*****
The next day was hard for all of us as we watched Mike say goodbye to his mother. They turned the respirator off and Mike stayed inside of her room, holding her hand as she took her last breath. All the times I had driven up here to check on him, he always seemed so lost. Today he was exceptionally off, walking around and packing his shit as if he didn’t have a soul in the world left to turn to. I guess he didn’t. Many years had passed since Mike had a relationship with any of us and he’s thought all along that none of us gave two fucks about him or his mother because we weren’t allowed to keep in contact. Maryanne wanted nothing to do with Victor or anyone that was associated with him, myself included, so I could understand why Michael was apprehensive to let us in.
The plan was to bury Maryanne in the same plot as Val that they bought in the Green-wood Cemetery after he was killed. Victor had taken care of all the arrangements and had the body brought back to Brooklyn. I had the pleasure of driving a grieving Mike back to the home he hated. I don’t know if it was that I was just in a bad mood because of my altercation with Jimmy or if Mike’s bad temperament was getting to me but after driving a while, I pulled off at a rest stop to take a breather. I had even called him Val at one point because he was pissing me off trying to poke and prod me for information on why I was such a miserable fuck. Calling him his old man’s nickname was a low blow on my part but I was having a bad fucking day, or month. Whatever.
After I reigned myself in, I caught up with Mike at the newsstand and watched from the door as he loaded up on snacks. My phone chimed with a new message and I pulled it from my pocket to see who it was.
Adrianna: I heard the news. How’s Michael?
Instead of texting her back, which I hated doing, I called her. Besides, I wanted to hear her voice.
“Hello?” She said into the phone, her voice sounding like a little piece of heaven to my ears.
“Hey baby,” I blew out a breath and leaned against the wall. “How are you doing?” She was silent for a moment causing me to believe I had lost her but then again all I ever did was lose her.
“I’m fine,” she whispered. “How’s Mike doing?”
“He’s…” I glanced at him back in the store trying on a pair of sunglasses and checking himself out in the mirror. “Well, he’s Mike. He’s a mess, but he’s holding his shit together.”
“Where are you?”
“Made a stop, shouldn’t be that much longer until we’re home,” I said, running my fingers through my hair as we engaged in a normal conversation.
“Okay, I’m with my mom waiting for you guys,” she replied.
“Anthony?”
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Drive carefully.”
“I’ll see you in a little while, Reese’s.” I ended the call before I fell back into old habits and told her I loved her. It’s not that I didn’t want to tell her how I felt but I didn’t want to get her hopes up that I could change this whole thing around and give her the life we never had. No, I needed a little time to get this shit sorted out. Then I’d tell her I loved her, never stopped, and never would and that she was mine. I’d promise never to let her go again.
I sighed, shoving my phone back into my pocket and went to pull Mike out of the store.
*****
We were back on the road, driving in silence for nearly an hour and we were almost home when Mike broke the silence.
“I don’t even know why I’m going back. Logically, it makes sense to bury her with my dad, she’d want that, to be close to him,” he admitted earnestly. “But what the fuck am I supposed to do until then? Where am I supposed to stay, with Victor? I fucking hate that prick. It should’ve been him,” he said as he stared out the window. “All those years ago, it should’ve been him that died and not my father.”
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, he was pitiful, and just another person who’s life was ruined by Victor and his organization.
“Stay with me,” I offered.
“What?”
I gripped the steering wheel, closing my eyes for a beat before looking out at the road ahead of me, knowing I would probably regret having Mike as a houseguest.
“I said you could stay with me,” I glanced at him quickly. “Until you figure it out.”
“He wants me to stay after the funeral,” he laughed sarcastically. “Can you believe that? He wants to give me a legit job.”
Of course he did, I thought, Victor was probably dying to sink his teeth into Mike hoping he’d be anything like his old man. Mike sighed when I didn’t answer and turned his attention back to the scenery passing by as we drove.
“I’ll think about it,” he said. Little did he know I had already decided he would stay with me, giving Victor less of a chance to get to Mike and corrupt him like he had done to me.
Chapter Twenty-Two: 2015