Reno Gabrini: A Man in Full by Mallory Monroe

to believe better.  I know it’s just busybody people running their mouths without having a clue about what’s really going on.”
    “I love Reno,” Fran said.  “He’s my big brother, you know I love him.  But how can you be so sure that it’s all just gossip? Your mother called me the other day asking if I’d seen you, and we started talking about all of the rumors---”
    Trina turned around, facing Fran.  “Are you kidding, Fran?  You told my mother about those rumors?”
    “No, of course not!  We were talking about men in general and how distrustful they can be sometimes.  And she said something I’ll never forget.  I guess it’s common in Mississippi where she’s from, but it made sense to me.  She said if you believe a man is cheating, he probably is.  Where there’s smoke there’s fire, she said, or, as she put it, fire done been there .”
    Trina smiled and turned back around.  “And what does that have to do with Reno exactly?” she asked.
    “There’s a lot of talking going on, Tree.  That’s all I’m saying.  And Reno is rarely home.  I just don’t understand how you can be so certain, that’s all.”
    “It’s not for you to understand,” Trina made clear.  “You aren’t married to him.  Reno wouldn’t hurt me like that.”
    Trina glanced at Fran through the mirror.  It was obvious by the expression on her pretty, Italian face that she wasn’t buying it.  And if Trina was on the outside looking in, and it wasn’t her life, she probably wouldn’t buy it either.  But true love didn’t work like that.  True love was a wonderful thing and a terrifying thing.  It required trust.  And although Reno had his flaws, and there was nothing perfect about him, she had to trust that he loved her and wouldn’t hurt her like that. 
    “But what if it’s true?” Fran asked her.
    Trina looked at her again through the dressing table mirror.  “What if what’s true?”
    “What if Reno’s pulling the wool over your eyes and is out there cheating up a storm.  Would you leave him?”
    Although Fran was becoming one of Trina’s closest friends, there were certain things regarding her relationship with Reno that she wasn’t about to share with anybody.  “That’s none of your business,” she said bluntly.
    There was a time when Fran would have wanted to fight somebody if they spoke to her like that.  But over time, when she realized her brother really did love this black woman from Mississippi everybody called Tree, and Tree wasn’t going anywhere, she came to understand this woman.  Now she respected the fact that Trina Gabrini had boundaries you just didn’t cross. 
    So instead of getting feisty back, Fran played it off.  “You put me in my place!” she said with a snap.
    Trina smiled too, but she didn’t take it back.
    The front door could be heard opening and Reno’s voice could be heard, as usual whenever he came home, calling for Tree.
    “I’m back here!” she yelled with a grin, and then could hear Reno making his way to the back.
    Fran began rising with the baby in her arms.  “Dommi and I will be at my apartment for the rest of the evening,” she said as she stood.  Fran’s apartment, thanks to Reno, was inside the PaLargio too, and was free of charge.  The least she could do, she felt, was babysit whenever they needed her to.
    “I know it’s a little late,” Reno said, as he entered the bedroom, “but I need it bad, babe- oh, shit !”  He had already unzipped his pants and was about to pull it out when he realized Fran and the baby were in the room.  He turned his back to them quickly, zipping back up as he did. 
    Trina and Fran both laughed.
    “Don’t worry, Reno,” Fran said as she headed toward the dressing table.  “We were just leaving.”
    Reno, now zipped, turned back around.  “It would have been nice if a certain party would have told me you were here in the first place.”
    But Trina was still laughing.  “How was I