A scolding from Helen was usually good for a laugh, but today Gina wasn’t smiling. She ignored Helen and said, “Have you two met Jenni?”
“I’ve seen her around, mostly right here,” Helen said with a big smile. Vinnie nodded and reached out for a handshake.
“Jenni’s staying with me for a while.”
“Oh?” Vinnie said. There were unspoken questions in his eyes.
“Someone‘s been stalking me,” Jenni said. “So Gina’s taking me under her wing for the time being.”
“It’s kind of nice having company, and also not having to drive to and from work alone,” Gina said. “Better yet, she’s a good roommate.”
“And Harry?” Vinnie asked, coffee cup halfway between the table and his mouth.
“Harry and I aren’t a couple anymore, Vinnie. You’re going to have to accept that.”
Helen placed a hand on Vinnie’s arm and squeezed.
“You know I love the guy,” Vinnie said.
“I understand,” Gina said.
“No one has ever been there for me the way Harry has. It’s not only that he jumped in and helped me with the PTSD, he took a genuine interest in everything that’s been going on in my life.”
Gina said nothing.
Vinnie couldn’t stop. “He’s been there for me day and night ever since I left the military. No matter how you look at it, he’s a damn good person.”
He shifted in his seat, took another hurried sip of coffee. “You probably don’t have a clue as to how many middle-of-the-nighters he’s spent talking me down from bad places.”
“I do know,” Gina said. “I’m sure that will never change no matter what goes on between Harry and me.”
“Maybe it’s better if I went on up,” Jenni said, half rising.
“No, forget it. You’ve already heard a lot of this. No reason for you to leave.”
Jenni dropped back down into her seat, but it was obvious she’d rather have left.
Gina reached for Vinnie’s hand. “Please try to understand, I’ll always love Harry, but I can’t marry him. And that’s that!”
All conversation shut down and they sat there quietly drinking their coffees.
Jenni broke the silence. “So how are your units? Are you guys overrun with secondary infections from the flu the way we are?”
“That’s the truth,” Helen said. “I’ve never seen Internal Medicine this crowded. I swear, if this keeps up we’re going to be stacking patients on top of one another.
“The latest word,” Gina said, “is that this is the worst flu outbreak San Francisco has had in years. I’ve never seen so many people with pneumonia. Most of the older patients are not doing well.”
“Problem is,” Vinnie said, “most older people don’t come in until they’re already half dead from dehydration and raging pneumonia. They can’t breathe on their own, so they’re already beyond the early treatment stage.”
“I hear the ER is drowning, not only after hours, but throughout the whole day, even when the doctors are in their offices,” Jenni said.
“I know,” Helen agreed. “When they can’t squeeze anyone else into their office schedules, patients automatically head for the ER. It’s getting impossible to handle the crowds.”
While Jenni and Helen talked, Gina studied Vinnie. She could tell he wasn’t letting the Harry thing go; it would take him a long time to get over her breakup. He also looked like he might be coming down with something. His eyes were glassy and he kept trying to suppress an insistent cough.
Helen, the peacemaker, hit the table with the heel of her hand, gave everyone a big, toothy smile, and said, “Enough of this depressing talk. Why don’t you two roomies come over for dinner tonight? We’ll have hamburgers, big, fat juicy hamburgers with all the fixings and a mountain of fries on the side.”
Jenni and Gina glanced at each, and then gave Helen enthusiastic nods.
“Sounds great,” Gina said. “What time and what can we bring?”
“Make it around six. And bring along a bunch of those deli pickles, the half sours you and Vinnie scarf up like they were peanuts.”
Chapter 23
Gina and Jenni came in after doing some light grocery shopping and rushed to put everything away so they wouldn’t be late for dinner with Vinnie and Helen. Before they could change out of their work clothes the phone rang.
“Please get that, Jen. If it’s Harry, I’m not here.”
Jenni gave Gina a look that told her what she thought of being put in the middle of her and Harry’s mess, but she answered anyway.
“Oh, hi, Helen. We’re just getting ready to pop over to your place.”
Jenni’s smile morphed into a frown. “Oh, sorry.” She held the receiver out to Gina.
“What’s up, Helen?” Gina said.
“Your brother’s just plain out of it. He actually turned sour on our way home from work, but insisted all he needed was a nap.”
“And?”
“And, it didn’t work. I’d say he’s got what everyone else has been coming down with.”
“Maybe if you—”
“—Bite your tongue, nurse. I don’t need you to lecture me on how to take care of the man ... and no, you don’t need to come over, thank you very much. Stay away and stay well.”
“I wasn’t about to do that,” Gina said, knowing full well that’s what she was about to do. “He’s in your good hands. Just give him a big hug and tell him I love him.”
“Will do. Promise.”
When she hung up, Gina said to Jenni, “Weird. Vinnie’s the one who never got sick when we were kids. It was always me who came down with any and every bug. Well, we’ll just make our own hamburgers.”
Before she could put down the phone, it rang again.
“Man, I wish people would leave us alone right now.” Gina checked the window on the receiver, sighed, and said, “Hey, you’re getting to be a habit, Dr. Rizzo.”
“A good one, I hope.”
“That’s still up in the air,” Gina said in a quiet voice.
“If you haven’t already eaten, come on over and we’ll have dinner at my place. Give us a chance to have a long talk.”
“Sounds nice, but I promised to eat in with Jenni tonight—big fat homemade hamburgers.” She looked up and saw Jenni waving her hands and shaking her head.
Gina mouthed what?
“Go ... go!” Jenni said softly.
“Well?” Brad said.
“Somehow I think you know that you’re further complicating my already screwed-up life?”
“Maybe, but you can’t hide from me, forever.”
* * *
“Good evening, Ms. Mazzio,” the doorman said as he pushed open one of the tall, double glass doors to the condominium’s main entrance.
“I’m here to—”
“—Dr. Rizzo is expecting you.”
He held the door open until she stepped into the foyer, then moved past her to show her to the elevator. He used a key to unlock one of the buttons; the elevator door slid open, and he directed her inside.
Gina started to ask which floor, then saw there were only two choices: Up and Down.
“Thank you,” she said after pushing the Up button.
“I’ll call Dr. Rizzo and let him know you’re on your way.”
It was a smooth, fast ride, with no indication of how many floors she’d traveled when the elevator slowed and stopped. The door slid silently to one side and there was Brad, smiling and waiting for her.
The elegance of the condo, at least from what she could see at first glance, made her self-conscious for the first time in many years. She felt underdressed with her sweater and jeans, even though Brad was dressed pretty much the same way.
“Hey, glad you decided to come.” He reached out and took her hand, led her to a plush, white sofa.
She stared out of a huge panoramic window where a spread of the San Francisco cityscape was alive with sparkling lights.
Brad sat down in
a chair on the other side of a glistening, free-form glass coffee table.
“This is truly awesome,” she said, pointing to the window. “I didn’t realize you’re one of those rich doctors, what with the old MGA and all. I mean, I didn’t know internal medicine paid so well at Ridgewood.”
“It doesn’t. Believe me.” He swept a hand through the air from one side of the room to the other. “This was once my parents’ pad. If it wasn’t already mortgage-free, I really couldn’t afford it.”
“Was your parents’?”
His face paled. It was long moment before he answered. “They died last year in an automobile accident. Some drunk rear-ended them ... slammed their car head-on into a tree ... a rather large tree.”
“Oh, Brad, I’m sorry. Just like me to put my foot into my mouth. It’s a Bronx thing, I guess.”
“There’s no way you could have known.”
“Was your father a doctor also?”
“No, not even close. Dad was heavy into real estate, and, as you can see, he did all right.”
“I’ll say.” Gina felt awkward and sorry she’d ever agreed to come over. She’d only said yes to get away from the phone, to avoid any chance that Harry might call. Now she was having second thoughts.
“I hope you’re still in the mood for hamburgers—I already had all the makings for turkeyburgers and a Caesar salad, if that will for you.”
For the first time since walking into the building she relaxed. “That’s pretty funny, you know.”
“Funny? Hamburgers aren’t funny, they’re an essential food group ... top of the pyramid.”
“No, no. As I told you, I’d already signed up for that meal when you called. Hamburgers must have been my destiny. Jenni and I were supposed to have them with my brother and his girlfriend at their place, but he came down with the flu and we had to call it off.”
“How about a glass of wine? I have red or white.”
“What a classy invitation?”
“You want class, we could hop over to my uncle’s restaurant,” Brad said, his soft green eyes making fun of her. He set the two wine glasses down.
“I’d love a glass of red.”
Brad brought their drinks, set them on the table, and eased back into his chair. “Vinnie Mazzio is your brother, right?”
“Yeah, that’s the schlub.”
“He has real talent when it comes to taking care of patients ... kind of runs in the family, it seems.” He raised his wine glass to her. “So, Vinnie’s sick with the flu?”
“Yeah. That’s what his girlfriend Helen said.”
“This whole flu situation is getting harder and harder to deal with. We can’t handle too much more. We’re running out of beds, and the ER is being overrun with sick people who can’t get in to be seen by their own doctors.”
He took a sip of his wine. “And today there was another announcement from the CDC saying the vaccine is a poor fit for this flu outbreak. Like we couldn’t figure that out for ourselves.”
“I heard about that.”
They gravitated to the kitchen. Brad went to the refrigerator and pulled out a plate with two burger patties, plus a bowl of Caesar salad ingredients. He popped the burgers into the broiler, then whipped up the Caesar salad dressing.
“You just happened to have all this ready and waiting when you called me?” Gina said.
A shrug and a smile were his noncommittal answer.
After the turkeyburgers were flipped, Brad toasted a couple of ciabatta buns, prepared the plates of salad, complete with garlic croutons and anchovies.
When the turkey burgers were ready, he put a thick slab of cheddar cheese and thick slice of onion on each one. He arranged everything on the counter, which was already set with silverware. The final touch was organic ketchup and Dijon mustard.
Gina took a seat on one of the tall counter stools, looked at everything, and said, “This is fantastic, but it does raise a lot of questions.”
“We can discuss your questions now, or eat before the burgers get cold and the salad gets warm.”
Gina’s response was to take a huge bite out of her turkeyburger. It took several moments before she could speak. She wiped ketchup and mustard from the corners of her mouth tried the salad, and took a second bite of the burger.
“This is delicious.”
“Thank you.”
“So, tell me,” Gina said, “are the flu shots useless?”
“For the most part. Also, the really sick ones have avoided medical care until it’s too late for anti-viral drugs to do anything of much value.”
Brad paused to take a forkful of salad.
“When they come down with secondary infections, like this virulent pneumonia we’re seeing, then they rush to the hospital. By the time they get to us, they’re so sick they need to be treated on the spot—oral meds take too long to kick in.”
“This is definitely the worst outbreak I’ve seen,” she said.
Gina was starting to feel a satisfying glow, and not only from the meal. Just relaxing, hanging out without any pressure of any kind was what she’d needed.
They finished the meal and sat quietly at the counter, listening to music and sipping from snifters of Spanish brandy.
Brad was the first to break the silence. “So, no marriage for you and Harry?”
“Nope, no marriage.”
Brad stretched and twisted on the high stool. “Let’s go into the living room where the chairs are more comfortable.”
He stood, took her hand, and led her back to a sofa that faced the window and the panoramic view beyond. The lights around San Francisco Bay twinkled and sparkled, creating a fantasyland. It was pretty spectacular.
Gina hadn’t noticed that Brad had brought the brandy and their snifters into the living room until he bent over and poured more of the dark amber liquor for them. He sat down on the sofa next to her.
She knew she should be nervous or at least think about what was going to happen in the next five minutes. But she was totally surprised when he took her glass and stood it next to his on the coffee table.
“Gina, I really want to kiss you. I’ve been thinking about it day and night ... until it’s all that I can think of.”
“Brad ... I—”
“—I’ve really enjoyed our time together ... especially this evening.” He took her hand in his. “I don’t want to do anything to make you uncomfortable.”
She looked into his green eyes, they were soft, kind, and it was such a relief to be with someone who wasn’t constantly pressuring her to do something she knew could be the worst possible thing.
“We can end the evening now,” he said smiling. “I’ve had a wonderful time, and hope you have, too.” He squeezed her hand, brought it to his lips, and lightly kissed the backs of her fingers. “Or, we can just see how the rest of the evening turns out.”
His lips on her hand were soft and warm and sent shivers through every part of her. She let herself fall back into the sofa.
I’m not ready to leave.”
* * *
Sunlight fell on Gina’s face; its warmth awakened her.
It’s late!
In a panic, she half sat up. A bedside clock showed it was a couple of minutes past eight. She also saw she was lying next to Brad in a king-size bed.
Work!
The panic started to do a number on her stomach until she remembered they both had the day off.
Brad’s arm stretched out across her pillow. She watched him sleep, studied his relaxed face. A dark, day-old beard delineated his jaw, chin, and upper lip; twin smudges of long, curved lashes softened the fine lines around his eyes, and a curl of dark hair was looped on his forehead.
She wanted to feel guilty about last night, but instead, she remembered how they had listened to music and kissed until she was breathless.
At some point, he had picked all five-feet-ten of her and carried her into the bedroom. She’d wanted to protest, but when he set her down on the edge of the bed, sh
e was as eager as he was. They tore each other’s clothes off and fell onto the bed.
Gina remembered his hands moving softly all over her body, followed by his lips. Everywhere he touched her, thrilling stabs of pleasure cut through her. She couldn’t stop from drawing him inside.
The memory made her breathe more heavily.
“Hey,” Brad said, looking into her eyes.
“Hey, yourself.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Last night.”
He smiled and pulled her down until she was lost in his arms.
Chapter 24
Helen picked up the phone, ready to tear into whatever telemarketer was calling at this hour of morning.
“Hi, it’s Jenni. Sorry to bother you so early, but I’m really worried. Gina didn’t come home last night. I don’t know what to think.”
“Last night? Did she say where she was going?”
“To Brad Rizzo’s for dinner.”
Helen hurried out of the bedroom, not wanting to disturb Vinnie. He was finally asleep after a restless night of tossing and turning. She hadn’t slept much herself worrying about him. “Did you try to call her?”
“Soon as I saw she hadn’t come home. Her cell goes straight to message mode.”
“Look, Jenni, Gina has the day off and she might have stayed over with Brad. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.”
“Yeah, Brad has the day off, too, so I guess what you’re saying makes sense. I tried his answering service, but they told me he would be unreachable today.” After a long beat, Jenni said, “You really think she might have spent the night with him?”
“Gina’s a big girl. If that’s what she chose to do, it’s all right with me.”
Jenni was silent.
“I don’t spend time judging my friends,” Helen said. She was feeling pretty damn prickly about Jenni’s attitude. “She was having a rough time with Harry, and now they’ve broken up. As long as she’s safe with Brad and not out there being hurt or murdered, that’s all I care about.”
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