My Mafioso Boyfriend - Part 2

             
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

             
"Ugh, wha?" I slurred as I rolled over off of my pillow and spastically slapped at
the off button on my alarm clock until the wretched beeping quit. Sunlight was just
beginning to creep through the blinds, and it was definitely intruding. I pulled the
covers up over my head and groaned. My head was throbbing. Next time go a little easier
on the wine, I reminded myself. After I had laid there for a minute, I finally pulled
the covers back off of my face and rubbed my eyes. Slowly, I managed to crawl out
of bed and stagger into the living room, where I found that everything was just as
it had been left the night before. The two empty wine glasses still sat on the coffee
table, the little bit of red in the bottoms of them dried into a solid crust. Tony's
suit jacket was resting on the sofa, all rumpled up, and Tom had made himself at home,
curled lazily into a ball right on top of it. He meowed at me when I entered the room.

             
"Good morning, Tom," I grumbled, squinting at him. The sunlight was pouring more readily
into this room. I plopped myself down onto the couch next to the fat orange cat and
scratched him gently behind the ears as I struggled to wake up from my morning grogginess.
I began to think about the events of last night. I have to admit, I was kind of ashamed
of myself. The date itself was wonderful. I had never experienced anything quite like
that. To be more precise, I had never felt so important before in my life. And that,
I thought, was a very good feeling. The only sour spot was when I had stupidly asked
him about the newspaper article that Lacie had brought to my attention earlier that
morning. Even that, however, was merely a momentary awkwardness. Tony had handled
it with impressive grace, something he seemed to have quite the knack for. So, no,
the date wasn't the problem. The date was absolutely magical. The problem was that
it had escalated so quickly. I hadn't even meant to let it happen, but it was as if
I couldn't help myself. He was just too handsome. Too charming. And then of course
I got burned, just like I deserved. I sighed, painfully recalling all of the previous
nights details.

             
"Well, Tom," I said, stroking him under his furry orange chin, "at least he didn't
run out and leave me here with my panties around my ankles." Close enough though,
I thought. Close enough. At least I didn't have to go to work.

             
I ushered Tom off the wrinkled jacket and picked it up, holding it before me and shaking
it to get all of the fine little orange and white cat hairs to fall from it. I folded
it neatly and placed it on the table. He would be calling sooner or later to come
and get that back, surely.

             
The hangover slowly faded away as the day wore on, but not without my guzzling glass
after glass of water and what seemed like so many aspirins. I decided what I needed
to put the final nail in its coffin was something greasy, but upon a brief inspection
of my refrigerator it was clear that wasn't going to happen at my apartment. I threw
on some fresh clothes and headed out the door, down the stairwell, and into the street.
There was a pretty decent diner a couple blocks from my apartment, and now that my
nausea was fading, bacon and eggs were sounding pretty appetizing.

             
By the time I was sitting down in the diner and scarfing down my eggs and bacon, I
finally felt one hundred percent better. I was in the middle of carefully sipping
a piping hot cup of coffee when I heard my cell phone's ringtone carry its way up
out of my purse. That must be Tony, I thought. I tinge of excitement raced through
my body. I quickly plunged my hand into the purse and dug out the phone, only to see
Lacie's goofy face smiling at me from the screen. I sighed and answered it.

             
"Hello?"

             
"Hey, girl. You didn't listen to me, did you? You went out with him."

             
"Well... yes."

             
"I figured as much. So... how was it?"

             
"It was great. It really was. He came back up to my place afterwards and w..."

             
"You didn't!"

             
"I know, I know."

             
"Bad girl."

             
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway. So, he came up afterwards and things were going really well and
then he got this phone call and just up and left. Honestly, I don't know what to make
of it."

             
"Maybe he had to go whack someone."

             
"Come on."

             
"I'm just kidding."

             
"Alright, but look, I can't really talk right now. I'll see you at work on Monday."
That was a lie, but I really didn't feel like having that conversation at the moment.

             
"Okay then. See ya."

             
"Bye."

             
I hung the phone up and set it down on the table in front of me, staring at the empty
plate in front of me. She was joking, no doubt, but what if she was right? It was
a strange time of night to receive such a call. Especially for a guy in the waste
disposal business. Yet there he went, dropping everything to rush off. None of it
made any sense and all I wanted was for him to call me, anyway. I sighed, gathered
up my things, and went back home.

             
The rest of that day came and went, and my phone didn't so much as make a sound. Tony's
suit jacket stayed right where I had left it, folded up neatly on the table. The next
day turned out pretty much the same. I spent the whole day lazing about my apartment
with Tom, waiting on a phone call from the man who had completely spun me off of my
feet two nights before. Nothing, though. Not so much as a text message. I had to check
my phone several times throughout the day just to be sure that the battery hadn't
died on me, but of course that wasn't the case. Finally, as the sun was starting to
set, I became fed up. Honestly, the nerve of this man to just run out like that and
then not even call afterwards to explain. I snatched my phone up and went into the
recent calls list to find the number that he had dialed me from that morning at the
office. I waited patiently as it rang, and then heard that sweet manly voice of his
come across the receiver.

             
"This is Tony."

             
"Tony. It's Tara. I'm sorry if this is a bad time but..."

             
"Tara, baby. I'm so sorry I haven't called. There was a work related emergency and
a lot of fallout from it that we're still trying to get taken care of."

             
"What kind of emergency?"

             
"Well, you know... uh, one of the guys we got driving for us managed to crash one
of our trucks into a street light and tear everything up. One truck out of commission
can take whole neighborhoods off your grid, you know. It's been a real mess."

             
"Oh. That's awful." I was relieved to hear him explain it.

             
"I want to get together with you again real soon though."

             
"I'd like that too. Um, you left your jacket here."

             
"Oh yeah. I knew I had forgotten something. Can I stop by tomorrow to pick it up?"

             
"In the evening, yes. I'll be here."

             
"That's good. I'll see you tomorrow then."

             
"Alright, bye."

             
I hung the phone up and held it against my chest. Thank god that had resolved itself.
I was beginning to think that he was ignoring me. I guess I would just have to understand
that he is a man in a position that requires a certain level of responsibility from
him. It would be rude of me to expect him to completely ignore the demands of his
work just to keep from hurting my feelings. That night I slept easy.

             
The next day at work was hard to get through. Not only did I just want it to be over
with so badly, because I couldn't wait to see Tony again that night, but I also had
to deal with the constant jokes that Lacie came up with. Every time I checked the
clocked, it seemed that only 5 minutes had passed when it had felt like an hour. Eventually,
however, the whole thing did finally pass and I found myself at home, waiting for
Tony. I wasn't sure if he would call first or just show up, so I had prepared myself
just in case. The whole place was cleaned up and I was freshened up as well. I tugged
at the front of my shirt, trying to squeeze as much cleavage out of it as possible.
I did this obsessively every 15 or so minutes as the shirt began to slowly inch its
way back up to its natural position.

             
Eventually, I heard heavy steps coming up the stairwell. When they didn't stop at
the neighbors a flight down, I knew that they were headed up to my apartment at the
top. I tugged at my shirt once more and waited for the footsteps to stop and for the
doorbell to ring. When it did, I got up and slinked across the room to open it. Behind
the door, Tony was standing there looking as nice as he had the night he took me out
to dinner. He was wearing a different suit this time, dark gray with a subtle checked
pattern, but it was well fitted and pressed like the rest. He was wearing a broad
smile, and he had his hand outstretched, a glimmering pearl necklace dangling from
his fingers.

             
"I got you something," he said, grinning.

             
"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed. "Those are beautiful!"

             
It had been forever since anyone had gotten me a gift, much less a gift that that
appeared to be as expensive as the pearls that were hanging before my face. Even my
ex-boyfriend Jason, in the entire three years that we had dated, had never really
taken the time to get me anything. Not even a bouquet of flowers. This was just too
much.

             
"Try it on," he said, spinning me around and gently placing them around my neck and
clasping it in the back. He spun me back around and took a step back so that he could
see and nodded approvingly. "They're perfect for you. You should go take a look. Go
on."

             
I hurried of to the bathroom so that I could see myself in the bathroom mirror. They
did look absolutely gorgeous; there was no arguing about that. I could barely contain
my excitement. The attention alone was enough to make me blush. I came back out into
the living room and Tony was holding his folded up suit jacket, brushing a few stray
cat hairs from it.

             
"So, I hope you don't have any plans tonight," he said, looking up from the jacket.

             
"I was just going to be here all evening. Why? I'm not really prepared to go anywhere
fancy."

             
He laughed. "Oh no, nothing like that. I was just hoping I could stay for a while...
maybe pick up where we left off the other night?" He had a sly grin on his face and
he was looking at me with that unblinking piercing stare again, the one that was impossible
to look away from. It was like a tractor beam.

             
"I'm all out of wine, you know."

             
"That's alright. We'll make due. You got any good movies?"

             
"I have Netflix."

             
"Then it's settled. Quiet night with a nice movie. None of the lights or pretentious
food and smarmy people to schmooze about with. None of that nonsense. Just you and
me and some dim lamplight."

             
Tom made a half-grunt half-meowing sound from the back of the couch.

             
"And Tom." I said, as we both laughed.

             
"Oh," he began as the laughter quieted. "I need a favor of you."

             
"Yes?" I responded, caught off guard and a little confused and concern. What on earth
kind of favor could he possibly need from me?

             
He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and produced a thick stack of hundred
dollar bills. They were crisp, as if they had never been used at all, stacked perfectly,
and neatly wrapped off and held together with a ribbon of thin red paper. "Can I keep
this here for a while?"

             
"Um..." I said, not sure what to make of it.

             
"You don't have to do anything with it, I promise you. You can just forget it's even
here. It's nothing to worry about, really, I just don't feel comfortable keeping it
in the bank or at my place."