Tommy Gabrini: All Fall Down

PROLOGUE

A FEW WEEKS AFTER TOMMY FIRST MET GRACE

“I met a girl.”

“Whoop-de-do,” said Sal.

“What else is new?” asked Reno.

“Yeah but this girl is different.” Tommy Gabrini then looked up at his brother and his cousin as if he needed them to pull him back from his heart.

He’d been wrestling with his feelings for weeks.

He’d been in, he’d been out, he’d been all over the place.

But his heart kept coming back to her. Not to anybody else. To her.

His brother Sal Gabrini remained dismissive: he’d heard that happy talk from Tommy before. But Reno Gabrini saw something different in his cousin’s eyes. “What’s her name?” he asked Tommy.

“Grace.”

“Just Grace?”

“Just Grace.”

“You got a picture of this girl?” Sal asked. “Show me her picture and I’ll know how serious you are.”

Tommy found himself snapping a photo of Grace only once, and it wasn’t in the best light, but he just wanted something to remind him of her when he left her side. It was so unlike him that it bugged him. But he pulled out his phone and showed the photo to his brother and cousin anyway.

When both men saw the picture of Grace, they looked at each other and then they looked at Tommy. “You’re kidding right?” asked Sal. Although she looked vaguely familiar as if he’d seen her before.

Tommy wanted to be offended by his brother’s response, but he couldn’t. Sal’s ass was as superficial as they came, and Reno wasn’t far behind. “Do I look like I’m kidding?” he asked Sal.

“She’s not your type, Tommy,” said Reno.

“What you mean not his type? She’s black ain’t she? You ever seen him with any other type?”

“But he dates these dames that look like movie stars and shit like that,” Reno said. “She’s cute. That’s a fact. She’s cute. But she ain’t no movie star.”

“Ain’t no movie star?” asked Sal derisively. “That’s kind of a high bar for this chick, don’t you think? She ain’t even on the same planet as a movie star. I mean, she’s okay. But when since my brother went for okay?” He handed Tommy back his phone. “You ain’t serious.”

“Think you know me like that, Sal?” Tommy had bite in his voice. “You think you can read my mind? You think you can see my heart?”

“Yeah I can read it. Yeah I can see it. I’ve been reading it and seeing it since we were kids!

So don’t even try that shit with me. Let’s face it.

You’re a great looking guy who has always liked great-looking dames.

Like that psycho bitch Shanks. Remember her?

Compare that girl to Shanks. Compare her to Jayla.

Compare her to what’s that latest girl you’ve been fooling around with? ”

“Marjorie,” said Reno.

“Yeah that’s her. Compare this Grace to Marjorie. Ain’t no comparison, Tommy. But all of a sudden she’s the one? That girl? Forgive me if I don’t buy that shit.”

“One day, Sal Luca, you’re going to fall in love with a woman so unlike who you are right now that it’s going to force you to change. Mark my words. Because you can’t possibly remain as superficial and narrow-minded as you are right now.”

Reno laughed. “Now I agree with that shit!”

“Both of y’all can kiss my balls,” said Sal. “I said what I said and I ain’t changing it. She ain’t the one. Nobody’s gonna tell me different. She’s a flash in the pan for Tommy. A Mrs. Right Now. You’ll see. A month from now he won’t even remember that chick’s name. You mark my word on that!”

Tommy understood why his brother and even Reno would be skeptical. And Sal was right about his usual preference. And he was right about how quickly he ran through women.

But what they didn’t understand was how this new girl was affecting him.

He couldn’t get Grace off his brain. He thought about her constantly.

He couldn’t wait to see her again. He found her different and refreshing and full of the kind of integrity he loved.

He was beginning to wonder if she could be somebody he could spend the rest of his life with.

That was how deep it was getting for him.

All of his relationships were open relationships.

But she wouldn’t tolerate that and he didn’t think he would want that for her either.

That was how far he was gone. But they didn’t get it.

So he stopped talking about it and did as he’d been forced to do his entire life: Keep his true feelings under wraps.

“Excuse me, sir?”

The three men looked at the ma?tre d that was standing at their table in the Seattle restaurant. Although all three of them were Mr. Gabrini, he was looking specifically at Tommy.

“Yes?”

“A young lady is here to see you.”

Sal frowned. “Get rid of her, what are you bugging us for?”

“Yes, sir, I tried to. But she insists--”

“Tommy!”

It was the sound of a woman with a crying voice. When they turned to the sound, they could see a tall, slender, gorgeous black lady hurrying to their table. She was crying so desperately that her mascara was running. “Oh, Tommy, how could you do me like that?”

“Here we go,” said Reno. Tommy and his women!

But Tommy’s heart dropped when he saw Marjorie in such a state. He tossed his napkin on the table and began standing up.

“You know how I love you,” she was crying. “How could you do this to me?”

“I haven’t done anything to you,” he said as he took her by the arm.

“Want me to call Security, sir?”

“Shut your face!” Marjorie blared out at the prim and proper ma?tre d. “You don’t know what he did to me. So shut your face!”

“Let’s go,” Tommy said as he kept his hand on her arm and led her toward the exit. The ma?tre d, flustered, followed them.

Sal shook his head. “Those people,” he said with bite in his voice. “Embarrass you everywhere you go. That’s what he gets for always fooling with dames like that.”

Reno looked at his cousin. “Dames like what?” he asked him.

Sal snorted and dabbed his cigarette ash in the tray. “Your ass know who I’m talking about. All these beautiful Italian girls around here, and he always got to go black. Like that’s the only color that can turn his ass on.”

Reno shook his head. “You’re a piece of work, you know that Salvatore Luciano? A fucking piece of work. I’d go a step further than what Tommy said about your future. Because one of these good ole days you’re gonna fall madly in love with a black chick.”

“Me? Like hell!”

“And she’s gonna rock your world.” Then Reno’s anger rose because his wife was one of those people Sal was referring to: His wife was black.

“And you know what else she’s gonna do for you?

She’s gonna show you how fucking stupid your racist ass is!

” Then Reno threw his napkin on the table and got up and left too.

“Leave!” Sal called out. “Who the fuck cares about you leaving?” But then he took a long drag on his cigarette. “Me with a black chick. Get real,” he said.

“Make a take your order, sir?” The black waitress stood at his table.

When he realized she had heard his last comment, he felt embarrassed. And stupid too. But he wasn’t taking it back. “What you asking me what I want for? You ain’t got no menu around here?”

The waitress picked up the menu that was right there on Sal’s table and handed it to him. What an asshole, he figured she was thinking. Because that was exactly how he felt. But he still wasn’t taking it back.

He opened the menu and ordered.

Outside of the restaurant, Tommy’s driver opened the backdoor of his limousine as Tommy assisted Marjorie, who was still crying, onto the seat. Then he got in beside her as his driver closed the door. “Didn’t I tell you to stop pulling this shit?” he asked her.

“But how could you do this to me?”

“I haven’t done anything to you, Marjorie.”

His driver got in behind the wheel and closed the door. “Where to, sir?”

“Take her home.”

“I don’t wanna go home!”

The driver looked through the rearview.

“Take her home,” Tommy said again.

“Yes sir,” the driver said, and drove away.

Marjorie Donaldson, a well-known and well-liked supermodel in the fashion industry and a much sought-after beauty among the elite in the world, was leaned against Tommy like a disappointed child as she fiddled with his expensive coat lapel. “You can’t do this to me, Tommy.”

“I’m not doing anything to you. We had this discussion last night. You said you understood. What changed overnight?”

“You know how much I love you. You can’t just break it off like that.”

“Break what off? What’s there to break off?”

“You know what I’m talking about. Our relationship.”

“You mean the open relationship we had that we ended last night?”

There was a pause.

“That’s the only relationship we had.”

She couldn’t get around it. “You know how I am.”

“What did I tell you when we first started dating? What did I tell you, Marge?”

“Not to do it.”

“Not to do what?”

Now Marjorie was angry. She leaned up. “Not to fall in love with your ass, okay?!”

“Because?”

“Because it’s not going to last. But you can’t help your heart, Tommy. It’s not that easy!” Then she looked her beautiful dark eyes into his bright greenish-blue eyes. “Tommy, please don’t leave me.” She began hugging him.

“Don’t do this, Marge,” he said as he attempted to remove her arms from around his neck. But she began kissing him desperately.

“Stop it,” Tommy was telling her as he continued to attempt to remove her arms from around his neck. “Didn’t I say stop!” he said as he shoved her away from him. Her body hit the back of the front seat. “Cut this shit out and cut it out now!” he ordered her.

Then he looked at her with a look that betrayed his inner bafflement. “What are you doing? All these men out here want you. You’re better than this.”

Marjorie knew it too. That was why she angrily wiped her tears, and her still-smeared mascara, with the back of her hand. And then slid over to the other side of the car like a petulant child.

Tommy tried to soften the blow. He tried to get her to come back to herself.

“You knew what this was when we first hooked up, Marjorie. I told you I don’t make commitments.

I told you I’ll never fall in love and that I only have open relationships.

I am not a one-woman man, I told you that. You knew all of that going in.”

She looked at him. He could see nothing but pain and anguish in her eyes. “I heard you’re breaking up with everybody because you found somebody special. Is that true, Tommy?”

Tommy wasn’t about to discuss Grace with her or any of the other ladies in his life. “You’re wasting your time, Margie.”

“What’s she like? Is she better than me? Is he prettier than me?”

“Marge stop.”

“Is she, Tommy?” Then her look turned hard and cold. “But you know what? You’re right. I am better than this. But you’re always right. Aren’t you?”

Tommy frowned. “I’m always right? Where did that come from?”

Then she managed to smile. “Happy now?” she said as she opened the door of the speeding limousine, and then threw herself out onto the street.

“Marge no!” a horrified Tommy screamed as the driver slammed on brakes. They both could hear the sound of cars swerving to avoid her and crashing into each other as they did.

Tommy jumped out and ran to the back of the limousine. And that was when he saw the wreckage of cars and SUVs attempting to avoid hitting Marjorie, but ended up hitting not only Marjorie’s body, but each other’s vehicles too.

But where was Marge?

Tommy saw men hop out and run to the side of the road, so he ran over there too. And that was when he saw her. It was obvious even from where he stood that she had been hit several times. That there was no way she survived.

When he got to her side, he could hear different drivers saying how they tried to avoid her, and how it couldn’t be helped, and why would she have done such a thing?

But none of that mattered to Tommy. They were just trying to make themselves feel better.

But Tommy didn’t have that luxury. Because the woman he’d known and dated off and on for several years, but had decided to cut it all off just last night, was dead.

He knew it wasn’t his fault. He knew he told her going in that their relationship was nothing more than a series of hookups, and that their union would never amount to anything.

It wasn’t his fault that she made more out of it than it ever was, and decided to end her life because of that fantasy of her own creation. It wasn’t his fault at all.

But it sure as hell felt like it was.