Read Online All of Me by Gina Sorelle - Free Book Online Page A

his name, I think.  Nice guy.” 
Nina cut up some sweet sausage for Sam and passed her the plate.  “You into
him, Stell?  I thought you swore off cops.”
    “Drazek…Drazek…”  Pops’ fork
paused halfway to his mouth.  “Why does that name sound familiar?”
    “Maybe you dealt with him a few
years ago.  When you were going through one of your rough times,” Fi said. 
    Pops hadn’t handled their
mother’s death well.  At all.  But he was hanging in there now. 
    Time and antidepressants:  the
cure all for most everything.
    Nina and Carla’s six year old,
Gabby, turned to her four year old baby sister, Sam.  She patted her chubby
little hand and said, “Pops went a little nuts.  But don’t worry.  Mamas and zie say it’s alright…we all go nuts sometimes.”
    “That’s right, Gabs!” Marco
bellowed, laughing.  “Especially in this family!”
    “Hey!”  Kat ducked as Fi threw
a roll at Marco.  He made an expert catch and ate the thing in two quick bites.
    Stella’s nephews – all riled up
at the prospect of an adult-sanctioned food fight – had to be reined in by Gigi
via various threats regarding Xbox, DS, and Wii deprival. 
    “I know that name from
somewhere,” Pops muttered, unaffected by the mass chaos around him.  With a
frustrated sigh, he returned to his meatball.
    The family finished dinner and
the men cleared the table.  Stella stood at the kitchen sink washing while Fi
rinsed and Carla dried. 
    Fi hip-bumped Stella.  “Sorry
we haven’t had a chance to talk.  Things were…crazy…with what went on.  And the
firm too.”  Fi sighed.  “Just so messed up.  I’m so sorry.”
    “I know, babe.”  Stella gave Fi
an awkward wet-hands-in-the-air hug and a peck on the cheek.  She pulled back
and met her sister’s eyes.  “You’re done with him now, right?  No more talks,
emails, texts, nothing?”
    “Nothing.”  Fi handed a glass
to Carla.  “I don’t know when things got so screwed up.  He was always a jerk,
but not like that.”  The sad look on Fi’s face was enough to send Stella bee-lining
for Eddie’s to finish what she’d started.
    “It’s the way they play it,
Fi,” Carla said.  She ran a worn chintz dishtowel over the plate.  “It’s all
about manipulation and control.  And they are so smooth, so practiced at it,
that you don’t even know they’ve manipulated you until it’s too late.”  Carla
patted Fi’s arm.  “But it’s over now.  You’re safe.  And by the grace of
Stella’s boyfriend she’s not in jail-
    “Hey!”  Stella interjected,
laughing.  “Don’t you start!” 
    The
talking/bantering/laughing/coffee/dessert ritual went on until Stella finally
got into her car two hours later to head back to her house
    At 8:30 pm, Stella poured her
nightly glass of wine complete with a handful of ice.  She was heading to the
back porch for a few minutes before “Everybody Loves Raymond” started when her
doorbell rang.
    It startled her so badly she
sloshed wine down the front of her jeans.  “Who in the hell…”  Sisters and
killers didn’t ring the doorbell and magazine salespeople usually didn’t come
after sunset, so Stella was stumped.  She set her glass down and crept toward
the peep hole in her front door.  It was her house and nobody could see in, so
God knew why she was tiptoeing around like a cat burglar.  She closed one eye
and peeped.  And her heart jumped into palpitation mode. 
    It was him .  At her
house.  At night. 
    “Hold on a sec…”  Stella
unlocked three deadbolts Nina had installed when her baby sister had insisted
on living alone and opened the door. 
    Officer Drazek’s furrowed brow
sent her into an instant panic.  “What’s wrong?  Is it my sister?  Or my dad? 
I-I just left there a few hours ago…what could have happened?”
    Never mind that he wasn’t in
uniform and the look was more angry than official.
    “Why in the hell would you open
your door to someone