He was serious.
“This machine is lucky. It’s pink, like my fishing rod. I’m gonna win.” I reached up and pulled the tall chrome lever again and stuck my tongue out at him and it started dinging and lights started flashing and I won five thousand dollars. Not five thousand quarters, dollars!
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, “Told ya so, told ya so!”
He started to laugh and shake his head simultaneously while I jumped up and down. There was a guy, early 20’s, beside me and he raised his hand up for a high five. I gave him a smack of my palm and looked to Tommy, “Lost Wages my ass!” I did a little twirly dance, probably looked ridiculous, but didn’t care. He shook his head in astonishment and then leaned over and kissed me, “Sticking your tongue out at me is a spankable offence, Missy,” he winked.
“Why do you think I did it?” I winked back and his face split into a huge grin.
** ** **
He slept on the flight home, holding my hand the entire time, and I watched the in-flight movie. We travelled without James and Nino as Tommy had said they had an errand to run for him locally and would be flying back tomorrow. I’d tried to give him the $5,000 but he looked at me like I’d lost the plot. I was actually surprised they never asked for my ID in the casino.
“But you paid for everything on the trip,” I reasoned.
“So what? I’m not taking your money, Tia.”
“You’re too old-fashioned for your own good,” I told him.
He rolled his eyes at me, “Well, a leopard can’t change his spots, babe. Put it in your underwear drawer when we get home; save it for a rainy day.”
“Well maybe I’ll just buy you a present with it then,” I challenged, thinking that he’d dropped the leopard and spots cliché for a reason far beyond the $5,000.00, but I was trying to avoid focusing on that statement. Was letting me hold onto enough money to get away from him another test? Or was he trying to show me trust?
“Yeah, well, I won’t stop you,” he smirked and I gave him a big hug. It felt so light and jovial that day and I was deeply grateful for that as it was helping me cope. Denial was helping me cope, too, but I figured I’d take whatever help I could get!
When we got back, his convertible was waiting for us at airport parking and he drove us home. It was nice to not have security. It felt almost normal. Almost.
When we got home there were two security guards outside but there was no Sarah as Tommy revealed he had sent her on a surprise holiday to see her family and she’d be a few more days. I thought that was very sweet of him.
She left me a note telling me that she’d prepared some meals in advance and froze them for us to get us through the next few days, if needed. I surveyed the refrigerator, pantry, and freezer and she’d stocked everything up well and there were plenty of ingredients for if I wanted to cook from scratch instead of simply defrosting and heating food up. She’d made a few casseroles, some batches of soup, had multiple groups of 2 steaks and 2 chicken breasts and 2 pork chops marinating in different colored sauces inside zippered freezer bags, a few batches of meat sauces, and a few lasagnas.
Tommy had gone to his office right after putting our luggage upstairs, telling me he’d be taking care of a few things and that he’d be a few hours. I went upstairs to unpack and found a gift box beautifully wrapped in silver paper with a big pink bow on it on the bed with my name on it. I opened it and it was a shiny new laptop. It was metallic hot pink just like my fishing rod and when I booted it up, the screen wallpaper was a photo of the pond at the farm from the view of the hayloft doors at sunset. My heart swelled.
This man wanted me and said he loved me. I so wanted this to work. I so wanted the emotion I felt at that moment to be real, not just another brief reprieve from pain.
I spent a few minutes playing with it, did a few quick personalization things, a few Google searches, and then went downstairs to his office. The door was open a few inches so I pushed it open. He was in his office chair but had the chair swiveled away from the desk to face the window, which had a view of the pool. He was on the phone.
“I don’t care how difficult; I need you find out the truth about Carlita and Greg O’Connor and you get me answers within the next 2-3 days. Got me?”
I swallowed hard. I wanted to back out before he saw me but he was turning around. His brows shot up and he gave me the ‘one second’ index finger.
“Good. Yeah, bye.” He ended the call and his expression softened, “Hi.”
“Hey. I got my present.”
“Hmm?”
“The laptop?”
“Oh yeah,” his eyes lightened as what I was talking about dawned on him, “Ordered that before we left but it got here too late for you to bring it. Like it?”
“I love it. Love the color. And I especially love the background picture.”
He gave me a big smile.
“Thank you,” I said.