“I knew it.” When Jason called him out of the blue Sal had a feeling. The last time he’d asked for a favor things got pretty sour.

“What? You don’t even know what I’m gonna ask.”

Ten to one Sal knew exactly what it was. Almost a year ago, he’d gone out with Jason’s fiancée’s cousin Melissa. She was nice enough, in fact she seemed perfect at first. Beautiful, classy, just passed the bar exam, sexy as hell. But she turned into a clinger. Calling and texting him at all hours. Showing up at the restaurant until she finally somehow got in his apartment when he wasn’t there. Made dinner and greeted him in her birthday suit. That actually wouldn’t have been so bad if his date hadn’t been with him when he walked in.

After that, Sal made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her. He couldn’t believe someone so smart could stoop to that level. Before that happened, he’d done nothing to encourage that kind of behavior. In fact, he’d been so turned off by her pushiness he stopped taking her calls and returning her texts.

She called and texted him for months after he completely cut her off. The last time he bothered to read one of her texts, was when one woke him in the middle of the night. Apparently, in her inebriated state she decided she’d profess her love for him. They’d only gone out a few times and he slept with her twice before she started to annoy the hell out of him. Love? He remembered laughing, before rolling back to sleep.

“I’m afraid to ask,” Sal said, taking a practice swing.

“Hear me out okay?”

Sal peered at him, bracing himself.

“Melissa—”

“Hell, no.”

“C’mon, can you at least listen to what it is first?”

Sal shook his head. “No, no, no, no, no.” He positioned himself to take a swing at his ball then turned back to Jason. “No.”

“Dude, Kat’s driving me f**king crazy. All Melissa wants is a chance to apologize to you in person. We’ll be there. You won’t be alone with her for a minute.”

Sal continued to shake his head then stopped only long enough to take a swing. He turned back to Jason and shook his head again. “The girl is a whack job. It took me long enough to get rid of her. You think I wanna start that shit all over again?”

“I told Kat you’d say that, but she says Melissa understands you’re not interested and she’s okay with that. All she wants is a chance to apologize. This has been going on for months, Sal. Melissa’s mom has even started calling Kat’s mom about it. Then Kat’s mom calls her, then who do you think has to hear the crap? I’m begging you, man, just a couple of hours. I’d do it for you.”

For a moment, Sal considered it. He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. The next thing he heard was Jason on the phone. “He said okay.”

Sal jerked his attention back to Jason, eyes wide open. “What?”

Jason put his finger over his lips and smirked. Then he put his hand over the receiver. “Is tonight okay?”

“I didn’t say I would!” Sal took off his glove and threw it at Jason.

“Tonight’s fine,” Jason said, laughing.

Sal put his hand on forehead. “Fuck me.”

“Alright, honey. You’re welcome. Yeah, I’ll tell him.”

Sal glared at him when he hung up.

“Kat said she loves you,” he grinned. “She’s my fiancée and you know what? I’m okay with that. Because right now I love you, too.”

When Sal didn’t say anything Jason added, “I’ll buy you lunch.” Sal still didn’t answer. “C’mon how bad can it be? We’ll go to DJ’s, play a little pool, have a few beers, she apologizes and everyone’s happy. Done. Just like that. You’re my hero and my fiancée loves you. Beautiful.”

“I want steak and lobster for lunch.”

“Steak and lobster it is.” Jason patted him on the shoulder as he walked over to take his shot with a grin.

Somehow, Sal was hoping for a less enthusiastic response.

CHAPTER 5

Sunday morning they were doing their weekly inventory. Somehow, for years his parents had managed everything on paper. Incredibly, they were very accurate but now that there was software for everything, it should’ve made things easier. Though, times like today things could get really screwed up.

He was already in a bad mood before he even got to the restaurant. The night before with Melissa had gone well. Her behavior was very impressive, but he’d been fooled by that before. She apologized while Jason and Kat played pool. They even had a somewhat intriguing conversation. She was the epitome of the perfect girl he once thought her to be. That is until that morning when he got a call from Jason.

“You’re gonna be mad.”

“What?”

“She has your sunglasses.”

Sal knew what that meant. “Tell her she can have them.”

“That’s the first thing I said when Kat heard the message she left, but she already said she’s going to drop them off today at the restaurant. Kat tried calling her but she’s not answering. So I’m just giving you a heads up.”

Here we go again. Melissa was notorious for leaving things in Sal’s car or his house—her way of forcing another meeting. He should’ve known. He hadn’t even noticed his sunglasses were missing. All he could hope now is that she’d drop them off and he’d be done with her. But Melissa didn’t work that way.