“Yeah…” he nodded. “I forget where exactly… She tends to ramble on… She and her husband Frank came here years ago… I guess they brought his family’s recipes… I think Giovanni was his grandfather or something.”
“Well, whatever it is,” Max interrupted. “Best pizza anywhere within a hundred miles. You’ll see.”
Parched, Tina reached for a glass of ice water in front of her. Dribbles of condensation ran down the side of it and moistened her fingertips as she picked it up and raised it to her lips. Thirstier than she realized, Tina took several long gulps until the partially melted ice cubes bounced against her lips. As she finished, she picked up her laminated plastic menu complete with a tomato sauce stain of indeterminate origin and started to read it.
“You won’t need that,” Max said. “We got it.”
“Oh,” Tina nodded as she placed the menu down on the table. “Um, alright. I’ll trust you… this time.”
Fifteen minutes later, the glory that was Giovanni’s pie made its appearance at the table. Chuck served up a piece for everyone. Famished, Tina folded the flexible, hot crust and cradled it in her hand. Still warm from the oven, steam wafted up in front of her eyes as she moved it towards her lips. Her mouth watered as the tangy aroma of homemade sauce, stringy mozzarella and thin sliced pepperoni lingered less than an inch away.
She pursed her lips, blew in a gentle circle at the tip of the slice and with one smooth motion, spread her lips and took her first bite. Lost in the explosion of flavor, she glanced up. Both men stared at her without a word. As they watched, Tina chewed her first bite to an end and swallowed it.
“What?” she asked as she finished.
“So, what do you think?” Chuck said. “Is that not the best pie you’ve ever had?”
Tina finished a second bite and as she did, tomato sauce escaped from the confines of the folded pizza slice and dribbled down her chin. While she wiped it away with paper napkin, she nodded.
“I’ve had better,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Bullshit,” Max said. “No way. Not possible.”
Tina smiled. “It’s delicious. Come on, you know I’m lying.”
Max winked at her. “That’s what I figured.”
“Hey listen,” Chuck began as he lifted his wine glass. “To new… friends. Thanks again for taking such good care of Bosco, Tina… Hard to put into words how much he means to both of us.”
Tina raised her glass and smiled.
Friends?
For several minutes, the three of them settled into a cocoon of conversation. In the background, the sound of muffled chatter from the other diners blended with the clank of silverware and the occasional broken glass. Before Tina even realized it, the trio polished off a bottle of wine. Chuck poured the last dribbles of Merlot into her glass and placed the bottle back on the table.
“Thanks,” she said.
Truth was that Tina wasn’t much of a drinker. But the pizza and alcohol warmed her belly and relaxed her. So, she leaned back in her chair for a brief breather and said, “Where did you get Bosco?”
“Oh…um, he’s a rescue,” Max said. “We adopted him when we got out of the service.”
“Oh,” Tina said. “You… were in the military?”
“Yep,” Max said as Chuck took a sip of his wine. “Marines… eight years.”
“When did you get out?” she asked.
“A couple of years ago,” Max replied.
“So, is that when you started your business?”
“More or less… yeah,” Chuck began. “Most of the exercises we use the came out of basic PT.”
“PT?” Tina asked.
“Um, yeah,” Max said. “Means Physical Training.”
Chuck nodded.
“That’s where we got the idea for the workouts,” he began. “After we were discharged, staying in shape was just part of our life so we started doing the same workouts with our friends in our garage. Some were former Marines… others weren’t. One thing led to another and before you know it, people from all over started coming to our house to train. Needless to say, neighbors didn’t care much for that, so we got a place and it sort of took off from there.”
“Wow,” Tina replied. “Amazing how quickly it grew.”
***
Max nodded in agreement as he raised his right arm and signaled for the waitress. When he did, Tina happened to look in his direction and what she saw stunned her.
“Oh my God,” Tina said as she raised her napkin to her lips. “What… happened to you?”
Max’s eyes darted towards his brother for a moment. Chuck returned his glance but then looked back to his meal almost as quickly.
“Oh,” Max began as he lowered his arm. “That’s a… um… it’s an injury… from when I, we, were in the Marines.” As he spoke, he used his fingertips and traced scars left by four long gashes. They ran the entire length of the inside of his right arm.
“Was it… from combat?” she asked as she paused and looked at Chuck. “Were you there when it happened?”
“No, it wasn’t from a combat situation.” Max replied. “It… actually happened during a training exercise.”
“And yeah, I was there.” Chuck added. “Us and nine other Marines… eleven in all.”
Max swirled his wine as Chuck spoke. Blood red tears streaked along the interior of his glass. Wordless, he stared at the fingers as they descended into the bottom of it.
“Max,” Chuck said after he’d sat in silence, perhaps a few seconds too long. “Hey bro, come on.”
“Oh,” Tina said with a hard swallow. “I’m sorry… I… I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Don’t even worry about it,” Max said with a casual shrug and a forced smile. “’Scuse me for a second.”
With that, he slid his chair back away from the table and stood. “Be right back.”
Chuck watched his brother walk away and disappear around the corner.
“I’m soooo sorry,” she said. “I hope he’s not upset.”
“He’ll be all right,” Chuck replied. “It’s nothing you could have known about anyway.”
Tina took another sip of her wine and looked away.
“Chuck and I were lucky that night.” He began. “We made it out of there alive. We were the only ones.”
Tina gasped and raised her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God,” she muttered.
Chuck nodded and exhaled as he leaned back in his chair.
“But, hard as it is to believe… some good came out of it,” he said. “After the incident, we both struggled with depression, nightmares… They diagnosed it as a form of PTSD. I got treatment… it helped some. Max refused it. He really had a helluva time.”
He paused and took a healthy swig of wine. Chuck rolled the stem back and forth in his fingertips and then placed the glass back down on the table.
“Anyway, after a while, we started to get on each other’s nerves. We’ve always been tight but during that time, we argued a lot… fought over stupid shit… stuff we never would have before it happened. Then we got Bosco… adopted him after we saw a story about him on the news… they busted some puppy mill up north… that dog changed everything for us.”
He paused again and took another sip.
Tina smiled as she listened, relieved that the conversation seemed to take a brighter turn. She ran the fingertips of her right hand along the slender stem of the glass.
“What do you mean? Changed everything?”
“I dunno… it’s funny.” Chuck said. “We didn’t have wives, kids… but now all of a sudden, we got this little guy and he pretty much was going to die if we didn’t save him. So, we did… but the truth is, he saved us.”
A small lump caught in the middle of Tina’s throat at the sentiment. She stifled it and said, “He’s a good boy… He’s going to be fine, you know?”
“Yeah, I know… I know he will be,” Chuck said. “Anyway, that’s enough heavy shit for the time being. Tell me… how
are you liking it here? Your job? The gym?”
Tina looked down at the red and white squares of the tablecloth. Granules of parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes lay scattered about, a result of over enthusiastic shaking of the containers.
She cleared her throat and looked across the table at him. “I’m really happy with my job. The people are great… Doctor Hurley is, as you know, amazing… and as hard as it is to say… I really am enjoying the gym as well, but…”
Chuck sat with his hands folded in his lap. His eyes remained fixed on Tina as she spoke. She’d forgotten how wonderful it was to be listened to again.
“What?” he asked. “But what…?”
Tina rolled her eyes as she reconsidered. “Um, it’s nothing… never mind.”
He smirked and leaned forward. As he did, Chuck rested his forearms on the table and raised an eyebrow at her.
“Nothing huh?” he said. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
Tina sighed as she clutched her napkin in her right hand. She rolled it back and forth in her fingertips and averted his stare.
“Come on,” Chuck said. “Is it the gym? Did something happen there?”
“No,” Tina replied as she slumped her shoulders. “Not exactly.”
Chuck wrinkled his brow as he listened. “Well?”
Tina cleared her throat once again. “Um… well… it’s about Kimmie.”
“Kimmie?” Chuck asked with a confused look on his face. “What about her?”
“I think she’s upset with me.”
Chuck shook his head. “I don’t understand. Why would Kimmie be upset with you?”
“Look I’m new around here… the gym,” Tina began. “I don’t want to cause any problems. Especially not between a couple… like you guys.”
“A couple?” Chuck said. “What couple?”
“You… and Kimmie.” Tina replied. “I sort of heard that… you know, you were a thing.”
“Ohhhh,” Chuck said as he nodded. “Oh now I get it. Yeah, we were… but… we’re not anymore. Did she tell you we were?”
“No,” Tina stammered. “She didn’t tell me anything… not with words anyway.”
Chuck looked up towards the ceiling, nodded and smiled. “So that’s why you didn’t go the six o’clock class tonight. Isn’t it?”
Tina shrugged. “I don’t want any trouble, Chuck. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Well,” Chuck said as he leaned forward again. “Don’t worry about Kimmie… I’ll straighten things out with her… she won’t know we talked, I promise… sound good?”
“Yes,” Tina said. “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
As Chuck spoke, Tina glanced over his shoulder to see Max walk back towards the table.
“Hey guys,” Max said as he sat back down in his chair. “Sorry about that.”
Chuck looked across the table at his brother. “You good?”
“Yeah… All good.”
Chuck smiled. “So… I was just telling Tina about Bosco… how we got ‘im.”
Max chuckled. “Well, sure sounds like you know a lot about us… How come we don’t know anything about you?”
“Yeah,” Chuck said. “I started to ask her about that but we got sidetracked… Well, what about your family… Your job?”
Tina shuffled in her seat. “My family… they’re all gone. That’s how I wound up here. I just needed to start fresh. As far as my job goes, I love it. I couldn’t be happier with how it’s going.”
“Good to hear about your job. I’m not surprised though, you’re very good at it.” Chuck said. “Sorry to hear about your family. That’s rough… So, you’re all alone here?”
“Yeah,” she said. “For now.”
Chuck and Max glanced at one another. Tina sensed they may probe deeper and wanted to avoid that all costs for the moment. Before they could speak, she slid her hand into the front pocket of her scrubs and palmed the smooth surface of her cell phone. In a flash, she spun the face of it over in her hand and swiped across it to reveal the time.
“I hate to be rude…” she began. “But…”
“You need to go?” Chuck replied.
She smiled and nodded. “Yeah.”
“No need to be sorry,” he said. “None at all.”
***
“That’s it,” Tina said as she pointed. “Right on the corner.”
“K,” Max said as he slowed his truck. He glanced in the rear view mirror and continued, “I don’t see Chuck anywhere. I think he got cut off in your car at the light a couple of miles back.”
The brakes on the vintage pickup whined as Max brought the vehicle to a stop.
“You guys didn’t have to drive me home, you know.” Tina said. “I really didn’t have that much to drink.”
“Ah, don’t even worry about it. Anyway, better safe than sorry, right?” Max said. Before Tina could reply, he raised his chin in the direction of her house. “Left your lights on?”
Tina furrowed her brow. “I guess,” she shrugged. “I don’t remember…”
She turned back towards Max. With his left arm straight, he grasped the steering wheel as his right elbow leaned against the center console. Soft, orange streaks from the streetlights fell across his face as he looked back at her. Their eyes locked for several seconds until bright headlights from a passing car broke their unexpected intimacy.
“Well,” Tina said as she clutched at her purse. “Thank you again for dinner.”
“Ah,” Max replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It’s our pleasure.”
She smiled and slipped her hand down inside of her purse. “I guess I should get going… If I can just find my keys…”
Max nodded and flipped on the truck’s interior lighting. “Better?”
“Yeah,” Tina said as placed her purse on the center console and peered down inside of it. Her fingers dug in one pocket after another until the metallic, angular ridges of her house keys settled into her palm. She grabbed hold of them and started to pull them out of her purse but as she did, they got caught on the zipper and slipped from her grasp. In an instant, they vanished into the dark shadow between the console and Max’s seat.
“Shit,” she groaned. “Oh… I am such a klutz.”
Max leaned away and looked down to his right. “No worries. We’ll find ‘em. Can you see?”
Tina’s tongue slipped out of her mouth as she looked downward. “No… not quite. You?”
“Um, yeah… maybe…” Max began as he leaned his head over to help.
But as he did, Tina raised hers up and in an instant, they collided.
“Ooommphh,” Max said as he leaned back.
Similarly, Tina slapped the top her head with her hand.
“Aaahhh,” she said.
Max recovered and rubbed the spot on his forehead where the impact occurred. Meanwhile, Tina’s eyes watered as she turned back towards him. The sting of the strike felt as if someone hit the back of her head with a hard rubber mallet.
“Oh my God!” she said. “Sorry about that. Are you alright?”
“Mmm, hmm,” Max said. He winced as he slipped his hand back down between his seat and the center console again. “I’ll get ‘em… you just stay put.”
After a few more seconds of grimacing and feeling around, the sound of success echoed in her ears. He lifted his hand and with a smile, flashed the collection of gleaming brass.
“Thanks,” Tina said, taking them from him. “Can I see your head?”
Max turned to face her.
“Come a little closer,” she said. “Into the light.”
He titled his head down towards her and closed his eyes. The leather seat groaned beneath her as she scooted across it towards him. With her right hand, she reached up to his forehead and touched it.
“There’s a little bump there,” she said. “I can feel it.”
“Lucky me,” he whispered. His eyes flipped open.
Tina’s lips, still parted fr
om the last words she spoke, quivered as warm air from his mouth brushed against them. She squeezed the hard metal of the keys in her right hand and as she did, they pressed into her flesh. For a long second they lingered and just when it seemed as though they’d succumb to the urge between them, a set of headlights appeared from behind them.
Tina’s eyelashes fluttered as she looked away.
“Well… I should get going.” she muttered.
Max said nothing but instead leaned back into his seat and exhaled. Tina pulled the strap of her purse over her right shoulder and reached for the door handle. But as she wrapped her hand around the curved chrome, the door opened from the outside. Chuck appeared before her and held out his hand.
“Need some help?” he asked as he grabbed hold of her forearm.
“Thanks,” Tina said as she climbed down out of the vehicle. “Bye, Max. Thanks again.”
Max nodded and smiled. “’Night.”
Tina stepped up on the sidewalk and jingled her keys in her hand.
“You want me to walk you up?” Chuck asked as he leaned against the door of the truck.
“No,” she replied. Tina started to walk backwards as she spoke. “I’m fine… thanks though.”
“All right,” Chuck replied. “Here’s your car key.”
“Thanks.”
Tina smiled, turned and made her way up the sidewalk to her house. From behind, she heard the grumble of the truck engine as it bellowed to life. The passenger’s side door creaked and popped as Chuck slammed it shut after climbing inside. By then, she’d reached the front door when she stopped, put the key in the lock and then turned to wave to them.
The truck started to rumble off as Chuck returned her gesture. With her hand tight on the key, Tina turned it to the right and almost at the same instant, the exterior lights of the home turned off.
Startled, Tina’s breath hitched in her throat and she dropped her hand away from the keys. As they clanked against the door, she whipped her head around, only to see that the bright red of the truck’s taillights disappear around the corner.
“Shit,” she whispered as she reached in her purse to grab her pepper spray. Unable to see in the sudden dark, Tina turned to get a better view with the aid of the moon overhead. But just as she did, the front door to the house flew open. Before she could scream, or even move, a muscular arm appeared from the home’s dark interior and snatched her.
She Howled, They Came Page 6
