Page 82 of Meet Me in Montreal

“How is he?” Santino asked.

“Not good. Zoe’s been texting us both. Ranting. She’s losing it. I took his phone from him and shut it off. Hopefully, Mom won’t be needing to reach him until tomorrow morning.”

Vanessa bit her lip, suddenly thinking of Nadine and Everly. The shitstorm that was waiting as a result of all this…

“At the risk of sounding like a selfish dick, should I even ask about our Toronto plan?” Santino asked.

“I think we already know the answer to that. He didn’t leave me hanging when I was hurting, and I can’t leave him. If he’s still like this tomorrow morning, I’m going to see about getting him a seat on my plane in the afternoon, so he won’t have to go on the late flight with Zoe on Saturday.”

“We’ll work it out so the three of us can be on the same flight at least.” Santino cupped her face with his palm and kissed her. He pulled back slightly to look into her eyes. “We good,tesoro? After everything that fucking asshole said tonight —”

“I’m fine.” Vanessa pulled a small smile from somewhere and nodded slightly. Before she could replay Scott’s words in her head, before that critical inner bitch could come creeping out from the depths of her soul, she kissed him again with a soft press of her lips. “I’m really tired. We should get some sleep.”

They undressed quietly in the bathroom and Vanessa put her pajama set on. So much for the hot, lacy panties she’d slipped on only hours earlier, anticipating Santino pulling them off her with that wicked grin. Bobby was soundless on the couch, most likely already asleep, but any sort of sex was off the table while they could literally see him from the bed. Santino’s arm went around her waist. She drifted to sleep with him pressed along her backside and burrowed in, seeking comfort which he gave freely.

In the morning, she awoke to an empty bed and urgent talking in the living room. She sat up and peered through the vanity into the bathroom. No Santino. Out in the living room, Bobby was up, having put his shirt and pants back on. He was pacing and talking loudly on his phone.

“No, no, I said I’m coming over. I’m coming over there. I —” He paused to listen to the other person speaking, rubbing the short waves of his hair with agitation. “Look, I know, okay? But you have to —"

Confused, disoriented, Vanessa looked around, then back at her brother.

“Where’s Santino?”

Bobby kept pacing like he didn’t know she was even there, but then he went to the coffee table, picked up a note and shoved it into her hand.

“Went to work out, didn’t want to wake my sleepy. Be back with breakfast for me, you and B-Man. Love you.”

A sound of frustrated rage erupted from Bobby, making her jump.

“Ling.Ling,” he shouted into the phone. “Goddammit!”

“What the hell is going on now?” Vanessa demanded. “I thought Ling said not to call her anymore.”

“I just wanted to check on her and see if she was okay. She was crying when she picked up. She cursed me out and said Virgil went over to her house and broke it off last night. She blames me. He’s done with her because of me. I’m going over to her place to see her.”

Shocked (not shocked), Vanessa spluttered, “No, you’re not. If you should be talking to anybody right now, it should be your wife, not someone who already said she wants nothing to do with you.”

“Oh, please cut the bullshit, Van. You can’t stand Zoe. You’ve never liked her, and the feeling is mutual. I thought if we ever broke up, you’d be the first one to bust out the cake and champagne,” Bobby uttered sourly. While she stood there open-mouthed at the accusation, which happened to be true, he looked around, hunting the floor with his eyes. “What the fuck did you do with my shoes?”

“Okay, you got me. Zoe was never my favorite. But y’all have a baby to go home to.” Vanessa followed him from the living room to the closet near the front door, where he discovered his shoes with wild triumph on his face. “I don’t know if you’re having some kind of crisis, but why do it over someone you barely know? Like, stop for a minute and make it make sense. Is there something else going on? Is it the baby or work —?”

“I amnothaving acrisis,” he enunciated loudly. “Where are my keys?”

Vanessa raced to the bedroom while he started the search and hastily pulled on a top and a pair of shorts. No bra, boobs jiggling, hair in a fucked up half bun, she was just in time to see the front door swinging shut. Bobby had apparently found his car keys in her purse on the table.

There was no time to leave a note for Santino. She shoved her feet into her sneakers, grabbed the purse, and took off after her brother.

28

UNREQUITED LOVE

SANTINO

The next morning, Santino hit the gym first thing. He’d been slacking off, preferring to get in his morning workouts with Vanessa instead. But with Bobby in the suite that obviously had been impossible. From the look on Vanessa’s face last night, he highly doubted she would have wanted it, anyway. So here he was, sweating to a weight training session in hopes of getting out all the stress, if it was possible.

The entire time Malone was running his mouth, Santino had been itching to put his fist through it. Make the man eat some teeth along with his steak. He even hated the way he chewed. He hated even more that Malone had seen his weakness when he’d come to tell him to leave her the fuck alone.

But worse than the pity was how Malone’s words had torn Vanessa open. How he’d forced apart the tender petals of her soul, and exposed that dark, quiet place inside her where all her deepest insecurities dwelled.

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