The Crossroads by F. P. Lione

Author:F. P. Lione
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780800759612
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2011-06-28T04:00:00+00:00

11

I stepped into the bright sunlight. The air was clear and cold without much wind. I walked over to where I had parked my car on 36th street and let it warm up for a couple of minutes before I drove off.

The West Side Highway was moving straight through to the tunnel, but the tunnel had an outbound lane closed, slowing me down some. There was an accident on the Gowanus Expressway, and it was stop-and-go traffic from 48th Street through to the Verrazzano Bridge. The bridge bottlenecked on the right lower level, like it always does until the right lane clears for the E-Z pass lanes.

The boardwalk was on my left, and the ocean shimmered in the sunlight. The seagulls sat on top of the traffic lights along Father Cappodanno Boulevard, facing east toward the sun. There was a hockey game going on in the South Beach parking lot. None of the kids’ jerseys matched, so I guess it was just a neighborhood game.

I took Father Cappodano Boulevard to Greeley Avenue and made a left toward Miller Field, parking at the end of the block. I let myself in, going right to my answering machine to see if Michele had called. The steady red light annoyed me, and I was starting to get fed up with Michele. If the whole family thing was bothering her so much, why couldn’t she just talk to me about it?

I took out my phone book and looked up my mother’s number. I didn’t know what she wanted to talk to me about, but since I was home earlier than I expected, I called her to change the time for dinner. I figured whatever drama she was going to bring would just give me agita, and I wanted to get it over with before I had to leave for work. I dialed the number, and she answered on the first ring.

“Hey, Mom, it’s Tony.”

“Is everything okay?” she asked cautiously.

“Yeah, but I got home earlier than expected, and I thought you could come by a little earlier, maybe seven?” I asked.

“Uh, sure,” she hesitated. “Seven’s fine, I’ll just leave a little earlier.” She was quiet for a minute. “If I leave here by five, I’ll be okay. I’ll take the streets instead of the expressway so I don’t hit rush hour traffic.”

“Do you want me to call Denise or Vinny to come over?” I asked. I couldn’t tell you how long it’s been since I was alone with my mother, and I didn’t want to do it now.

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to speak to you alone,” she said.

I couldn’t think of what to say to that, so I just said, “No problem, I’ll see you tonight.”

I changed into sweats, noting that if I didn’t do my laundry soon, I wouldn’t have any clothes left. One of the perks of living in a house is having a washer and dryer. I missed being able to stay home and wash my clothes. I’ve been using the laundromat on Sand Lane; they just renovated it, so it’s pretty clean.

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