But if she were to be honest with herself, she would admit that she felt more than friendship for Tony. She truly cared deeply about him. But she wasn’t about to put her heart out there for it to be broken, or her soul out there to be rebuffed. She was no beauty queen, and she knew it. Her brains, rather than her good looks, got her where she had to go. Then she smiled. Beauty queen her foot. She was no beauty anything. Just a realist. And a realist like her knew that a gorgeous man like Tony, with women falling at his feet, couldn’t possibly want her in any romantic way.
“You’re still the headmistress at that school in Jericho?” Reno asked her. “What’s it called again?”
“Saint Albans,” Sharon said. “And yes, sir. I’m still there.”
Jimmy smiled. “Sir? He’s not that much older than you are!”
Sharon felt sheepish. “Of course you’re correct,” she said.
“Give it no thought,” Reno said. “You can call me anything that’s comfortable for you.”
Sharon smiled. “Thank you.”
Reno smiled too. She was a plain Jane, no doubt about it, but there was certainly something about her. An intelligence. A strength. The perfect type of woman for Tony, in his opinion. But Reno wasn’t exactly focusing on their relationship. Or anybody’s relationship. He had relationship problems of his own. Trina needed help and needed to accept that she did. She needed to realize that what happened to her in Florida was a horrible, traumatic event. But would she heed his advice, he wondered. Or just be another horse at the water, refusing to drink?
Trina was refusing to drink. Not because she was stubborn, but because she wasn’t ready to share her secret with anybody. Least of which a therapist like Tony Sinatra, who always made her feel that he was one step ahead of her, and could see through her bullshit as easy as seeing through glass. And he wasted no time proving it.
Tony leaned forward in his chair, rested his elbows on his knees and his hands beneath his chin, and looked her squarely in the eyes. “What have you done?” he asked her.
Trina’s heart dropped to her shoe. His lashes were so long that whenever he looked down, it looked as if his eyes were closed. But she knew they were not. She knew they were as focused on her as laser beams. “What do you mean?” she asked him.
But he didn’t answer her. They were in Reno’s home office. She preferred to take him to Reno’s office because it was twice the size of hers, and therefore a lot less intimate and comfortable. Both were seated in chairs that faced each other. Tony, to Trina’s shock, didn’t have a notepad and pen. He didn’t even utilize a recording device. He sat there as if they were just having a conversation. Nothing more. Nothing less.
But the question he threw in that conversation felt like an atom bomb toss to Trina. “Why did you ask me that?” she asked him. “Why did you ask what I’d done, as if I’ve done something wrong?”
If Trina expected Tony to be apologetic for his out-of-left-field question, she was mistaken. He was nonplussed. “You’re carrying around a lot of guilt,” he said. “A tremendous amount. I think it would do you a world of good to unload some of it. Talking about it, sometimes, can help.”
But Trina knew that wasn’t true. Not in her case. “I’m okay actually,” she said.
“You were nearly killed in Florida,” Tony said. “Yes?”
“I don’t see where that has anything to do with this at all. I’ve recovered. That’s over. I’ve moved on.”
Tony smiled. “Could you answer my question, please?” he asked.
Trina exhaled. “Yes. I was nearly killed in Florida.”
“If it wasn’t for my cousin Reno, you would more than likely have been killed. Yes?”
Trina hated to relive that hellishness. “Yes,” she said.
“And then there was the plane crash. And by the grace of God, cousin Reno saved you again.”
Trina was getting uncomfortable. “Yes, he did. He was very heroic. Is that what you want me to admit? My husband has been nothing but a tower of power in my life?”
“And therein lies your guilt,” Tony said. His eyes bore into her again. “Right?”
Trina looked at Tony. What in the world did he mean? “What are you talking about?”
“Perhaps you feel guilty because your husband has been a tower of power for you, but you have not been the same for him.”
Trina couldn’t believe it. Her heart began to hammer. How could he know? But he didn’t know. He couldn’t know!
She rose from her chair. “This interrogation is over,” she said. “Thank you for coming. But I . . .” Tears appeared in her big, hazel eyes. “I can’t do this, Tony. I’m sorry. But I can’t.”
She hurried out of the office.
Reno heard the door open, and then saw Trina run up the stairs. “Get up,” he said to his little ones, and Dommi and Sophie, both engrossed in their cartoon anyway, got up and got back on the floor. Reno hurried toward the stairs.
But Tony came out of his office and stopped him. “She’ll be okay, Reno,” he said.
Instead of going upstairs chasing Trina, he walked over to Tony. “What happened?” he asked him.
“Truth,” Tony said. “But she’s not ready to share it yet.”
“But something’s going on?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s definitely post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“Because of Florida?” Reno asked.
“Those unfortunate events in Florida may be the root cause. But . . .”
“But what?” Reno asked.
Tony could see the distress in Reno’s eyes. “Expect her to be irrational. Expect her to be fearful. And it won’t be like her, because it’s not her. It’s the illness. She’s still traumatized, as anybody would be after what she went through. It’s only been what? A couple months since her ordeal? But here’s the thing: she can’t help it, Reno. She cannot help herself right now. This isn’t something you will yourself out of, or decide to snap out of. She’ll tell you how she’s feel when she’s able to tell you. She’s not there yet.”
Reno placed his hands in his pants pockets. He was deeply concerned.
“I suggest you stop trying to get her to talk about it,” Tony continued. “Your wife is a strong lady. When she’s ready to talk, you’ll be the one she’ll go to. Not me. Not any other therapist. You’re her therapist.”
Reno knew it too. Trina was not the kind of person to share her feelings. But on those rare occasions when she did, it wasn’t to her friends or her parents. She came to Reno. “What can I do in the meantime, Tone? I’m worried about her.”
“Don’t neglect her,” Tony said.
But Reno became defensive. And frowned. “Why would you say a thing like that? I don’t neglect my wife.”
“Don’t neglect her,” Tony said again. He never minced words. “Spend time with her. Take time out of your busy schedule, and actually spend some quality time with her. My view? She needs you now more than ever.”
Reno just stood there. Tony could sense the burden he was placing on his cousin. “It’s something else on your plate, yes, I understand that. But it’s the most valuable something on your plate. Treat it that way.”
Reno looked at Tony. Big Daddy said they nicknamed Tony Old Man when he was a kid. Never met a human being before with his kind of insight, Big Daddy told Reno. But Reno now, for the first time, was beginning to believe it too.
CHAPTER EIGHT
When Reno made it downstairs and into his office suite later that morning, his goal wasn’t to stay, or even to hold any significant conversations. His goal was to see if there were any pressing issues, and then leave. But if he thought he was going to find it easier downstairs, he was mistaken. A group of senior executives within his PaLargio organization were sitting in his secretary’s office waiting to meet with him. And it was all about Bobby Swann’s arrival on Monday, and the unresolved issues they still held.
The executives stood up when Reno entered the office, ready to let their concerns be known, but Reno
looked at his secretary instead. “Tell me,” he said to her.
“You’re already super-late for the Monaco meeting,” she said, “and the New England meeting starts in fifteen minutes.”
“Call both,” Reno ordered. “Tell Monaco to update me later. Schedule a time for that.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell New England to get started without me,” Reno ordered, “and I’ll try to drop in. If not, give them the same spiel you’ll give Monaco.”
“What about the conference call?” his secretary asked. “Will that need to be set back further also?”
Reno was puzzled. “Conference call about what?”
“The PaLargio South situation.”
Reno exhaled. Another problem he had to deal with. “Cancel it for now. Tell them to get them to get their asses to Vegas anyway. That’s too big a problem to handle by phone.”
“Yes, sir,” the secretary said, reaching for her own phone to do as he instructed her.
Then Reno looked at the executives, all of whom were waiting anxiously. “Not now, guys,” he said. “I’ve got something else to handle.”
“But we need to iron down the protocol, sir,” one of them said to Reno.
But their need for direction only irritated Reno. “What protocol?” he asked. “What are you talking? I’ll greet him at the entrance, I’ll take him upstairs to the presidential suite, and we’ll treat him the same way we treat every VIP that stays at the PaLargio. His own valet. His own maid. His own assistant. Nothing more than that.”
“What about the suite walk through?” another asked. “Who’s going to handle that?”
“You are,” Reno said. “Who the fuck you think? Me? You think I’ve got time to do a walk through? You handle it! What else?”
“We’re just nervous, Reno. Bobby Swann is one of the biggest stars in the world. It’s amazing he’s going to be our guest for an entire year. We want to get it right.”
Reno had to settle down. “So do I,” he said. “Trust me. But the way you get it right is to stop coming to me with this nickel and dime shit and take care of it yourselves. Do the walk through. Make the assignments. Act as if I’m not throwing my money away when I pay each one of you those fat salaries. Earn your keep. Damn.”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison, understanding that they were walking in a minefield right now. Reno shook his head at their lack of focus, and left his office suite altogether. They waited until the coast was clear, and left too.
But when Reno made it to his original destination, to Trina’s office inside the PaLargio, and found that she was not in her office where he expected to find her, he was ready to go off again.
But her secretary, to his eternal gratitude, knew where she was. And he headed in that direction.
“Now Trina,” the hair stylist said as he removed the band off of her ponytail, “you know better than to put a rubber band on your fragile hair. You know better than that. Unless you want it to fall slap out.”
Trina, who was seated in Christopher’s chair, smiled. “No, I don’t want it to fall out. I was just throwing it together. I knew I’d see you today. I knew you were going to work your magic.”
“And magic is what’s needed, too,” he said. “You ain’t got no good hair, so let’s not kid ourselves up in here.”
Trina laughed.
“You have to work this thang,” Christopher continued. “Your roots are a mess!”
Trina smiled again as she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and began checking her text messages. The salon was inside the PaLargio, in Reno’s building, but she didn’t see him when he suddenly walked into that building. But Christopher and everybody else in the shop saw him.
“The boss is here,” Christopher said quickly to the others. “Best behavior time!”
Trina didn’t realize he was referring to her husband, since Reno owned the building the salon was housed in, but not the salon itself. But when she looked up and saw him heading her way, looking oh so sexy in his jeans, she exhaled. Tony touched quite a nerve today. He touched it in a way that scared her. She relied too much on Reno. Everybody did! It was too much for one man to bear. And what she did was going to add mightily to his distress.
“Hey, babe,” she said as he approached. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you,” replied Reno.
“Hello, Mr. Gabrini.”
“Hello, Mr. Gabrini.”
“Hey, Mr. G.”
Reno spoke to all of the stylists as he made his way to Christopher’s chair. Christopher braced himself. The wife of the boss was one thing. He loved the fact that Trina Gabrini was his client. But to have the boss himself in his salon? He wasn’t accustomed to sharing space in such rarefied air.
“Hi, Mr. Gabrini,” Christopher said with his best smile.
Reno gave him a hard look, as if he was sizing him up. “How are you?” he asked. With all of these women in here, Reno wondered why Trina had to have a male hairdresser. Maybe he was gay. But Reno wasn’t certain. “I thought you were going to be in your office today,” he said to Trina.
“I will be later. But right now, I need to get my hair done.
Reno looked at her hair. Christopher was brushing it. “What’s wrong with your hair?” he asked.
“You got a month?” Christopher responded.
Trina smiled. “Don’t listen to him. He’s always exaggerating.”
“No you didn’t say that. Not with roots like this. I can pick this hair into a bush that would rival that boy in New York’s hair. That mayor’s son. Exaggerating my foot!”
Reno just stood there awkwardly. It was not his kind of conversation.
“So what’s up?” Trina asked him. She knew he was super-busy.
“Nothing’s up,” he responded. “Just came to see you.”
Trina didn’t understand. “Okay.”
“What do you plan to do after you get your hair done?”
“I want to go to the mall, to Macy’s, to pick up this bag I want. But what I really need to do is to go to my office.”
“We’ll go to Macy’s,” Reno said. “We both can use a break.”
Trina smiled. “Very funny.” But when she realized Reno wasn’t smiling, she was floored. “You’re serious?”
“When am I not?” Reno asked. “Is that chair taken?” Reno was pointing at a nearby chair at an empty booth.
“No, sir,” Christopher responded. “It’s not taken.”
“I’ll wait over there.”
“You’ll wait?” Christopher asked incredulously. When Reno looked at him as if he wanted to ask what was his problem, Christopher realized he had misspoken. He continued to brush Trina’s hair.
But Trina was equally shocked. “Reno, you don’t understand,” she said. “It’s going to take hours.”
“Yeah, so?” Reno walked over to the booth chair. “I’ll wait for you.”
Trina was at a loss for words. She truly didn’t know what to say. But she remembered what her father once told her. “If a man wants to take you to the moon,” he said, “don’t you tell him it’s too far. Don’t you tell him it’s too expensive. Don’t you tell him you’re undeserving. You go.”
Trina smiled. And went.
After nearly three hours of intensive hair treatment by Christopher, Trina got out of the stylist chair looking, Reno thought, like a million bucks. He didn’t say anything, but Trina could see the gleam in his eyes when he looked at her. And as they walked out of the salon, he placed his arm around her narrow waist, demonstrating just how pleased he truly was.
When they left, Christopher fell against his chair. “I was sooo nervous!” he decried. “Reno Gabrini watching me work? I thought I was going to pea in my clothes!”
His other stylists laughed.
“What amazed me,” another one said as he tended to his own customer, “was the fact that he sat there. For his wife, he sat there.”
“Yes, he did,” Christopher said. “I’ve got to give
him his props. A busy man like him, sat in this salon waiting on his wife like he had nothing better to do. Um hum. I’ll take him!”
And they all laughed.
But Reno was good to his word. He drove Trina to Macy’s and walked around the store with her as if he had nothing but time on his hands. He didn’t. Not even an extra second. But he was pleased to be with her.
Trina was pleased too. She was overjoyed. “Look, Reno,” she said as she held up a pair of jockstrap briefs. “Want a pair?”
Reno smirked. “Not big enough,” he said, and Trina laughed and threw them at him. Then she just looked at him, and walked over to him.
“What?” he asked as he twirled the briefs around on his finger.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked him.
“You mean wasting my time with you?”
Trina grinned. “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”
Reno stared at her. He wasn’t going to lie to her. “Tony suggested I should stop neglecting you. I agreed.”
Trina’s smile left. She loved him for even considering Tony’s suggestion. She kissed him on the lips. He pulled her closer.
“Reno,” she said, looking around. “Not here.”
But Reno didn’t care. He gave her a bigger, sloppier kiss.
CHAPTER NINE
Jimmy was on top grinding her, and Sam was beneath him enjoying the grind. They were in her small, studio apartment, and it was hot in there, but that wasn’t stopping either one of them.
“What would your father say,” Sam asked as Jimmy’s big dick kept pushing in, “if he knew you were sleeping with one of his employees?”
“He would tell me to fire you.”
Sam’s look became a look of concern. “Really?”
“No, silly!” Jimmy laid down on her. “He wouldn’t say anything because he’ll never know.” Then Jimmy looked at her as he fucked her. “Right?”
Sam smiled and nodded her head. “Right,” she said, and closed her eyes again.
Reno Gabrini: When His Woman Cries Page 5
