Hand reaching…gripping. Glass up. Glass down. Contents untouched.
Eyes track her withdrawing…retreating back
The auburn curls that cascade…tumble…bounce in righteous indignation
With every annoyed step.
Eyes trail until blocked by the closing door. She doesn’t look back.
Glass up. Booze knocked back. Scalding…burning…exploding in his gut. Igniting...
kick-starting the shame…the guilt. Which never leaves.
Sliding across the seat. Bracing…heaving up. Standing…shakily.
Hand opening. Bills raining…fluttering. Coins bouncing…rolling across the table top. Uncounted.
Outside…faulty neon morse-coding…red…flash…blue…flash-flash.
Eyes squeeze…stomach lurches…bile ascends. Bad moon on the rise.
Cold…light mist morphing into cold…thick rain drops transforming into cold…heavy sheets.
Cursing…water downpouring…soaking…fingers fumbling…key jamming…
not turning…wrong one
Right one…door opening…scrambling in…sobering…a little.
Drops snaking…zigzagging from hairline to nose…from crown to nape…unchecked.
Mouth slackens…shivering begins. Déjà vu. He’s sat this way before…staring beyond a streaming windshield. Same pose…but feelings far removed from tonight.
Surroundings dissolve…melt. It’s four years ago. His minds-eye replays scene.
Car racing…radio blaring…singing along at top of lungs…mood triumphant…celebratory.
Sting went off without a hitch…bad guys went down, took a powder…
He’d emerged…a hero! Captain talking citation…promotion!
Bar…cheers…congratulatory backslaps…several rounds…alcoholic euphoria…
Now, home…Frankie…there’s gonna be some hot love, baby, tonight!
Almost missed the street…his turn. Taking corner fast…sharp…water sluicing door…window.
No space out front. Have to park across the street. No problemo…nothing can ruin his mood.
Grabbing the champagne bottle…door handle gripped…he pauses
The house door has opened...light spills down the steps
Exhilaration courses…silly, boyish grin spreads. She’s heard the car…she’s waiting…
Arms open wide…to welcome the conquering hero…her knight…with wet, fervent, erotic kisses.
Two figures emerge…man first…woman next.
Grin dissolves…confusion…puzzlement…sleeve wipes…rubs condensation…
trying for a clearer look.
Man moves down the steps. Woman calls…he turns back…light from doorway illuminates his face – Matt?!
Slender arms go up…twine around his neck. Muscular arms wrap around her waist…pulling tight.
Blood converts to ice. Betrayal stabs deep. His best friend…his wife.
Hour after hour…sitting…swigging champagne. Pain hammering…chipping away at reason…sanity.
Emerging at last from his cocoon…stumbling up the steps…pounding, beating on the door.
Her face…sweet Jesus…her beautiful face…wreathed in a breathtaking smile…collapsing into disbelieving horror at the venom that poured…emptied from his throat…his grief-stricken soul.
Slamming the door…descending the stair…operating only on instinct…he headed for the car.
House door opens…banging against the wall…her anguished cry buffeting his back…
goes unacknowledged…ignored.
A startled gasp…sharp intake of breath…scream…pierces his robotic fog
In dreamlike state he turns…to see her plummet…head-first…hears the dull, wet crack…observes the black flood that pools…widens across the pavement.
Somehow…upon his knees…lifting her…clasping her…rocking her…moaning her name.
A shout…voice crying out his name, hers…panicked, alarmed footsteps…running towards him…hands gripping his shoulders…Oh, my God, Harry!…
Yells for 911 stab…sirens slice the night open.
Emergency room…chaos…faces, grief-stricken…doctor’s voice commiserating…
nothing could be done…DOA…tragic accident…so, very sorry, Mr. Denby…
accept my sympathies at the lost of your wife and baby.
Baby?!
Descending further into nightmare…Matt explaining…drove Frankie to the doctor…had her suspicions…wanted to be sure…everything confirmed…so excited…ecstatic…planned big surprise for him that night…she’d left her purse…his car…returning to deliver it…
saw her slip upon the steps…saw her fall…
A short fall…from Heaven to Hell.
Couldn’t stay in Buffalo…transferred NYC. Left house…furnishings…clothes…photos…
all ties raggedly severed…all friendships sloppily packed away.
New friends made…so, pleased to make your acquaintance Mr. Chivas…Mr. Snow.
New job…just going through the motions…barely.
On a quest…hunting…seeking a bullet's acquaintance.
Then…God in His mercy…sent an angel…a sign…Diane Russell.
So like his Francesca…same Rossetti coloring, hair…same heart-skipping smile.
There similarities ended…where Frankie was soft…gentle…yielding…sweetness incarnate…
Russell is hard…unbending…risk taking…capable of what he needs…must have…done.
Shivering…cold, damp penetrating…rousing from his Dante scrapbook of memories…
Stiffened fingers turning the key…firing the engine…steering wheel rotating…
car edging…pulling slowly into the street
Tonight he'd set the wheels of his destiny turning…tomorrow he'd direct their path.