Big Daddy Sinatra: There Was a Ruthless Man(65)

“As I was saying,” Charles said, “I want you guys to appreciate that Jenay is very important to me, and she’s to be treated as someone very important to me.” He didn’t knock down the notion, but he didn’t exactly embrace it either.

“She’s to be treated with the complete respect,” Charles went on. “Treat her the way you treat me. Mistreat her, you’ve mistreated me, and you will answer for it. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Brent said.

“Crystal clear,” Robert said.

“It’s love,” Tony said, smiling and nodding his head.

Charles looked at Jenay. “He has issues,” he said, and Jenay laughed.

But she also took mental note of Charles’s responses. He was taking this relationship very slowly. No declarations of love and commitment were going to be coming from him anytime soon. He wasn’t even discussing it at this point. Which was fine by her. She wanted to take it slow too. But as soon as she was contented with the pace, it all went sideways on her.

“So what are you actually saying, Dad?” Robert wanted to know. “You’re not marrying her, and love’s got nothing to do with it. So what are you saying then? You guys are going to shack up? You guys are going to move in together? Is that what you’re implying?”

“I don’t like your terminology,” Charles said, “but yes. That would appear to be the most logical next step for us.”

Jenay just sat there. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. Neither could Brent and Tony. They looked at her. But she was looking at their father. “What would appear to be the next step for us?” she asked him.

Charles didn’t skip a beat. “You and I cohabitating,” he said without reservation.

“Cohabitating? You and I living together?”

“Yes. It’ll be a major move for me.”

“Major,” Robert agreed.

“And a major blunder for her,” Brent said.

“Major,” Tony agreed.

Jenay was speechless. She was amazed Charles would go there, and do it in front of his sons without so much as mentioning it to her first. Was this that Big Daddy side of him? Was this that ruthless side of him she’d only gotten glimpses of? She was good enough to shack up with, but would never be good enough to marry? Was that what he was saying? Was that where this so-called relationship was going? Nowhere special?

She got up and began heading, swiftly, for the front door.

“Where are you going?” Charles asked her, surprised by her sudden move.

But Jenay kept walking.

“Jenay?” Charles yelled. “Where are you going?”

She didn’t turn around.

“What the fuck,” Charles said lowly and angrily as he got up and did something he had never done in his life before: he chased after a woman.

“What’s her problem?” Robert wanted to know.

“Dad,” Brent responded. “What else?”

Just as Jenay rounded the foyer and opened the front door, Charles was upon her and slammed it back shut. He turned her toward him. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked angrily. “What’s wrong?”

It was only then, after turning her around, did he realize the anguish, and the pain, in her big, gray eyes. And it cut him short. “What’s wrong?” he asked again, but this time more tenderly, and without the edge.

Tears were beginning to form puddles in her eyes. “I thought we were trying to build something together,” she said.

“We are! You know we are.”

“I thought you said we were going to give this relationship, our relationship, a true chance to take off.”

“And that’s exactly what we’re doing. What have I done to contradict that?”

“You want your boys to respect me. You want this entire town to respect me. Then you cheapen me by suggesting I move in with you?”

Charles was dumbstruck. “Cheapen you?” he asked, amazed that she would think such a thing.

“Don’t do that. Don’t try that let’s play dumb shit on me. Yes! It would cheapen me! You told me that Jericho was the kind of town that put great stock in family values. That’s why Donald had to get married when he impregnated Susan. That’s the kind of moral code that exists in this family values kind of town. But when it comes to me? Oh no! None of the rules apply with me. You can just move her in. You can just treat her like a wife without any of the trappings of marriage. Don’t buy the cow, just get the milk for free!”

Tears were flowing freely now. “I thought you were different, Charles. I thought you were really a righteous guy. But you’re not. You’re no different than every other man I’ve ever known. It’s never about what I want, and what I need, and what I desire. It’s always about the guy. And what he wants, and what he needs, and what he desires. And my stupid ass has allowed it. Relationship after relationship after relationship! But I’m done. I’m out of the allowance game.”