Free Tommy Gabrini 4: Dapper Tom Begin Again by Mallory Monroe

I wish
she was dead and that’s the honest truth!”
    It
felt like a sucker punch to every soul in that room.   Especially to Tommy.   He remembered when Rodney Jones had grave
misgivings about Gemma’s decision to marry Sal, even after Sal had saved
Rodney’s life, but he thought that was just an overly concerned dad being
dad.   But he’d never seen this side of
Rodney before.   Not ever.  
    He
looked at Chelsey.   While Gemma was
saying Dad don’t , and Sal was saying you don’t mean that, Mr. J , and while
Cassie was admonishing her husband as well, Chelsey wasn’t saying a word.   She was the recipient of Rodney’s venom, but
she didn’t say a word.   She stood there
staring at her father as if she was seeing him, not in any new light, but in
the same light magnified.
    Liz
moved closer to her friend, and placed an arm around her.  
    But
if anybody in that room thought Rodney was sorry for his harsh, venomous words,
they were grossly mistaken.   He didn’t
double back.   He doubled down.   “This is our thirty-fifth wedding
anniversary, Cass,” he said to his wife, as if she was the only one who
deserved an explanation.   “Our
thirty-fifth anniversary.   One of the
most cherished days of our lives.   And
she pick this day to show her face again?   This special day?   Why is that,
Cass?   If she isn’t the bitch we know she
is, why is that?”
    And
then he ran his hand across his dark head, as if he knew the answer as surely
as he knew his name, and it was an unpleasant knowledge.   And then he headed out of the living room,
and then out of the house altogether.
    But
if that wasn’t enough drama in a day, Cassie turned, not to run after her
husband, but to scold her daughter.   “Go
to him, Chelse,” she urged with an almost desperation in her voice.   “Go apologize to that man.”
    “Apologize?”
Liz asked suddenly, astounded by Cass.
    “Stay
out of this, Liz,” Gemma said.
    “I
will not stay out of it!” Liz shot back.   “Let’s call a thing a thing here.   Your father has treated you like a princess and Chelse like shit her
entire life, and every one of us have sat back and allowed it.   Chelse allowed it too, but that doesn’t make
it right.   You’re his shining light,
while Chelse is his disgrace.   Let’s call
a thing a thing here!”
    But
Gemma wasn’t ready to throw her father under anybody’s bus.   “Careful, Liz,” she said.   “I hear what you’re saying, but that’s my
father you’re talking about.”
    “But
what about your sister, Gem?” Liz asked her.   “She doesn’t matter?   Only he
does?”
    “They
both matter and you know it.”
    Then
Sal pulled Gemma closer, as if to remind her that this was not her fight.   Her father could stand up for himself.   Her sister needed to do the same.
    Cassie,
however, was all-in with Rodney.   “Apologize to him,” she said to Chelsey again.   “For once in your life stop being so stubborn
and go talk to that man.   Comfort
him!   Behave the way a daughter
should.   None of this is his fault!”
    Chelsey
frowned.   “But it’s my fault?” she asked
with incredulity in her voice.
    “It’s
not his fault,” was all Cassie would commit to.  
    Tommy’s
heart grew faint.   Because he knew the
signs.   He’d seen it all his life.   The lines had been drawn, probably years ago,
between her daughter and her husband.   Somebody had to win, somebody had to lose.   Her daughter didn’t win.
    “Go
talk to him,” Cassie said again.   “Go
tell him that he’s right and you’re wrong.   Beg his forgiveness.   Get on your
knees and beg that man if you have to!”
    Chelse
smiled that smile of astonishment and looked at Liz.   “Can you believe this?” she asked her.   “She says I should beg him.   I should go to him!”
    “You
should go all right,” Liz suggested.   “You should go up those stairs, get your shit, and get the hell out of
here!   That’s what you should