Beautiful Life: The Carpino Series Read online

  That’s when it happened. Every man in the room, minus Jude since he still looks like he’s in cookie confusion, descends upon petite little Paige. They’re even bumping the little kids out of the way to get to the cookies.

  Wow. What is up with these people?

  “Carpinos and Carpino in-laws!” Lizzie shouts, as she cradles her six week old granddaughter in her arms. “Can you not wait until we give the blessing and have dinner first? The cookies are for dessert! Foolish men. You act like you’ll never see another pumpkin cookie.”

  That’s when Tony shows up at my side with a half-eaten cookie in one hand, chewing a mouth full of cookie and a whole cookie in the other. He shoves the full cookie my way as he swallows and says gently, “Here. You won’t want to miss this. Heaven in the form of a cookie.”

  I pull in a breath, thinking I’ll never get used to him calling me gem and try to pull it together. Thinking of nothing but trying to escape more Tony Torture, I say as he pops the rest of his cookie into his mouth to inhale, “As popular as they seem, I’m fine. You really seem to like them, you should eat it.”

  What he does not do is eat the cookie, but leans closer to say, “Did you not see me battle that cookie brawl to win you this cookie? I know you like sweets, Leigh. Eat the cookie.”

  “Really. I’m fine,” I say, through clenched teeth. He just doesn’t listen.

  “Gem,” he starts as he closes the space between us. His empty hand goes to my hip, up my lower back and he surprises me by pulling my front to his, but the cookie is still held up in between us in his fingers. He continues, “Eat the cookie.”

  If for no other reason than to get him to leave me alone and get out of my personal space, I snatch the cookie out of his hand and take a bite. Then I feel my eyes widen.

  Wow, again.

  This is the best cookie I’ve ever tasted!

  “What is in this?” I ask with my mouth full, realizing Tony hasn’t let me go and my bottom half is still plastered to his bottom half.

  “I have no idea,” Tony returns but doesn’t move even an inch. “Paige is a pain in my ass but she’s a wizard in the kitchen. She’s been making these since she was a teenager.”

  Something about the magical pumpkin cookie makes me relax a bit and I barely smile while saying, “Now I see what all the fuss is about. I think I have a new favorite cookie.”

  Tony’s eyes sweep my face. His other arm comes around me and his demeanor becomes intense. His voice dips and he says with meaning, “I’ll pay her to make you more. I’d pay a mint to see that look on your face again.” Then he leans in to kiss my forehead and turns to walk away.

  I sigh and close my eyes, feeling even more worn down from Tony Torture. Opening my eyes to see my half eaten cookie, I decide to focus on my new favorite cookie and not think about it now.

  I’ll think about it later.

  *****

  Honestly.

  How did this happen?

  There are at least three hundred (slight exaggeration) Carpinos here. How did I get seated here? I thought I would sit next to Gabby since I’m her guest, but nope, I’m seated at the kid table. Right smack dab next to Tony. A-gain!

  I mean, really.

  And we’re squished in here tight. Like sardines. Tony and I are seated with nine other miniature Carpinos, ranging in age between William who’s fourteen down to little Chloe who is only three years old. The only thing I can be thankful for at this Thanksgiving table is Chloe. She’s sitting on the other side of me and talks constantly so I’ve kept busy chatting it up with a three year old, ignoring the fact the entire side of Tony’s body is plastered up next to mine.

  “Tell me something,” I ask conversationally toward the end of our meal as I pick up my place card that is misspelled and written in crayon with a heart next to it. “Who decides the seating arrangements?”

  “We all do,” answers four year old Cayden with a mouth full of turkey while pushing a feather out of his face. He’s dressed up as an Indian but he’s molting as the feathers are falling out of his headdress.

  “I see, Kemosabe,” I say while bowing my head and grinning at him.

  “My name isn’t Kemosabe. That’s stupid. My name is Running with Knives. That’s a tough Indian name,” he returns with four year old little boy attitude.

  “You shouldn’t run with knives, it’s dangerous,” I add just because I’m an adult and feel it’s my duty. However this doesn’t answer my question, so I forge ahead as nonchalantly as possible at the kid table, “Okay then, I have another question. Why are Tony and I sitting at the kid table?”

  “Tony always sits at the kid table,” eight year old Madelyn informs me.

  “You have pretty hair!” Chloe yells, even though I’m sitting right next to her.

  “Thanks, you have pretty hair, too.” I then turn to Tony asking, “You always sit at the kid table?”

  He nods, wipes his mouth and while picking up his wine he says, “Well, it’s more fun than the adult table, don’t you think? And I am their favorite uncle,” he adds while shrugging his shoulders, rather arrogantly I must say.

  “Okay… why am I here?” I ask the table as a whole, hoping to finally get an answer.

  “Uncle Tony paid us five dollars each to put you here,” six year old Noah says, finally giving up the information I’m looking for.

  “Can I try on your shoes?” Chloe yells from beside me as she pushes her chair back to look under the table at my feet.

  Not having the headspace to deal with Chloe at this moment, my shocked face turns back to Tony and look straight into his almost black eyes to hiss, “Why would you do that?”

  “Gem,” he starts quietly as he takes his arm out that’s pressed in between us and curls it around my shoulders. He pulls me in tight against him at the same time I feel Chloe pulling off my shoes, “I would pay triple what I paid if it meant I got to sit here and see you relax while talking to a bunch of kids about nothing. It’s the most relaxed I’ve seen you in years. I got to see you smile, repeatedly. You even laughed three times. I counted. That’s what I get to be thankful for today, even if I had to pay for it.”

  “I knew he would have paid more,” Emily mutters. “Five dollars is lame. You can’t buy anything with five dollars.”

  I cannot believe him.

  Now what do I do? I turn to face the table and feel Tony’s thumb brushing against my far bicep since he still has his arm around me while Chloe is under the table pulling off my shoes. All of a sudden, I see my wine glass in front of my face and Tony says gently, “Happy Thanksgiving.”

  I turn to him, give him a glare and grab my glass. I’m taking a big gulp as I hear my name yelled from the adult table.

  “Leigh?” I wedge myself around in my little space as well as I can with my cast, not to mention being pressed up next to Tony, and see Gabby’s Aunt Lizzie turned in hers. “I’ll be here tomorrow at two to take you to your doctor appointment. Will that give us enough time?”

  Tomorrow is the day I get my cast off and I can’t wait. It’s been a long six weeks. I feel like this is the first step toward getting me back to me. I even have some interviews set up next week at the hospital. It’s been three years since I’ve worked. I loved nursing and being able to concentrate fully on other people. Hopefully it will allow me to get my mind off of everything.

  But Gabby and Jude are flying to Colorado tomorrow to spend some time with his family. Jude has a cabin in the mountains where they will celebrate Thanksgiving again with his side. I’ll be here by myself for the first time since I moved in. I’m not worried, but all the Carpinos are making a big deal about it. Gabby’s Aunt Emma even wanted me to stay with them for the weekend but I insisted it’s time I stay by myself.

  “I hate to burden you, Lizzie. I really can go by myself,” I answer, trying one more time to convince them I don’t need the help.

  “What do you have tomorrow?” Tony interrupts.

  “It’s not a problem, Leigh. I’ll be u
p early to shop Black Friday, I’ll swing by to get you. I’m sure you can’t wait to get that cast off,” Lizzie continues.

  “You get the cast off tomorrow?” Tony asks, butting in again.

  I close my eyes and sigh one more time. Before I can say anything else I hear Tony, but he’s speaking to his mother this time, “I’m off tomorrow. I’ll take her. That way you can shop all day.”

  “Maybe we can hit some of the Black Friday sales when we get to Denver tomorrow,” I hear Gabby join in.

  “No,” is Jude’s response.

  “Please? I need to start my Christmas Shopping,” she adds.

  I see Jude pull her in for a kiss before he repeats, “Babe. No.”

  I hear a “humph” from Gabby and then Lizzie says loudly, “Thanks, Tony. I don’t want her to go by herself.”

  I look back to Tony and reiterate, “I don’t need you to take me. I’ll be fine.”

  Tony leans in and puts his lips to my ear, “Your almost ex-husband is out on bail. He’s proved how many ways he’s willing to be an asshole. You’re not going by yourself. You think after what happened to Gabby and what’s already happened to you, anyone here wants you by yourself? Be ready at two. After your appointment, I’ll take you to dinner. We’ll have something to celebrate.”

  His lips at my ear make me shiver a bit so I lean back to create some space between us and look at him. Of course the Carpinos are freaked after what happened to Gabby. Jude is a Special Agent with the FBI and she met him during a Federal Raid where Jude was the case agent. Gabby was at a client’s house whose husband turned out to be a gun smuggler. Later, that gun smuggler beat her up as a warning and Gabby ended up in the hospital.

  “Fine,” I say on a sigh.

  I push back from the kid table as Tony’s arm falls away and I stand to start picking up plates as best I can with only one arm. I’m not going to think about tomorrow until tomorrow. But I probably do need to think about where my shoes are.

  Chapter 3 - Another Step

  Leigh is sitting on the paper covered patient bed in the doctor’s office staring down at her bare arm for the first time in six weeks. She turns her arm back and forth, runs her fingers over her wrist, all the while looking a million miles away. She’s been quiet and contemplative again since I’ve picked her up for her appointment. I knew the kids would loosen her up at dinner yesterday, that’s why I finagled a way for her to sit with me, not to mention I’d find any reason to be near her. But today I’ve allowed her to keep to her thoughts, hoping to give her the space she seems to need this afternoon.

  I can’t imagine what’s going through her head, all the memories being dredged up right now. Reading the police reports and her divorce papers was horrific enough, I can’t imagine what she’s thinking having experienced it first-hand and losing a child in the process. And that doesn’t begin to describe what she endured her entire marriage to that fuckwad. It makes me want to find her husband and kill him with my own two hands. It was all I could do not to jump across the table at him that day in the conference room. I so badly wanted to have her sign the divorce papers that day so she would be severed from him for good, but I couldn’t let her walk away with nothing. Even though she won’t need that rat bastard’s money since I’ll be taking care of her, she needs to take him for everything she can. I don’t care if she donates the money the minute the divorce is final, going after him financially is her only way to bring him low. He’s got his legal issues, but you never know what kind of plea he’ll make. I had to do everything I could to make him pay for what he did to her.

  When we got here she wanted me to sit in the waiting room while they worked on her arm. Since there was no fucking way I was going to sit in the waiting room, I told her I was pretty sure they weren’t going to strip her naked to cut her cast off. That won me a short lived flare of her emerald eyes I got a hint of yesterday during the cookie incident. But she quickly shut it down with a resigned sigh while muttering, “fine”. But that flare reminded me of her blazing personality that used to be Leigh. She always had a quick temper, but not the kind that turned her into a bitch. No, it was the kind of temper you could sit back and enjoy because it was fucking cute as hell to see her get pissed about something.

  I’ve known Leigh since elementary school where she and Gabby were thick as thieves, but they were a year behind me in school. Leigh didn’t have much of a home life so my aunt and uncle, Gabby’s parents, all but adopted her. They took Leigh on vacations, helped her with homework and even assisted her in navigating college applications, financial aid and scholarships since she was the first in her family to go to college. Leigh’s mom never gave a shit about her and I’m not sure her dad was ever a part of her life.

  Now, Gabby might be my cousin but I’m not blind to the fact the two of them together in high school were the subjects of many teenage boys’ wet dreams. I made sure every male in that school knew Gabby was off limits and I bundled Leigh into that as well. Although at the time, I told myself it was just because she was Gabby’s best friend, but I think it would have made me crazy to have anyone touch her. I was a teenage boy too and certainly no angel, I knew exactly what I was protecting them from. I never allowed myself to go there with Leigh because of Gabby. By the time I came back after law school she had tied herself to her asshole husband and it was too late for me to stake my claim. She might not be ready, but this is my opportunity and I’m taking it. I plan to help her work through her shit and only hope it will go faster than her going at it on her own. But I’m sure as hell not missing this shot with Leigh.

  She’s tall but thin, I usually go for women with more tits and ass. Even though hers are small, she has enough to make her feminine in a way that makes her delicate, even tiny despite her height. Her long legs and lean body always carry her in a graceful way. A way that makes you watch her as she moves through a room, soaking up the sight of her so it’s burned on your brain until the next time you’re granted the opportunity. Her light blonde hair is long and sexy the way it falls around her face, shoulders and back. Her milky skin only enhances how bright her emerald eyes shine. But, it’s the way she moves and those eyes I’ve allowed myself to think about for the first time in a long time. Adding to that all that is Leigh: loving, kind, selfless, loyal. Any man would want that in his bed for a lifetime and be willing to put in the effort and patience to get it, which is exactly what I’m going to do. Nevertheless, I plan on giving her a good nudge here and there along the way.

  Now, I’m not a patient person by nature. I’m not even a gentle guy by nature. And I’m sure as hell not a soft spoken man. Am I a nice guy? Sure. But these new and unwarranted tendencies are all pouring out of me in spades with Leigh over the last few weeks. Maybe it’s because I read the police reports and medical records. Maybe it’s because I’ve known her for so long and even wanted to protect her when we were young. But I think it’s because I want to be exactly the opposite of what she’s known. I want to be whatever she needs right now and give her everything she wants down the road. Whatever it is, it has shocked even me because it’s coming easy and natural. Yesterday she gave me the first hint it might be working when I saw her laugh with the kids at Thanksgiving dinner. It was a sight to behold, a sight I damn well want more of in the future.

  Leigh is still a million miles away contemplating her arm. I push myself off the wall I’m leaning against across the room and go to her. She looks up at me with her contemplative emerald eyes as I take her newly healed arm and run my fingers down to her hand. I look down at our hands, turning hers in mine as I mutter, “Another step.”

  “What?” she asks quietly.

  I look into her eyes to explain, “Another step, Leigh. Your eye is healed, you smiled a lot yesterday, you laughed three times and your cast is a gone. I know some things will never heal, but it’s another step to getting you back to you. I’m just glad I get to be a part of it.”

  “I don’t know,” she says, looking away. “I don’t know if I’ll e
ver remember who I was. I’m trying, but I can’t seem to get past the last few years to remember anything.”

  I lean forward to kiss her forehead only to feel her turn to stone immediately but keep on and say, “You will. I’ll make sure of it.” Because I still have her hand in mine, I take a chance and entwine our fingers while giving her a little tug, “Come on. Time to go.”

  Seeming surprised I’ve kept a good grip on her hand, she says, “It’s really early for dinner and I’m not hungry. You can take me back to Gabby’s. I appreciate you coming with me.”

  I give her another tug and start to pull her toward the door as I explain, “I’m not taking you back to Gabby’s. And we aren’t going to dinner. Yet. But we will later. We’re going somewhere else.”

  “Where are we going?” she asks.

  I open the door with my free hand and hold it high so I can push her under without letting go of her other, saying, “You’ll see.”

  I hear her sigh again. Smiling to myself, I lead her out of the doctor’s office to my car.

  *****

  “I can’t believe you brought me here,” I say, looking at the mass of people scurrying around, rushing, bumping into each other. I mean today of all days.

  Honestly.

  “What?” Tony sort of asks as he’s stuffing his mouth with caramel popcorn.

  “Well, I’m pretty sure you’re a guy and I’m pretty sure all guys are allergic to shopping. Especially the day after Thanksgiving.”

  “Sweetheart, we aren’t shopping. We’re people watching. And eating,” he responds, this time while dipping his tortilla chip into fake cheese.

  “I can tell we’re eating,” I say as I juggle my diet with my cinnamon raisin soft pretzel with icing for dipping. Next to me, I have my own box of cheese popcorn, a small bag of Sweet Tarts and a Ring Pop. Along with Tony’s caramel popcorn, drink and fake cheese nachos, he’s got his own bag of Hot Tamales with his own Ring Pop.