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“Holy fucking shit,”Carina exclaims as she paces the room. She’s been doing it since I told her about the spanking. “I mean holy fucking shit, Celia. That is the hottest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life. And that’s compared to some of my manga, well not—you know what? Doesn’t matter because that was insane. I mean it’s like you two are destined to be together. He wants you! Like really wants you.”
I shake my head. “He then went more than two years without contacting me, no texts, no phone calls, not a single fucking peep from him. That isn’t a man who wants me. Once again it was me who called him. Me who called him crying about Mommy’s cancer.”
Her forehead scrunches up. “But he did come for you to help with Mommy’s cancer.”
Ashamed, I tell her what happened at his condo, unable to ever forget him telling me to leave and never come back.
She sags onto the couch. “Oh no.”
Nodding, I sigh. “Exactly, he then went on to spend the next five months with Anna Kovalenko. The guy who doesn’t do repeats and didn’t kiss was kissing her. I mean it was a closed-mouth kiss on her cheek, but still.”
A hand goes through her hair. “Maybe he like…shit. I don’t know. I’m confused.”
“It’s fine. This is a mafia marriage like I always knew I would end up in. I never told you that the reason I stopped reading the smutty manga you tried to get me to read wasn’t because of the smut. It’s because I was sure I would never get this—a marriage where I would want my husband and most importantly where he really wanted me. For years, I never allowed myself to become wishful or long for what I couldn’t have. I’m lucky that I do want Milos, it makes things easier. I think we could have a good marriage. He promised he wouldn’t cheat if…” I blush. “He promised. I’ll try, I think what’s important is he will too.”
“I guess that’s better than most of the marriages in the mafia. I’m sorry. I know you want him to love you. Maybe some day that will come. Tony Sabatini once said, love doesn’t just happen. It grows in a marriage based on trust and trying. Even with love there is work to be done.” She cups her chin in her hand.
Tony Sabatini… “Hey, do you want to go to Gillam’s for book buying and an early, or even better a later dinner?”
Gillam’s is a shopping plaza in an old-school tiny strip mall of four businesses. There’s a store that had joined two of the stores into one for anime lovers to get manga new and old, as well as a huge selection of gear. There’s a coffee shop on one side of it and a sushi place on the other. It was a place we went often. Although we never told our mom as it’s in the Rogers Park area, south of Evanston. The last neighborhood for Chicago proper on the east side, right up against Lake Michigan. And the last neighborhood to be rehabbed. We never went after dark because the one time we did we were robbed on our way back to the El.
Shrugging, she nods. “Sounds good.”
Twenty minutes later, we’re walking out to find Peter alert outside of the SUV.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
“You’re taking us to Gillam’s.” I give him the address and get into the back of the SUV.
He seems to relax when I get into the SUV without arguing with him. Good.
When I direct him to park in front of the anime place, I warn him we’ll be here for at least an hour, then we’re going to go next door to the sushi place for dinner. So we’d be here for several hours.
Frowning, Peter scans the place and nods. “Okay, you have your phone?”
I hold it up. “Yep. See you in a bit.”
The minute we’re inside, Carina draws me into the store where we can’t be seen. “What’s up?”
“I need to go talk to Tony Sabatini. He knows Milos, like really knows him.”
She nods, checking her watch. “You going to his bookstore?”
Shrugging, “Yeah, I don’t know where he lives. But I know the bookstore.”
“Okay, go out the back and be quick.” She hugs me tight.
“Thanks,” I whisper, returning the hug. Hoping Milos doesn’t punish me for this by keeping me away from her.
There are several cabs waiting, the drivers sipping on coffee before they go out to accept fares. Knocking on the window of one, I ask him if he’s up for a fare and offer a twenty. He takes it and I give him the address to Tony’s bookstore.
Opening the door to the bookstore, I inhale deeply. Oh, I’m definitely coming back here. There are new books then a side room of used books. I could get lost in a place like this for hours.
An older woman with graying blonde hair is studying me.
“Hi, I’m Celia Parker. I was hoping to speak with Tony. Is he available?”
“You’re Carlo’s daughter, aren’t you?” she asks.
