Tommy Gabrini 3: Grace Under Fire (The Gabrini Men Series) Read online

  Tommy was astonished she would say such a thing. “This is her home!”

  “No. This is your home and has been your home long before we knew that woman even existed.”

  “Cut that shit out, Dee, you hear me? You’re my friend, one of my oldest friends, but she’s my wife. If I have to choose, she wins. Every time. So cut it out now.” He began heading for the front door just as his chauffeur was bringing in his luggage.

  “Off again, sir?” the chauffeur asked.

  “Yes,” Tommy said, as he pulled out his cell phone and called Grace again. It went straight to her Voice Mail again.

  Deena was floored. “Surely you aren’t going to leave me here alone? I’ve been here alone all evening, Tommy! And you’re just going to leave me too? Tommy!”

  But he kept walking out of the door, with his chauffeur fast on his heels. He did not look back.

  Grace heard the door of her apartment unlock and knew it had to be Tommy. He’d left her a text earlier stating that he was coming back in town and would deal with what he called The Deena Situation when he got there. But Grace wasn’t trying to hear that either. She didn’t want to deal with that woman at all. She just wanted her out of her home. Since Tommy made it clear that she had no say in that home, since he allowed Deena to stay the night despite her protestations, it was a moot point to Grace to hang around a moment longer.

  She was in her nightgown sitting up in bed, under the sheets, her back against the backboard. She had on her reading glasses, with a pile of papers on her lap that she was reviewing. The television was on, a rerun of Welcome to Sweetie Pies on OWN, but she was so distracted she couldn’t recall what was actually going on.

  Now Tommy was here. He called her name as he headed down the hall, and then he was standing at her bedroom door. He folded his arms and leaned against the jamb. She could tell, by that look on his face alone, that he was displeased.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “What is that woman doing there?”

  “She’s my friend, Grace. One of my oldest and dearest. She’s been staying at my house, whenever she comes to town, for years. I won’t allow her to stay in some hotel because you disprove.”

  “Oh, right. It’s all on me. She wasn’t rude to me. She wasn’t disrespectful. It’s all just a figment of my imagination.”

  “That’s not what I’m saying and you know it’s not. Deena is no prize, and yes she’s temperamental as hell, but she’s been there for me through thick and thin and I’m not going to mistreat her just because you don’t like her.”

  “Then fine. Let her stay there. I thought it was my home. I thought I had equal say in what went on in my home, but obviously I don’t. That’s probably why I didn’t give up this apartment when we first got married, and now I’m glad I didn’t. So she can take up residence there for all I care. I have a home.”

  “Yes, you do. Our home. Now get your things and let’s go.”

  Grace looked at him. Lately, it had been like a rollercoaster ride with Tommy. They’d have ups, then downs, ups, then downs. She was getting tired of it.

  “You heard me, Grace. Get your things and let’s go.”

  “Is she gone?”

  Tommy frowned. “Of course she’s not gone!”

  “Then I’m going nowhere. Nobody’s mistreating me in my own home and just because she’s some big name agent, or some old friend of yours, I’m supposed to stay there and take it. Because I’m not taking that. Not from you, not from her, not from anyone.”

  Tommy stared at her. Before Grace, whenever a woman gave him any trouble whatsoever, he’d dump her. Leave her alone for good. Never had to deal with it, never wanted to deal with it. Until Grace came along. Now he took it and took it. Now he was always worried sick about her. He was always concerned that he wasn’t good enough for her. She was exposing his vulnerabilities. And sometimes it angered him.

  “I’m not asking you again,” he said to her.

  Grace knew that tone. It was like the calm before the storm. But she wasn’t about to give in either. “When that woman leaves my house, then I’ll see about coming home. But while she’s there? No way. I don’t care what you say about that, Tommy. No way.”

  That did it. Tommy pushed from the doorjamb, hurried to his wife’s bed, and slung her out of bed by the catch of her arms, her papers flying wildly. “Put on some clothes now,” he ordered her, “and let’s go!”

  Grace felt the sting of his order, and she wasn’t so far gone that she didn’t understand that he was on the verge. But she wasn’t about to pretend that what he was doing was okay with her. “No,” she said to him. “You have got to choose, Tommy. Either it’s your old, dear friend, or it’s your wife. But it’s not going to be both of us!”

  “What are you talking about? She’s my friend!”

  “A friend you used to fuck I’m sure!”

  Any lesser man would have slapped her, and she knew it, but Tommy instead grabbed her by her arm and began dragging her out of that bedroom.

  “What are you doing?” she screamed.

  “We’re leaving,” he replied.

  “But I’m not dressed!”

  “No shit?”

  “Tommy! Tommy!”

  But he kept dragging her, down the hall, into her living area, and toward her front door. She was only able to pull away from him when she realized he wasn’t kidding and was about to drag her out of that door in her nightgown.

  She snatched away from him, her face filled with fury. “How can you let her come between us like this? Does she mean that much to you?”

  And it was only then did Tommy actually stop and see his wife’s distress. Because the answer was no. A resounding no. Compared to Grace, Deena didn’t mean shit to him. “It’s not about what she means to me,” he said.

  “Then what is it about? She treated me like a dog and that means nothing to you? You expect me to just take it, for old times’ sake? I love you, Tommy, and I don’t want to lose you, but I’ll walk out and stay out before I let you or her or anybody else mistreat me! I’m not living my life like that!”

  There was a time when tears would be in Grace’s eyes. Whenever they used to argue, she would always end up crying. But not this time. He didn’t see any tears at all. Just defiance. His girl, he realized, was growing up.

  He moved up to her, causing her to flinch, as if she was expecting him to inflict some physical pain on her. He, instead, placed his hands on either side of her arms. He began to rub her arms. “Some deal you got,” he said, “hooking up with me.”

  Grace stared at him. “I don’t agree with how you handled your friend Deena and her situation, but you’re a good husband, Tommy.”

  But he dismissed such praise. “I’m a good boyfriend,” he said. “I’m good if you want an open relationship. I excel at that. But this husband thing?” He tried to smile, but the pain was too raw. He, instead, shook his head. “I suck as a husband.”

  Grace smiled and placed her hand on the side of his face. This was the Tommy she knew and loved. This was the man who knew his strengths, but also was strong enough to admit his weaknesses. This was the side of himself that she knew he never showed to anyone, but her.

  “So what’s the game plan?” she asked.

  “It’s simple,” he said. “She goes.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Tonight. And you bring your narrow ass back home tonight.”

  Grace smiled. “She’s not going to like it.”

  “But you will.” Then his look turned introspective. “And from here on out, Grace, that’s all that can matter to me.”

  Grace’s heart soared. And he pulled her into his arms.

  But if they thought Deena Driscoll was not going to go gently into that good night, they were wrong. She was already packed and ready to leave when they returned. To Grace, it felt as if the fact that she had shown up and disrupted their home was all she was after. As if the disruption itself was the goal. Tommy would not have thought so, s
ince Deena was one of his dearest friends, but that was exactly how Grace felt.

  And Tommy, to Grace’s delight, made it clear. “No more drop-ins, Dee,” he said to his friend. “I care for you, and I always will, but Grace is my wife. The care I have for you will never be greater than the love I have for Grace. And you will respect that.”

  Deena nodded. “Yes, you know I will.”

  Grace was floored. She was behaving like a totally different woman around Tommy. She even looked at Grace and offered her apologies.

  “If I was in the least disrespectful,” she said with such a sweet smile, “then I do apologize. I can get overburdened sometimes and forget my manners.”

  “It was more than bad manners you forgot,” Grace pointed out. No way was this woman going to smile and minimize what she did just to pacify Tommy. “You weren’t just discourteous. You were rude and hateful and arrogant in the extreme. You may be putting on a good show for Tommy now, but you put on a hell of a show for me. With emphasis on the hell.”

  Deena laughed it off, and Tommy allowed her that face-saving gesture. But when she finally left their home, and Tommy pulled Grace back into his arms, Grace smiled. “That woman is probably calling me every name imaginable right now,” she said.

  “She is,” Tommy agreed. “And where is she calling you all of those names?”

  Grace laughed. “Outside,” she said.

  “Exactly,” Tommy agreed, and then, still hugging, they headed upstairs.

  EIGHT

  Tamara Morton slurped milkshake through her straw and shook her head. They’d been at it all afternoon. And her boyfriend was denying every accusation she hurled.

  “Believe whatever you want,” he said. “I told you what the deal is.”

  “So she’s not having your baby?”

  “That’s right!”

  “That DNA test she showed me is a lie?”

  “Damn right it is!”

  Tamara shook her head again. “You are so trifling,” she said. “You must take me for a pure fool.”

  They were in Happy Valley, Oregon, on the porch of her mother’s house, and the twenty-something lovers were trying to repair their disastrous relationship. But this new news, about yet another baby mama, was too much for Tamara to stomach.

  “When I get straight,” Bobby said, “I’ll take a real DNA test just to prove to you I’m not that baby’s father. I’ll be willing to do that for you.” But before she could cuss him out again, he became distracted. “Damn,” he said, “who’s that?”

  Tamara looked too as the dark red Ferrari stopped in front of her mother’s home.

  “Who is it?” Bobby asked again.

  But Tamara wasn’t trying to change the subject. “None of your business, Bobby. Just handle your own business!”

  “Who is it, Tam, stop playing with me?”

  Tamara exhaled. “That’s my half-sister and her husband, alright? Now can we get back to this girl?”

  But Bobby was doubtful. “What half-sister you got? You never mentioned any half-sister.”

  When Tommy stepped out of the driver’s side and began making his way to the passenger side of the car, Bobby frowned. “They’re white? Your half-sister white?”

  Tamara rolled her eyes. How in the world, she wondered, did she ever get hooked up with this idiot?

  Bobby smiled. “White man in a Ferrari. He must be rich.”

  “Duh,” Tamara said.

  “How rich?”

  Tamara frowned. “None of your business, what you worrying about that for? What about the bitch with the baby?”

  Nancy Morton, Grace’s mother, stood inside the screen door. “I thought I told you to call me when they arrived,” she said to her daughter.

  “I was going to call you,” Tamara said. “They just drove up anyway.”

  When Grace stepped out of the car, Bobby’s look changed. “She’s black,” he said. “I thought you said she was white.”

  Tamara was so up to here with that boy that she stood up and walked to the other side of the porch. She folded her arms.

  “What did I do?” Bobby wanted to know.

  “Nothing at all,” Tamara said. “You never do shit.”

  “Behave,” Nancy warned as her daughter and son-in-law began heading their way. Tommy had his hand in the small of Grace’s back and held her closely beside him. As if, Nancy felt, he wanted the world to know that she was his. And Grace. It was still amazing to Nancy how wonderful her oldest child looked. She had her yellow suit coat thrown across her arm as she stepped out in a pair of yellow pants and a sleeveless, tucked-in blouse, revealing her slender but curvaceous shape. She wore shades on her face and her hair was long and silky straight.

  And the fact that she was CEO of a company now, thanks to Tommy, was yet another amazement for Nancy. She knew her daughter was smart. She knew her ex-husband, Grace’s now-deceased father, would raise her right. But she never dreamed in a million years that it would lead to this level of success for her. Especially compared to the two daughters Nancy raised. They did nothing but give her constant grief. Especially when she looked at their choice of mates.

  Grace, on the other hand, was in the master class when it came to wrangling a good looking man. Tommy Gabrini. He wore his customary Armani suit and looked dashing and elegant, Nancy thought, as he walked with her daughter.

  But he was a cheater, Nancy also figured. He had to be. No man could possibly look as attractive as he did and not have women falling out of planes to be with him. Grace declared he was good and faithful to her, but Nancy wasn’t buying it, she didn’t care what Grace said.

  But he did marry her. That said a lot to Nancy. She may not have realized it herself, but her daughter had to be somebody special to get her hooks in a man like that.

  “Welcome to Oregon,” Nancy said with a smile as the couple made their way up the steps. She opened the screen door wider to let them in.

  Grace moved beyond Tommy and hurried to give her mother a hug. “Hi, Mom,” she said as they hugged. They still weren’t exactly close, but they had at least made a truce. Nancy and Tommy shook hands.

  Grace looked at Tamara. “Hey, Tam,” she said to her half-sister. They did not grow up around each other, as Grace lived in Seattle with her biological father and Tam lived with Nancy and Ralph Morton, Tam’s father. They barely knew each other. But they kept it cordial.

  “How you doing?” Tam asked.

  “I’m doing good, thanks.”

  “You all right?” Tommy asked Tam.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Is this the young man you were telling me about?” Grace asked.

  Bobby stood up and extended his hand. “Yeah, I’m Bobby,” he said.

  “You don’t know if you’re the one I was telling her about,” Tamara pointed out, prompting Grace and Tommy to laugh.

  “Whatever, girl,” Bobby said dismissively as he and Grace, and then he and Tommy, shook hands.

  “Where’s Ashley?” Grace asked her mother.

  “She moved to L.A.,” Nancy said. “Talking about she wants to be an actress.”

  “She might make it,” Tamara said defensively, angry by her mother’s lack of confidence in any of them.

  “Yeah, she’ll make it. And I’m Tina Turner. But come on inside. It’s so good to see you two again.”

  “We can’t stay, Ma,” Grace said. “We’re on our way to Eugene on some business, but we knew it would be late when we were passing back through. So we thought we’d drop by and say hello on our way there.”

  Nancy was slightly disappointed, but she maintained her smile. Some would say she abandoned Grace when Grace was a child, so she knew she should be grateful for any kind of relationship. “Well it’s good of you to come by. But you can come in for a few minutes at least,” she argued.

  Grace knew she and her mother had the kind of history where, the longer they hung around each other, the more tense their relationship became. She looked at Tommy.

  “We have
a few minutes,” he said, and they headed inside.

  They sat side by side on the sofa, declined anything to drink, and Nancy settled down in the flanking chair. She was a petite woman, attractive even in her fifties, with long brown hair and big brown eyes. She crossed her legs. “I heard the Gabrini Corporation is looking to merge with Beltco.”

  Tommy nodded. “That is correct.”

  “The FTC has given the go-ahead?”

  “We haven’t struck the deal yet,” Tommy said.

  “If you do, will the Trade Commission go along with it?”

  “We’ll see. As I said, no deal has been struck.”

  “Formality surely,” Nancy said. “At least that’s how the cable news channels have been covering it.”

  “You mean you trust the media?”

  Nancy laughed. “Point taken. So what business do you own in Eugene, Tommy? Or are you thinking about opening up a business there too?”

  “It’s Grace’s business, actually. I’m just tailing along.”

  “Yeah, right,” Grace said with a smile. “I’m looking to purchase business property over there, for our trucks, and Tommy’s more than just tailing along. He’s the chairman of my board. His input will be invaluable.”

  “So you’re still chairman? I thought she fired you a few weeks back.”

  Tommy laughed. “She did.”

  “Not really. I told you, Ma, I was just mad.”

  “Dogs get mad,” Nancy said. “Speak correctly.”

  Grace felt a flush of shame, but she didn’t let it show. And Nancy continued, as if she didn’t see it, either. But Tommy saw it. He knew how much Nancy had hurt her daughter when Nancy fell in love with a man who didn’t want to raise another man’s child. So Nancy turned Grace over to Grace’s father to raise. Thank God he did a wonderful job. But no thanks to Nancy.

  “How do you have time to run Trammel and the Gabrini Corporation too,” Nancy asked him, “with all of the businesses under that umbrella?”

  “He doesn’t have time,” Grace said. “He’s just helping me out.”