Big Daddy Sinatra: There Was a Ruthless Man (The Sinatras of Jericho County Book 1) (6 page)

CHAPTER FIVE

He
wasn’t in shape.
 
He was a man blessed
with an appealing physique, a very muscular physique, but it was more from the
activeness of running several businesses than hard earned in some gym, and
running as fast as he was now running nearly took his breath away.
 
But the thought of Jenay involved in that
crash gave him the strength, the raw determination, to get there and to get
there fast.

The
man in the SUV that had t-boned her car, was getting out just as he arrived on
the scene.
 
The man was angry, as if he
had no fault whatsoever in the crash, but all Charles could think about was
getting to Jenay.
 
When he saw her car
door open, even before he could get to her, and saw her step out of her
vehicle, his heart soared.

When
she saw Charles coming her way, she, too, felt relieved.
 
“Charlie,” she said as soon as she saw him.

He
hurried to her.
 
“Are you alright?” he
asked her anxiously as he hurried up to her.
 
He immediately placed his hands on either side of her small arms.

“I’m
ok,” she said.
 
“Thank God, I’m okay.”

Charles
wanted to hold her he was so relieved.
 
He wanted to pull her into his arms.
 
So he did.
 
He embraced her with a
vigorous embrace.
 
Any other time Jenay
would have been surprised by this level of affection from a man she barely
knew, but not this time.
 
She was shook
up.
 
She needed the warmth of his
embrace.

“It’s
all your fault, lady,” the man said as he approached the hugging couple.
 
They stopped embracing when they heard the
nearness of his voice.
 
“You are going to
pay for my damage!
 
You’re going to pay
for this!”

“First
of all,” Charles said, releasing Jenay from his grasp, “calm your voice.”

“But
it was her fault!”

Charles
grabbed the man by the catch of his collar.
 
“I said calm your voice!
 
You
don’t talk to her in that tone!”

When
the man saw that chilly look in Charles hard, green eyes, he settled back
down.
 
This guy didn’t look like just
anybody to him.
 
He looked like one of
those Italians that could cause him serious trouble, if not serious bodily
injury.
 
“I don’t want any trouble,” he
made clear, as Charles released him.
 
“But it wasn’t my fault.
 
She
drove out into traffic as if she didn’t see me.
 
She nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Charles
was about to go at the man again, but Jenay moved in front of him.
 
“It’s okay,” she said, because the man was
right.
 
She thought she had a clearance
and went for it.
 
She didn’t even see his
vehicle coming.
 
“I have insurance,” she
added.
 
“I’ll take care of it.”

And
as the police officer arrived, and the small crowd began to disperse, everybody
seemed to calm back down.
 
Except
Charles.
 
His heart was still
hammering.
 
He kept looking at
Jenay.
 
He kept wondering why in the
world did the thought of her coming to any kind of harm nearly did to him what
it almost did to that other driver.
 
It
nearly gave him a heart attack too.

After
phoning Triple A and having the car towed to a local mechanic’s shop Jenay
frequented, and after the other driver and the police were both satisfied with
the statements, Charles drove Jenay to her home.
 
She leaned back against the headrest as he
drove through the busy Boston streets, and soaked in the smell of leather, and
of his cologne, inside his Jaguar.
 

He
looked over at her, and then back at the road.
 
“Take off your shoes,” he said.
 
“I’m sure your feet are still hurting.”

“You’re
right about that,” Jenay replied, and gladly removed her heels.

“Sure
you didn’t want to go to the hospital and get yourself checked out?”

“I’m
positive, Charlie, thanks.
 
I’m
okay.
 
I’m a little shook up, I’ll admit
that, but I’m okay.
 
I’m just glad my
insurance company is going to take care of his car, and mine.”

“You
stay on them though,” Charles advised.
 
“They can tell you anything over a phone. You make sure they keep their
word.”

She
nodded.
 
“I will,” she said.

“So
what happened out there?
 
You got
distracted?”

“Or
wasn’t paying full attention to begin with, yeah.
 
It was totally my fault.”

“How
old is that Honda?”

“Five
years old now.”

“And
you said it was three years old when you purchased it?”

“That’s
right.
 
And didn’t have a day of trouble
out of it while it was under warranty.”

“Yeah,
but that’s how they do you.
 
It’s all
about lining their pockets with other people’s money.”

She
looked at him.
 
“What about this
car?
 
Bought it new?”

He
smiled.
 
“Yes, I did, actually.”

She
looked around. “It’s nice.”

“I’m
glad you approve,” he said, and then looked at her. “I certainly do.”

She
ignored his remark, and kept looking around at the car’s interior.
 
“It looks so rich and elegant.
 
Like a real luxury car.”

“Like
me, right?” He was kidding.

“Exactly
like you.”
 
Jenay was not.
 
Then she turned serious.
 
“Listen, Charlie, I want to thank you.”

Where
did that come from?
 
“Thank me?” he
asked.
 
“For what?”

“For
being there for me tonight.
 
You helped
to calm me down.
 
You certainly calmed
down that irate driver.
 
But you really
helped me.”

“The
least I could do.
 
You gave me a little
excitement.”
 
She laughed.
 
“Before your accident, the most I could hope
for was a comfortable, lonely bed.
 
Now I
get to talk to you a few minutes longer.
 
I say I should be thanking you.”

She
smiled.
 
“So what do you do, Mr.
Sinatra?
 
And if you say you’re a singer,
I’ll jump from this car right now.”

Charles
laughed. “No, I’m not
that
Sinatra.
 
I buy and sell several businesses actually.”

“Ah.
 
A venture capitalist.”

“There
you go.”

“Own
any businesses in Boston?”

“A
couple, yes.
 
And quite a few across the
country.
 
But primarily in Maine.”

“A
Maine man,” she said with a nod. “I got you.
 
You like what you do?”

“Love
it.
 
Or hate it.
 
It depends on what I’m doing.
 
My businesses are so vast, and so different,
that my enjoyment runs hot and cold.
 
Good and bad.
 
Black and white.
I
 
try to sell the ones I don’t like, but
it rarely works out that way.”

“I
think I’m going to love my job,” Jenay said.
 

He
looked at her.
 
“Oh, yeah?”

“I
think so.
 
I don’t have a lot of hands-on
experience yet.
 
At least, not the kind I
would have liked to have.”

“What
about that internship?
 
Isn’t that hands
on?”

“It
is, yes, and it helps, but is has mainly been event-driven, rather than
day-to-day.
 
But it’s a two-year course
and I did what they required of me.
 
So
I’m graduating, on time, with an associate’s degree in Hotel Management.
 
And I’m graduating at the top of my class, I
might add.”

Charles
smiled.
 
“No shit?
 
Top of your class?
 
That’s very wonderful, Jenay.”

“Thank-you.”
 
Considering where she was just three years
ago, in divorce court and miserable, she was proud of herself.

“So
what’s your plan?” Charles asked.
 
“That
hotel hiring you after your internship?”

“I
wish,” Jenay responded.
 
“I haven’t
received any offers of that caliber.
 
Not
one.
 
But I do have two offers I’m
considering.”

Charles
was impressed, as he continued to drive.
 
“Two?” he asked.
 
“Very good.
 
Where?
 
Here in Boston?”

“Both
are just outside of Boston, but yes.”

“Well
are you going to tell me the names, or am I supposed to guess?”

She
withheld the names on purpose, knowing they would not impress.
 
“I have an offer from the Econolodge.
 
I’ll be the manager if I accept there.
 
And I’ll be an assistant manager if I accept
the offer from Motel 6.”

“
Motel 6
?” Charles asked as if he was
astounded.
 
“Who goes to college to get a
job at a
Motel 6
?
 
That’ll be like going to college to get a job
at McDonald’s.
 
What’s wrong with that
management team where you did your internship?
 
I don’t get it.
 
You graduated top
of your class.
 
Why aren’t they snatching
you up?”

“I
don’t have the experience,” Jenay said.
 
“And I’m a woman, and I’m a minority, and it’s not that simple.
 
It’s tough getting those management
jobs.
 
With the job market the way it is,
I’m competing against white guys with resumes an arm long.
 
And they
 
have a corner on the market.
 
It’s
going to be tough.
 
I’m going to have to
prove myself at the neighborhood dance before I get invited to the prom.
 
But I’m a hard worker.
 
I’ll get to that prom.”

Charles
loved her attitude.
 
But still.
 
“So which one are you going to choose?
 
Econolodge, or the Motel 6?”

“I
haven’t decided,” Jenay said.
 
“I just
got the news yesterday.
 
I was selected
after a job fair at BHI.
  
The offers are
on the table for five days, as per the school’s rules when they agree to attend
the fair.
 
So I have a few more days to
decide.”

Charles
continued to drive.
 
Among the many
businesses he owned in Jericho, Maine, one of them was a Bed and Breakfast that
could always use a good person to help run it.
 
Lord knows Beatrice Moynihan was running it into the ground!
 
But hiring Jenay was complicated.
 
It could commit him in a way he wasn’t ready
to commit.
 
He also remembered his
reaction tonight when he thought she was injured in that car accident.
 
He was mortified.
 
He barely knew this woman and he was
mortified.
 
What would happen to him, he
thought, if she became a major part of his life?
 

But
then he dismissed such unproductive thoughts.
 
She was a Bostonian.
 
Who said she
would want to go to a town like Jericho, and a state like Maine, anyway?
 
It wasn’t going to happen.
 
Thinking about it was fruitless.

But
as he looked at her, he still felt those urges for her.
 
He still wanted her that way, maybe even more
desperately now.
 
But she had to want it
too.
 
Unless . . .

“You’ve
got a boyfriend, Jenay?” he asked her.
 
Was that the reason for her hesitancy?

She
looked out of the window.
 
It was about
to get real, and she knew it.
 
“No,” she
said.