Page 4 of The Holy Ghost
Her blue eyesflew sideways, and she smiled.“How else am I supposed to cope with having to count out my changeto pay the bills?” she teased. “It’s a vicious cycle, forsure.”
“Well, whenyou come across thatrich,handsome, single stranger ask him if he has a brother,” I joked.“Preferably one who is also single, not gay, has a job, and isn’tan asshole.”
“No rich andhandsome?”
I rolled myeyes. “Looks fade, the love of money is the root of all evil,and,Christ, Mona,” Igrumbled, “at this point, I’d settle for a man who doesn’t give mea headache when he talks.”
“Amen,sister,” she agreed. “Is Edmondstill asking you out?”
The dishes inthe dishwasher, I turned towards her. “Yeah, but he just seems too…normal,” I excusedlamely. “Plus…I don’t know, Mona. There’s absolutely no butterflieswhen he flirts with me, and there should besomeattraction, don’t you think?”
She laughed.“There’s nothing worse thanlugging around a man who doesn’t do it for you. If you don’t feelthe butterflies, don’t even bother.” Mona walked out of the kitchenand left me there to stew on my lonely thoughts. Truthfully, theonly man who’s ever made me feel butterflies, or any-damn-thing forthat matter, was Phoenix Fiore.
I met Phoenixwhen we were children,five-years-old to be exact. We had all gone to the sameneighborhood daycare, and he and my brother, Ciro, had become fastfriends. Ciro, being the big brother that he was, always had mewith him, so it had been natural to become friends with Phoenix,too.
That was, until webecame more.
Atseven-years-old, he had toldme he was going to marry me and, over the years, our friendship hadbecome more, until I was so in love with the boy, I hadn’t knownhow to live life without him. Even when Luca Benetti had come intothe picture, nothing had changed between me and Phoenix. Sure, Cirowas my brother, and Luca had become my best friend, but Phoenix hadbecome something more.
He had become partof my soul.
He had takenpieces of me I couldn’t get back and those missing pieces have madeit hard for me to date anyoneelse these past six years. And because I loved him so deeply, italso felt as if I were still dating Phoenix and being with anotherman would be like cheating on him. I knew it was stupid and untrue,but that’s how I felt. Whenever another man flirted with me, that’show I felt.
Most people would labelme stupid or crazy to be faithful to a man I left-a man whobetrayed me, but I felt what I felt. It didn’t matter that I wassure Phoenix has moved on after all these years, I could onlyhandle what I felt. And I wasn’t going to jump into bed with a manI wasn’t attracted to just to prove a point.
The door swungopen just as I was ready to head back outside and my best friend,Roberta Regal, came flouncing in. “Jesus, it’s slow as shit outthere,” she complained. Robbiewas in the same boat I was. While she wasn’t starving, she countedon her tips the same way I did. The only difference was I didn’thave a boyfriend who didn’t work sponging off mypaycheck.
“I know,” Iagreed. “But that didn’t stopsome dude in a suit from leaving me a golden treasure oftwenty-seven cents.”
She winced. “What ashit,” she grumbled.
I shook off mydark mood. “That’s what the weekends are for,” I said with as muchenthusiasm as I could muster. “We’ll make it all backthen.”
Herpretty brown eyes shifted, and I gota sinking feeling in my stomach. “Yeah, I uh…”
“What’s wrong,Robbie?”
“Nothing,” shemumbled. “Well, I don’t think it’s anything to worry aboutyet.”
My brows shot up.“What isn’t?”
She started tobite on her lip, and Iwondered if she was going to answer. She finally said, “I overheardRandy on the phone last night and it sounded like he was arguingwith someone over money. And, well…I’m just hoping he doesn’texpect me to bail him out again.”
It tookeverything I had to bite mytongue. I could go on a rant of what a loser her boyfriend was, butI didn’t want to be that friend. I wanted to be the kind of friendthat could give Robbie advice based on her life and herpersonality, and not on whatIwould do inher situation. Besides, what the hell did I know aboutrelationships? The first and only one I’ve ever been in crashed andburned.
“Well, youknow what you can do and what you can’t do,” I said cautiously.“Don’t overextend yourself ifyou can’t afford it.”
She shook her head andplastered on a smile. “You’re right,” she agreed. “Besides, hehasn’t even asked, so I probably shouldn’t be borrowing trouble.” Ismiled back at her for a lack of something better to do. “I’ll seeyou back out there.” She winked and flounced back out the same wayshe came in.
I took a deepbreath and prayed she’d listen. I’ve only metRandy a couple of times when we’ve gone out fordrinks together and, plain and simple, I didn’t like the man. Hewas a mooch and had that troublesome vibe about him. But, as longas he made Robbie happy, I planned to watch what I said about theguy and word my advice carefully. However, I still didn’t likehim.
Growing up, Iwas used to men who took care of their women. Fromwhere I came from, men weremen and women were women and there was no confusion. If a mandidn’t outright support his woman, then he had a partnership withher, and they took care of each other. From what I could see,Robbie took care of herselfandRandy.
Shaking off mythoughts, I went back outsideinto the restaurant and tried to mind my own business. Robbiewasn’t a stupid woman. She might be putting up with more than mostbecause she cared about her boyfriend, but she wasn’t stupid. All Icould do was be there for her when enough became enough.
As Ientered the floor of therestaurant, I realized it was true what they said; say the Devil’sname, and he shall appear. But, in this case, it was Edmond whoappeared, not the Devil.
He was sittinginmy section, and he was allsmiles when I approached. “Hey, Frankie,” he greeted me. “How areyou?”
