Big Daddy Sinatra: There Was a Ruthless Man (The Sinatras of Jericho County Book 1) (12 page)

“Oh,
please,” Denise said, as she watched Charles round his car and head for the
passenger door.
 
“Why would Jenay
Franklin be in a car with him?”

“I
can show you better than I can tell you,” Norm said as Charles opened the door,
and Jenay stepped out.
 

Denise’s
young mouth flew open.
 
“Je
nay
?”

“Told
you so,” Norm said with satisfaction.

“Hey
guys,” Jenay said cheerfully as Charles assisted her out of the car.
 
“I’m not late, am I?”

“Not
yet,” Norm said as they began moving closer toward her.
 
“They haven’t made the first call for line-up
yet.”
 
Then he looked beyond her, at her
companion.
 
“Hi,” he said.

“Hello,”
Charles responded.
 
He didn’t remember
Norm from Adam, and Norm was a little disappointed by that.

Jenay
was disappointed that he and Denise had to witness her coupling with Charles
this soon.
 
They were going to ask her a
thousand questions, and she knew it.
 
But
it was done now.
 
“Charles, I want you to
meet two close friends of mine.”

“Hi,
I’m Denise Donahue,” Denise said, stepping in front of Norm and extending her
hand.
 
Jenay could tell that Charles
wasn’t used to a woman as forward as Denise, but if he was going to hang around
her, he would get used to it.
 
Then she
caught herself.
 
Who said he wanted to
hang around?

Charles
shook Denise’s hand.
 
“Nice to meet you,
Denise Donahue.”
 
Then he smiled. “Funny,
you don’t look Irish.”

Denise,
an African-American woman, laughed.
 
“But
you look Italian,” she said.
 
“And you
are Italian, aren’t you?
 
I can spot any
ethnicity a mile away.”

Charles
was actually Sicilian, but he wasn’t going to quiver about it.
 
In truth, it was a difference without a
distinction to most.

“And
you remember Norm,” Jenay said to Charles.
 
“He was one of the cooks at your son’s reception.”

“Not
cook, Jenay,” Norm quickly corrected her. “Chef.
 
One of the chefs.”

“Oh,
I’m sorry.
 
He was THE chef at your son’s
reception, Charles.”

“That’s
better,” Norm said as he extended his hand.
 
“Nice to see you again.”

“Same
here.”

Then
Norm realized something was amiss.
 
It
wasn’t Jenay’s hair, which was in a flawless down-drop of gorgeous, layered
curls, but it was something.
 
Then he
looked at her attire: a beautiful form-fitting black dress.
 
But it horrified him.
 
“What happened to white, Jenay?” he asked
hysterically.
 
“We agreed we were wearing
white, in solidarity, remember?
 
What
happened to that cute little white number I helped you pick out?
 
We agreed on white and you show up in black,
the exact opposite?”

Charles
looked at Jenay.
 
That
little white number
was still on her
living room floor, and given the way he had flung it off of her, it was in no
condition to be worn anywhere soon.

And
Jenay, to Norm, who was suspecting what she was thinking, looked guilty as
hell.
 
“I decided to wear something
different,” she said.
 
“No biggie.”

“What
was the solidarity about?” Charles asked Norm.

“We:
Jenay, Denise and I, are the three oddateers.
 
We’re three very different people who came together and actually got
along.
 
And we decided, as a threesome,
to stand together in graduation.
 
It took
a lot for all three of us to get to this point, and we wanted to prove a
point.”

“What
difference does it make anyway?” Denise asked. “We’re all wearing big, hideous
graduation gowns anyway.”

Jenay
smiled.
 
Denise had a knack for saving
her bacon.

“I’ll
park the car,” Charles said to Jenay.
 
“I’ll see you inside.”

He
wanted to kiss her, to show that she was his, but he knew she wouldn’t
appreciate it in front of her friends.
 
He got in the car and drove off.

Norm
looked at her.
 
“He did it, didn’t he?”

Jenay
began walking toward the entrance.
 
“He
did what?” she asked as her friends followed her.

“He
came over to your house and snatched you out of that glam white dress.
 
Didn’t he?”

Denise
laughed.
 
“That’s ridiculous!” she said.
 
“How do you come up with such
foolishness?
 
He even told me, Jenay,
that Ford made Jaguars.
 
That’s how
off-the-reservation he is.”

Ford
did partner with the Jaguar automakers, Jenay thought, and he was right-on
about that white dress, but that was nobody’s business but her own.
 
“Completely off the reservation,” she agreed,
and they all headed inside.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“This
place is beautiful, Charlie,” Jenay said as the maître d sat them in a quiet
booth overlooking the Boston harbor.
 
“I’m surprised you didn’t need a reservation,” she added.

“The
prices keep the masses away,” he said with a grin.
 
He hadn’t been this upbeat in years.
Literally years!
  
Coming here today, to
see Jenay, was the best thing he could have done.

“So
how do you feel, college graduate?” he asked her.

“Satisfied,”
she responded.
 
“I feel accomplished, you
know?
 
Like I set my mind to do
something, and I actually got it done.
 
I
thank God for blessing me to get to this place.
 
And I know I still have an uphill battle to get my career where I want
it to be.
 
But at least I’m on the right
track now.”

“Amen,”
Charles said.
 

Their
pre-dinner wine was served, their orders were taken, and Jenay and Charles
relaxed to the music.
 
None of the chosen
songs were of no great moment for either one of them, especially Charles, until
Billy Joel singing
Piano Man
started
up on the surround sound.
 
Charles
smiled.
 
And then he nodded his
head.
 
“I love that song!” he said.
“Isn’t that a great song?”

Jenay
nodded.
 
She couldn’t tell him if it was
great or not.
 
She might have heard it
twice in her entire life.
 
“It’s nice,”
she said.

“Nice?”
Charles asked as if she had offended him.
 
“It’s great!
 
Don’t you know
greatness when you hear it?
 
Listen to
that harmonica lead.
 
Listen to those lyrics!
 
Are you kidding me?
 
They don’t write songs like that
anymore.”
 

Then,
as if to prove his point, he actually started singing along with those Billy
Joel lyrics he loved so much.
 
Jenay was
amazed.
 
Charlie Sinatra singing?
 
Although he had the right last name for such
a task, it didn’t fit his personality in the least!
 
But he did it.
 
He started serenading her with song:

“
And the piano sounds like a carnival,

and the microphone smells like a beer,

and they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar,

and say man, what are you doing here?

Sing us a song, you’re the piano man.

Sing us a song tonight.

We’re all in the mood for a melody.

And you’ve got us feeling just right.”

The
lyricist, Billy Joel, actually said you’ve got us feeling
alright
, but Jenay let it slide.
 
The song was ending, and that was the point for her.
 
She smiled at Charles.
 
“You’re in an awfully good mood,” she said.

“Good?
 
Are you kidding?
 
I’m in a great mood,” he said, and they
laughed.

“But
I feel you,” she said.
 
“It’s been a
great day.
 
Everything’s great today.

“Oh
yeah,” he said, “I’m . . .” Then his look turned serious.
 
“I’m very proud of you, Jenay, is the truth
of it.
 
You didn’t get any breaks in this
life, but instead of complaining and sitting down, you got up and did something
about it.
 
You proved them wrong.
 
That takes balls, young lady.”
 

She
laughed.
 

“Now
you’re a graduate of the prestigious Boston Hospitality Institute,” Charles
went on, “with a degree in hotel management.”
 
He lifted his glass of wine.
 
She
lifted hers too.
 
“Congrats.”

They
toasted and took a sip.
 
Jenay realized
she was in an awfully good mood herself, even though that small ache within her
knew it wasn’t going to last.
 
He’d be
gone tomorrow, if he didn’t leave tonight, and that would be that.
 
Maybe she’d see him again when he was passing
through on his way to business elsewhere. Maybe she wouldn’t.
 
It was an ache that was beginning to hurt.

“I
thank-you for attending my graduation,” she said.
 
“And for clapping when they called my
name.”
 
She added with a smile:
 
“Even though they said no clapping, please.”

“Wasn’t
going to happen,” Charles said.
 
“This
was your big day.
 
You deserve to enjoy
every moment of it.”

“Thank-you,
Charlie.
 
And I have.
 
Every moment.”

They
exchanged a glance as memories of their morning flooded back.
 
Charlie, too, had an ache.
 
It was as if he was having the time of his
life today, but he knew that the feeling, the sights and sounds, and especially
the woman that caused him to feel this way to begin with, would be gone
tomorrow.
 
It was for the best, he knew
that.
 
He wasn’t interested in any hot
and heavy romance with anybody right now.
 
Not because of the here and now, but because of the end game.
 
It never ended well.
 
It would always start out fantastic.
 
His affair with his ex-wife, the mother of
his four grown sons, was fantastic in the beginning.
 
Then boy did it go south.
 
It went so south that Mississippi would have
ruled it too southern for them.
 
Then
even the good memories became distorted and bad.
 
No, it was for the best.
 
Enjoy the day, and then get the hell out of
here.

“Did
you hear me?” Jenay asked.

Charles
realized he had been distracted.
 
“I’m
sorry, what did you say?”

“I
asked how were the newlyweds.
 
How was
your son and his new bride?”

“Oh!
 
Yes, Donnie’s happy anyway.
 
He says his wife is too.
 
So things appear to be going okay for
them.
 
At least at the moment.”

“They’re
still on their honeymoon?”

“No,
no.
 
They’ve been back.
 
And they’re already having problems, don’t
get me wrong.
    
But that’s what he
wanted.”

“I
heard at the reception they were going to trek across Europe.”

“That’s
what they did.”

“You
ever been to Europe, Charlie?”

“No,
I’m not much of a world traveler.
 
If I
don’t have any business there, I don’t feel I have any business being there.”

Jenay
smiled.
 
“That’s an odd way to look at
it.”

“That’s
the way I look at it.”

“Sightseeing
across Europe.
 
I think it’s so
romantic,” Jenay said with a smile.
 
“Her
father must be loaded to bankroll a trip like that.”

“I
bankrolled it,” Charles said, “but I also think her old man is loaded.”

Jenay
was impressed that he would send his son and daughter-in-law on such an
elaborate honeymoon.
 
“And you have four
children.
 
And all boys.”

“That’s
right.
 
Four strapping young men.
 
My youngest is 18, my oldest is 22.”

“Do
they have a relationship with their mother?” Jenay asked this and then looked
at Charles.
 
Her unasked question was a
simple one: Does
he
have a
relationship with their mother?

“Yes,”
he said.
 
“They have a relationship with
her.
 
Not a good one, but a
relationship.
 
I don’t, but they do.”

“Do
you want a relationship with her?”

“Hell
no!
 
I can’t stand the bitch.”

Jenay
smiled.
 
“That’s not nice, Charlie.”

Charles
smiled.
 
“I’m sorry, Miss Franklin, for
being such a bad boy.
 
I suggest you take
me home, put me over your knee, and spank the shit out of me.”

“Yeah,
I’ll put you over something alright, but it’s not going to be my knee.”

They
laughed.
 
They both were having pure fun.

After
dinner, they took a slow drive back to Jenay’s house.
 
Charles held her hand, and occasionally
squeezed it, but neither one of them had any appetite for conversation.
 
It wasn’t until Charles’s Jaguar pulled up
alongside Jenay’s rental car on her driveway, did they say anything at
all.
 
He looked at her.

“So
you decided on Econolodge?”

“That’s
right.”

“You
said it was just outside of Boston.
 
Where?”

“Oh,
no, it changed.
 
It’s Albuquerque now.”

Charles
frowned. “Albuquerque?
 
Albuquerque, New
Mexico?”

“Yes!
 
I was just as shocked as you were.
 
But the job will be in New Mexico.”

Charles
couldn’t believe it.
 
“Why didn’t they
tell you that at that job fair?”

“They
said the manager at the one outside of Boston returned unexpectedly, so the
only opening was in Albuquerque.”

“And
you accepted it?”

She
nodded.
 
“I did, yeah.
 
I figured if I’m going to get on with it, I
need to manage a hotel, not assistant manage one.
 
I need experience at the top.
 
So I said yes.
 
I’ll start next week.
 
On Monday.”

Even
this floored Charles.
 
“Monday?
 
That’s not enough time to relocate across the
country like that.
 
What’s wrong with
them?”

“It’s
enough time for me.
 
I told them so.
 
I have very little.
 
The house I rented was furnished, and I
haven’t received my check from the insurance company, so I don’t even have a
car to worry about at this point.
 
All I have
to do is pack my bags, hop a plane, and get there.”

“As
simple as that?” Charles asked regrettably.

“As
simple as that,” Jenay said, sadly.
 
“My
life is as simple as that.”

Charles
looked at her.
 
So this was really
it.
 
If she was in Boston still, there
would remain that temptation, or that hope, however he viewed it.
 
But with her in New Mexico, there would be
nothing.
 
He was too busy, and she’d be
too busy, to have any kind of hope of a cross country relationship.
  
It really wouldn’t work.

He
got out of his car and walked around to the passenger side door.
 
Jenay watched him walk.
 
Her news seemed to cut him short.
 
She saw a look in his eyes that seemed to
verge on a cross between sadness and disappointment.
 
Which surprised her.
 
She had wanted to see if more could come of
their pairing, but she wasn’t at all sure if he wanted more.
 
Now she was beginning to think that he might.

He
assisted her out of the car and then walked her, with his hand on the small of
her back, to her front door.
 
It had been
a long day.
 
But to her complete
surprise, he declined to come inside.

“I’ve
got to be in New York,” he said, “so I think I’m going to move on.”

That
sounded so firm to Jenay.
 
He was going
to
move on
.
 
“You have to be in New York tonight?” she
asked him.

“Tomorrow.”

Jenay
waited for more, such was why did he suddenly need to be there tonight then,
but he didn’t give her more.
 
And she
wasn’t about to beg for it.
 

“Thanks
again, Charlie, for coming.
 
I really do
appreciate it.
 
You didn’t have to come,
but you did.
 
I can’t thank you enough.”