Free Criminal Pleasures by Darien Cox Page B

back to the dining room with her tray of drinks.
    So that’s Poppy . Brendan wondered who the blonde woman beside him was. She looked young enough to be his daughter. Or perhaps even his granddaughter. But she didn’t have the coloring to be a DiPietro. Her skin was creamy white, eyes blue, with pale yellow hair tumbling in waves to her shoulders. She could have been a film star for how stunningly beautiful she was.
    Gina set Brendan’s martini down before him, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for today,” she whispered. “Remember, it’s our secret, okay?”
    “I won’t say a word.” He smiled, and Gina scurried off to the other side of the bar.
    “Hey, handsome,” Poppy called out.
    Brendan glanced at the old man. Marc stopped what he was doing at the bar and looked over at Poppy, then at Brendan, something like panic flashing through his eyes. “Are you speaking to me?” Brendan asked.
    Poppy nodded and did a ‘come here’ gesture with his fingers. Brendan glanced warily at Marc, who turned away, busying himself behind the bar again. Then he picked up his martini, and made his way down to the old man.
    “What’s your name?” 
    Brendan stuck his hand out. “Brendan. Nice to meet you.”
    “Brendan, this is Danielle.” He gestured to the pretty woman beside him.
    “Hi,” she said.
    “Hello.”
    “So I was just saying to Danielle, that handsome guy down there seems to know all my kids, must be a good customer, eh?”
    Brendan smiled. “What can I say? I love the food here.”
    “ Grazie. Grazie . I’m Vincent, but everyone calls me Poppy. Bibeta’s is my place.”
    Marc whizzed by with a drink, his eyes sliding to Brendan for a moment before moving on.
    Poppy pointed a crooked finger toward Gina. “My other daughter over there, she’s divorced.”
    “Poppy!” Gina yelled out. “Shut it.”
    “Ah.” He waved her off. “And my other daughter, Carmen, she don’t wanna get married. Thinks she’s the Queen of Sheba. Wants too many men to worship her, eh?”
    Danielle giggled and playfully slapped the old man’s shoulder. “Poppy! That’s not nice.”
    He wrapped an arm around Danielle’s shoulder. “This one here, she’s gonna give me lots of pretty grand babies, uh? She’s gonna marry my grandnephew, our Marcello, there. He’s the good looking one behind the bar.”
    Brendan took a huge gulp of his martini. “Congratulations.” 
    “Thank you,” Danielle said. “What do you do, Brendan?”
    “I’m an attorney.”
    “Carmen!” Poppy shouted over his shoulder. “We got lawyer over here. He wants to marry you!”
    Danielle burst into giggles, and Brendan chuckled awkwardly.
    “I’m just teasing you,” Poppy said, patting Brendan’s arm. “She wouldn’t marry you. She thinks she’s too good for marriage.”
    “Lay off Carmen, Poppy,” Danielle said. “She’ll find someone when she’s ready.”
    Brendan stared at Marc’s beautiful fiancée, and took another sip of his martini. I have got to get the fuck out of here.
    Carmen approached and tapped Poppy on the shoulder, then whispered in his ear. He nodded and grunted his acknowledgement, then climbed off his stool. “It was nice to meet you, Brendan. Have a nice evening. Gina! Get this handsome man another drink, on the house.”
    Brendan was about to protest, but Poppy was already moving off. He greeted an old woman in the dining room with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then put his arm around her, and led her around the bar, and through a door into what Brendan assumed was the kitchen.
    “Is that Poppy’s wife?” Brendan asked Danielle.
    “Oh, no. Poppy’s wife is deceased.” She stood. “I have to go, nice to meet you, Brendan.”
    “Yeah, you too.”
    He stole glances at Danielle as she moved down the bar, and leaned in to speak with Marc. She whispered in his ear, then they kissed. Brendan looked down. But his eyes slid back involuntarily as Danielle walked out of the restaurant. He