Secrets of the Past

Chapter 66

The next day Brian arrived at Sal's house three minutes late. He was hoping to see Sal standing at his front door waiting. What he saw was a closed door and no signs of life. He took out his phone and dialed Sal's number. No answer. He called again and got the same result.

He sighed and turned off his jeep. He lumbered to Sal's front door, still tired and now irritated, and pounded on it. No answer. He pounded for what seemed like an hour before Sal finally came to the door. He was still in his pajamas, his hair disheveled, his eyes half closed. He walked away as soon as he saw who it was.

"Good morning!" Brian yelled, after him, closing the door. "Forget to set the alarm?!"

"Don't fuckin' start with me, man," Sal said, heading to the kitchen. Brian followed him.

"Don't start with you? I've been banging on your door for fifteen minutes. Another five and I was going to leave your ass."

"You should have," Sal said grumpily, pouring himself a glass of orange juice.

"What's going on?" Brian asked, sensing more was wrong than Sal being mad at himself for oversleeping.

"Nothing. I overslept."

"Bullshit. You wouldn't be such an angry bastard right now if that was it."

Sal sat down at the kitchen table and let out a sigh. "Rachel left me."

"What?! When?!"

"Last night. She was here when I called you. Later, after I talked to you, we had a huge fight."

"What about?" Brian asked, sitting down across from Sal.

"Same old bullshit."

"Wanting to move in together? I thought she stopped asking you about that?"

"She did," Sal said. "Last night is the first time it's come up in a long time. She told me she's tired of waiting for me to decide where I want this relationship to go."

"Well buddy, not to side with her, but she does have a point. It's been almost three years."

"I know that. And I know she has every right to be mad and fed up with me."

"What are you so afraid of?" Brian asked. "I know you love her. I know you care about her. If she had any really serious flaws you wouldn't still be with her after all this time. So what's the problem?"

"I don't know. I don't know why I can't do it. She isn't asking me to get married. It's just living together. We practically do that now."

"Do you think things will change if you make it official?"

"I don't know. It shouldn't."

"Does she have the same sort of OCD you do when it comes to germs and cleanliness?"

"No," Sal said. "Not to the degree I do. But her apartment is clean and tidy."

"Well, I don't really know what to tell you buddy. I've been where you are. It's scary. But I have no regrets. It's nice coming home to Giovanna waiting for me. And you know how I am, how I need time to myself. She's the same way so she understands it. If I'm in a bad mood she knows I need time to cool off and leaves me alone. We never fight because she gets me so completely."

"So when's the wedding?"

"Let's not get carried away," Brian said. "What I'm trying to say is, can you live without her? Do you see a future with her? Is this someone you can see yourself eventually marrying and starting a family with? I know you want that. You need to decide if she is potentially the one. If she is, then what do you have to lose? I mean, as of right now you've already lost her. You've got nowhere to go but up."

"Shit. I really fucked up."

"I don't think it's too late to fix it. But speaking of late..." Brian said, looking at his watch. "We're late."

"I'll hurry," Sal said, getting up and leaving the room.

On their way to set Sal sent a text to Rachel asking if she would talk to him after work. It wasn't until they were almost there that she responded to him, saying she would.

"Hey Murr, look who decided to come to work," Joe said, looking in the direction of Sal and Brian. They were filming in a grocery store today and they were now all gathered in the storage room around the monitors.

"Sally Boy had a rough night. Cut him some slack," Brian said, taking off his coat.

"What's going on?" Joe asked.

"Rachel broke up with him," Brian said, knowing Sal didn't want to talk about it and knowing Joe and Murr wouldn't stop asking until they got an answer.

"Aw, man. I'm sorry to hear that," Murr said.

"He's gonna try to smooth things out after work," Brian said. "So let's just get on with it."

They didn't finish with filming until nearly 7:00. The guys had worked hard to lift Sal's spirits and it had worked, in part knowing Rachel had agreed to meet him later. Traffic was light and Brian was dropping Sal off at home right around 7:30.

"Good luck, buddy," he said as Sal got out of his jeep. When he got home he found Giovanna on the couch reading, Chessie cat curled up next to her.

"Hey baby," he said, as he shut the door.

"Hey. How was work?"

"Good. Got some good stuff today."

"How's Sal?" she asked.

"Oh, you know what happened?"

"Yeah. Rachel called me this morning. We had lunch."

"How is SHE doing?" Brian asked, sitting down next to her.

"She was upset, obviously. She didn't want to break up with him."

"Well, Sal feels like a dick and I think he's finally seen the light."

"I hope they can work it out. I know they both love each other. I made dinner. It's in the oven. I ate without you because I didn't know how late you'd be."

"Thanks," he said, giving her a kiss. "I'm starving."