Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

Anthony fought the need to yell at everyone in the office. Every one of them had been asses all day long. Now, he was dealing with DC and their asinine forms.

“It isn’t my fault you can’t find your ass from a hole in the ground, Donaldson. I’ll fill it out again, but since you waited until the last day to actually fucking look for it, you can wait.”

With that he slammed the phone down.

“Well, thank God you never wanted to be a diplomat.”

He turned and found his father standing just a few feet away, a smile curving his lips. He was wearing a newly bought Hawaiian shirt, and his skin had darkened in the last few days.

“Hey, Dad. I didn’t know you were stopping by.”

“Your mother thought maybe I should have a talk with you, and since we’re planning on going home tomorrow, I figured today was a good day.”

He nodded. “Let’s go outside.”

Once they were outside, his father looked out over the scenery.

“This is a nice place to work.”

He nodded. “Not bad.”

“But then, you have a woman like Lalani, it doesn’t matter where you live.”

He said nothing to that. He couldn’t. Sometime during his irritation in the last few days, he realized he might have made a mistake. He just didn’t know how to fix it.

“Tell me what you did, and I can help you with it.”

He shrugged. “I accused her of something that she might not have been doing.”

Anthony felt his father’s study, so he turned to face him.

“Grovel.”

“What?”

“Get on your knees and beg her to take you back.”

He knew that was what it would take, but that wasn’t what he truly feared.

“What if I’m not wrong?”

His father shook his head. “Doesn’t really matter.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Let me ask you this. If what you think she did was true, do you want to live without her? Is it that unforgiveable?”

“And I might be wrong.”

“What do you think she did?”

“She might be making plans to move back to New York.”

His father’s eyebrows rose. “No way.”

“I read a card from a friend saying he couldn’t wait until she got back.”

It was his father’s turn to shrug. “I’m not sure it’s true, but did you tell her why you were upset? Did you tell her that you loved her?”

“No.”

“Well, then that’s on you.”

“How did you know?”

“That you love her?” Anthony nodded. “I watched you watch her dance.”

He groaned. “I was that transparent?”

He nodded. “But maybe just to me. See, I know the feeling.”

Anthony nodded. “Yeah. But what do I do?”

“I told you. Grovel. Beg her to take you back. Don’t overthink it. Doing that made me almost lose your mother, and I would be lost without her.”

“Okay. Where’s Mom?”

“With Alana. She wanted more time with Jon before she left. Fix it before tomorrow, or we could be stuck here forever. She’s not leaving without you being happy.”

That sounded like a nightmare. “Gotcha.”

He watched his father walk across the parking lot, then turned to go back inside. His boss was standing there.

“Go home.”

“What?”

“Go home. We don’t want to deal with your problems. Call it a mental health day and fix it.”

“Were you listening to a private conversation?”

He cracked a smile. “No, but I have complaints from everyone. Go fix whatever is wrong, and don’t come back until you can get it right or worked out of your system.”

With irritation, he shook his head and followed his boss in. He needed to shut down his computer, grab his car keys and then, he needed to find Lalani.

Hopefully, he hadn’t upset her too much.

Lalani pulled into Alana’s driveway and frowned. There was a rental car there. Dammit , if the Santinis were there, she was going to shoot her friend. Well, not really, but she could not deal with the pain of seeing his parents. Alana had promised Anthony was working that Monday. When she had finally pulled the story out of Lalani, Alana had insisted on coming to see her. Knowing Alana was feeling horrible thanks to swollen ankles and last trimester blues, Lalani had offered to come over.

It showed how much she loved her friend. Only her need to take care of Alana had pulled her out of the apartment. She had slept for most of the last three days. And cried. She had cried a lot. That pissed her off more than anything else. She had promised herself never to cry over another man.

She parked beside the rental—which was a convertible, of course—and she slipped out of her car.

Alana had the door open before Lalani had made it to the front step. “I tried calling. They stopped by because they are worried about Anthony.”

Of course they were. Who knew what the ass was up to? He had stormed off Friday night, and she had not heard from him all weekend.

“I think they should have worried about him earlier in life. Maybe they could have fixed him. Or maybe dropping him on his head ten times was a bad idea. Now he’s a lost cause.”

“I agree with you,” Marcella said.

She turned and found Anthony’s mother approaching her from the cottage. Damn. Just her luck. It was bad enough that she felt lower than dirt for mocking her son, but Lalani knew she looked a mess. She hadn’t had much sleep in the last few days, and she hadn’t really showered. Here was Marcella walking toward her looking as if she had been on a relaxing vacation. Of course, she had been, but it didn’t make Lalani feel any better.

“Oh, don’t look embarrassed. I know my son has been an ass. Every Santini is before you tame them.”

She didn’t say anything to that. What could she say to the mother of the man who broke her heart?

“Alana, dear, why don’t you go put your feet up? You need rest.”

Marcella worded it as a question, but Lalani heard the authority beneath it. Alana apparently had no problems abandoning her.

“That sounds lovely.”

Then they were standing there in the driveway, staring at each other. “So, Anthony is being difficult?”

“That man was probably born difficult.”

The moment the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.

Marcella laughed. “He was difficult before he was born. I had the worst case of morning sickness.”

“I can believe that.”

“Oh, I like you.”

“Thanks.”

“Now, don’t get snotty. Listen, as women, we have to stick together, but let me give you a little help. Anthony has a temper on him. It has been something he’s fought hard to control, but the only time he lets it get out of hand is when he is hurting. That, or someone he loves is hurt. He cannot stand for his brothers or sisters to be hurt physically or emotionally.”

“Listen, Mrs. Santini—”

“Don’t be like that. Let’s go sit down on the stoop.”

She followed Anthony’s mother, and they both settled down. She heard Jon laughing and knew that Marco and Tony were keeping him occupied for the time being.

“I always worried about him. I always thought it was because he was my first born, but it was more than that. Anthony is the most like his father. I guess it makes sense being the oldest, but from a young age, he plotted everything out. It wasn’t that he was careful, but well…you could call him kind of anal.”

She snorted.

“Ah, yes. That temper wrecked havoc on him for a while, but he got it under control. I guess it is that way with military brats . He couldn’t control his life, or when his father would be home, but he could control other things.”

“I understand that.”

“I knew you would. With Anthony, well, he goes to the extreme when things are very important to him. You are very important to him.”

“He has a funny way of showing it. The fight was stupid, but he just walked out.”

Marcella nodded as she looked out over the lawn. “I can see that because he has a temper and says things he shouldn’t when he’s mad. Unfortunately, the more he cares, the worse he can be. And, even though he was angry and hurt, he left so he didn’t say anything to hurt you. It was stupid, but well, he is a man. They are the lesser sex.”

A bubble of laughter escaped.

Marcella took her hand. “Please, give him another chance. He’s an ass, but he adores you. If you could have seen the way he looked as he watched you dance…he loves you. Remember that he needs forgiveness. Just make sure you make him beg a little.”

“I will if he ever talks to me again.”

“I think you’re about to get your chance.” Marcella nodded to something behind her, and she saw Anthony pulling into the driveway.

He got out of his truck and slammed the door. With a dark frown, he strode in her direction.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

She heard his mother sigh.

Lalani remembered Marcella’s advice and stood up. “None of your damned business.”

Secretly hoping he would follow, she walked away toward the back of Alana’s house. She was placing her bets and hoping they would both win the hand.