I've always hated cocktail parties. There just so dull: An endless stream of men in suits and women in little black dresses. If one more person offers me a glass of white wine, I'm going to scream.
I didn't want to come tonight. In fact, I nearly pleaded with Nino to let me stay home. He just sighed and straightened his tie as he said, "Michelle, you know this night is very important to me. I'm meeting a lot of new contacts tonight."
"What kind of contacts?" I had asked,smoothing down the skirt of my demure pink dress. I don't know why I asked. I already knew.
Nino didn't answer. He just met my eyes in the mirror and sighed again.
"Michelle, honey, don't make an issue out of this, ok?" He had handed me my own little black dress. "Wear this. And put your hair up. It makes you look older."
"Older?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, face it, honey, right now you look like you're about twelve. I'd like my wife," he emphasized the word, "to look a little more...sophisticated tonight."
He had given me a perfunctory kiss on the cheek and gone to wait for me in the living room.
Angry, I flung the dress across the room. I would wear whatever the hell I wanted, I decided. So Nino wanted me to look sophisticated? I had pulled the small jeweled combs from my hair and stepped out of the pink chiffon and into a simple strapless column of red satin that I had never had the nerve to wear.
Now I'm standing in the corner of Vince and Lorna Lomatti's opulent ballroom, wishing to God I'd just worn the black dress and put my hair up.
Nino is in a heated conversation with Vince, a tall, imposing man whose features remind me of a hawk. I walk over to my husband and place a hand on his shoulder. He slips an arm around my waist, but doesn't even look at me.
"Listen, Lomatti, this is a big job and you know it. Now you can't do it alone. But if you had the Rivera family behind you-"
"Why Rivera?" Vince asks and Nino's arm tightens around my waist. "The Santos family has made me just as good an offer, Nino."
"Santos!" Nino explodes, his eyes going very dark. "That bastard, I should have known he-"
Nino breaks off and for the first time seems to notice that I'm standing there. "Michelle," he says, irratation coloring his voice,"go get me a scotch, will ya?"
I stare at him for a moment, but murmur "Yes," and leave his side. tears of anger are brimming in my eyes as I stalk past the bar and into the Lomatti's study.It's lit by a single lamp on Vince's desk. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Every time Nino starts discussing business, I'm pretty much told to get lost.
The tears begin to spill down my cheeks as I run my hands over Vince's collection of antique books.
You knew this, Michelle, I tell myself. You knew when you married Nino that theere would always be a part of him you couldn't touch. And this is it.
It doesn't make it any easier to now that, though.
When I was a little girl, I always thought I'd share everything with the man I married. That he would look at me like nothing else would, or could, ever matter to him.
And Nino doesn't look at me like that.
I begin to sob in earnest, leaning my forhead agaisnt the cool mahogany of the bookcase, burying my face in my hands.
"The honeymoon over already?" a low voice drawls.
I whirl around to see Danny Santos coming out of the shadows, a sardonic smile on his face, his hands in the pockets of his dark suit.
I wipe away tears and feel my face turn bright pink. "What are you doing in here?" I ask angrily.
HIs smile widens as he comes to stand beside me, leaning a shoulder against the bookcase. "Same as you. Hiding."
"I am not," I say, jutting out my chin, "hiding."
Danny's eyes drift over me and I lower my eyes. "I should hope not," he says at last. "A woman as beautiful as you should be the life of the party."
I step away from him, feeling dizzy for some reason. "I told you not to say things like that to me anymore," I say, but my voice sound weak, even to me.
"I remember," he says lightly. "Guess I'll never learn."
His hand reaches out to push my hair over my shoulder, but I slap it away.
"Look, Mr Santos," I say venomnously. "I don't know what your game with my husband is, but I won't be a part of it, understand?"
His eyes are bright with mirth and something else, something I don't want to define. "Is that so?"
"Yes," I say, keeping my head high. "I've told you before to stay away from me and I expect you to do that."
Danny laughs. "I'll do my best, Mrs. Rivera. I'll do my best."
My knees are shaking. " I know...I know about Ana, Mr. Santos and I know Nino is-"
Danny's smile fades and he launches himself off the bookcase, grabbing my arms. "Don't you ever say her name to me," he grinds out, fury making him clench his teeth.
I'm truly scared now, but I stll hear myself say, "Or what?"
His eyes blaze and then, before I can uttter a sound, his motuh comes down on mine.