Big Daddy Sinatra: There Was a Ruthless Man(48)

“Root her out,” Paige responded as if it was obvious. “It’s going to take time, and a lot of planning, but we are going to do it. We are going to root that heifer out!”



Abigail Ridge sat on the patio of her beautiful home and looked at her tiresome pool boy. He was one of her playmates when Charles wasn’t around, and he hadn’t been around in over two months. But the beauty of their relationship was her invisibility. He allowed her to live in this home for free, he paid all of her bills, and all she had to do was be available whenever he needed her. She just had to keep her mouth shut about their relationship, and be available. She did both exceedingly well.

And now, with this new news that she hadn’t even shared with Charles, she felt she had placed herself in a stronger position. But breaking it to him was the problem. The timing had to be perfect. She was hiding it well, but wouldn’t be able to hide it completely for too many more months. But timing was everything with Charles. If she picked the wrong time to tell him her news, everything could backfire. And nothing was going to backfire in her life.

But she certainly needed a change in her life. She was pushing forty now. Surfer-dude pool boy wasn’t cutting it anymore. She wanted real dick. She wanted Charles’s dick, which was what she privately called her Big Daddy. But it had been two months and nearly two weeks exactly, since she had a taste.

She never questioned it. They’d had dry spells before. But then pool boy made a little offhand comment that was no different than all of the other offhand comments he enjoyed making while he cleaned the pool. Except that it rocked her world.

She was leaned back on the lounge chair in her oversized bathrobe, with her shades covering her eyes. She was taking in what little sun there was, and actually enjoying herself, when her boy toy stopped gossiping about the local librarian being caught with the local, married principal, and mentioned Beatrice Moynihan. “It’s a shame what happened to her,” he said.

Abby opened her eyes and looked at him. She knew Beatrice worked for Charles. “What happened to her?”

He looked at her. “Didn’t you hear? Big Daddy Sinatra fired her today.”

She had to play it cool. Even pool boy didn’t know just how deeply her relationship with Charles actually ran. She lifted her shades on top of her red hair. “He fired her?”

“Yes! And he didn’t do it in a nice way, either. At least that’s what I heard.”

“But why would he fire Beatrice? She’s worked at the Inn for ages. She worked there before he even thought about taking over that establishment.”

“That’s why it’s such an outrage,” the pool boy agreed.

“But why did he do it?” Abby wanted to know.

“From what I’ve heard, he had to make room. He fired Beatrice to make room for his new girlfriend.”

Abby’s heart immediately began to pound. “His new girlfriend? What new girlfriend?”

“Haven’t you heard? She came to town yesterday. She’s now the general manager at the Inn. And get this: she’s African-American.”

This really intrigued Abby. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, ma’am. She’s a black bombshell from what I’ve heard. If you go to your country club tonight, you may see her. A friend of mine who works there told me that Big Daddy made a reservation for two for dinner tonight. It was the first time, according to my friend, that Big Daddy has ever made a reservation for two. It was always for one, for himself. He always ate alone. Never would take any of his ladies to the club for dinner. Until now.”

Abby could hardly believe it.

“And from what I hear she’s hot,” her pool man added.

Abby looked at him. “Hot? What do you mean she’s hot?”

“Very nicely packed, according to what I’ve heard. Some guys are saying she could give you a run for your money, Miss Abby.”

Abby smiled her one-second smile and then frowned, and pool boy, who knew when he had hit the wrong nerve, quickly reversed course and began talking about other matters. He, like everybody else in town, knew that she and Big Daddy Sinatra had an understanding going on, and that he paid her bills. She seemed to be the only one who didn’t know that everybody knew.

Abby didn’t even know about this new girlfriend Charles had brought to town. He had other women. That was his nature to always have a slew of them. But he’d never brought any of his outside women into Jericho. That would be a first. She would be discreet. She wasn’t as obnoxious as Paige Springer and a few others who loved to broadcast their affiliation with Charles. But she was going to ask around. And see for herself if Charles showed up at their club tonight with that woman on his arm. Because if he did parade her out so publicly, she would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this lady was different. She would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this lady was not going to be just another bed warmer for Charles. She was going to be competition for Abby.