The Promise (The 'Burg #5)(42)

“Ben doesn’t have one!” Vinnie shouted back.

“What?” Theresa yelled in a borderline screech. “I got the noodles laid out! What am I supposed to do with noodles and sauce and cheese and no dish?”

I lifted a hand, curled it around Benny’s thigh, tucked my face in it, and snorted.

“Jesus, shit, I’ll go to the store,” Benny mumbled testily. I felt his thigh muscles tense in preparation to get up, even as I felt his hand glide to the back of my neck to nonverbally tell me he was getting up.

I lifted my head and looked up at him, grinning.

He was not grinning.

“It’s good you’re amused, babe, but this shit is not funny,” he stated right when the doorbell went.

I turned my head and aimed my eyes over the back of the couch.

“They’re here!” Theresa shrieked from the kitchen.

I lost purchase on Benny’s thigh, then I lost purchase on the couch when Benny lifted me up and set me on my sandals.

We turned and I saw Vinnie was already at the door, huge smile on his face, opening it.

Ben took my hand and started us toward the door when Theresa showed, arms up in the air, mouth shouting, “Happy day!”

I heard, “Uncle Vinnie! Aunt Theresa!” shouted back in teenaged girls voices, but I couldn’t see them.

Ben and I made it to the foyer and waited in it for a full three minutes while Theresa pushed out to the stoop and grabbed everyone’s face, jerking their head back and forth to give them kisses before they were allowed to come in to get handshakes (Cal) or hugs (Vi and the girls) from Vinnie.

I watched as Cal took his kisses from Theresa like he’d rather wrestle an alligator. But Vi gave her kisses back and a hug, and Vi’s gorgeous daughters acted like Theresa’s signature dramatic welcome was a delight the like they’d never experienced.

The girls hit the foyer and practically bowled Cal and their mother over to rush Benny, shouting, “Benny!”

He let me go just in time to get hit by them both. He went back on a foot, steadied, and put his arms around them, murmuring something I didn’t catch because I was completely drawn in by the scene.

This was because something about it didn’t strike me right. It was beautiful watching Ben give affection to Vi’s gorgeous girls, downright dazzling.

But I was under the impression that Vi and Cal were relatively new, so I wondered how the girls were so tight with everyone so quickly.

“Hey.” I heard.

I turned my head to see Vi close and I completely forgot about watching the dazzling display of Benny Bianchi giving affection to two young girls.

“Hey,” I replied, looking into Violet’s eyes.

I didn’t think about it, her visit, except to look forward to seeing her, like she was a close gal pal who lived a few hours away, and thus, we didn’t have cocktails every Friday night but instead had to make plans for special occasions.

Looking into her eyes right then, seeing her in normal circumstances for the first time ever, it hit me that the last time I saw her, Daniel Hart was pointing a gun to her head. The entire time I’d made her acquaintance, our lives were in danger or we were running for them.

Together.

She did not let me separate from her when it probably would have been prudent.

And I did not let her separate from me when it probably would have been prudent.

We’d stuck together.

And we’d made it through.

Looking at her beautiful face in the foyer of Ben’s home, I felt it happening, my face crumbling, as I watched it happen to her. And then we were in each other’s arms, holding close, so f**king tight, my face shoved in her neck, hers in mine.

“I’m sorry,” I cried into her neck, my voice thick and clogged, muffled by her hair.

“No, I’m sorry,” she cried into mine, her voice the same.

“I’m an idiot,” I told her, holding tight and still crying.

“I’m a dork,” she told me, holding tight and also still crying.

“No, you aren’t,” I blubbered.

“You aren’t either,” she blubbered back.

“Jesus.” I heard Cal mutter.

“Shut up, Joe,” Violet snapped but did it in my neck, not moving a centimeter away from me.

We just held on.

For my part, I held on because she felt good. She felt alive.

And we’d made it through.

Suddenly, Vi’s body jerked and she asked, “Am I hurting you?”

I lifted my head, she lifted hers, and we caught each other’s eyes.

“I’m fine,” I whispered.

“I’m glad,” she whispered back, and I knew she meant she was glad I was fine in more ways than just enduring her hug.

I smiled at her. She smiled back.

Seeing it, I felt my face start crumbling again, but I beat it back and gave her a shake. “You fine?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” she answered, then asked, “You wanna meet my girls?”

“Absolutely,” I answered.

Her smile came back and she kept hold of me with one arm but turned us toward her daughters. I swiped my hand on my face as I saw one girl was hanging on Cal. The other one was hanging on Benny. Both had eyes to their mother and me and both sets of eyes were wet.

“Katy, Keirry, come here and meet Frankie,” she urged.