Sal nodded his face stern. “Yeah, he was.”
Filled with incomprehension, she shook her head still unable to believe it. “But he’s not going to jail, is he?”
Sal and Romero exchanged glances then Grace spoke. “No, but he is going away.”
Rose’s breath caught the words taking a moment to register. “What? Where is he going?”
The panic sunk in fast. She needed to talk to Vincent now—hear his side of the story. There had to be some kind of mistake.
“The Army, Rose.” Sal said matter of fact. “He’s enlisting today.”
Feeling the warm tears drop down her cheek, Rose’s eyes went from Sal to Romero and then stopped on Grace. “Why?” The only people she’d ever known of who’d enlisted in the Army were gone for years. Why would he want to be gone—away from her—for years?
“It’s what the girl’s father and Vince’s dad agreed to,” Sal said. “The girl’s dad wanted him gone and punished. I offered to bring him here, but Vince’s dad said that would be rewarding him. I was able to convince him boot camp and the Army would straighten Vince out. It’s not a walk in the park, but it’s not jail, and it won’t ruin his life. It might even help save him from himself.”
“This was your idea?” Rose felt her insides warm. She was certain Vincent would’ve never agreed to this. Sal must’ve forced him. “You suggested he enlist? How could you?”
“Rose,” Grace’s voice was soothing yet cautionary, “Vince agreed to this. It was necessary.”
“Necessary?” Rose glared at Grace then brought her glare back to Sal. “Why? Because you said so?”
Deep inside, Rose had always doubted Sal truly believed in Vincent. He’d always thought him a thug even after he’d proven he wasn’t. She had no idea why Vincent would get involved in dealing drugs again, but she was certain there had to be a reasonable explanation.
The tears streamed down her face now. She hated Sal at that moment, almost as much she had when she’d found out he’d broken her sister’s heart. Now he was breaking hers.
“It was either the Army or go to jail,” Sal said as he stood up from where he was sitting. Walking his coffee mug over to the sink as nonchalantly as if he’d just confirmed Vincent would be leaving for a day, not years, only made her angrier. Then he turned and said the worst thing he could at that moment. “He brought this on himself, Rose. It’s time he mans up for his mistakes. This will be good for him. He’ll be back soon enough.”
Romero stood up as Rose’s jaw dropped. “Soon enough?” She said through her teeth. “When does he leave? I need to talk to him.”
“Normally it would take weeks to get him in, but Romero here has some connections that might get him in a lot faster.”
Romero’s smug smile only pushed her already fiery buttons. She was dying here and, he was smiling? “Why are you in such a rush to get rid of him, Sal?”
She knew she should be grateful to Sal for getting her boyfriend out of trouble, but how could she be grateful? Because of Sal, Vincent would now be leaving her—for years. Before Sal could respond to her lethal question, his phone rang.
“I gotta get this. It’s the attorney I spoke with last night,” he said raising an eyebrow, and he stepped into the other room.
Rose immediately turned to Grace. “Why is he doing this? Is he enjoying socking it to Vince?”
Thoughts of not being with Vincent for months and months suffocated her. How could Sal? How could Vincent damn it!
“It’s for the best, Rose.” Grace insisted. “Vince might’ve been looking at doing some hard time—ruining his life. This will actually do him good. And until then it’s probably a good thing that he’s away from you.”
“What?” Rose felt like screaming. Didn’t Grace remember what it was like when she and Sal had been apart? Grace knew how much Rose loved Vincent now. “That’s a real shitty thing to say, Grace,” she cried. “Why would I want to be apart from him?”
Romero and Grace exchanged glances as the baby began to whimper in the monitor. Grace pushed away from the counter, but Romero held his hand up. “I’ll get him. You two should talk.” Without waiting for Grace to respond, he stepped out of the kitchen.
Rose already felt drained, but somehow Romero’s tone sent even more waves of panic through her body. They should talk? So there was more?
Grace’s sympathetic expression furthered her worry. “What is it?”
“He’s probably been doing this the whole time, Rose. He told his dad he wanted the money to get a car.” Rose didn’t think her heart could break any further. Easy money. “But it was more than just dealing, Rosie. He was in the girl’s bedroom when her father walked in, and Vince was facing possible statutory rape charges. The girl was underage.”
Rose stared at Grace for a moment, unable to move before she began shaking her head. “No.”
“It’s true. The girl admitted to her father that she’d been holding the drugs for her…boyfriend.” Rose could almost feel the pain it caused Grace to whisper that last word. She listened to the rest of story completely numb. “He admitted it was true, and when her father grabbed her arm in anger, things got violent. Vincent attacked him. So he was also facing assault charges. The attorney Sal spoke with last night told him this was bad. Anything they could do to get her dad to refrain from pressing charges would be better than having to go to trial. Between offering him money—lots of it and then convincing the man that boot camp would be something tough enough to put Vince through, not to mention the girl begging in tears that he not press charges, he finally agreed.”
Grace took the few steps closer to Rose and reached over to wipe the tears that now fell freely without any attempt from Rose to stop them. “I know it’s an impossible thought, Rosie, but it might actually be a good thing that this happened now and that he leaves. Before, you know,” Grace soothed Rose’s hair, “things got any more serious between you and him.”
Any more? Rose had never been more serious about anything in her life. They’d talked about moving in together for Christ’s sake! She had no words to respond to that, nor could she find enough air in her lungs to say anything.
“Rosie, I know right now you’re probably wondering how you’re going to get through the next few years without him, but I really think that you should consider the possibility of letting him go for good.”
Rose’s mouth dropped open. She was going to hyperventilate. How could Grace even be suggesting this?
“Honey, Sal had to go with Vince back to that man’s apartment to get the drugs he’d left there. He explained to Sal why he needed to. The people—the drug dealers he dealt with, would come after him or his family if he didn’t. It’s so dangerous to involve yourself with someone like him. I’d be worried for you.”
Before Rose could even attempt to put a coherent string of words together, Sal walked back in just as his phone rang again.
Frowning he looked at the caller ID. “My uncle.”
He began walking away with the phone to his ear when it hit Rose. Vince’s dad? She rushed out of the kitchen behind Sal, listening to his every word.
“Yeah, Romero said they’d say minimum two weeks to get him in, but he knows some people that can put a rush on that. The attorney said it was best to get him gone ASAP before that asshole changes his mind or starts asking for more money.” Rose stared at the back of Sal’s head, her lip quivering uncontrollably now. This was really happening. Vince had really done this to them. “Don’t worry about that. I’m just glad he’s not going to jail. Everything else will work itself out.”
“Can I?” The words squeaked out, and Rose stopped to clear her voice—take a deep shuddering breath. Sal turned around, only then realizing that she’d been standing behind him that whole time. “Is Vince there? Can you ask him if I can speak to him?”
Sal said nothing for a moment then spoke into the phone. “Is Vince around?” he glanced up at Rose again, his lips firmly pressed together. “Yeah, let me talk to him.”
I
n the next second Sal’s expression went hard, and she knew Vince was on the line with him. “Rose wants to talk to you, but listen to me, Vince. We talked about this last night. This is already hard enough for her. Don’t bullshit your way out of this. She knows everything. I didn’t sugar coat any of it for her. What’s done is done.”
He handed the phone over to Rose who reached out a shaky hand and spoke into the receiver. “Vincent?”
“Rosie, I’m so sorry.”
The moment she heard his voice, the knot in her throat exploded. “So it’s true?” She could barely breathe now. “All of it? The drugs? The girl?”
“Yes, but it’s not all like what it seems.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt her insides ripping apart. “Then how is it?” Rose held her hand against her chest in a futile effort to hold her heart together. She literally felt it tearing apart.
“I fucked up with the drugs, but Anita…it’s not at all what it looks like. I promise you that. She’s just my friend.”
Feeling a sudden wave of anger, she raised her voice. “Anita? She’s the one that called you her boyfriend?”
“Yes, but it’s not…I swear if I could explain, you’d understand.”
“Well explain it, Vincent!” she was yelling now and Grace walked into the room holding the baby in one arm, her free hand over her mouth, her own eyes teary now, “because if there is an explanation for this, now is the time to do it. They wanna send you away!”
“I can’t,” he whispered, defeated.
Rose blinked, the reality really hitting her now. “Really?” The voice had turned into a squeak again. “You’re not even gonna try to fix this? You’re just leaving?”
“I wish I could fix this but…Anita.”
“What about her?” Grace’s words came to her suddenly, the girl begged in tears. Rose gasped. “Are you in love with her?”
“No!” his voice was loud and deliberate. “I love you and only you, Rosie. There’s no one else—never will be. Remember that always.”
As much as she wanted to believe him, there was still one thing piercing in her mind. Something she just couldn’t understand. “But you won’t even try to fix this because of her? Why?” She could hear his dad asking him for the phone back. “Call me on your phone. We still need to talk.”
“I can’t, babe. I don’t have a phone anymore.”
Romero walked in the room, and he and Sal talked in hush voices as Grace walked out of the room again wiping her own tears away. Just like it had killed Rose to see Grace so miserable, she knew this was killing Grace. Rose tried to calm herself for Grace’s sake, but it was impossible.
“Rose, can I talk to him for a minute please?” Sal asked.
She handed Sal the phone without so much as a goodbye. Just as she numbly walked out of the room, she heard the words that hammered the last excruciating nail into her already dead heart’s coffin.
“If you get your shit together, you’re out of here in few days. Don’t ask. I told you Romero had connections. I’ll call you again when I get more details.” And then, just as she dragged herself like a zombie into her room, she heard, “Nah, she’s done talking to you, dude. You blew it bad.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Vince
Vince should’ve known Sal wouldn’t mess around. The days following that nightmarish night had been mind-spinning. Everything the recruiter had said would take weeks to happen was done in record time. Vince had barely had a moment to think, let alone dwell on how badly everything had gone down.
His heart ached every day just knowing how much he’d hurt Rose. After that only phone call he had with her, he hadn’t spoken to her again. He’d hardly been home enough to have time to even send her an email. Besides that Sal had made it clear Rose wanted nothing to do with Vince anymore and made Vince promise to let her be. So he had. At that point there was nothing he could say to her that would make her understand anyway.
As much as Vince reasoned that he could live without Rose if he had to, it felt impossible. He had to face the fact now that it was an all too real possibility. Just before Vince left, Sal told him about how miserable Rose had been those first few days after it all went down. Then Sal warned him that Grace was hurting for Rose as well, and that really pissed Sal off. “Grace doesn’t want you messing with her sister anymore. I warned you a long time ago, Vin, not to hurt her. After everything I’ve done for you, I think this is the least you can do for me. Respect my wife’s wishes. You’ve done enough already. Stay away from Rose now.”
Though Vince promised he would, he’d heard the hope in her voice the day he spoke with her. A love like theirs didn’t fade that easily. And if he had to be honest with himself, there was no way in hell he’d be able to stay away from her. He had every intention of begging for forgiveness as soon as he got the chance. For now, all he could do was continue to tell her how sorry he was and that he loved her as madly as he always had.
The first chance he got—two weeks into boot camp—he wrote to her. But he had to be sneaky. He sent it to Lorenzo and asked him to mail it using a girl’s name with a fake La Jolla return address. His brother, who was thankfully staying out of trouble now, was more than happy to oblige. He even offered to draw happy faces and “little, stupid hearts” on the envelope that he said the girls did at school to make it seem more real.
Vince told him to keep it simple but secretly liked the idea of Rose getting a letter with hearts on it from him. He’d kept it simple himself. As stupid as it sounded, he told her he’d only enlisted for four years. Of course he hadn’t had the gall to ask her to wait for him, but he prayed that somehow she’d want to. He was more than willing to wait and couldn’t even think about getting involved with anyone else even if it did mean for the entire four years.
That was almost a year ago. She’d never responded to even one of his letters, and Lorenzo assured him he was sending them to the right address. Then months ago he sent word to Rose, this time mailing directly to her himself explaining it all—assuring her his love for her was just as strong and he’d do anything to make it up to her—still he hadn’t heard a thing from her.
Even then he held out hope that once he was able to go home even if it was just to visit, he could convince her to hear him out. Just a few weeks ago he’d mentioned in a letter to Lorenzo his plans of using a weekend pass he earned to fly back home to see Rose. He’d have to get past Sal and Grace, but it was worth the fight. Then he got a letter from Lorenzo that shattered any shred of hope he had left.
Lorenzo had only been around Rose a handful of times since the night everything went down anyhow. He’d never had much to update Vince on until now. Vince had already read Lorenzo’s letter a couple of times, but he kept going back to that same part that crushed his heart the first time.
I heard something similar the last time I saw her. But it wasn’t clear, so I didn’t want to mention anything until I knew for sure. This time there was no doubt. They had a gathering for Uncle Sal. Of course pops said I had to go. When Rose showed up, Sofie asked her about her boyfriend and how come she hadn’t brought him around yet. She looked right at me before responding because I was staring a hole through her forehead. I actually held my breath for you, Bro, hoping she’d deny it or maybe Sofie was just teasing. But she said he was working, and he’d be there next time for sure. Then Sofie said he’d better because it wasn’t fair that Rose had been seeing him for months now and no one but Sal and Grace had met him yet.
After reading it for the last time and feeling the dull ache that had been ever present since the first time he’d read it over a week ago, he set the letter on fire. No wonder she hadn’t responded to any of his letters. Of all the reasons he’d played out in his head why she hadn’t responded even to the letter that explained it all, he’d never even considered that she’d moved on and was already seeing someone else.
Just like every time he’d read it before, he felt sick to his stomach. He’d been so certain because he felt i
t every time he’d been with her—every time he’d looked into those beautiful eyes. She’d assured him she’d never be with anyone else. There’d been no doubt in his heart, not for a moment, that there was any way she could be over him yet. He wasn’t even close to being over her, probably never would be. It hurt like hell that she’d not only begun to just see someone else she had a fucking boyfriend, and she’d apparently been with him for months.
The letter couldn’t have come at a better time. The reason he’d been thinking of taking time to see her was because he’d been assigned to a new base. He wanted things between them squared away before he started working—wanted to know their future started now. He’d waited long enough, and as doubtful as it seemed, something deep in his heart had told him all along that once he explained, everything would be all right.
Because he’d excelled in tactical firearms training, he’d been given his choice to be based out of San Diego helping conduct the tactical training there. It was a great opportunity. He’d move up in the ranks and eventually head the trainings, or he could volunteer to be deployed to Iraq.
Up until that letter it had been a no brainer. He’d head back and beg Rose on his knees if he had to, but this changed everything. He would be forced to attend any and all Moreno family functions now. After everything they’d done for him, how could he refuse? As much as he knew there’d be hell to pay if he caused any trouble at one of their gatherings, he was certain his reaction to seeing her with someone else would be just that—trouble.
“There you are, Moreno.” Will smiled as he walked toward him then looked down at the burning paper. “What’s with y’all burning letters around here?” He walked up closer and stepped on some of the ashes that had begun to blow away. “You’re the second guy I’ve seen doing that this week.”
Vince glanced up at his friend’s smiling face. Will hadn’t been given a choice. He’d be deployed to Iraq in a few weeks. He’d been happy about Vince getting his first choice of bases, but Vince could tell after all they’d been through, he was hoping Vince might actually choose to go to Iraq with him. “Guess who’s going to Iraq?”