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“Right. Talk soon.” He dashed out to her car.
“I got gas!” she called.
“Thank you!” he shouted.
He’d just pulled out of the driveway when his phone beeped. Thankfully, he looked at the screen before assuming it was Kassandra, because it wasn’t her. It was his co-announcer, Janine Scarpuchi.
“Where are you? Xander is here, and he’s pissed off.”
“Cover for me, Janine. I’ll be there in ninety minutes. Kassandra just got in.”
“You owe me, Tony.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Hopefully, there’ll be a delay.”
“Not an hour and a half delay. Get serious.”
“I am. I’m on my way.”
He didn’t know why he had been compelled to wait for Kassandra to get home before he left for the game. They’d grown closer in the past week than they had been in ten years. His baby was growing inside her. He wanted to see her, even in passing,in case he didn’t make it home alive. Lately, he’d had morbid thoughts of dying, probably because of the added responsibility of the baby.
Suffering from chronic depression, Tony had allowed thoughts of suicide to haunt him since his teens, and he’d never sought help for it. It wasn’t ideation exactly but more scenes of his death due to accidents or illness. Like horrible fantasies.
Avoiding Janine hadn’t been easy. She’d called or texted him hourly throughout the week, wanting to know when he was going to make time for her again. After he’d been free to see her while Kassandra worked eighty-hour weeks, it was going to be a rude awakening to only see Janine during sporting events. It was time to end the affair, and he dreaded the drama.
They’d been on-and-off lovers for over fifteen years. Tony had been involved with Janine before he’d even met Kassandra. Janine was married, so she hadn’t been able to say much when he’d told her Kassandra was going to move into his condominium and that would put an end to it being a meeting place for their trysts.
But then the following year, Janine’s husband, Harry Price, a well-regarded veteran sportscaster, had died.
“Now I’m free, and what do you do? Fall in love with Barbie!”
“I just got a life. You should be thrilled because I won’t be making as many demands on you.”
“When did I ever complain?”
“There was a time when I had more free time than you did, Janine.”
“I know. I should have left Harry. I’m sorry I strung you along.”
It was a conversation they had revisited frequently lately, and it was becoming a drag.
“I don’t know what you want me to say to Xander,” Janine said, regarding Tony’s tardiness.
“Tell him anything. Let me concentrate on the parkway. I’ll see you soon.”
They ended the call, and he quickly keyed in Kassandra’s number.
“I’m on the parkway. How’d it go?”
“It was sad. My last patient is a young woman who has sensory issues like Andy’s daughter, but to have cardiac problems show up at her age is unusual. So yeah, saying goodbye to her was bittersweet. How’d your day go?”
“I talked to my sister Angie. She was shocked that you bought Dad’s house. ‘So this means you won’t get your share?’ I said I will get my share. You paid him market value minus the agent’s fee, and that will be part of his estate. She said she was going to talk to Igor about it. I just laughed. Andy said he’d talk to her.”
“If I die, you’ll get the whole house,” Kassandra said.
“Don’t talk that way. How do you feel?”
“I feel great. A little queasy, but if I just watch what I eat, I’ll be fine.”
