She Was Going to Get Tired of His Excuses
It was a month of excuses. They called him in, or there was a last-minute schedule change. Gio knew she was going to get tired of him sooner or later changing their dates. She hadn’t been in his bed since their first night together. How could one night make him miss her sleeping presence beside him?
He was exhausted, and he scrubbed his hands over his face.
They’d gone on a few dates, mostly during the day on her lunch breaks and he loved the times they talked. She’d started a habit of calling him when she got ready for bed.
He was just waiting for her to say she wanted someone who could be there with a normal schedule. His brother’s wife, Esther, was used to sometimes being second to a demanding job. She’d grown up with emergency service demands. She was related to cops, paramedics, and firefighters.
It was keeping in shape, working shifts all over the place and not to mention, being on duty for sometimes days like he was tonight. When Tony wasn’t on shift, the man showered his wife and son with every ounce of love the man possessed.
Never had he ever regretted his job until he had to tell his woman that he was called in or leave suddenly during dinner when all hands were required. She smiled and just told him to be careful, but every time he couldn’t stop himself from searching for disappointment. He never saw it. That didn’t mean she wasn’t one hell of an actress. Violet did make it through her days without killing anyone, and he knew she’d plotted hundreds, maybe thousands of deaths over the years all the while sweetly smiling in her mental victim's faces.
He stared down into his coffee as he pushed his plate of half-eaten food aside. He was in his favorite twenty-hour diner, frequented a lot by emergency service personnel. When he’d walked inside, instead of joining a table of his friends, he’d found a booth in the back. He needed quiet and time to think, but maybe time to think was a bad idea. All he’d learned from thinking too much was the certainty that Violet would get bored and leave him.
“Oh shit, Gio Masiello is frowning.”
He looked up at the sound of a familiar teasing voice and found a friend of the family’s—Alvin—better known by their drag name Hella Ticked. She was in full drag and looked tired. He stood and motioned to the other side of the booth.
“Hella, didn’t take some hot Bear home with you tonight?”
“If I did, would I be here for food at 3 a.m.?” She slid onto the bench seat across from him.
“True.”
“Is it okay if I sit with you?” Hella asked as she looked around.
He waved over the waitress and waited while Hella ordered a milkshake and the biggest burger they offered along with a double order of fries. He swore he didn’t know how Hella didn’t gain a pound. Hella was the same height and size from when they were in high school together. Maybe even a bit skinnier. He waited for the woman to walk away before he reached across the table to take Hella’s hand.
“Hella, no one will ever tell me who I should be friends with. I love you just like my brothers.”
“Shame.”
He smiled at her wistful sigh and shook his head. He relaxed against the back cushion.
“You’ll find the hairy Sasquatch of your dreams one of these days.”
“I can dream, and I do a lot of it. So, what’s got you so down?”
He didn’t even question telling his friend what bothered him. “I’m waiting for my girlfriend to get tired of my bullshit.”
“Does this have to do with your job?”
“Yeah, I never really had an issue with my job, but every woman I’ve dated said I never had enough time for them. I love what I do. I fucking take pride in it. I just don’t want Violet to—”
“If she cares and knows how much your job means to you then it shouldn’t be a problem. Have you asked how she feels about it?”
“It’s still new, we’ve only been dating a little over a month, but we started hanging out a few months ago. I don’t want to point out the problems already.”
“Well, from my great experience at failed romance, sometimes you shouldn’t let all the bullshit fester until it reaches the point where nothing can be done about it.”
“How did you get so wise?”
“Honey, if you’ve gone through as many breakups as me, you’d be a professional by now.”
He didn’t see any sadness in his friend. Hella was one of those upbeat, perky people that you loved even though they were so positive it was sickening.
“Like I said, you’ll find him.”
“I don’t think so, but it’s all good though. I got freedom, jobs I love, and when I’m at the club all the eye candy I want. So, how did you meet the girlfriend? No one has shared this information with me? Even your brother Renz hasn’t been gossiping.”
“She hasn’t met the parents yet. I think my brothers are giving me a little space before they start hinting. Ma and Pop know, I just haven’t gotten around to getting her to their house yet.”
“Why not? Ma loves when her boys bring home lovely people for them to meet.”
“I keep planning to take her to meet them, but it’s just one fuck up after another.”
“Just take her, it doesn’t have to be for Sunday Family dinner. Pick her up and take her over on a lunch break or one night during the week. You skipped how you met, tell me,” Hella demanded as she excepted her food and thanked the waitress.
“I told her to turn down her fucking music, and she tackled me, then almost got arrested by the cops.”
“She tackled you? Are you dating a Giantess?”
“No, she’s five-foot even.”
Hella choked as she laughed and cursed. “Oh shit, a fry went up my nose. Don’t do that to a girl when she’s eating. Love at first sight?”
“Yes.”
Hella’s face went blank, and her dark, exaggerated brows moved closer to the hairline of her blonde, purple-streaked wig.
“You’re joking right, you know—”
“I didn’t realize when I met her, but she’s different and fun, a bit psychotic.”
“I like her already.”
“I don’t have to pretend. We can laugh and have fun. I don’t have to be all smooth and debonair. Want to see her?”
“Of course, show me this paragon of psychoses.”
He leaned to the side and pulled his phone out, and he searched until he found the last picture he’d taken of her. Violet had been laughing and relaxed, he loved her sass and the way she didn’t take his shit, but his picture proved he could make her happy. That she didn’t always need to be angry and irritated, and that she could just be. He turned the screen for Hella to see.
“Fuck, Gio, she’s adorable.”
“Oh god, please don’t say that in her presence.”
“I’ll refrain, but understand I’ll be thinking it. You did good there, sweetie.”
“I did, didn’t I? She has this love of death metal to help her think. She was playing it and screaming along. I got so pissed that I ran out of the house when she was taking her trash to the curb. I called her woman and told her to turn down her fucking music. She took me out before I knew what was happening.” He smiled to himself as he put his phone back to sleep and returned it to his pocket.
“Have you told her yet?”
“You did call her a paragon of psychoses. I know she likes me and that I like her, but it’s sorta a weird situation. I don’t want to say it because I’m sure she’ll run hard and fast in the opposite direction.”
“You don’t know if you don’t try.”
He rolled his lips between his teeth, took a deep breath and sighed heavily through his mouth.
“I don’t know, my job and the limited time I’m able to spend with her.”
“Doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel the same as you. A lot of cops, firefighters, and EMTs have great and happy relationships. Y’all give up a lot to serve your communities. Put your lives on the line. That’s something to be respected. And for some reason, I know in my gut that she gets it. So, next time you’re able to spend time with her, tell her and take her to your parents. Show her you want to keep her around and that when you’re not with her, you’re still thinking and worrying about her.”
He nodded and drifted into silence as he let Hella eat. Maybe Hella was right, and he just needed to lay it all out. He was already worried that she was going to break up with him. If he did all the shit Hella suggested, then possibly it could end before he got too invested and dreamed of a future with Violet. This wasn’t some bullshit romance novel. It wasn’t all perfect and laid out. He wasn’t going to get love handed to him with some big red bow.
He didn’t want that. He wanted real. He wanted all those times they were silly like the morning after they’d had sex when they had laughed and joked. It felt right because it wasn’t mired down in the expectations of what a relationship should be between them.
He wrapped his hand around his mug of now cold coffee and brought it to his mouth.
“Gio, you’ll do the right thing, because that’s the kinda man you and your brothers are. But don’t forget that as much as you love your job, it’s not always going to be there and where will that leave you?”
“Thanks, Hella. I’ll bring Violet to the club to meet you one night. She’s going to love you.”
He liked the smile Hella gifted him with. He knew his friend’s life wasn’t easy, never had been, but Hella always lived in the positive. He wouldn’t deny he needed to have that attitude more than he did.