Page 94 of Working for the Mob

With a bounce in his step, he placed one of our ceramic mugs under the machine’s spout and pulled a lever on the chrome contraption. I took a step back as the whole appliance shook like a car starting.

The machine emitted spits, steams, and a whistle.

“Do you think you’ve overworked it, Dad?” Lucy asked, her eyebrows raised.

Mr. Baker held up his finger until a deep-brown liquid spewed into the cup. It emitted a stronger fragrance than coffee.

“That’s the espresso,” Genevieve told me, without taking her eyes off her father’s actions.

He applied a frothy cream and held it up for everyone.

“And that makes it a cappuccino,” she said, with a nod to the steamed milk.

“See?” Mr. Baker asked, and sipped at the mug. Sparkles lit up in his eyes. “Try it.”

I took the mug and tasted an overpowering burnt coffee that scalded the back of my throat. I grimaced and handed the cup to Genevieve who raised the cup to her mouth and sipped it.

“Dammit,” she said, and slammed the cup on the counter. She threw me a cold look with a pinched mouth and a hard jaw, and stormed to the kitchen. I couldn’t stop the guilt creeping up my neck that confused the hell out of me.

“What’s wrong with her?” Mr. Baker asked and I shrugged. “It must be her time of the month.”

???

I don’t know why I asked Genevieve to the city. It broke all my rules to keep her safe. The best way to ensure her safety was to keep her the hell away from me. But unfortunately, I kept breaking my own rules.

It took me by surprise when her father opened the door to their cottage Saturday morning.

“Good morning, Arthur,” he said, ignoring my blank expression. “And what do I owe the pleasure to?”

I doubted Mr. Baker would be ok with me taking his daughter on an out-of-town trip. Would he piece it together that Genevieve and I became more than co-workers over the last couple months? Would he approve? Or would he whisk her back to Manhattan just at the whiff of a romance?

“Um … I …”

“He is here for me, Dad,” Genevieve said, and pushed past him with a tote in her arms.

Mr. Baker threw his daughter an incredulous look as he watched her head to my car. When his eyes darted back to me, comprehension furrowed his eyebrows and his jaw dropped to an ‘O.’

I aimed for an apologetic smile, but I’m sure it came off as a sheepish grin. I backed away from the red flush that darkened his face. Valuncias I could handle. But dads? No, thank you.

I needed to put distance between myself and this man.

“Enjoy the trip!” Lucy called from the doorway. I waved to both her and Mr. Baker as we sped down the road.

“I take it you didn’t tell your father about me taking you to the city, did you?” I asked Genevieve, as we left town.

“I might’ve left it out.”

Chapter 28 – Genevieve

My dad had done all he could to salvage enough of my reputation to broker a marriage I didn’t want. Spending a night with another man in a hotel room in the city would do more than enough damage to my reputation to crash it back down.

And this time, it wouldn’t be due to slander.

“Where did you say we were staying tonight?” I asked Art, trying to catch him off guard.

“I didn’t,” Art said.

“Did you find a place nearby?” I asked as we drove down 6thAvenue, into the heart of Manhattan. He just shrugged. I’m not sure whether Art found a place in the city. Hopefully he didn’t go anywhere north of 96thStreet. Or even worse, we’d be spending the night in Jersey.

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