Page 38 of Stealing Iris

“Cappy,” Bunny calls out, waving him over. By her cheerful tone, I assume the older guy’s a regular.

He draws a napkin over his mouth. “It’s not right to speak ill of the dead, young lady.” His craggy voice, evidence of a longtime smoker, belts across the room. His steps are slow, his left heel dragging as he comes closer.

“Cappy, this is Dante, a friend of Iris.”

“Dante,” he says, with a critical eye on me.

“Sir.” I hold his gaze, letting him know I’m not intimidated.

“Cappy’s a friend of Iris’s dad,” she explains, before turning back to him. “And you don’t know he’s dead,” she points out, setting a hand on her hip.

He looks her in the eye, planting his feet as if getting ready for a fight. “We both know people don’t come back from there, not after this long.”

She releases an exasperated breath. “Isn’t he supposed to be your buddy?”

“Doesn’t make what I said any less true.”

She leans her weight against the counter, giving me her full attention. “You know my mom and Ellie, Iris’s mom, were besties.”

“Yes.” Iris had mentioned it at one point.

“We lived across the street for most of my life. Mom broke down when she heard about Ellie’s diagnosis. Cancer.” She winces, and I join her. “With her dad out of the picture, Iris took care of her mom. She was sick through most of Iris’s high school years. Poor kid, sometimes she looked ready to drop. In the end, it took her an extra year to get her diploma.”

That explained at least one big question. Taking care of a sick person is hard enough, but trying to be a caretaker while going to school would be rough. It left Iris no time for a life of her own.

“Then she couldn’t go off to school, thanks to her dad,” she adds as a jab.

“Hold on there.” Cappy holds up a hand. “Tony wanted to make sure she was around for her ma.”

“And how is that fair to Iris?” she snaps back.

Cappy shakes his head, pointing at his hair. “When you have this much gray hair, and a couple of kids to give it to you, you’ll understand.” Her glare doesn’t slow him down at all. “We all lost our kids,” he explains, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the other three at his table. “They gone off to college and never come back, other than the holidays, or when they need money. Tony just didn’t want to lose his little girl.”

“He kept her at the store, day and night, as soon as her mom got better,” Bunny explained. “How is that ‘being around for her ma’?”

“Ellie getting sick was a reality check. He wanted the girl to learn how to run the store while he could still show her. He wanted her to be independent, not have to depend on someone else to pay the bills.” His expression said he’d never expected her not to realize Tony’s plan. Despite good intentions, Iris got a raw deal in life.

“More like, run the store for free,” Bunny shot back, tensing so much the well-defined arm muscles rippled.

“Nah.” Cappy shakes his head. “He put away money for her education. It’s in a separate account because he didn’t want Olga getting her hands on it.”

“That no good piece of crap.” Bunny scrunches her nose, as if she’s smelling something rotten. “She had the balls to push her way into the house, staying there with Tony. Andhelet her!”

“So he still lived at home?” The question popped out because I can’t believe the guy would take his girlfriend to live with his wife. Did he give a shit on any level?

“No,” Cappy said defensively. “Well, not till Ellie got sick again.”

Shit. And I thought things couldn’t get worse. Bunny caught my surprise. She presses her lips together.

“Yeah, they went through the whole thing all over again,” she confirms, her voice thickening. “Only the second round was too much for Ellie’s body, and she didn’t make it.”

A guy brought out my order, leaving the plate beside Bunny. She didn’t offer it, and I didn’t ask. I’m still trying to process the situation. The drama in that house must have been unimaginable.

“Mom hhhhates her. Capital H,” she adds, spreading her hands wide to emphasize how much. “She says Olga’s a piece of work. Raunchy bitch would have humped Tony in front of his dying wife, just to stake a claim.” Wow, the woman they described didn’t fit the picture Kassy pulled up.

“Yeah, it sounds like something she would try.” Cappy shoved his hands into his pockets. “Tony moving back was supposed to be a clean break from her.”

“Oh?” Bunny’s eyebrows shoot up. “Did Olga know, because she asked me about catering their wedding.” She sniffs in disdain. “I told her I’m too short-staffed to be doing catering.”

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