The next morning I wake up from the best sleep I’ve had in ages. Lying on my stomach, I reach my arm over to give Ava a proper good morning but am met with cold, empty sheets. Sitting up, I raise my arms above my head and get in a quick stretch before getting out of the bed. I’m not sure if her missing is a good thing or not, so the sooner I find her, the better.
Throwing some pants and a shirt on, I leave the room, stopping to brush my teeth. I go look to see where she could have run off. The smell of coffee is assaulting my senses and my body instantly gravitates to the kitchen. Joe is sitting at the table reading the newspaper when I walk in. His hair has a serious case of bed head going on and he’s wearing jogging shorts and a t-shirt with the station’s logo on it.
“Morning.” I grab the pot and fill a mug up.
“Morning. Sleep good?” Joe doesn’t look away from his paper, continuing to read the article he’s engrossed in. I look around the kitchen and peek out into the living room before answering. “They aren’t here.” He mumbles.
“Oh, okay and actually, it’s the best sleep I’ve had in months.” I take a seat at the table and join him.
“A good woman will do that to you.” Flipping one side of the paper down, Joe winks at me before pulling it back up. I actually blush and my eyes go wide, thinking that he might have heard us last night even though we were quiet.
“Breakfast is in the microwave. Mema didn’t want it to go cold and if you don’t get that look off your face, I’m going to smack it off. We’re all adults, even if my wall was being banged on for two hours, causing me to lose sleep. I’m not going to take it out on you.”
I can’t help but choke on the coffee I was drinking and thank my lucky stars that Ava isn’t here, because I know she would bolt so fast from this room there would be a fire trail in her place. Needing to turn away from him, I grab some waffles and bacon and eat in silence as Joe continues to read his paper. As I’m finishing up, the wrinkling noise of the paper being folded, bring my eyes to Joe, who is staring at me. “When you’re done eating, get changed. We’re going for a run. I’ll meet you out front.” Getting up, he puts his cup in the sink and heads out to get ready. I quickly scarf down my food and drop the dishes in the sink, not only do I not want to keep Joe waiting, I don’t want Mema smacking me upside the head for not cleaning up after myself.
I head back to the room, grabbing a sweatshirt and my running shoes. I do a once over in the mirror to make sure I don’t have any food on my face and I head back downstairs. Out the door, I see Joe warming up.
“You ready?” I start jogging in place.
“Yup. Should we do the trail that leads through the park like old times?”
“Only if you can keep up, old man.” I take off ahead of him, running toward our old trail.
The weather isn’t too cold, nor too hot. The sun is shining, but there is a cool breeze swaying by every couple of minutes. The leaves on the trees are an auburn color and are starting to fall off and decorate the ground as the wind blows. There aren’t too many people on the trail with us, leaving room for us to talk and catch up.
“So, Ava.” Joe says in between breaths.
“What about her?”
“She seems like she’s a good influence on you. I like her. Don’t fuck it up.” Joe punches me in the shoulder, causing my steps to stumble a bit.
“I’ll try not to.” I extend my arm to hit him back, but Joe dodges it. “I don’t know what it is about her but she makes me…”
“A better man.” Joe says flatly cutting me off.
“Gee thanks. What I was going to say, is she makes me feel like it’s okay to open up and let people in.”
“So what took me years trying to get you to do, only took her drugging you and handcuffing you to a bed? If I’d known that, I would have done it long ago.” Joe and I laugh. As we round the corner of the park, Joe starts jogging in place. “Come on, let’s sit a minute.” Walking over to the bench, we both sit and steady our breathing.
“How are you, really?” Wiping sweat off his forehead he looks to me.
“I’m fine.” He raises his eyebrow at me. “Really, Joe, I’m good.”
“So you’ve come to peace with shooting that man then?”
I sit in silence and stare down at my feet. I haven’t come to peace with it, in fact, I’m furthest from it. Joe gives me the minute I need, but I know he won’t let me sit here in silence forever.
“No, I haven’t. I don’t know if I ever will. My job is to save lives, not take them. I swore to protect. Who was I protecting when I shot him? That’s what my mind keeps going back to in all this.” I run my hand through my hair as I look over to Joe.
He places his hand on my shoulder. “You were protecting yourself, son. If you didn’t do that, Mema, Ali, me and even Ava, would be visiting your grave right now, not playing board games. If you don’t want to forgive yourself for it, I can’t force you. But I can tell you that you did the right thing.”
“Then how come it doesn’t feel right?” My voice carries loud as anger builds in me.
“I can’t answer that for you. But what I can tell you is when it does feel right, you will be able to find it in you to forgive yourself. Now come on, let’s get back before the girls do.” He gets up.
“Where did they go anyway?” I ask as we start to finish our run.
“No clue. They asked if I wanted to run a few errands with them. All I heard was errands and three women and thought ‘bad idea.’” He shakes his head.
Laughing, I agree. “You probably just saved yourself a couple hours of your time and damage to your wallet.”
When we get to the front of the house, I see Ali’s car parked in the driveway. As Joe and I are walking up the stairs, I grab his arm to stop him. Looking down at my hand that’s placed on his arm, he asks, “Something wrong?” I nod to the garage and Joe turns, walking with me. Opening the door to the garage, I let Joe enter first and I gently close the door behind me. Joe’s leaning against my car with his arms crossed, looking at me questionably.
“I need to know one thing before we go inside.”
“And what would that be?”
“I need to know who’s giving us all this information.” Joe opens his mouth, but I hold my hand up. “You need to hear what I have to say.” He nods and I continue. “Angelo knows there’s a leak in the group. He doesn’t know who, but he wants me to help him find it. I have to make it look like I’m trying to help him out without actually helping. If our end goal is to keep this person safe, I need a name.” Silence falls amongst us and Riggs looks lost in his thoughts. His sigh breaks the silence as he lifts his body off the car.
“You can’t tell Ava.” He says quietly as he looks back to the door that leads into the house.
“What do you mean, I can’t tell Ava? She’s working with me on this and the more she knows, the better.” I move in a little closer so she doesn’t hear us talking about her.
“Look, everyone and anyone who knows about this operation is keeping a close eye on me. This is huge and if I fuck it up, I’m going to be out of a job.” Placing his hands in his pockets he rolls his neck.
“That’s ridiculous, your numbers always out-rank every other department. They can’t do that. Can they?” He doesn’t answer right away and so I get right in front of his face and stare him dead in the eye. “Can they?”
“They can and they will. They made it clear that if this doesn’t go the way they want it to, I will be forced into an early retirement or be fired.”
“That’s such bullshit!” I throw my arms into the air, kicking the tire on my car. “You have been with them for years! They can’t treat you like that!” My anger rises and my voice fills the garage as I pace back and forth. The door to the garage opens and Ava peeks her head around the corner.
“Is everything okay in here?” She looks at Riggs, sees me pacing, and comes out of the door, shutting it behind her. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we heard yelling inside.
You both are making the women nervous, so if this is something that can wait to be settled, then do so. If not, then try to resolve the matters more quietly. I don’t know what’s going on but you two are grown men, I assume you can act like it and lower your voices?” We both nod. “Good. I’m going to go help Mema clean up the dish she broke when you startled her with your yelling.”
I feel like a child put in my place and tentatively ask, “Is she okay? She didn’t get hurt when I yelled did she?”
“No, thankfully she didn’t, now shut the fuck up and figure this out.” She smiles politely at Joe, then glares at me before shutting the door behind her, leaving me alone again with Joe.
“I’m serious, Dante, not a word to anyone. It’s his son, Michael. You may have seen him at the restaurant you meet Sal at. He owns it.” Staring at Joe, I realize he must be keeping a closer eye on me than I thought. I know who Michael is, I just can’t figure out how he would fit in to all this. He never is at any of our meetings and he doesn’t seem to be involved with any illegal doings.
Joe starts to walk into the house and I place my hand on his shoulder. “I won’t tell Ava. As for your job, that’s straight up some serious bullshit. But, I will do everything in my power not to fuck it up. If they don’t want him exposed, I will make sure it doesn’t happen.” Joe gives me an appreciative smile, placing his hand on mine before heading back into the house.
I stay behind for a bit, thinking of everything Joe said. Its fucked up what they are threatening him with. He is the best Captain that department has ever seen. His job is literally riding on whether I get this job done right or not. Now more than ever there is no room for error. Joe took care of me and I owe him the life I have and now it’s my turn to return the favor. I’ll be damned if he loses his job. I’ve never lied to Ava before only avoided certain truths. I guess this is one I’ll have to add to that list.
I’m taking Ava to dinner tonight. Technically, this would be our official first date and I feel like a million bucks. Before Ava, I would never consider asking someone out to dinner. I never really saw the point. I never wanted a commitment of any kind and was happy just to go to work and come home. It’s funny how one person can change all that.
When Mema asked where our first date was, I was a little embarrassed to have to explain to her that we never had one. She couldn’t wrap her head around how we got together and never had a first date. After I told her I picked Ava up at a bar and we only just called each other when we were ‘tense,’ she left the room, came back with her broom and hit me on the head three times with it. She then turned to Ava, who jumped back in her seat thinking she was next for the wrath of my grandma’s broom. She began to lecture her on how she needs to respect herself and make me and I quote ‘work for it.’ I have never seen Ava so embarrassed before. Her face was beet red and she couldn’t make eye contact with Mema. She just said, “Yes, ma’am,” and soaked in the humiliation. I was more than thankful when Ali changed the subject.
Mema insisted I pick Ava up for a proper date, so here I am, standing outside of my grandma’s house, feeling like a complete idiot as I ring the doorbell. Riggs answers the door and by the smirk on his face, I can tell he’s going to make a spectacle of this. He’s blocking the doorway not moving.
“Are you going to let me in?”
“Sure, Ava isn’t ready yet. Why don’t you come in and I’ll show you my guns while you wait.”
“Really? Come on, Joe. This is embarrassing enough as is. Do you really have to give me a hard time?” I plea.
“Oh you think this is bad? Just wait.” He steps aside, sitting on the bench by the front door.
“Oh, don’t you look dashing!” Mema enters the room with a camera in her hand and I suddenly want to crawl into a corner and hide.
“Mema, is that necessary?” I point to the camera she’s holding.
“Absolutely. You didn’t go to your prom, so I didn’t get prom pictures. Hell, you never brought home anyone for me to meet, ever, so yes, my dear boy. It is.” She cups my cheek with her palm.
As Ava comes into sight, all my grandmother’s chattering fades out. Ava is standing at the top of the stairs and her beauty strikes me, leaving my mouth dry. She smiles at me as she begins to ascend down the stairs. She is wearing a soft green dress that hugs her body, leaving me wishing I was the fabric of that dress. There’s a white band that wraps around her waist and the v-cut top shows off her plump breasts. All I know is that she is fucking smokin' and I have to remind myself not to drag her back to the room to fuck her brains out. I know she wore this just to wear me thin, and it is fucking working. Her hair is curled tonight, leaving the black ringlets resting against her chest. All those movies that show the women coming down the stairs in slow motion have been put to shame by my vixen. She makes me want to live life in slow motion.
As she reaches the last step, I close the distance between us, placing my lips on her cheek. Before pulling back I whisper in her ear. “I could devour you right now.” Pulling away, I notice her cheeks turn a shade of blush.
“Alright, you two.” Mema claps her hands together in excitement. “Stand by the fireplace so I can get a picture of you.”
“Is she serious?”
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I lead her to the fireplace. “Unless you want to get hit on the head with a broom, I’d do what the lady asks.” Holding her by the waist, I pull her in closer to my body just before the picture is taken. Knowing that she’s ticklish right above her hip, I give it a tickle, causing her to laugh during the picture.
“Oh what a great picture! Let me get one more.”
Ava laughs and looks at me. Our eyes meet just as Mema’s flash goes off.
“You’re beautiful.” It’s only a whisper but I know she can hear it.
Joe clears his throat, pulling us from our gushy staring contest. “Right, we better get going so we don’t miss our reservations.”
Mema claps her hands before coming up to us, she has a hand on each of our cheeks. “You will make beautiful babies one day.”
That right there makes us all bust out laughing, breaking the uncharacteristic romantic feelings that were flowing between Ava and I.
“Old woman, would you stop impregnating her already? Let them leave so they can eat.” Joe pulls her back from us. I’ll have to remember to thank him later.
Placing a hand at the swell of Ava’s back, I lead her to the car. The electric jolt that goes through my arm is intense. Mema is right. One day Ava will have beautiful children. Walking to the car I find myself daydreaming what she would look like with a little swollen belly.
“Are you going to open my door or am I going to have to open yours for you?” There’s that spunky mouth I love so much. She knows just how to put me back into the comfortable place I need to be in.
“Hold tight, woman, I got you.” Opening the door, I help her in, waiting for her to settle in before I close it and jog to my side.
The restaurant is only twenty minutes away so I know we will have plenty of time to get there. Traffic is steady but doesn’t cause us a problem. Once inside, I give my name and we are seated immediately.
After placing our orders, I grab the champagne from the bucket next to the table and fill our glasses. Raising my glass, I wait for Ava to raise hers. She’s got a distant look in her eye, not noticing my glass is in the air. Clearing my throat, she snaps out it, realizing I’m waiting to toast.
“Oh. Sorry.” She quickly raises her glass.
“Everything okay?”
“Ever get that feeling like you forgot to do something?”
“Sometimes.”
“Well, I just feel like I forgot to do something before I left. Oh well, it will eventually come to me. So, what are we toasting to? Oh! I know. To Mema.”
“Mema?” I question her, wondering if we really are toasting to my grandma.
“Without her, we wouldn’t be on our official first date.” Smiling at me, she holds her glass still.
“What’s so funny?”
“I just can’t get over how adorable you are. I’ve only seen the tougher side of you. It’s nice to see the softer side of you.”
“Okay, one, I’m sexy, not adorable. And two, I could say the same thing about you. I always knew there was something amazing beneath that tough exterior.”
“So tell me about your family. You managed to get me to tell you about mine and avoid the topic of yours.”
“Alright. Let’s see, well when I was born it was just me and my mom until I was about three. My mom met her now husband, Thomas, who is my real dad because he raised me, has been taking care of me since they met. I have one brother, Conner, who’s a bit of a slacker compared to me. He still lives at home with mom and dad while he ‘tries to figure out who he is.’ He’s twenty-two. He should have that figured out by now if you ask me. Life growing up was good. For as far back as I can remember, I’ve always been happy.” Ava is looking down at the table, playing with the silverware. She’s avoiding eye contact with me and I have a feeling I know why. Placing my hand under her chin, I lift it and meet her gaze.
“What’s wrong, Pop Tart?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just feel a little guilty. Here I am telling you about how great my life was, knowing yours wasn’t that great.”
“Is that why you’ve been avoiding the subject?” She shrugs. “Listen, don’t ever feel bad for any shortcomings I may have had. I’m okay with the life I have and I’ve made peace with the past. So, I had a shitty mother. If those weren’t the circumstances, I would have never had Joe, Ali and Mema in my life. I’m more than okay with how my life turned out. I lost one person who didn’t love me and gained three who do. To me, that is something to look back and be happy about. So no more feeling guilty. Got it?” Nodding, she leans across the table and brings her lips to mine.
Dante's Redemption Page 10
