98:Six Italians Walk Into a Bar

October 15

The Brooklyn bar was classic and old school. 

Patrons ranged from working-stiffs stopping by for a drink after work to the old-timers that had been there since noon.  Occasionally, a woman wandered in on the arm of a man, but it was predominantly a male atmosphere.  From the classic rock piping out of the jukebox to the pool tables to the array of vintage pinball machines and video games, this was where a guy went to hang out with his buddies.

Jon liked it. 

A hand thrown in the air caught his attention, and it became evident that three of the five men he was meeting here tonight had already arrived.  They’d pushed together a couple of tables near the back, and it looked like they were already working on at least their first round of drinks. 

“Hey,” he greeted the Del Vecchio brothers, extending a hand to each of them.  “Last I heard, my brothers were on their way.”

One after the other, they accepted his grasp and either offered a welcome to their “home” bar or thanked him for coming before he took a seat on the same side of the table as Luke, leaving an empty seat between them.  Dominick and Vince were across the table in the same seating pattern across from them, leaving two center seats and both ends of the merged table empty for Matt and Tony to choose from when they arrived.

Not knowing these men well, Jon still wasn’t all that excited about this gathering.  Luke had assured him that this was a friendly getting-to-know you thing, his gut told him that this soiree was engineered to intimidate their little sister’s new boyfriend.  Luke already knew that Jon didn’t intimidate, and he supposed the other two would figure it out soon enough.

“How was your trip out of the country?”

Smiling benignly at Vince, who struck him as the least trusting of the trio, Jon accepted the waitress-delivered Corona he ordered on his way over.  After the party at Tony's house Sunday night, he could foresee a lot of Corona in his future. 

“Good, thanks.  Weather disrupted my schedule, so I lost a show, but the rest went well.”

“Traveling must get old after a while.”

He nodded slowly at Dominick, “That it does.  You miss the people and places that feel like home.”

“Speaking of missing people, what’s Charlie up to?” a curious Luke posed while peeling the label from his Budweiser bottle.  Vince shared the same taste in beer, it seemed, while Dom was drinking something harder – either bourbon or whiskey.  “I haven’t seen or talked to her since Saturday.  She’s ignoring my calls.”

Jon hadn’t seen her at all or talked to her much since Monday, when he’d accompanied her to Grand Central to visit Millie.  The old woman was all smiles and so pleased to see them both that she spent almost half an hour chatting and having coffee.  When he’d parted ways with the counselor afterward with no more than a platonic goodbye, he hadn’t realized that would be the last time they were together this week.

A couple of calls and texts told him there was a new case that needed her undivided attention now so she could be out of town for a few days.  There was also a flurry of activity on another open case, making her life as busy as his own, but Chiara still managed to work in an extra appointment with her therapist.  She made it a priority since she would see the boys in just a day or two.

It comforted him to know that she was still going full speed ahead, and if there was still any anxiety once they boarded the flight to California tomorrow afternoon, Jon would help her work through it – one way or another.  In the meantime, he left her to do her thing while he spent time either in the studio, writing, consulting on the new clothing line or with his kids.

“She’s been working a lot, but I think tonight’s kickboxing.” 

That text had been only a cryptic message about venting her excess energy in a productive way rather than making herself crazy.  It wasn’t a bad idea, and it had him thinking about putting a few miles on the treadmill tonight.  Her recent furious burst of work had him banished from the brownstone in order for her to concentrate, so he may as well do something productive rather than rattle around his desolate apartment.   

Ice clinked in the near-empty glass that Dominick put on the table before he added, “I heard from her yesterday.  She wants me to dog sit while she goes out of town for a few days.”

“Oh, yeah?  Where’s she going?”

Jon knew the answer to Luke’s question, but simply drank his beer and let Chiara’s eldest brother field it.

“To see the boys and then Disney World.  She was so excited telling me about Disney that it reminded me of the Christmas she got her first puppy.”

All three pairs of brown eyes slid in Jon’s direction, as though they assumed he had something to do with it.  Well, he did.  So what? 

“She’s wanted to go there for years.” Vince’s remark was accompanied by a sweeping and assessing gaze.  Given that all of the men around the table were dressed similarly in jeans and button-down shirts, Jon knew it wasn’t his appearance being evaluated, but his character.

“She mentioned it, so I’m taking her.  Birthday gift.”

“Dude…”  Luke’s hand warmly clapped Jon’s shoulder.  “You’re not just a rock star, but a rock star in her world.  I guarantee it.”

“Seems only fair since she’s one in mine.”

He recalled Luke saying one time that she loved as hard as she fought, and Jon now had no misgivings about that statement.   As much as she argued with him, the counselor went out of her way to be what he needed.  From nursing him through minor ailments to simply soothing his bad mood, it was those little things that made him appreciate her and foretold that she’d step up for the big things, too.  He could see himself eventually coming to lean on her more and more.

“You love her?”

Here came the big brother shit, Jon thought as he met Dominick’s eyes and confirmed, “I do.”

“Then why in God’s name hasn’t she filed divorce papers yet?  You should take the damn pen in her hand and force her to sign them,” came Vince’s disgruntled opinion.

Laughter bubbled up in Jon’s throat as he spotted his own brothers passing through the front door.  “Force her?  That’s a joke, right?  Because there’s no forcing the counselor to do any damn thing.  I’m holding her hand while she makes preparations, and nudging her to move faster when I can get away with it.  That’s all I can do other than be patient.”

“Somebody needs to fucking do something.” 

Not only was Vince the least trusting of the Del Vecchios, he was most likely to be a prick when it came to his sister, Jon was coming to realize.  That was cool with him, but where was Mr. Overprotective during the past two decades while his sister was being extorted and blackmailed?

“Yeah, somebody does,” he responded coolly, yet evenly.  He didn’t need to start an argument, but Jon wasn’t going to be their scapegoat either.  “And why wasn’t it you?  Don’t stand by minding your own business for all these years and then preach at me to do something, man.  She’s made more progress in the last month than she ever did under your watch, so do me a favor and save your bad cop routine for the peckerhead husband.”

“Problem?” 

Jon recognized the deep voice at his left shoulder, so he didn’t even flinch, but the Del Vecchios all looked up at the foreboding question posed by his big ass baby brother.  Luke was the only one that offered a smile, because… Well, Matt was an intimidating presence when he wasn’t trying to be.  When he caught wind of a vibe that didn’t sit well – like now – he could be menacing, and Luke was the only one of the counselor’s brothers who knew that wasn’t his usual personality.

“No problem,” was Jon’s easy denial, suspecting that all intended parties received his point.  “Matt… Tony… meet Vince and Dominick – Luke and Chiara’s brothers.  Gentlemen, these are my brothers Tony and Matt.”

Hands were shaken all around and subdued greetings exchanged before the Bongiovi men plunked down drinks they’d procured from the bar and took seats at opposite ends of the table.  Matt must not be fully convinced that all was peachy fucking keen because he protectively assumed the seat closest to Jon.

“So what’s with all the underlying tension?”

Jon smirked at the reassuring predictability of his siblings. 

Tony, sitting at the end of the table with Luke and Dom, wasn’t the kind to ignore the elephant in the room.  He called people out, while Matt was more likely to silently observe.  Jon could go either way, depending on the situation. 

“We were talking about the counselor’s husband,” he told his brothers.  They had been – more or less – and Jon might as well get some useful mileage out of it.  “And the anniversary party he’s throwing for them.”

“That the one at the Crowne Plaza?”  Tony inquired over the rim of his Jack and Coke.  “Lilah mentioned it the other day.”

If his knowledge of the event surprised the other men, they hid it well. 

“That’s the one.  The counselor said she told both your wives.  She wants you all there.”

Tony’s dark head shook slowly.  “I don’t know.  There’s something extraordinarily fucked up about that.”

On the surface, it was more than fucked up, and Jon had no trouble acknowledging that.  His married girlfriend inviting his family to her anniversary party was a far from conventional, but Jon knew his brothers would be there if they thought it was what he wanted.

“She has her reasons, which I happen to encourage.  Plan on going, please.” 

It was Matt’s head slowly shaking now, even though he was saved from offering his two cents by Luke’s agreement that the whole thing was bizarre.  Jon thought that the other two would offer their take on the screwed up logic of their sister, but that’s not exactly what happened. 

Dom only asked, “Are you going to be there?”

“Yeah.  Owen asked me to sing.”

“What in the fuck?” Tony snorted.  “This gets more fucked up as we go along.”

It sounded that way, even to Jon’s own ears.  Just a couple more weeks, though, and it would be over.  Everything would be out in the open and he was going to walk down motherfucking Broadway and kiss her in the middle of Times Square without caring who saw. 

“Doesn’t it, though?  I didn’t realize you knew Owen.”

“Met him once.”  The circumstances or the aftermath were none of the very inquisitive Vince’s concern, despite the suspicious look Jon was getting.  Lifting a helpless hand, he informed them all, “This is not my deal.  It’s the counselor’s, and she wants us all there.  End of story.” 

“But you know why?  And why she won’t just cut bait and run?”

God, he hoped Vince would calm the fuck down when all this was over.  He understood the guy was cynical for a living, but Jon hated to think one of her brothers was going to be a perpetual pain in his ass.  Lilah was filling that quota in his life already.

“Yes,” he responded with what he considered excruciating patience.  “But it’s not my place to tell you – any of you – so don’t ask me, and don’t ask Chiara.  It’s just a couple more weeks.   Respect her enough to wait it out and trust me to take care of her in the meantime.”

The Del Vecchios all exchanged glances, and Jon figured he’d be better off pinning his hopes on Luke.  Because they’d known each other for a while, the odds of his honoring Jon’s request were a little higher, and maybe he could sway the other two. 

“If you tell me this shit will be over afterward, I can wait to see how it shakes down.” It surprised Jon that Dom was the first one to speak.  “Charlie trusts you, and because I believe you’ve got her best interests at heart, I will, too.”

“Ditto.  There’s no doubt in my mind that you have her back,” Luke concurred with a decisive nod that had a lock of dark hair sliding onto his forehead. 

Two out of three Del Vecchios were on board, but the last one would be the hardest sell.  Vince was still studying him like a science experiment while twirling the last swallow of beer around and round in the bottom of his Budweiser bottle. 

“Keep in mind that that I’m just makin’ conversation, here,” Tony lazily interjected into the silence.  “But Charlie’s the married woman who hooked up without disclosing that fact.  Jon hasn’t done a damn thing other than help your sister.  If I can trust her simply because he vouches for her, I’d think all you fellas could give my brother the same consideration.  Yanno what I mean?”

The Bud bottle thunked against the Formica tabletop as Vince sighed with resignation.  “Yeah.  I know what you mean.  I’m in, but I need the same thing Dom needs – you to tell me this shit will be over afterward.”

A weight lifted from Jon’s shoulders.  They were all on the same side now, and that was a good thing.  A very good thing.

“It will be over,” he assured them all with confidence.  "And I could use your help with something else..."