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"Twenty dollars would be fair for that room, but I can let you have a better room for only five dollars more."
"I'll stay in the smaller room."
Well, we're still making jokes, and that's a hopeful sign. Right? It's when it becomes really grim that it becomes insufferable. So we lived in that sort of cool limbo that husbands and wives have invented and perfected for the purpose of coexisting until the moving van arrives or until they fall into each other's arms and swear undying love forever, which in co
In truth, I was angry, hurt, and vindictive every morning, but by noon I was philosophical, resigned, and willing to let fate take its course. By late evening, however, I was lonely and ready to forgive and forget, unconditionally. But then the next day, the cycle would start over again. Unfortunately, Susan called from Hilton Head about eight A.M., one morning when I was in cycle one, and I said a few things that I regretted by evening. Things like, "How's William Peckerhead of Hilton Head?"
"Settle down, John."
Or, "Did you want to speak to Zanzibar?"
"Go have your coffee and call me back."
Well, I did that night, but she wasn't in. Anyway, in the week or so since she's been back, I've been civilized.
So, there we were in Giulio's, having di
So we sipped coffee and ate pastry. The normal security was in effect with Vi
Susan at one point in the evening had said to Frank, "That's very good of you to buy your employees di
This was either the most facetious or the most naive statement I'd heard all year, and I wasn't sure which. Susan sometimes plays the naif as I mentioned, but the act was wearing a little thin.
I regarded A
There were times when the conversation was strained, as I suggested, and Frank just wasn't his scintillating self as he realized that the evening wasn't going as he'd pla
Anyway, Frank paid the check with cash, and Vi
A
It was a very pleasant evening with a touch of autumn in the air. There were people strolling on the street as there always are in Little Italy, but none of them looked suspicious. And as always, no one knew where Bellarosa would be that night except Frank himself and his wife. Not even Susan or I knew, though I had guessed, of course, that we were going to Giulio's. Vi
"You don't like the music?"
"Knock it off. You know what I mean."
His reply had been, "Fuck it."
Well, I tried. I really did, because I couldn't stand by and say nothing. But Bellarosa's ego wouldn't allow him to make many changes in his lifestyle, and there was also the matter of Mr Peacock wanting to impress Mrs Sutter. Get it? Well, back to the really bad stuff. I stared at these two guys and found myself looking down the muzzles of two double-barrelled shotguns not ten feet away. Both men steadied their aim on the roof of the limo, though with shotguns at ten feet you don't have to do a lot of aiming. This all happened very quickly, of course, though neither man seemed rushed or nervous, just sort of matter-of-fact.