Later that night, Trina was sitting up in bed, her iPad on her lap, as she reviewed the accounts receivables for Champagne’s Clothing Boutique.  She wore reading glasses and was in her nightgown, and was typing in comments as she reviewed each spreadsheet, when Jimmy came in and laid across the bottom of the bed with a plop, as if he was truly exhausted.

“Where have you been?” Trina asked.

“A pickup basketball game,” Jimmy said.  “But that’s not what tired me out.  Having to babysit your children earlier today did me in.”

Trina laughed.

“You have some grown-ass children, Ma.”

Trina laughed again.  “They don’t make’em like you anymore, Jimmy.  You broke the mole.”

Jimmy felt good.  “I guess so!” he said.

Trina looked at him.  “You miss Madison, don’t you?”  Madison was Jimmy’s little girl.

Jimmy nodded.  “I do, yeah,” he said.  “Very much.  But she’s with her grandfather, so I’m okay with that.”

“What’s Val up to these days?”

“Lord only knows!  Buddy said he hasn’t even seen her in a while.”

“Maddie still asks about her?”

“Sometimes.  But not nearly as much as she used to.  I think she’s over her.”

Trina frowned.  “Don’t be ridiculous, Jimmy.  That child will never get over her mother.  And she never should!  Val is her mother whether we like it or not.  Maddie loves her mother, and you can’t ever forget that.”

“I know.  I guess it’s just wishful thinking on my part.”

Trina smiled.  Jimmy had grown up!  “I hear you,” she said.

“Oprah’s doing much better,” Jimmy said.  “I also spent some time with her.”

“Yeah, I’ve been keeping in touch with her, too.”

“But I worry about her, Ma,” Jimmy said.

“In what way, Jim?”

“Her face. She says she looks deformed.  Even after all of those plastic surgeons Dad paid for on her behalf, she knows she looks nowhere near like she used to look.”

Trina studied Jimmy.  Was he vain like that, or was he going to stand by Oprah?  “How do you feel about it?” she asked him.

“About her face, you mean?”

“Yeah.  How are you handling it?”

“I’m handling it just fine.  I mean, in a crazy way, her terrible accident kind of woke me up.”

“In what way?”

“I was liking Oprah before that fateful day, but I just wasn’t certain that she was the one for me.  It was like I wanted to play the field still, you know?”

Trina nodded.  She knew.

“But after that accident, and after I saw the awful toll it took on her face especially, it was like I fell in love with her even deeper.  I thought I was going to lose her, and it terrified me.  Now her scars are like my scars, you know?  When I see her, I don’t see all the deformity the world might see.  I see beauty only.”

Trina was staring at Jimmy.  At his incredible maturity, given the kid he used to be.

“Oprah and I were looking at this movie the other night.  It was called the Enchanted Cottage.”

Trina shook her head.  “Never heard of it.”

“It’s an old movie.  It’s so old that it starred Robert Young, who used to play Marcus Welby, MD, on TV.”

Trina laughed.  “Oh, you’re talking really old!”

“Yes, ma’am.  But it was a wonderful movie.  It was about these two ugly people.  One was a maid, and was an ex-GI.  They were ugly to the world and to themselves, but the more they liked each other, the less ugly they became to each other.  And then, they were beautiful.  They no longer were ugly.”

“A kind of play on beauty is in the eye of the beholder?” Trina asked.

Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, like that.  But that’s how I feel when I see Oprah.  I don’t see ugly.  I see a hot, beautiful girl.  Scars and all.”

Trina smiled.  “Good, Jimmy.  She needs you.”

“But I need her more,” Jimmy said.

Trina felt it to the depths of her soul.  “Good,” she said.

Then Jimmy lifted onto his elbow and rested his head onto his hand.  He looked at Trina.  “Sure you’re okay, Ma?” he asked her.

“Yeah, I’m good.  The cops are saying it was a drunk driver.  Your father doesn’t believe that, of course, but he’s having that driver checked out thoroughly.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Jimmy said.

Trina looked at him.  “Then what do you mean?” she asked.  And then she realized what.  She looked back at her iPad.  “We had a good afternoon, Jimmy.”

“Beyond this one good afternoon,” Jimmy said.

Trina hesitated.  “I’m not great, no, but I’ll be okay.”

“Why couldn’t he spend the rest of the evening with you? Just for once?  How could he leave you at a time like this?  I couldn’t believe it when I saw him downstairs working.”

“Reno is a workaholic.  That’s who I married.  That’s who he’s always been.  His decision to go back to work should not have been any surprise to anyone.  Least of all me.”

“But?”

“No but,” Trina said.  She had issues with Reno, major issues, but she wasn’t about to share them with Reno’s son, with her stepson.  That wasn’t his lane.

But that didn’t stop Jimmy from driving in and out of that lane effortlessly.  “I wish Dad would cherish you more.  Like he used to do.”

“Nothing stays the same, Jimmy.  People change.  Relationships change.  But we’ll work through it.  And Reno does cherish me.”

Jimmy looked at her.  “He cherishes the PaLargio more,” he said.

“Of course he does!”  Trina said with a smile.  “That hasn’t changed, either.”

“What hasn’t changed either?”

It was Reno’s voice.  Trina and Jimmy both looked up.  Reno was standing in the doorjamb.

“Hey, Dad,” Jimmy said.

“What haven’t changed either?” Reno asked.

Jimmy didn’t hesitate.  He used to be unable to stand up to his father.  Now he could, within reason.  “The fact that you seem to cherish the PaLargio more than you cherish Ma,” he said.

Reno pushed from the doorjamb and began heading further into the room.  Trina could tell by his slowed gait that he was tired.  “Whoever believes that is a fool,” Reno said.

Jimmy was about to challenge that statement, but Trina shook her head.  Nobody won an argument with Reno.  It wasn’t going to happen.

“Anyway,” Jimmy said, getting up from the bed, “I’d better go get me some rest.  I’ll drop by in the morning, Ma.”

“Okay, thanks, Jimmy.  And thanks for keeping the children earlier.”

“My pleasure,” he said.  “I think.”

Trina smiled.

“Bye, Pop,” Jimmy said, Reno grunted his goodbye, and Jimmy left.

Trina began to stare at Reno.

Reno, who was slowly taking off his clothes, could feel her stare.  He looked at her after removing his shirt.  “What?” he asked her.   “Don’t tell me you believe that shit too.”

Trina didn’t understand.  “What shit?”

“That I don’t cherish you enough.”

“Oh,” Trina said.

Reno waited for her to rebuke it.  But she didn’t.  “If that’s not it,” he said, “then what are you staring at me for?  What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing?” Reno asked her.  “What is it, Tree?”

Trina decided to come clean.  “It’s only ten at night,” she said.

“Yeah, so?”

“You’ve never come home this early in a long time.”

Reno stared at her.

“What gives?” Trina asked.

“I was working, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you.  I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Trina smiled.

Reno stepped out of his pants and boxers.  He was naked now.  He walked over to her.  She saw his dick jangling as he walked, and she began to get hot.

He placed his hand around her shoulder.  “You’re okay?” he asked her.

She looked up at him through her reading glasses.  Looking so studious, he thought.  “I’m okay, Reno,” she said.

“No aches or pains?” he asked.

“No. Nothing like that.”

Reno stared in her eyes.  They’ve had many close calls in their marriage, but what Trina didn’t know was how deeply those calls were affecting him now.  He used to easily recover.  They were Gabrinis and danger, unfortunately, went with the territory.  But when that danger involved Trina especially, for some reason, it did something to him.  It frightened him more.  And the thought that there might be a bigger issue involved, didn’t help matters either.

He leaned down and kissed her on the lips.  He closed his eyes and enjoyed her taste.  He had to taste more of her, top and bottom, and he had to taste her tonight.  “I’m going to hop in the shower,” he said.

“Okay,” she said.  She completely understood why he told her that.  He was making it clear he wasn’t just taking a shower.  He was cleaning up for her.  “I already took mine,” she said.

“I’ll just be a few minutes,” he said, kissed her again, peck-style, and headed for the en-suite.  “Talking about I don’t cherish my wife.  Bullshit,” he said, as he carried his fine body, Trina thought, into the bathroom.

And Trina smiled.  This was the Reno she loved with all her heart!  This was her man.

But she didn’t sit idly by reminiscing about how much she still loved Reno.  She got ready.  She shut down her iPad, removed her glasses, and placed both on her nightstand.  And then she got up and began putting away Reno’s clothes.  He never cleaned up after himself.  Not ever!  But sometimes, like now, it was Trina’s pleasure to clean up his dirty draws.

When she finished, and had put everything where it belonged, including the dirty clothes in the laundry chute, she got under the covers and waited.  And thought about her husband.

Reno was so contradictory that it sometimes made her feel selfish about her need for more of him.  Because when he gave himself to her, it was a powerful give.  And when he didn’t give himself at all to her, because of his business schedule and general neglectfulness, it was a powerful take.  She had to remember the good times to be able to handle the bad.  But as she got older, it was becoming a tougher balancing act.  She wanted more of Reno, she couldn’t lie to herself.  She wanted more nights like this!

She knew she might be in a fool’s paradise.  She knew Reno could be home early, not because he missed her and wanted to be with her, but because she nearly died earlier and it spooked him into caring more.  That was in the back of her mind.  But in the forefront of her mind was just Reno.  The man she loved.  And she wasn’t going to mess that up.

That was why, when Reno got out of the shower and hopped his naked, sexy ass under the covers beside her, she got on top of him.

Reno smiled.  He loved when Trina was the aggressor.  “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked her.  His hands moved under her gown and began to squeeze her butt cheeks.

Trina smiled too, especially when she felt his big hands on her ass.  “What do you mean?” she asked him.  “Can’t a lady lay on her man?”

“Sure you can.  All day long,” Reno said and they both chuckled.  “But that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Trina was genuinely lost.  “What are you talking about?” she asked him.

“I’m talking about this body armor you’re wearing.”

“This what?” she asked, and then she realized what.  She laughed.  “Oh, Reno!”

“Oh, Reno my ass!” he responded as she lifted her body slightly and he removed her gown completely.  He tossed it onto the floor.  “I told you about putting that shit on.”

“And what if I hadn’t put it on and Jimmy showed up?” she asked him.  “What if that would have happened, Mister Genius?  You know he has an aversion to knocking.”

“Yeah, well, he’d better get that aversion fixed,” Reno said, and Trina laughed.

Reno, with Trina completely naked, wrapped her in his arms and eyed her gorgeous mouth.  “I don’t want any obstacles in my way when I want you.  You hear me?”

“I hear you,” Trina said.

But before she could say more, Reno captured her mouth with his and began kissing her long and hard.

But then Trina was about to move down the length of his body, to suck his dick, but he stopped her.  “Turn around,” he said to her.

Trina knew what he meant, and she smiled.  The only thing better than giving Reno head, was when he gave it to her.

She turned her body around, to where she was still laying on top of him but her face was down at his thighs, and her ass was in Reno’s face.  And as she jerked on and sucked Reno’s penis, he licked and sucked her pussy.  They made oral love to each other.

Until Reno couldn’t hold on much longer, and he told her to sit up.  She sat up, and then he laid her down, with her back against his stomach, still on top of him.  Then he pushed his dick deep inside of her, and she made a hard inhale that took her breath away.  If Reno’s oral felt good to her, his dick felt even better.  And when he started stroking her, she closed her eyes, placed one hand around the back of his head, and enjoyed the ride.

He fucked her with slashing strokes.   He was in a rhythm that was as steady as it was unrelenting.  He pushed in and out, holding her tightly, until it felt like a dance to Trina.  Her small feet were resting on his knees; her legs were open wide; and he was pounding her so hard that the rest of her body was bouncing.

Her organism came after nearly fifteen minutes of his wonderfully punishing blows.  And her cum was as hard as his pounding.  She lifted her body, as if the intensity caused her to want to lift his dick out of her, but Reno would have none of that.  He pounded harder.

And then he came.  Even harder than Trina had cum.  He came so hard, and with such ferocity, that he felt his heartbeat quicken.  He released with an outpour that drenched Trina’s vagina.

He released until he was as dry as he had made her wet.

Until all that was left of both of their cums were pulsations, and sensations, all over their satiated bodies.

 

And much later, as they laid in each other’s arms, and just before Reno fell asleep, he told her about the note.

She looked at him.  “Why would somebody send you a note like that?” she asked him.

“We thought it was a prank.  We had been getting one a week for the last few months, and nothing ever became of it.  Operation PaLargio was what they called it.  But then that shit happened today with that so-called drunk driver, and we got another note today, so that changed the equation.”

“You think it’s related?” Trina asked him.

“I don’t know,” Reno said.  His eyes were closed as tiredness was overtaking him.

“But you’re taking the note you got today more seriously?”

“We took all those other notes seriously too,” he said.  “But there was nothing to track down and, like I said, nothing became of it.”

“That’s why you didn’t mention it to me?” Trina asked him.  “Why didn’t you mention it to me?”

Reno thought about that lunch date she had with Alex Drakos, and how she had yet to mention that to him.  “The same reason you don’t tell me everything, either,” he said.  Then he looked at her.  “There’s nothing to tell at the time.  It changed today, so I brought it to your attention.  I’ll have increased security on you and the children until I get a better read on it, and if there’s a connection.”

“What did Stef say?  Any more information on the driver?”

“Everything still checks out on him.  No mob ties.  No gang activity.  Not even an arrest record for jaywalking.  He’s a gambler and a drinker.  That’s all we have.”

“So the police theory might be right then?”

“It might be.  Or not,” Reno said.  “But I won’t know until I know.”

“Right.”

“And then I’ll tell you,” Reno added.

Trina knew she had to talk to Reno about Alex’s offer.  And she also knew how difficult a conversation it was going to be.  But she knew she had to tell him.

She looked at him.  She wanted to see if his big, blue eyes were inviting, or foreboding as they sometimes could be.

They weren’t neither.  Because Reno, just like that, had dozed off.  He was asleep.  He even began to snore as she stared at him.

Tomorrow, she said to herself.  There were no two ways about it.  Alex gave her a week, but that was really very little time.  She would have to tell him tomorrow.