“Tell me what happened.”
He propped his ankle on his knee and tapped his fingers on his shin. His jaw moved back and forth before he pegged me with a vacant stare. “We got a tip that some people were on the way to meet us. That’s all.”
“That’s all?”
“Yep. That’s all.”
We stared at each other. Me with the fire of a thousand suns, hoping to melt Frankie’s ice-cold resolve. Frankie with a blank face that told me I could go fuck myself.
“You suck,” I grumbled and went to my desk. I had casino plans to review since demolition would start in April. We had a month to make sure we took out everything we needed and salvaged what we could.
Frankie buried his face in his phone, not replying. It was weird, but his presence had become comforting. Occasionally, he would mutter or get up and take a call outside, but for the most part, he was glued to my side.
A couple of hours later, my stomach growled. While cake lunch was fun, it didn’t keep a grown person full. I needed something savory. “You hungry?”
“I could eat.” Frankie shrugged.
“You want your regular from Young’s?”
“Yep. Make sure they put in extra sweet and sour sauce?”
“You got it,” I ordered, and Frankie went to the break room for plates and utensils. In no time, we were chowing down.
“You’re Luca’s cousin, right?”
“Yep. On his mom’s side.”
I tried to visualize the family tree, but honestly? There were way too many relatives. Rosa told me we would go over it before the wedding—flashcards might have been mentioned.
“Any siblings?”
“Four sisters.”
He took a big bite of Crab Rangoon, his attention on his phone.
“Are you reading something?”
“Yes.”
“A book?”
“Yes.”
“Title?”
Frankie sighed and flipped his phone over. “Do we have to do this?”
“Yes.”
He let out another long-suffering sigh, and I smiled into my carton of rice.
“I’m reading the autobiography of Grace Jones.”
“Sorry, what?” I set my rice down and leaned toward Frankie.
He groaned and flopped back in his chair. “This is going to be a whole thing, isn’t it?”
“Um, Mr. Brooding just told me he is reading the autobiography of the iconic Grace Jones. So, uh, yeah. This is going to be a whole thing.”