Tommy Gabrini 3: Grace Under Fire (The Gabrini Men Series) (10 page)

Grace
frowned.
 
“Just in case what?”

“Just
in case he gets the urge,” Jamie said and ducked because he knew Grace was
going to throw something.
 
She did.
 
A small sugar packet from the tray on the
table.

“Anywho,”
Jamie said, as he sat back upright, “tell me what happened.
 
One of his females – oops, one of his old
friends came to the house this evening?”

“Yes.
 
Demanding to stay there for a couple days.”

“To
stay at your house?
 
Oh no she
didn’t!
 
Are you serious?”

“She
doesn’t do hotels, you see.”

“I
hope you told her what she could do with what she don’t do.”

Grace
smiled.
 
“I told her.”

“Then
what’s the problem?”

“She
calls Tommy, and Tommy tells me how they go way back and how I have to let her
stay there.”

“Oh
no he didn’t!”

“Oh
yes he did!”

“And
you let her stay?”

“Like
hell to the no.
 
I kicked her ass out
anyway.”

“Good,”
Jamie said with certainty.
 
“Wonder what
was Tommy’s problem?
 
He’s usually more
sensible than that.”

“He
loves her.
 
They go back a long way,
maybe even before she became THE Deena Driscoll.”

Jamie’s
eyes stretched wide.
 
“Deena
Driscoll?
 
THE Deena Driscoll?”

“Now
here you go!”

“And
you kicked her out?”

“Yes,
Jamie, so what?”

“So
what?
 
But she’s Deena Driscoll,
Grace!
 
You can’t kick out Deena
Driscoll!”

“I
could, and I did.
 
She was very rude and
disrespectful.
 
Calling me
little girl
like I’m some child.
 
I’m not taking that, I don’t care what Tommy
says.”

“Wow.
 
So she’s one of his ex’s?”

“She’s
a friend.
 
I’m not sure about the
ex
part.”

Jamie
smiled.
 
“Because she’s white?”

“She’s
very beautiful,” Grace made clear.
 
“Outside, that is.”

Jamie
shook his head.
 
“I don’t know,
Grace.
 
Being Tommy’s wife has its
privileges.
 
Big time.
 
But boy do they have drawbacks too.”

Grace
looked at her best friend.
 
“Women?”

Jamie
nodded his head.
 
“Women,” he said.

SEVEN

Tommy’s
plane touched down in Seattle and he stepped off and made his way across the
tarmac.
 
His limo was waiting, and the
drive home was a quick one.
 
This wasn’t
his original plan.
 
His plan had been to
remain in Chicago at least a day longer, to make certain his people had the
security his firm was contracted to provide well in hand, but he needed to
check on this situation with Deena.
 
So
he turned over all decision making to Ross Fontaine, his security chief, and
hopped the plane and came back.
 
It was
late, almost eleven at night, but at least he was home.

As
the limo stopped at the steps, he noticed his wife’s car wasn’t parked along
the circular driveway.
 
Since she never
bothered to put it in the garage, he knew she was undoubtedly working late yet
again.
 
He often got on her case about
working so late, but she’d get on his case about the same thing, and that would
be the end of that.
 
They lived busy
lives.
 
There was no getting around
it.
 
But he pulled out his cell phone and
called her just the same.
 

His
call went straight to Voice Mail.
 
Which
didn’t surprise him at all either.
 
Whenever she was upset with him, and that seemed to be often lately, she
never took his calls.

He
hopped out of the limo, took the steps two at a time, and entered his home
unsure what to expect.
 
Instead, the
house was eerily quiet, Deena was in the living room thumbing through a Marie
Claire magazine.
 
There was no sign of
Grace.

“Tommy!”
Deena said cheerfully when he arrived.
 
She tossed the magazine on the coffee table, jumped from the sofa where
she’d been sitting, and hurried to embrace him.
 
“Oh, how I have missed you so!”

Tommy
smiled as they hugged, he’d known this woman for such a long time, but his mind
was on Grace.
 
Before they could
completely stop embracing, he was asking about her.
 
“Where’s my wife?”

“You
mean that Grace person?”

Tommy
looked at his friend.
 
“I told you to
behave, Deena.”

Deena
smiled.
 
“I am behaving.”

“Where’s
my wife?”

“How
should I know?
 
She seems young, but she
doesn’t seem that fast.
 
Don’t tell me
you can’t keep up with her already?” She smiled and took his arm.
 
“She left.
 
I cannot say where she went.
 
But
come, sit,” she said.
 
“We have so much
catching up to do.”

Tommy
walked with her to the sofa, and they sat down side by side.
 
“Has Henry taken good care of you?”

“Of
course,” she said.
 
“Henry knows my
sensibilities.”

“Sorry
about earlier.”

“The
dust-up with your wife?”
 
Deena dismissed
it.
 
“Don’t consider it.”

“How’s
business?”

“It’s
good.
 
Alex is driving me crazy, and it’s
all about you, but other than that, business is good.”

“Good.
 
Good to hear it.”

“She
thinks you love her, you see.”

Tommy
frowned.
 
“Who thinks that?”

“Alexandria.
 
She thinks you still love her.
 
I told her she’s wasting her time, no?”

“I
told her the same thing.”

“She
won’t listen.
 
She’s obsessed with you.”

“And
you’re obsessed with her.”

Deena
didn’t deny it, nor acknowledge it.
 
“She
won’t listen,” she said again.
 
“But such
is life.”

Henry
came into the room from the kitchen.
 
He
had been hanging back, waiting for the proper time to interrupt.
 
Now was as good a time as any, he
decided.
 
“Welcome back, sir,” he said.

“Thank-you,
Henry.”

“What
would you like to drink?
 
Or eat?”

“Nothing
for me, thank-you.
 
Did Mrs. Gabrini
phone and let you know she was going to be late tonight?”

“Phone?
 
No, sir.
 
She went out earlier, but she returned, got her suitcase, and left.”

Tommy
frowned.
 
“She got her suitcase?
 
What are you talking about?”

Henry
glanced at Deena, as if he had assumed she would have told him.
 
“She left, sir.
 
She disagreed with the fact that you
overruled her regarding Ms. Driscoll’s invitation to stay here, so she packed a
suitcase and left.”

Tommy
stood up.
 
“Did she say where she was
going?”

“No,
sir.”

He
looked at Deena.
 
“Why didn’t you tell me
my wife had been here?”

But
Deena still didn’t see where it was a big deal.
 
“What’s there to tell?
 
After you
gave the okay, Henry let me in, and my people.
 
We had a lovely dinner, then I was exhausted so I dismissed them
all.
 
When your wife arrived back this
evening, and saw that I was here, and I explained that it was with direct
permission from you, she looked as if she was most definitely, how do you
say?
 
Pissed.
 
Next thing I know she had her little
suitcase, and then she was gone.
 
She was
behaving like some petulant child.
 
She
was behaving as if this was her home.”

Tommy
was astonished she would say such a thing.
 
“This is her home!”

“No.
 
This is your home and has been your home long
before we knew that woman even existed.”

“Cut
that shit out, Dee, you hear me?
 
You’re
my friend, one of my oldest friends, but she’s my wife.
 
If I have to choose, she wins.
 
Every time.
 
So cut it out now.”
 
He began
heading for the front door just as his chauffeur was bringing in his luggage.

“Off
again, sir?” the chauffeur asked.

“Yes,”
Tommy said, as he pulled out his cell phone and called Grace again.
 
It went straight to her Voice Mail again.

Deena
was floored.
 
“Surely you aren’t going to
leave me here alone?
 
I’ve been here
alone all evening, Tommy!
 
And you’re
just going to leave me too?
 
Tommy!”

But
he kept walking out of the door, with his chauffeur fast on his heels.
 
He did not look back.

Grace
heard the door of her apartment unlock and knew it had to be Tommy.
 
He’d left her a text earlier stating that he
was coming back in town and would deal with what he called
The Deena Situation
when he got there.
 
But Grace wasn’t trying to hear that
either.
 
She didn’t want to deal with
that woman at all.
 
She just wanted her
out of her home.
 
Since Tommy made it
clear that she had no say in that home, since he allowed Deena to stay the
night despite her protestations, it was a moot point to Grace to hang around a
moment longer.

She
was in her nightgown sitting up in bed, under the sheets, her back against the
backboard.
 
She had on her reading
glasses, with a pile of papers on her lap that she was reviewing.
 
The television was on, a rerun of
Welcome to Sweetie Pies
on OWN, but she
was so distracted she couldn’t recall what was actually going on.

Now
Tommy was here.
 
He called her name as he
headed down the hall, and then he was standing at her bedroom door.
 
He folded his arms and leaned against the
jamb.
 
She could tell, by that look on
his face alone, that he was displeased.

“What
are you doing here?”

“What
is that woman doing there?”

“She’s
my friend, Grace.
 
One of my oldest and
dearest.
 
She’s been staying at my house,
whenever she comes to town, for years.
 
I
won’t allow her to stay in some hotel because you disprove.”

“Oh,
right.
 
It’s all on me.
 
She wasn’t rude to me.
 
She wasn’t disrespectful.
 
It’s all just a figment of my imagination.”

“That’s
not what I’m saying and you know it’s not.
 
Deena is no prize, and yes she’s temperamental as hell, but she’s been
there for me through thick and thin and I’m not going to mistreat her just
because you don’t like her.”

“Then
fine.
 
Let her stay there.
 
I thought it was my home.
 
I thought I had equal say in what went on in
my home, but obviously I don’t.
 
That’s
probably why I didn’t give up this apartment when we first got married, and now
I’m glad I didn’t.
 
So she can take up
residence there for all I care.
 
I have a
home.”

“Yes,
you do.
 
Our home.
 
Now get your things and let’s go.”

Grace
looked at him.
 
Lately, it had been like
a rollercoaster ride with Tommy.
 
They’d
have ups, then downs, ups, then downs.
 
She was getting tired of it.

“You
heard me, Grace.
 
Get your things and
let’s go.”

“Is
she gone?”

Tommy
frowned.
 
“Of course she’s not gone!”

“Then
I’m going nowhere.
 
Nobody’s mistreating
me in my own home and just because she’s some big name agent, or some old
friend of yours, I’m supposed to stay there and take it.
 
Because I’m not taking that.
 
Not from you, not from her, not from anyone.”

Tommy
stared at her.
 
Before Grace, whenever a
woman gave him any trouble whatsoever, he’d dump her.
 
Leave her alone for good.
 
Never had to deal with it, never wanted to
deal with it.
 
Until Grace came
along.
 
Now he took it and took it.
 
Now he was always worried sick about
her.
 
He was always concerned that he
wasn’t good enough for her.
 
She was
exposing his vulnerabilities.
 
And
sometimes it angered him.

“I’m
not asking you again,” he said to her.

Grace
knew that tone.
 
It was like the calm
before the storm.
 
But she wasn’t about
to give in either.
 
“When that woman
leaves my house, then I’ll see about coming home.
 
But while she’s there?
 
No way.
 
I don’t care what you say about that, Tommy.
 
No way.”

That
did it.
 
Tommy pushed from the doorjamb,
hurried to his wife’s bed, and slung her out of bed by the catch of her arms,
her papers flying wildly.
 
“Put on some
clothes now,” he ordered her, “and let’s go!”

Grace
felt the sting of his order, and she wasn’t so far gone that she didn’t
understand that he was on the verge.
 
But
she wasn’t about to pretend that what he was doing was okay with her.
 
“No,” she said to him.
 
“You have got to choose, Tommy.
 
Either it’s your old, dear friend, or it’s
your wife.
 
But it’s not going to be both
of us!”

“What
are you talking about?
 
She’s my friend!”

“A
friend you used to fuck I’m sure!”

Any
lesser man would have slapped her, and she knew it, but Tommy instead grabbed
her by her arm and began dragging her out of that bedroom.

“What
are you doing?” she screamed.

“We’re
leaving,” he replied.

“But
I’m not dressed!”

“No
shit?”

“Tommy!
 
Tommy!”
 

But
he kept dragging her, down the hall, into her living area, and toward her front
door.
 
She was only able to pull away
from him when she realized he wasn’t kidding and was about to drag her out of
that door in her nightgown.