Speak Low (Speak Easy 2)

“Fine. You’re sorry. I’d still be crazy to go anywhere alone with you.”

“Tiny, please.” He brought his fingertips to his forehead. “I’m sorry I grabbed you that way, but you just do something to me, something I can hardly control, and it drives me crazy when I see you and can’t touch you. That’s all.”

“That doesn’t excuse your behavior tonight. And there is no way I’m going to sit in this club any longer and watch you fawn all over the future fucking missus.”

He sighed and closed his eyes. “What do you want from me?”

“I told you. I want to know why you asked Joey here.”

He opened his eyes and stared hard at me. “Fine. Meet me outside in ten minutes.”

#

When Enzo went to make his excuses to Gina, I tugged Evelyn off the dance floor just long enough to whisper my plans to her and tell her not to worry. “Now if only you can ditch Walter somewhere, you could have the back seat of Ted’s car all to yourself.” I tried to keep my tone bright.

She shoved me playfully but gave me a conspiratorial wink. “The front seat’s just as comfortable, you know.”

Yes, indeed I do. I made my way to the exit. But I wasn’t going to let him touch me that way tonight. Not a chance. I just have to be strong, that’s all. I have to let him know that he can’t expect me to sit idly by while he chauffeurs Gina around in his shiny Packard during the day, and then expects to fool around with me in it after dark. The nerve of him!

Last Saturday night it had seemed glamorous and exciting, but now the experience had lost its allure, and I wasn’t even thinking about the way the evening had ended in the boathouse. How dare he come for me in the car her father bought for them? As a wedding gift!

By the time he pulled up, I was fuming again.

I got into the Packard, and the familiar interior gave my surging temper a boost. After slamming the door, I slapped his face. Hard.

“How could you? This car was a wedding present from her father? You fucked me in the front seat!”

Enzo held a hand to his cheek and grimaced. “You didn’t have any complaints at the time.”

“Because I didn’t know, Enzo! And this necklace—ugh, take it back!” I unclasped it and threw it at him, then I crossed my arms and thumped back against the seat. “I don’t even know what I’m doing in here right now. I must be crazy.”

He set the necklace aside and reached for my hand. I snatched it back, but he took it again. “Listen to me. You’re not crazy. You’re here for the same reason I am—I can’t stay away from you, no matter how much I want to.”

Something occurred to me. “You knew. You knew that night that you were going to marry her next weekend, and you lied to me.”

“I said I was trying to get out of it, and I am. But I had to agree to marry her, Tiny. The club was low on booze and I have a business to run. But listen—it’s all gonna be OK, I know it. I won’t have to marry her.”

I looked at him incredulously. “And why not?”

“Because I’ll be able to pay off Meloni with the cash I’m getting from all the opium. That plus what the club brings in this week, now that I’ve got good booze to sell.”

I shifted in my seat to face him. “And what makes you think you’re getting all the opium again? I’m still confused about that part.”

“I’ll tell you. But first…your surprise.” He dropped my hand and pulled away from the curb. I sat ramrod straight, wanting as little of my body as possible to touch any part of this car.

“Where are we going?” I asked as Enzo drove north on Woodward toward Grand Circus Park.

“You’ll see.”

In a few minutes Enzo pulled up at the ritzy Statler Hotel, and my temper flared again. If he thought we were going to enjoy a quick romp here, he was mistaken. “A hotel? That’s what you wanted to show me?” I set my jaw. “Well, you can forget it. I’m not going to a hotel room with you.”

“It’s not a hotel room. Just trust me, OK?”

“No.”

Enzo sighed as attendants rushed to open the passenger door. I was tempted to refuse to get out of the car, but figured that would embarrass me more than Enzo, so I allowed the uniformed man to help me out. He led me underneath an awning, where I waited with tapping toes and a scowl for Enzo to give instructions for parking the Packard. In a moment he took me by the elbow, and we entered the lobby.

My bottom lip dropped open. I couldn’t help but be awed by the sheer size and splendor of the hotel. One of my secret dreams was to travel to big cities and stay in romantic, luxurious places like this. My childhood scrapbook was filled with advertisements and post cards from lavish hotels whose lobbies looked just like the one before me. Now that I was actually inside one, I felt like a child again, small and wide-eyed and dazzled by the opulence.