20. JOEY
JOEY
I sat on the couch, the weight of the day pressing down on me. Saying it had been a long day was an understatement. It was so late by the time I got home, that Renee had already gone to bed. The house was still, and there was peace for what felt like the first time all day. But it didn’t last. It never lasted.
Renee’s bedroom door opened, and she appeared in the living room, her bathrobe loosely wrapped around her curvy frame. Her face darkened with anger the moment she saw me.
“Oh, you finally decided to come home?” she said.
I raised an eyebrow, too exhausted for games. “I live here. Last I checked, that’s what people do, Renee.”
“Live here?” she scoffed. “That’s something coming from you. You sleep here for a few hours, eat here if I’m lucky enough to catch you, and drop your laundry off. But actually live here? That’s a stretch, Joey.”
She wasn’t wrong. It didn’t feel like living. It felt like another prison sentence, just with different walls.
“Renee,” I said, exhaling sharply. “I really can’t do this with you tonight. ”
Her voice cut through the quiet like a knife. “Fuck you, Joseph Romano! What’s this I hear about you buying Adriana a car? I let it go when you started driving her kid all over town. I even let it go when half of Staten Island was whispering about your car parked outside her house all the time. But this? Buying her a car ? Are you out of your damn mind?”
I stood, forcing myself to stay calm even as my temper rose. “She needed help. Her car was a piece of junk. Even Gino couldn’t fix it. She’s a single mother with no one to rely on, and she needed to get her kid where he needed to go. I helped her out. That’s all there is to it.”
“Is that right?” Renee’s arms crossed, her eyes locking on mine. “And what have you ever done for me, Joey? What have you bought me? What have you done other than take from me?”
“Take from you?” I asked, the accusation hitting a nerve. “Don’t twist this, Renee. I helped her because she needed it. She’s got no one, Renee. No family. She’s trying to survive on crumbs!”
Her laugh was cold and bitter. “And I guess I don’t need anything, right? Funny how that works. I’m here, day in and day out, but somehow, Adriana walks in, and she gets the royal treatment when I’ve begged you for the bare minimum for months now! Do you even hear yourself right now?”
“This isn’t about you,” I snapped, running a hand down my face. “It’s not some competition, Renee. She’s been through hell, and I’m just trying to help her get back on her feet. That’s all. ”
She closed the gap between us. “You keep saying it’s just about helping her. But tell me, Joey, if that’s all it is, why does it look like so much more? Why is everyone whispering, huh? Why do you keep defending her like you’ve got something to hide?”
“I don’t have anything to hide,” I said, though even I could hear the lie in my voice. She was breaking me down, and I wasn’t a weak man. I was falling for Adriana .
She stepped back, shaking her head, her voice trembling now. “You don’t even see it, do you? It’s not about the car or the kid. It’s about the fact that you’ll never love me. You never did. And you know why? Because you’re already in love— with her !”
“Renee, that’s not—” I tried, but I couldn’t even finish the lie.
“Oh, save it,” she snapped, cutting me off. “I know the truth. I’ve known it for weeks, Joey. You’ll never feel that way about me.”
Her words hit harder than I thought they would. She was right, and I knew it. I never loved Renee. I wasn’t built for love, or so I thought. But Adriana and Antonio had changed all that. They showed me what love could be—what it should be.
I sighed. “Renee, I don’t want to hurt you.”
Her laugh was hollow. “It’s too late for that, Joey. Way too late. ” She pressed her lips in a thin line and spat, “But I get what I want.”
I chuckled; I couldn’t help but let the laugh out. After the day I’d had, and this was how it was going to end? “Are you blackmailing me?”
Her eyes said yes. Though she turned and walked away, leaving me alone in the quiet once more, the weight of her words pressing harder than anything else had that day.