Old Flame

Old Flame by Ira Berkowitz

Book: Old Flame by Ira Berkowitz Read Free Book Online
Authors: Ira Berkowitz
husband.”
    “It certainly was.”
    She sat down next to me. “I always liked Ginny. When you two split, it was as if I had lost a best friend.” She threw me a sly look. “I always thought you two would get back together.”
    “It didn’t work out that way.”
    “But now, you know, she’s single again, and she’s . . .”
    “Into her own life, and I’m with Allie now, Franny.”
    “Yeah, I know. But Allie’s not really our kind.”
    I didn’t like where this conversation was heading. “Our kind?”
    “You know what I mean. Allie is really sweet, but she’s . . . I don’t know.”
    “Sure you do. Allie is Jewish, and your father was Puerto Rican. Now what?”
    A blush tinted her cheeks.
    “That’s
not
what I meant! You know me better than that.”
    “I thought I did.”
    “What I’m saying is that Ginny is part of our world, with the same values. You know, a Hell’s Kitchen girl.”
    “And Allie is?”
    “Different. She’s . . .”
    “What’s going on, Franny?”
    Her eyes filled with tears. “She’s going to take you away.”
    “I’m not following.”
    “From us.”
    “Keep this crap up and I’ll walk off by myself. Allie is Jewish, and we’re together. Deal with it. How come you don’t have the same problem with Anthony? He’s at Dartmouth carving ice castles with his WASP buddies. And you sent him there. Oh, I forgot. They’re not Jews.”
    She glared at Dave and her voice rose to a shriek. “He dropped out. I wanted a doctor, and what I’m going to get is another killer in the family.” She rushed from the table.
    Dave stared at the tablecloth. The muscles in his face were slack. “Another killer in the family,” he mumbled. “Sweet Jesus!”
    “Did you have any inkling . . . ?”
    “No.”
    “He never mentioned anything?” I said.
    He clenched his fists. “Not a fucking word.”
    “Don’t you ever talk?”
    “All the time.”
    “Then how in hell did this happen?”
    “Who the hell knows? Raging hormones, a search for his inner self, boredom. Pick one.” He got up from the table and walked to the window.
    “But you think it’s something else,” I said.
    “Fucking kid. I think it’s me. Who I am . . . what I do, embarrasses him. Dropping out of college is his way of telling me.” He paused and looked around. “Franny’s afraid he’ll turn out like me. But she doesn’t get it. He didn’t grow up like we did. Didn’t have a father like Dominic. Anthony’s not like us. He’s soft, like his mother.”
    “So, you’re getting it from both sides.”
    “It’s fucking relentless. Franny’s tired of the life, Jake, and worried about the kids. She has a point. In this fucked-up family, ancestry is destiny.”
    I got up from the table and walked over to him. The rain streaking the windows cast the city in a muted, gauzy shimmer. “That’s crap, Dave.”
    We stood quietly for several minutes, staring out the window.
    “And then there’s you. For a guy with one serviceable lung, don’t you think you’re taking on too much? You were supposed to be the smart one. Where’re your brains?”
    “I’ve been trying to figure that out for years.”
    “Save your bullshit for someone else. You’re my blood. All I got. If it’s money you need, I can handle it. I got enough to set you up for three lifetimes.”
    “It’s not money.”
    “Then what is it?”
    “It’s the only thing I’m good at.”
    “We’re a helluva pair, aren’t we?”
    “A helluva pair,” I agreed.
    He pulled a cigar from a humidor sitting on a nearby table and went through the ritual of lighting it.
    “How’s the Danny Reno situation going?” he asked.
    I filled him in on the scam and Liam’s connection.
    “Reno hired that fucking imbecile to pull his heists? Now, that’s a really sharp criminal mind.”
    “That’s not the only thing. I think Liam is involved with a skinhead group that I ran into at Neon. Skinheads equal racists, equal death threats, equal Tony Ferris. Not

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