Mob Boss Eleven- The Wrong One (The Mob Boss Series Book 11) by Mallory Monroe Page B

  He’s not overly worried.”
    “Well
that’s good,” Trina said.   “He’s her
father. He knows her better than we ever will.”
    “True.”
    “What
about Val?   When you called and told me
you were coming over early and I was to catch a ride with Jimmy, I assumed you
wanted to have a heart-to-heart with her.”
    “And
I did,” Reno said. “After she answered the door half naked.”
    Trina
stared at him.   “She what ?”
    “She
answered the door with nothing wrapped on her but a towel.”
    “And
what did you do?”
    “I
got a boner, what do you think?” Reno admitted.   “And I talked to her, after she started crying and apologizing.   I told her she was better than that.   I told her about our miscarriage, and about
what happened to Nicky, and how we overcame adversity.”
    Trina
was still reeling by the news that Val had tried to seduce her husband.   She got enough of that from all of these
other women around town.   She didn’t need
that aggravation from a member of her inner circle too.   But she moved on.   At least for now.   “Did she believe you?” she asked.
    Reno
nodded.   “I think so.    I think she understands that it’s a process
and she’s going through that process right now.   She also knows she’s got to be honest about it.”
    “That’s
the one thing she hasn’t been.”
    “That
seems to be her issue, yup.   She can’t
seem to move past the pain.”
    Trina
nodded her head.   “And poor Jimmy is so
torn up about it.   He really loves Val.”
    They
heard Jimmy and Val’s voices and stopped talking.   Reno placed the hand that had been rubbing
Trina’s back onto her waist, and squeezed it.   He remained leaned back, with his legs crossed, and Trina remained
snuggled against him as she crossed her legs too.
    “Hello,
Mrs. Gabrini!” Val said gaily as she hurried to Trina.  
    Trina
remained seated as they hugged.   When
they stopped, she continued to hold Val’s hand.   She looked at Val’s short, mauve-colored flare skirt and a smart smock
blouse.    She looked youthful and
gorgeous.   “Don’t you look pretty
tonight,” Trina said.
    “Thank-you,”
Val said.   “So do you!”
    Trina
wore a white pantsuit and black and white heels.
    “But
then you always have such style,” Val added.
    “Thank-you,”
Trina said.   “Sit down, both of you,”
Trina ordered.
    Jimmy
smiled as he and Val sat down on the loveseat across from the sofa.   “Leave it to you, Ma, to order us around in
our own home.”
    “The
privilege,” Trina responded, “of no longer being in my twenties.”
    Jimmy
smiled.   “So when I’m thirty, I’ll get to
boss you around?”
    “Yeah,”
Reno said, “if you want to walk around with an eternal ax up your ass.”
    They
all laughed.
    “No
thanks, Pop,” Jimmy said.
    After
more joking around, the gaiety died down and the conversation took a more
serious turn.   Toward the reason for the
dinner to begin with: Val.
    “I
want to ask the two of you a question,” Trina started it off.
    “Uh-oh,”
Jimmy said playfully.
    “How
have things been going?” Trina asked.
    Jimmy’s
smile was gone.   He knew exactly how
things had been going, but he needed Val to admit that she knew too.   He looked at her.
    “Things
have been going . . . okay,” she started.   Reno looked at her.   Jimmy and
Trina continued to look at her.   They
weren’t going along this time.   She was
going to have to tell the truth.  
    She
exhaled.   “Not so okay,” she
admitted.   Then she frowned.   “Terrible, in fact.”   Jimmy moved to place his arm around his wife,
but she moved ever so slightly.   But he
got the message and kept his hands to himself.   Reno and Trina saw it too, and it hurt them to their hearts.   But they couldn’t fight this battle for
him.   He and Val had to come together and
fight it themselves.
    “What
has been the terrible part?” Trina asked her.
    Val
had to think about this.   “The