16:Cookout

“So that’s her?” Matt asked before lifting the beer bottle for another draw. 

Although Tony was the only one cooking, all three brothers stood around the grill.  Matt and Jon were drinking while Desiree was in the kitchen and Stephanie was supervising her little cousins out by the pool.  The boys had already gone, and that left Lilah, who was leading the lady lawyer into the yard.

Both were about the same height and had brown hair but, beyond that, the contrast between the two was striking.  Whereas Lilah looked like a fresh-faced mommy in her long pink sundress, ponytail and flip flops, Charlie was the classic Hamptonite.  She wore a short, sleeveless dress and flat sandals, with loosely knotted hair secured at the back of her head and makeup was impeccably applied to appear as though she wasn’t wearing it. 

Cool and chic, she was ready to take on anyone – including him.

As much as he loathed making the admission, Jon liked the look enough to shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other while cursing the reaction.  He was starting to get used to the way his body responded to seeing her, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it.

“Yeah, that’s her.”

“I told him to do her and he’d feel better.”  Tony made the bland comment without bothering to look up from the grill’s surface, where he was turning shrimp, chicken, hot dogs and skewered vegetables. 

“Couldn’t hurt.  She’s decent looking.”

She was a more than decent looking.  Though the dress hid more of her legs than her shorts had this morning, he could still recall how lean and toned her thighs were.  More than once today, he had entertained the idea of assessing their strength – around his waist, and that was a contributing factor to his slob-like appearance tonight. 

He normally put on a button-down shirt with jeans or cargo shorts when guests came to the house.  Due to the late notice of her pending arrival and his sheer belligerence, Charlie got gym shorts and a recycled sleeveless tee.  She was lucky he’d already showered, or he may have foregone that, too.

Lilah was grinning determinedly as they stepped up to the trio of men, carrying what appeared to be bottles of wine in tow.

“Charlie, I’d like you to meet my husband, Tony.”

Stuck between the rock of his wife and the hard place of his brother, the resident chef wiped a hand on his shorts and held it out to shake.  “Hey.  Nice to meet you.”

“This freakishly large guy is my brother-in-law, Matt.”

Jon’s youngest brother chose to avoid physical contact, simply nodding and offering, “How ya doin’?”

“And, of course, you know Jon.”

Charlie hadn’t produced a beaming smile for either of his brothers, but the corners of her mouth had at least been pointed upward.  For him, there was nothing but a flat line, and he returned the favor along with a slight nod.

“Counselor.”

“Mr. Bongiovi.”

“Lord, please don’t call him that.  You’ll confuse me, makin’ me think their dad is here,” Lilah laughed, pinning him with a subtle stink eye that demanded he be on his best behavior.  It was kind of cute how she thought she could make demands of him. “You guys are gonna love her car.  Go check it out after we eat.  C’mon, Charlie.  Let’s go take this wine in the house and I’ll introduce you to Matt’s wife.”

As quickly as they’d come, the two women left with Lilah chatting cheerily as they did. 

Sliding a quick glance after them to make sure they were gone, his youngest brother offered the brilliantly astute observation, “She doesn’t seem to like you much more than you do her.”

That prompted a mocking laugh from the chef as he closed the lid on the grill and leaned on the handle.  “He likes her more than you think.”

“No.” Offered with a harsh glare of censure for the shit stirrer in the group, Jon didn’t leave any room for doubt or argument when saying, “I don’t like her.  I might fuck her if her she begged for it, but I absolutely do not like her.”

From the look exchanged between them, the younger Bongiovis clearly weren’t buying it. 

“So tell me about this begging,” Tony invited tauntingly.  “Because I’m bettin’ your definition of ‘beg’ is somewhere in the neighborhood of ‘hello’.”

Jon didn’t need this shit.  It was bad enough the woman was here in the first place.  He didn’t have to take Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee’s harassment on top of it.

“Watch yourself.  It was your negligence that allowed that lawyer to be here tonight.  That hasn’t escaped my notice, and I won’t forget it anytime soon.” 

Before either of them had the chance to rob him of the final word, Jon took his empty glass and went in search of wine.  It was proven that Charlie knew his vino preferences and one of those bottles she’d been carrying was calling his name.  Loudly.

J J J J J

Charlie was actually enjoying herself, she found herself thinking with some surprise almost two hours later. 

Even without the company, she took great pleasure in the setting itself.   So different from the city, the huge yard was beautifully landscaped and insulated by a lush array of trees and shrubs that isolated it from the surrounding neighbors.  The vast lawn was vibrantly green and perfectly groomed, acting as an exclusive park to Bongiovi children aged two, three, five and seven.  They had no idea that everyone didn’t share this same experience or that life wasn’t picture perfect, and their lively, unaffected laughter filled the air with its music, making Charlie smile along with them.

Dinner was light and flavorful, and wine flowed as freely as the children’s laughter afterward, with Lilah and Desiree doing their best to keep the conversation going around a surly Jon.  Their husbands were more mainstream, responding when spoken to and keeping up with the chatter, but not really offering anything of their own. 

There were three adults on each side of the long wooden table set with flowers and a light blue tablecloth.  Matt, Desiree and Stephanie were seated to look toward the front of the house while Tony, Lilah and Charlie were opposite them.  Through design or pure luck, Jon sat at the head of the table furthest from her, with his back to the yard and flanked by his brothers.  He had done nothing more than quietly pick at food and consistently refill his wineglass since dinner started. 

He hadn’t done much more than that prior to dinner, although he did manage to surprise – shock – her.  Not long after Lilah had ushered her into the kitchen, he had silently cut through on his way to another part of the house.  It was only a few moments later that he returned to present her with a cocktail – her preferred dirty martini.

“What?” he asked defensively, all but pushing it into her hand when she just looked at it.  “I’ve seen you drink enough of the damn things.”

There had been nothing left for her to do but thank him while his sisters-in-law looked on and enjoy the sizzle left by the touch of his fingertips against hers.  He, of course, didn’t respond beyond a quiet grunt before grabbing the wine and rejoining his brothers by the grill.

“So, Charlie,” Lilah broached with a smile after the dinner dishes had been cleared.  “Tell us a little about yourself before we get around to dessert.  I think I remember hearin’ that you went to a Food Bank dinner.  How are you affiliated with them?”

Crossing her legs, she pushed her own half-filled glass of cabernet toward the center of the table so that she could rest her arms on the edge.  “I volunteer at the Brooklyn branch two or three weekends a month.  The director there invited me.  I didn’t want to go alone, so I convinced my brother to go with me.”

A rude snort emanated from the head of the table, but Jon looked toward the front yard as he took yet another swallow of wine. 

Lilah didn’t even acknowledge him.  “Are you close to your brother?  Siblin’s fascinate me since I’m an only child.”

“We’re a close family,” she confirmed with a slow nod to the woman who had been exceedingly kind and gracious this evening.  She and Desiree had gone above and beyond to compensate for their brother-in-law’s sullenness.

“I have a little bit of an obsession with restored homes and recently bought a brownstone.  Luke is helping me restore it, so I see a lot more of him lately than I do the others.  He and his daughter will be arriving tomorrow to join us for the rest of the week.”

“Well, I’d love to meet him.  Maybe we can get together for dinner again before headin’ our separate ways.” 

Understanding that Jon would probably prefer Luke’s presence to her own, Charlie hummed noncommittally before Lilah tacked on, “How many siblin’s do you have?”

“There were five of us growing up.”  Smiling, she added, “Me and four brothers.”

“Still say that explains the name.”

Angling forward, she frowned at the man who’d muttered just loud enough to be heard.  “And I told you I’m not tryin’ to present a masculine image because of my brothers.  I don’t need to be a man to compete with them.”

Stephanie’s wide eyes darted back and forth between her father and their guest.  As far as Charlie knew, the young woman was unaware of both her profession and client list, so the interaction must seem strange to her even though she said nothing to confirm it.

“So, uh…”  Desiree coughed and stepped up to fill the awkward gap.  “Older or younger brothers?”

Charlie extended an arm to reach for her wineglass, lifting it to her lips as she said, “Three older, one younger.”

“One of them is dead.”

Her jaw clamping shut, she simply nodded at Jon’s blunt declaration.  From the slight scuffling noise and the ensuing dirty look that Jon dispatched, she thought maybe Tony had kicked him under the table.

“Stop being a jerk,” Lilah snapped in his direction before bringing a consoling hand to rest upon Charlie’s forearm.  “I’m so sorry.  Is it a recent loss?”

“No.  It’s been a number of years now since we lost him.  He was a firefighter.”

There were murmurs of condolences around the table – except from Jon, who mutely watched her with hooded eyes. 

“Have a lot of respect for those guys,” Matt finally spoke of his own accord.  “Them and the P.D. have thankless and never-ending jobs.”

“Thank you.  My two oldest brothers are current and former NYPD, so I’ll pass that along.  They’ll appreciate it.”

“From NYPD to chef?” Jon demanded brusquely.

It was hard to believe, but all that wine wasn’t dulling his mind.  He had obviously paid attention at dinner last night and successfully pulled those random snippets together for his astute conclusion.

“Yes.  Dominick has an injury that would’ve put him behind a desk for the rest of his career.  He opted to move on.” The somber topics of death and injury cast a pall over the group and brought relative silence to the table.   Desperately scrambling for anything that might be less depressing, Charlie turned the conversation to her host.  “Lilah mentioned that you’re having some problems with an upcoming show.  I was curious as to why you don’t cancel it.  It seems as though that would be a more solid financial decision.”

His mouth tightened with displeasure as turbulent blue eyes flicked toward his sister-in-law.  “In the short term, yes, but the big gesture goes a lot further than that.  Of all people, you should understand the need to plan for the future.  You know, so I won’t end up unable to afford medication in my old age – or be forced to sell my house.”

“Jon!” Lilah chastised with a fierce scowl.

“Keep out of this, Lilah.  You’ve interfered enough.”

Okay.  She’d played as nice as she knew how to play, but Charlie was getting pissed at his persistent and subtle digs every time they were in the same vicinity.  It was uncalled for and childish.

“Listen, buddy.  I’m sorry you take issue with my being here tonight, but I asked Lilah to give you ample opportunity to withdraw the invitation.  You didn’t, so stop being a snide and condescending asshole.”

The frown lines around his mouth dug deeper and his eyes narrowed.  “She told me about ten minutes before you got here.  Hardly ample opportunity, and I find it hard to believe you didn’t have a hand in planning this ambush.”

Her hair-trigger Italian temper surged through her veins like a wildfire and she leaned down the table in his direction.  “I don’t care what you believe.  I did the right thing and my conscience is clear.”

“I’m sorry,” he spitefully apologized.  “Are we talking about the dinner invitation or your rape and pillage of my life?”

That must have signaled his crossing over the invisible line of tolerance, because Tony held a hand up to his brother.  “Okay, that’s enough, Jon.  Stop.”

“This shit has definitely gone on long enough,” Charlie concurred, scooting away from the table and standing.  “But you don’t have to stop, because I’m officially declaring it open season.  You are invited to curse, insult and verbally abuse me until you’re blue in the fucking face, but you’ll have the decency to do it in private, Mister Bongiovi.  And when it’s over, it’s fucking over.  Capisce?”

The children’s laughter from the yard coincidentally ceased at the same time as Charlie’s tirade, leaving an unsettled quiet hanging in the air, and every single person at the table was dead silent as they looked from one adversary to the other.  Anticipation was evident in each Bongiovi face as they awaited a response from the man who glared icy daggers while the muscle in his jaw ticked fiercely.

It took a tension-fraught eternity, but his chair finally scooted back with a noisy scrape across weathered boards.  He rose purposefully to his feet and looked down the table to lock hard blue eyes so keenly to hers that it created a foreboding knot in the pit of Charlie's stomach. 

“Let’s go.”