Page 5 of His Gilded Cage

I stopped running when I reached the dimly lit street along the beach that led to the condominium. I slowed to a walk and hoped I looked like an ordinary man out for a late night or early morning walk.

My father owned all of the buildings in this neighborhood. I’d been in Sayulita for five years pretending to manage the Amador real estate investments in the region. As far as I could tell this business was legitimate, but in truth I paid so little attention to the financials I couldn’t know for sure.

My father had created this position to keep me busy, or Carmella had done it for him. My habit of drunk and disorderly behavior was viewed as a liability to Amador Industries image. I’d been shuffled away to the beaches of Sayulita where I could do no harm to the family name. And since I’d failed to embrace my father’s latest career opportunity I had a feeling I wouldn’t be moving any time soon.

It suited me just fine to be perfectly honest. If I overlooked the fact I was trapped by my father’s money, I liked my life in Sayulita. My mother had grown up in a small house near the center of town. I felt close to her here. My mother was the one who had fostered a sense of family between us and when she died there was nothing left to bind us together, no one helping me pretend that I felt anything but cold in my father’s embrace.

Perhaps it’s because she knew what kind of a man she had married. The thought sat like a cold stone in my belly.

I turned into the driveway.

“Well, well, would you look what the cat dragged in.”

I turned to see a woman leaning against a red convertible sports car parked under a street lamp.

My tired brain was slow to fire. It took me a moment to recognize my childhood friend, Veronica Tali.

Arms crossed, Veronica looked as if she hadn’t aged a day since I’d last seen her. Her black curly hair was shorter than I remembered. She wore a pair of dangling diamond earrings that sparkled against her dark skin. Her red strapless dress matched her car and her high heels looked more like weapons than shoes.

If I hadn’t known her since we were children, she would have simultaneously turned me on and terrified me.

“You’re here, what are you doing?” I laughed, rushing to give her an enormous hug.

She hugged me back and then pulled away holding my arm as she looked me in the face. “Of course I’m here, I always come. Where the fuck have you been all night? I’ve been calling you.”

“You aren’t supposed to be here until Tuesday,” I said.

Veronica rolled her dark eyes and pushed two fingers against my chest for emphasis. “You don’t even know what day it is do you.”

“Yes, I do, it’s Tuesday. I mean Wed. Fuck. I don’t know.”

“How many days have you been drinking?”

“A day,” I said, trying to play it off.

“You smell like a bar and . . .” she leaned in inhaling. “Oh, Jesus, where have you been or should I even ask?”

“No, you shouldn’t,” I said.

“You’re a lot of things, Marco, but a good liar is not one of them.”

“So, I might have made a poor choice tonight. You know how I get this time of year. It’s July and . . .” My father is a criminal and he wants me to join him in his dealings with the Mexican drug cartel. Of course I said none of those things. “I have a lot on my mind...” My voice trailed off.

“I hope you aren’t still pining away over Carmella,” Veronica said, shaking her head. “That woman broke your heart years ago. You need to stop allowing her back in your bed, she brings you nothing but heartbreak.”

“Yes, she does,” I said. She had misread my shame, but she wasn’t wrong.

Veronica reached out and put her hand under my chin. “Marco, my brother. You think Carmella is the reason you drink this time of year. We both know it isn’t. Anniversaries are hard.”

“What day is it Veronica?” I asked, panic seizing me. “I’ve been drinking for days, is it today? Did I miss it?”

“Today is July 16. It’s this morning. You know I will never leave you alone on this day my brother.”

I reached forward and pulled my friend into another hug. Veronica is tall and lanky with the frame of a runway model. Her beauty is effortless and she is the one woman in my life that I’ve never thought about sleeping with, which is a relief.

“Thank you for waiting for me tonight,” I said.

“You mean this morning.”

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