Page 8 of One More Chance
Four
He could still knock the wind out of her.
He ordered for her, chose the best wine on the menu that would pair well with dinner and fell back into step with conversation as if the last two years never happened.
They playfully teased each other. They talked about current events, shared personal stories, laughed at each other’s corny jokes. He showed her the latest meme. She talked about how she was stuck onSense8.
Still, no matter the love and light banter between the pair, there was an underlying tension; the elephant in the room quietly made its appearance. Krista knew Tony was simply being nice to her and he could still humiliate her at any time, if he chose to.
“I still can’t believe you thinkThe Wireis better thanBreaking Bad,” she shook her head.
“It was all around. Solid casting through and through,” Tony defended. “Come on. Stringer Bell. Avon Barksdale. Omar. Dude, everyone loved Omar. No one cared about him being gay.”
“Okay, but what about Walter White?” Krista countered. “And his unfortunate but lovable sidekick, Jesse? They were like yin and yang. Even the other dude Walter had, he just didn’t have the same chemistry with.”
“Yo, if you want to talk about chemistry? Let’s talk about McNulty and Bunk, for a minute. One scene and they only said a variation of fuck. You cannot get more brilliant than that!” Tony exclaimed. “Do you honestly think people are still talking about a controversial scene from Breaking Bad? No. Why? Because no one cares about a white dude who has terminal cancer and wants to see the world burn. If anyone praises Breaking Bad the same way they praise The Wire, it’s a clear bias. Fuck outta here.”
Krista giggled. Tony was always so passionate about his shows. His DVR recordings were sometimes astronomical and she wondered if he had any time at all to watch through all of them. It then occurred to Krista, Tony had time for everything that interested him.
Including her.
“So, where he is tonight?” Tony finally asked between bites.
Krista lightly shrugged. “He had a business meeting to attend to so there’s that.” She loved Marc’s hustle and in turn, that made her hungry for more. She also hated how lonely she became in the process. He always made up for his absence in the forms of lavish gifts and trips.
Krista soon realized while she might have been materialistic in the past, she most certainly wasn’t in the present or future. A closet full of designer wear meant nothing if the man giving them to her was always gone. “I’ll see him when he gets back.”
“The most romantic day of the year and he’s not with his girl?” He held her hand and softly kissed it. “Shame. I would’ve never left you alone tonight.”
Tony’s declaration sent a shiver down to Krista’s spine, causing all sorts of pinpoints prickling up on her skin. “I thought you hated me, though.”
Tony slowly leaned back into his seat and licked his lips. “Once upon a time.”
“And you don’t anymore?” He slightly shrugged, indicating there were still hard feelings. “You know why I did it, though?”
“Not really,” he answered after a beat, “I know Faye is your friend but I also think true friends would’ve said, ‘Yo, you might want to rethink this.’”
“What Eli did was foul, Tony,” she softly replied; her voice wispy as smoke. “Demanding all three children to be tested?”
“And she still hasn’t agreed,” he countered, “there’s a reason why he’s still seeing other people in addition to Faith.”
“They’ll be back together,” Krista dismissed Eli’s actions, “he’s always gone back to her.”
“This time on his terms,” Tony replied, “things will be quite different if they decide to remarry.”
Krista didn’t appreciate how cryptic Tony was in his declaration. “How so?”
When Faith married into the family, Eli was already rich and so was she. Still, the couple saw no need to sign a prenup because Eli wanted to give her half of everything. Talks of reconciliation made a strong demand from the D’Amatos Faith sign a prenup in the future. “You’ll see.”
Tony paused for another beat before he continued. “Kris, I don’t know why Eli stepped out Faith. Honestly, truly. I don’t know if he was bored in his marriage, he was tired of her bullshit, if he wanted that new-new, or what I really believed it was, he had a mid-life crisis and realized he spent his prime years married.” He continued. “What do I know is that after Eli gave Faith everything she could ever want and then some in the divorce, she took a few steps further and tried to destroy our family with your help. And Kris, I’m going to keep it real: you and Faye are very lucky we’re a forgiving family because had Eli taken my advice, both of you would’ve been on the corner panhandling for change.”
Tony’s tone shocked Krista, and she felt his words in her spine. “You hated me that much?”
“I had twenty million reasons to.” He casually replied, referring to the income the family lost due to the allegations. “I don’t anymore.”
“Why?” She honestly questioned.
Tony knew exactly why. Immediately he saw her light eyes, curly brown hair, and supple light almond skin appear before him.Siena. He blinked away the vision and focused on the woman in front of him. “I grew up.”
