Part 19 (1/2)
”Is it safe to enter?”
No matter how bad things got, Gina could always make her smile. ”Come on in.”
”What has that p.r.i.c.k done to put you in such a mood?” She heard Gina ask from beyond the door. The door swung open, and a huge flower arrangement with legs appeared. The legs Rosalie guessed were Gina's; the flower arrangement looked like something you'd see in a really expensive hotel. The kind of flowers that looked so perfect, you had to touch them to see if they were real. Of course, when you did, everyone knew you'd grown up in a house with fake flowers and plastic fruit.
”What does the card say?” It never occurred to her that Gina hadn't already read it.
”'Nick.' That's it. Do you believe the nerve of that man? You come to work in the mood from h.e.l.l; you have everyone from the mailroom on up walking around with wastepaper baskets on their heads to protect them from the fallout; and the only clue to the puzzle that is Rosalie Ronaldi's bad mood is 'Nick'? What did he do? You can tell me. I'll call Sam, and he can go over there and rough him up.”
”Sam's a cop. Cops don't rough people up.”
”You're right, I'll have to handle it myself. I told you he was trouble.”
”Down, girl. It's not Nick. Nick's been, well... you know.”
”No, I don't know. I wish you'd tell me, so I can deal with it and go on with my terribly uneventful, boring, and tedious life.”
”Gina, I'm sorry. I can't talk about this. It's family stuff and-”
”Did something happen to Richie?”
”No. He's fine. I'm sorry about today.”
”That's okay. It was almost worth it to see the big boss confused. He had the nerve to ask me if women could have PMS twice in one month.”
”He didn't!”
Gina set the flowers on the credenza and took a seat across from the desk. She kicked off her shoe and pulled her leg underneath her.
”Okay, if Nick The p.r.i.c.k didn't hurt you, then what happened?”
”Gina, would you please stop calling him that? He's been-” ”What?”
d.a.m.n, why had she opened her mouth? ”Great.”
”If I had to venture a guess, I'd say you must be pretty great, too, to rate those flowers. It looks like he signed the card himself.”
She tossed the small envelope on Rosalie's desk.
”How can you tell?”
”Puleeze, do I have to teach you everything? Look. It's written with a masculine hand, and you know the only people who work in flower shops are women and gay men.”
Rosalie opened the envelope, and sure enough, there was Nick's name scrawled in his writing. She opened the top drawer of her desk and tucked the envelope inside.
”Uh, oh. I knew it!”
Gina launched herself out of the chair and planted her hands on the desk.
”You're saving the card. You're falling for him.”
”I am not. I save all my cards.”
”Okay, then show me Joey's card from the last time he sent flowers. When was that? Oh, right, your birthday.”
There wasn't one other card in the drawer. d.a.m.n.
”You can't, because you threw it in the trash along with the flowers a few days later. No great loss there. They were cheap flowers.”
Rosalie tossed Nick's card into the trash. ”There, are you happy now?”
Gina inspected her manicure. ”Not especially. I'll leave you now, so you can drool over your flowers in private and dig the card out of the trash can. If you change your mind and want to talk about whatever it is that caused this lovely mood, you know where to reach me.”
What could she say? If she thanked Gina, she'd be admitting that she'd drool over the flowers and dig the card out of the trash. Not that Gina ever doubted it, but still, a girl had her pride. ”Thanks for the offer. If I need to talk to someone, you'll be the first person I call.”
Gina rose, slipped on her stilettos, and sashayed through the door. ”Have fun going through your trash.”
The door closed on Rosalie's response, which was probably a good thing.
After waiting to see if Gina would come back to catch her in the act, Rosalie took her time drooling over the flowers. But not even flowers could cheer her. She should be handling this better. It wasn't as if she hadn't suspected her father was s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around, but seeing proof was a different story.
Rosalie picked up the phone and dialed. ”Hi, Ma.”
”Rosalie? What's wrong?”
”Nothing. Why?”
”You never call unless something is wrong. Are you sure you're okay? You don't sound like yourself. Did that cafone cafone do something to hurt you? I told you, he had the devil in his eyes. I don't know why you don't find a nice steady man like your father. You could call Joey-” do something to hurt you? I told you, he had the devil in his eyes. I don't know why you don't find a nice steady man like your father. You could call Joey-”
”Ma, stop. I'm not going to call Joey. I only want to find out how you and Papa are.”
”Tell me what it is. You never call without a reason.”
So much for subtlety. ”Okay, Ma, you caught me. I've been thinking that you and Papa should take some time and do something together. I have a friend with a time-share in Florida. On Sanibel Island. She's offered it to me any time I want. Do you and Papa want to go down for a week or even a long weekend? I can arrange the whole thing. What do you think?”
”Rosalie, I told you, your father's working on a big project. He's not going to want to go out of town.”
”Maybe he will, if you ask. When was the last time you two did anything remotely romantic? Why don't you go to Florida and invest time in your relations.h.i.+p?”
”Ever since you met that cafone, cafone, you're talking and acting nuts. You know, I saw on Oprah-” you're talking and acting nuts. You know, I saw on Oprah-”
”Ma, there's nothing wrong with me. I only wanted to do something nice for you and Papa. Talk to him. Maybe you can talk him into slowing down enough to go for a long weekend. Try. Okay?”
”Sure, okay. Rosalie? You sure you're all right? Is something wrong?”
”I'm feeling run down and tired. I guess it's harder to get over pneumonia than the usual crud. I'm not supposed to be working full days yet. Maybe it's catching up with me. I'm not sure I'll be up for Sunday. I'll call you.”
”You want I should bring you some chicken soup?”
”No, Ma, but thanks. I have soup at home.”