
“Screw that,” Alfred replied, shrugging into his coat. “I should be allowed to have a day out without having to explain myself.”
Tom muttered something sympathetic and then led Dominic and Alfred up the stairs to the foyer of Tom’s stunning home. The front door opened and Mabel Fortune, Tom’s longtime girlfriend, walked in.
“Oh-oh.” Mabel shook her long red hair off her face and it rippled down her back. “Guys’ afternoon not over?”
Tom kissed her cheek hello. “We’re clearing out now.”
