Page 1 of Tommy Gabrini: All Fall Down
PROLOGUE
A FEW WEEKS AFTER TOMMY FIRST MET GRACE
“I met a girl.”
“Whoop-de-do,” said Sal.
“What else is new?” asked Reno.
“Yeah but this girl is different.” Tommy Gabrini then looked up at his brother and his cousin as if he needed them to pull him back from his heart. He’d been wrestling with his feelings for weeks. He’d been in, he’d been out, he’d been all over the place. But his heart kept coming back to her. Not to anybody else. To her.
His brother Sal Gabrini remained dismissive: he’d heard that happy talk from Tommy before. But Reno Gabrini saw something different in his cousin’s eyes. “What’s her name?” he asked Tommy.
“Grace.”
“Just Grace?”
“Just Grace.”
“You got a picture of this girl?” Sal asked. “Show me her picture and I’ll know how serious you are.”
Tommy found himself snapping a photo of Grace only once, and it wasn’t in the best light, but he just wanted something to remind him of her when he left her side. It was so unlike him that it bugged him. But he pulled out his phone and showed the photo to his brother and cousin anyway.
When both men saw the picture of Grace, they looked at each other and then they looked at Tommy. “You’re kiddingright?” asked Sal. Although she looked vaguely familiar as if he’d seen her before.
Tommy wanted to be offended by his brother’s response, but he couldn’t. Sal’s ass was as superficial as they came, and Reno wasn’t far behind. “Do I look like I’m kidding?” he asked Sal.
“She’s not your type, Tommy,” said Reno.
“What you mean not his type? She’s black ain’t she? You ever seen him with any other type?”
“But he dates these dames that look like movie stars and shit like that,” Reno said. “She’s cute. That’s a fact. She’s cute. But she ain’t no movie star.”
“Ain’t no movie star?” asked Sal derisively. “That’s kind of a high bar for this chick, don’t you think? She ain’t even on the same planet as a movie star. I mean, she’s okay. But when since my brother went for okay?” He handed Tommy back his phone. “You ain’t serious.”
“Think you know me like that, Sal?” Tommy had bite in his voice. “You think you can read my mind? You think you can see my heart?”
“Yeah I can read it. Yeah I can see it. I’ve been reading it and seeing it since we were kids! So don’t even try that shit with me. Let’s face it. You’re a great looking guy who has always liked great-looking dames. Like that psycho bitch Shanks. Remember her? Compare that girl to Shanks. Compare her to Jayla. Compare her to what’s that latest girl you’ve been fooling around with?”
“Marjorie,” said Reno.
“Yeah that’s her. Compare this Grace to Marjorie. Ain’t no comparison, Tommy. But all of a sudden she’s the one? That girl? Forgive me if I don’t buy that shit.”
“One day, Sal Luca, you’re going to fall in love with a woman so unlike who you are right now that it’s going to forceyou to change. Mark my words. Because you can’t possibly remain as superficial and narrow-minded as you are right now.”
Reno laughed. “Now I agree with that shit!”
“Both of y’all can kiss my balls,” said Sal. “I said what I said and I ain’t changing it. She ain’t the one. Nobody’s gonna tell me different. She’s a flash in the pan for Tommy. A Mrs. Right Now. You’ll see. A month from now he won’t even remember that chick’s name. You mark my word on that!”
Tommy understood why his brother and even Reno would be skeptical. And Sal was right about his usual preference. And he was right about how quickly he ran through women.
But what they didn’t understand was how this new girl was affecting him. He couldn’t get Grace off his brain. He thought about her constantly. He couldn’t wait to see her again. He found her different and refreshing and full of the kind of integrity he loved. He was beginning to wonder if she could be somebody he could spend the rest of his life with. That was how deep it was getting for him. All of his relationships were open relationships. But she wouldn’t tolerate that and he didn’t think he would want that for her either. That was how far he was gone. But they didn’t get it.
So he stopped talking about it and did as he’d been forced to do his entire life: Keep his true feelings under wraps.
“Excuse me, sir?”
The three men looked at the maître d that was standing at their table in the Seattle restaurant. Although all three of them were Mr. Gabrini, he was looking specifically at Tommy.
