Bittersweet

~~ Heading in the Right Direction ~~

And if I told her, no doubt she would call him on it. They shared a daughter; and Jenna would think of her. I mean, who wants to find out the man they loved, brought a baby into the world together could be a violent sociopath and would stoop so low in hurting another person, because they'd been rejected?

Yeah, only someone who's twisted.

Which might then lead to Tony retaliating and going through with his custody threats, and I didn't doubt he could buy judges with our family's money.

So, I will bury his crimes and my guilt and hope to Christ that karma works its charms in the future.

What I could do though was push my father and Tony to cough up some money for Ileana's centre—an anonymous donation wouldn't hurt and actually go to doing some good although in no way would or could ever make up for the shit they'd done over the years.

Shutting the cooler door, I pushed all those negative thoughts to one side. I hummed along to Frank's; I've got you under my skin, only stopping when my phone buzzed. Reaching around to my back pocket, I yanked it free. My heart skipped a beat as I saw Jenna's number flash up. I reached over the sound system to turn the music down a little. "Hey baby." Baby? Would she mind being called baby?

"Hi Gabe."

"Everything okay?" I liked she was calling me during the day. Perhaps she missed me as much as I missed her?

"Yeah, all good. I was accepting stock of a boatload of peonies, lilies and roses for a wedding midweek and—"

I could tell she was smiling as she talked. She loved her flowers.

"And I was wondering if you were free for a few hours tonight? I know you need to be at the bar late on, but I could cook something. If you want to eat... together?"

Oh, I definitely wanted to eat. "You know I love to eat. What do you have in mind?" I deepened my tone.

"Me?" she said. "Oh god, I can't believe I just said that!"

Fuck. Me.  I hardened in an instant. "That's the best offer I've had, and I'll be honest and tell you you're the best thing I've ever tasted." I heard her sharp intake of breath.

"I'm sure that could be arranged." She paused, almost breathless. "Is there anything else you wanted to do?"

"Following eating ... you." Jenna remained quiet, holding her breath. "I'd like to strip you out whatever clothes you're wearing and fuck you senseless, in fact till you're screaming my name... like last night."

"Oh, oh god..." Releasing her held breath. "Can you be here by six?"  Her voice was slightly elevated but still as sexy as ever and never failed to turn me on. "I know you'll need to be back at the bar for ten?" She wasn't wrong. I couldn't leave them all night on their own.

"Six it is." I wanted to keep her on the phone awhile longer. "What else do you have planned today?"

"Hmm. I'm here for this delivery and then open up the shop. Frank should be here at ten and I'll then head over to the hospital and spend the day with Ava."

I rose from the floor with my phone still pressed to my ear to almost drop it as an almost naked woman appeared in my line of sight.

What the?

"Okay. Sounds like a plan. Give Ava a hug from me and have a great day and I'll see you at six."

"Okay, you too." she replied.

Still clutching my phone, I waited for the half naked woman to say something. "Can I help you?" I asked when I realised she wasn't gonna to speak first.