Girl Code (22 page)

Frequently during our trip, I would find Leo watching me with a thoughtful smile. I asked him halfway through our first day why he kept looking at me like that, and his response was simple and brought on my own smile.

“I love seeing you happy,” he had said.

I knew Disney wasn’t cheap. I tried to pay for my own souvenirs and offered Leo some money to cover the trip, but he had waved me off. I wasn’t a helpless damsel in financial distress, and by the second day, I was beginning to feel weird about him paying for everything. Even when we were in Miami, I never had to spend my own money. Leo bought all of our meals and paid for anything that we did together.

“Let me pay,” I offered, digging into my purse at lunch on our second day.

“No, I got it,” he said, pulling out his wallet.

“Come on, Leo. You’re already paying for too much. I do have my own money, you know.” I pulled out my credit card and tossed it on the table.

“No, Tabs,” he said with a little less patience. “I’ve got this.”

“Is this like an ego thing?” I rolled my eyes and placed my card in the folder with the bill.

Leo made an exasperated sound and snatched my card out of the folder and then put it in his back pocket.

“Tabitha, you’re so hardheaded sometimes,” he growled, putting his own card in the folder and then handing it to the waitress who magically appeared.

I stared at him, my mouth hanging slightly open. There were many words that were about to bubble forth from my lips, but his face softened a little and he looked at me in earnest.

“Every time I think about you and money, I think about all of the things you missed out on after we found out about Tack stealing all of that money. I think about the fact that you had lost weight skipping meals so you could pay your own way through school. I was hurt as all hell when I left you, Tabitha,” he said, wincing as if it had just happened yesterday. “I was pretty torn up, but my biggest concern was whether or not you were going to be okay. I didn’t know if your car would break down, or if you’d end up sleeping in the damn thing. I didn’t know if you were going to be healthy and safe. After I had settled in Tampa, I sent Michelle some money and asked her to make sure that you guys had food in the apartment at all times, and to pay your portion of the utilities.”

My mouth fell open as I sat back in my seat. About a month and a half after Leo left, Michelle had surprised me by announcing that her parents were sending her extra money every month and that she was able to cover the entire electric bill and the entire heat bill. We had always shopped together and shared food, but suddenly we had more money for groceries, and Michelle was doing most of the shopping since she had a little more free time than I did, so the cabinets and fridge were always well stocked. That went on up until the very day we left the tiny apartment and went our separate ways in life.

“That was you?” I asked in a small voice. “Not her parents?”

He gave me a single nod of his head.

“You did that for two years?” I asked. “Even though I had…even after…” I couldn’t say the words. My heart was in my throat, and I could barely breathe around it.

“I couldn’t stand the idea of you going without anything you needed,” Leo said bitterly and sadly.

He had taken care of me when I least deserved it, and all while he was trying to take care of himself, too. His generosity, undeserved kindness, and protection had made my life easier and I had been completely ignorant of it. As obnoxious as Leo tended to be, underneath that was a heart of the purest kind. No one had ever made me feel as wanted, adored, and loved as I suddenly felt sitting across the table from Leo Pesciano, in the most magical place on earth.

I wanted to thank him, but those two simple words just seemed insufficient. He guessed what I was thinking.

“I don’t want you to thank me,” he said gently. “I didn’t even mean to tell you that,” he added with a frown. “I was just trying to express to you why I feel the need to take care of you, even if it’s just this.” He gestured to the table and the empty dishes on it.

I swallowed hard a couple of times, trying to push my heart back down into my chest.

“I understand that but, I’m not poor anymore. I actually do very well for myself.”

“I know you do, and I’m very proud of you for it, but I am old fashioned, like my parents. You know that. I have always believed that the man is the financially responsible one in a relationship.”

I didn’t miss the “relationship” part of his statement, but I didn’t dispute it either. “I understand,” I said again. “But—”

“Why are you being so stubborn?” He sighed, clearly frustrated with me.

“Why are you? I know your business is doing well, but how can you really afford all of this?”

“The same way I was able to afford to buy the restaurant.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Was it legal?”

He rolled his eyes, knowing I wasn’t joking. Some of Leo’s relatives could be characters straight out of
The Sopranos
.

“No, you know I would never get into any of that. I was left an enormous inheritance by my great Aunt Annetta, you know the one that used to pinch your cheeks? I was her favorite apparently. I bought my restaurant and made some improvements. I bought my car outright, and I don’t have any mortgages on any of my houses. The restaurant is doing so well that I have a pretty good profit every month.”

I gaped at him. “Houses? Plural?”

The waitress returned with the bill before he could respond. He signed it and dismissed her with a quick nod and smile.

“I bought a few houses in Miami and flipped them. I sold two and made a profit, and the other four I kept. I have tenants that have more than paid off the costs of the houses and renovations. The rent checks I get every month are straight up profit. I have enough set aside in case something goes wrong and for regular maintenance. I also bought a house in Jersey, too, so I have somewhere that is my own when I go home for extended visits. It’s in Belmar, a few blocks from the beach. When I bought it, it was a piece of crap, but I flipped that, too.”

I was stunned, almost into stupidity. I had stuttered over a few words for a moment before I was able to speak.

“I’m just flabbergasted,” I admitted. “I’ve been with you for almost two weeks! You never mentioned any of this!”

“You didn’t ask, and I didn’t want to brag.” He shrugged. “I would have told you eventually.”

“Okay...so you can afford this,” I said slowly. “But so can I.”

“I know you can, dolcezza,” he said seriously.

“So why don’t you let me pay for anything?”

He sighed. “Okay, I will let you pay sometimes.”

“Thank you.” I smiled widely at him.

He leaned over the table and kissed me quickly on the lips.

We carried on with the rest of our day without discussing money again, but I didn’t stop thinking about what Leo had done for me when I was in college. I always thought about all of the things he had done for me before that, but what he did for me when he should have hated me…well, it changed everything.

“Just because I dated someone and we didn’t work out doesn’t mean he isn’t right for my friend! We don’t always have a choice with who we fall for.”

~Heather C., St. Helens, Oregon, United States~

Chapter Fourteen

On our last night at Disney, we were going to go to dinner and then catch our last fireworks show. I sent Leo out of the room so I could get ready, but he did a great deal of whining before he went.

“Why can’t you just go change in the bathroom like you always do?” he had asked me, and then smiled widely. “Better yet, you can change in front of me. I’m okay with that, too.”

Patiently, I said, “I want to get super pretty, and that takes time.”

“You’re already super pretty,” he said and kissed my cheek.

“Leo,” I said, exasperated. I spun him around and pushed him toward the door. “Get out. Don’t come back for an hour and a half.”

“But—”

“If you do as I say now, when we get back to Miami, I will stay with you until I am ready to leave.”

He looked at me suspiciously. “How long will that be? You were only going to stay a couple of weeks, and we’ll hit that mark on Saturday.”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Maybe a few days, maybe another week. I don’t know.”

He sighed. “Okay. I’ll go. You have exactly an hour and a half.”

He left the room, murmuring about women taking forever..

I waited a few minutes to make sure he was really gone before I started to get ready. I showered, shaved, plucked, and moisturized. I blew out my hair and then flat ironed it. I applied light makeup that complimented my green eyes, my smattering of freckles, and my full lips. As I was finishing that up, the dress I had sent out to be pressed was returned. I slipped into it and struggled with reaching the zipper for a couple of minutes before I was able to get it all of the way up. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and put on a pair of dangly black earrings. I removed all of my chipped nail polish on my fingers and toes and put on a quick drying clear polish. I rubbed vanilla on my wrists, neck, and between my breasts, and then finally put on my shoes.

With only minutes to spare, I stood in front of the mirror looking at the finished product. The midnight blue dress was strapless and had an A-line silhouette, comfortably snug up top with a slightly flared, swingy skirt that stopped about three inches above my knees. The sandals I put on were black with a three-inch heel and a thin black strap that wrapped delicately around my ankles.

I never believed that I was unattractive, but I’ve always been overweight. I’d done all of the weight loss programs and dieting, but eventually I just accepted my body as it was. I will never be thin, I’ll never be able to wear a bikini, and the designer clothes that I admire in
Vogue
will never fit me, but I found comfort in my own skin. However, I rarely thought that I looked sexy. This was one of those few times I did think so. I was showing just enough cleavage to leave the rest to the imagination and my legs looked good, especially in the strappy shoes. My green eyes looked bright and my face had a healthy glow to it. I took a picture of my reflection and sent it off to Sandy, Mayson, and Donya. The responses were immediate.

Sandy:

Baby! You are SMOKIN’! OWWWW!! *cat whistle* Pesciano isn’t going to be able to keep his eyes or hands off of you tonight! Pesciano Pecker!! ;)

Donya:

Oh my god! You’re so beautiful! <3 And HOT! I don’t know what you’re up to, but I want details later!

Mayson:

You’re finally going to fuck that fucker! You’re so damn beautiful, Tabby! He won’t be able to resist your sexy ass!

I shook my head at Sandy’s and Mayson’s responses and Donya made me grin. It’s good stuff when a supermodel tells you you’re beautiful and hot. I hadn’t told any of them that I was at Disney World with Leo; Donya didn’t even know where I was. I would have to get them all together for dinner when I got back to New Jersey so I wouldn’t have to repeat anything, because they would all want to know everything I was willing to share.

Right after I stowed my phone away in my small black clutch bag, the hotel door swung open and Leo stepped inside. He took two steps toward me and stopped so suddenly that he pitched forward slightly. He stared at me with huge eyes and his jaw must have been unhinged, because it was almost on the floor.

“Damn,” Leo said on a long exhale of breath. He dragged his fingers over his face as his eyes roamed slowly down my body. “Tabitha, what the hell are you doing to me?”

I wasn’t nervous before he walked through the door, but at that moment, my heart was in a speedy race and I felt a little self-conscious and shy in front of him.

“Turn,” he quietly commanded, gesturing with his finger.

I began to turn in a slow circle, but when my back was to him, he stopped me.

“What’s that on your back?” Leo asked, his voice much closer than I expected.

I turned around and found him almost immediately before me. He stepped closer and said “Turn back around.”

Reluctantly, I slowly turned around. Another plus with that dress was that it showed off the one tattoo I had, or it was several smaller tats that made one big one. Starting at my shoulder is an open book, with several pages floating from it. One page is curled at the edges obscuring some of the writing, one is torn, and another is partially burned, and the final page is crumpled. Curving around the top half of the book are the words: Know My Story…Know My Heart.

Leo had not had the opportunity to see it because my back was never bare in his presence. I always wore a cover up over my bathing suit top, and the one time I changed with him in the room, his eyes had been closed.

He gently swept my ponytail over my shoulder. Half a second later, my breath came out in a soft shudder as Leo’s fingers trailed over the ink.

“Why haven’t I seen this before? Why didn’t you tell me about it?” he asked.