money we needed at a bank so we went to Mike. It's no big deal, trust me.'
'This is insane.'
Frank removed his pants, hung them up in the closet and stepped into a pair of shorts he'd found in his bureau. 'I know it sounds crazy to you right now, but everything has been worked out. This isn't just some foolish bent.'
'Yeah, Frank, it is.'
He finished what was left of his beer and headed out into the kitchen. 'You want a beer?'
'Beer's not going to quite do it,' she said, following him. 'I'll have a scotch and water. No ice.'
Frank took the bottle and a small glass from one of the cabinets over the store, mixed the drink and handed it to her without comment.
'Let's celebrate,' Sandy said. 'Did I mention I've decided to become a rodeo clown, and that I'll be financing the whole thing by working as a prostitute for the next few months?'
Unable to stop himself, Frank laughed.
Sandy looked up from her drink, eyes moist. 'This isn't funny.'
Frank touched the side of her face, stroked her cheek with his thumb. 'I love you, and you know I would never do anything to hurt you. I want us to spend the rest of our lives together. One day, I'd like to have children with you… but this is my shot, and I'm taking it with or without you. I'd much rather it be with you.'
'Oh, thanks very much, how sweet.'
'Stand by me, and a year from now you will be one of those women who shop all day. I know what I'm doing, just trust me on this.'
'Do I have a choice?'
'Yes. Either come along for the ride or get the hell out of my way.'
'Frank – '
'Do you love me?'
'I'm still here, right?'
'Then support me. Believe in me.'
Sandy wiped a tear from her eye. 'Earn it.'
'Give me the chance.'
She finished her drink and placed the glass in the sink, keeping her back to her husband. A taut pause in their debate sharpened the sounds previously overlooked: the humming fan, the constant chatter of crickets just outside the open windows, the steady tick of a wall clock.
'It's late,' Sandy eventually said, 'and we've got that cookout at your parents' house tomorrow.'
'I'd forgotten,' Frank sighed. 'What time are we supposed to be there?'
'Noon.'
'Good. I've got some business in the morning I have to take care of.'
She faced him. 'Are you going to tell them about this?'
'Of course.'
'What do you think your father's going to say?'
Frank crushed his cigarette in an ashtray. 'I don't know.'
Sandy moved silently to the bedroom, turned off the lamp, and vanished into darkness.
CHAPTER 6
'Cool, huh?' Gus smiled.
'Jesus.' Frank looked around. 'It's beautiful.'
Vincent nodded. 'The phones'll be hooked up before noon, and the furniture's scheduled to be delivered around three.'
The office was located on the first floor of a recently constructed eight-suite building. The area the new company would occupy was thoughtfully designed and far more spacious than Frank had dared to imagine it might be. A reception area just inside the entrance led to a long hallway where three offices, an ample conference room, and two bathrooms were located. The walls were off-white, the carpets a nondescript beige.
'Tell him about the other stuff,' Gus said eagerly.
'There's also a fax machine, copier, and a computer system on the way.' Vincent bounded down the hallway to the first office and proudly pushed open the door. The room was empty, but had wall-to-wall carpeting and two large windows. 'This is yours. I'm taking the one next door, and I figured we'd give Gus the one in back.'
'You're sure we can afford this?' Frank asked, hesitantly entering his new office.
Vincent looked at Gus. 'Give us the room, would you, pal?' Gus frowned but made no reply, quietly closing the door behind him. 'Not to worry, Frank.'
'Just seems a bit excessive, no?'
'Check it out. We started with twenty-five grand, right? I know a guy who knows the guy who owns this place. Regular rent runs seven-fifty – we got it for six and a quarter. I paid the whole year off. Seventy-five hundred. The furniture and the rest of the shit's all coming in through channels Michael either controls or influences, so what everybody else pays and what we pay are two different things, cabeesh?'
Frank nodded. 'What'll we have left in reserve?'
'I got everything from initial start-up costs for the direct mail and telephones sales right down to our fucking business cards figured in,' Vincent said. 'We're still sitting on twelve-five.'
'What about the accountant?'
'We meet with him and the lawyer on Monday. They're both friends, Frank. We officially begin operation bright and early Tuesday morning, and when it's all said and done we'll still have ten large in the bank.'
Just as Frank began to relax there was a knock at the door. Gus stuck his head into the room. 'Benny Dunn is here to see you guys.'
Although Benny was primarily a friend of Vincent's, Frank had also known him for years. Because he'd been in on several scams with them in the past, he was a trusted friend; because he had experience in concert security and crowd control, they had decided to offer him a job.
'Tell him we'll be right with him,' Vincent said.
Frank waited until Gus had closed the door before he spoke. 'You'll have to talk to him yourself, Vin. I got plans. Go ahead and offer him the job.'
'No problem,' Vincent said. 'What's the matter, you all right?'
'I had a tough night.'
'Sandy giving you a hard time?' Frank flashed him a look that left little to the imagination. Vincent responded by handing him an envelope. 'That ought to keep her panties out of her asshole for a while.'
Frank opened the envelope, thumbed through fifteen hundred dollars in cash. 'What's this about?'
'There was three thousand bucks left over. I split it down the middle. I know it ain't much, but I figured it'd help until things get rolling. Now, you want some advice on the marital problems?'
'Absolutely not.'
'Go home,' Vincent said, undaunted, 'give your old lady a couple hundred to blow on herself, then put the rest away. Take her out to dinner, maybe a movie, then hop into bed and slip her the sausage real good.'
'I've got a better chance of fucking you.'
'Trust me, she'll come around a lot faster than you think.'
Frank stuffed the envelope in his pocket. 'I can't believe we're actually pulling this off.'
'It's a whole new world, dude.' Vincent grinned. 'Believe it.'
Sandy watched Frank and his father prepare the grill on the small cement patio just beyond the glass sliders. Oddly, the two men seemed markedly distant, even when they were together.
'I love your hair,' her mother-in-law said from the kitchen.
