Mari & Ilna-you guys are the absolute best! Thank you for EVERYTHING! YOU'RE THE BEST!
REAL Worlders-you guys are awesome. Thanks for all the support and encouragement.
Not at All Harmless (1/1)
"All three men took the plea deal they were offered so you and Mrs. Denucci won't have to testify in court after all," Steve said. "You'll be able to pick up your stolen jewelry and possessions at HPD in a couple of days."
"Thank you so much," Alberto Denucci clasped his wife's hand tightly. "We certainly weren't looking forward to facing those men again."
Even though they were surrounded by kitchen personnel and servers, whose increasing activity level indicated the lunch rush was in full swing, there was a calmness to the couple that had been missing for too long.
Alberto Denucci and his wife Claire, owners of Honolulu's finest Italian restaurant, a place that had received Nonna's seal of approval on one of her visits, had been the victims of a home invasion robbery the previous week. Three men, all locals, forced their way into the couple's home, tied up Alberto and forced Claire at gunpoint to place their jewelry, cash, and small valuables into a duffel bag. All in all, the attack lasted just over an hour. The couple, both in their late sixties, had been staying in a local motel ever since that night, too afraid to return to their own home until they were sure the men were in custody and wouldn't be released on bond.
"You were very lucky." Steve wasn't trying to scare the man, but he knew that things could have gone much worse. The three men who ultimately confessed to robbing them were suspects in at least six other break-ins, two of which resulted in serious injury to the homeowner. "You paid for a very expensive alarm system, but it doesn't do you any good if you don't use it. Every day."
"You have our word," Claire promised. "Thank you again for wrapping this up so quickly. I look forward to being able to sleep soundly in my own bed again."
"Luckily they used their heads and decided to take a deal instead of dragging things out," Danny said.
"They had to take the deal because you two and the rest of your team did such a good job tracking down the evidence that they knew they didn't have a chance in court," Alberto said confidently.
"Thank you." Steve shook both Alberto and Claire's hand. "If there's anything else you need, feel free to call the office."
"Please," Claire said, "Stay for lunch. Let us feed you. It's the least we can do."
Steve hesitated. "We should really get back to work."
"The special today is lasagna," Claire said in a sing-song voice.
"We've got time." Danny nodded adamantly.
"Excellent." Claire clapped her hands together. "Let me show to your table."
"Hey, isn't that your friend Stuart over there?" Danny asked, nodding towards a table across the room as he placed the last bite of lasagna in his mouth.
Steve looked in the direction Danny had indicated. "Yep. That's him."
Danny took note of the slender, attractive blonde at least 15 years his junior sitting across the table. "That's sure not his wife with him."
"Maybe it's a business meeting," Steve said just before they saw Stuart lean over and kiss the woman passionately. "Or maybe not."
The kiss went on long enough to make everyone around them feel uncomfortable and didn't end until a waiter approached the table and cleared his throat.
Danny shook his head. "Are you sure he's still married? You'd have to be pretty brazen to act like that in public if you were having an affair."
"Or pretty stupid," Steve countered.
The minute the waiter left the table Stuart and the woman leaned in close again, but this time Stuart pulled back before the kiss, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a brightly wrapped rectangular box.
The blonde opened the gift with a wide smile and extracted what appeared to be a diamond tennis bracelet. Her squeal of delight was audible all the way across the room. She held the bauble up to her wrist then leaned over and kissed Stuart.
Danny let out a low whistle. "That thing practically blinded me all the way over here."
Claire approached their table carrying a plate of cannoli.
"I couldn't eat another bite," Steve told her.
She winked at him. "There's always room for cannoli. Eat up. And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pour cold water on that couple over there." She tilted her head towards Stuart and his lunch companion. "This is a nice restaurant. If they want to carry on like that they need to get a room."
Steve and Danny watched at Claire approached Stuart's table, spoke for a minute then walked away. After she left Stuart and the woman slid their chairs closer to each other but managed to trade the kissing for some hand holding and intense looks.
A few minutes later, as Steve and Danny finished up the cannoli, Stuart approached their table.
"I thought that was you," he said jovially.
"Stuart." Steve's tone was clipped. "How have you been? How's Wendy?"
Wendy Thompson may not have been his favorite person, but she deserved better than her husband carrying on like a lovestruck teenager with another woman in public.
"She's fine," Stuart said awkwardly though without any apparent trace of remorse. "Busy with all her charities and women's clubs and you know … " He trailed off.
"Raising five kids?" Danny suggested.
"She has a nanny for that." Stuart slapped Danny on the back.
After a minute of awkward silence Stuart looked at Steve. "Come on, you know how it is. You're a married man. Sometimes you just want to have a little harmless fun."
Steve wiped his mouth and tossed his napkin on the table. "Harmless isn't the word I'd use."
"What Wendy doesn't know won't hurt her." Stuart waggled his eyebrows. "Do you expect me to believe the guy that every woman wanted at the academy doesn't test the waters every once in a while just because he's got a ring on his finger now?"
Steve glared at his former classmate. "I'm not gonna dignify that with an answer."
"Yeah … well … just wait," Stuart stammered. "You get a few more years and a couple more kids under your belt and come see me then."
Danny stood; afraid he might have to intervene if his partner decided to take a swing. Instead Steve took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm not you, Stuart," he spat out then turned and headed for the door.
"Milquetoast Stuart?" Catherine shook her head incredulously.
Steve had waited until after Angie was in bed to recount the details of what he and Danny had seen earlier when they were having lunch at Denucci's.
"That's why I figured it was probably a business lunch at first, until they started making out." He placed another one of Angie's freshly folded onesies into the pile in front of him and turned to face Catherine. "You should have seen them. The people at the tables around them were clearly uncomfortable but they didn't notice. Or didn't care," he growled. "Claire Denucci finally had to go over and tell them to knock it off or leave."
"What did the woman look like?" Catherine asked. She never put much stock in looks, it was all the luck of the genetic lottery after all, but she had to admit to being genuinely curious as to what kind of woman would find Stuart Thompson so attractive she was willing to overlook his dull nature plus his wife and five children.
"Blonde, young, mid-twenties, pretty I guess." He shrugged.
"What in the world does she see in Stuart?"
"Maybe it has something to do with the diamond bracelet he gave her when they finally came up for air."
"Diamonds?" Catherine grabbed another one of Angie's outfits from the laundry basket and continued to fold. "Really?"
"Had to have cost a fortune," Steve replied.
"Does he forget he's gonna have five kids to put through college?" Catherine transferred the piles of folded clothes back to the basket in preparation to be carried upstairs and put away. "The guy has a little business success and all of the sudden he turns into some sort of cliché."
"He called it 'harmless fun'," Steve growled. "Told me I'd understand when I'd been married longer."
"Stuart Thompson is a bigger ass than I thought." Catherine kissed his cheek. "He's trying to make himself feel better by dragging you down to his level. As if that was even possible. He can't hold a candle to you. He never could."
Steve wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek. "Thanks."
They leaned back and made themselves comfortable, each lost in their own thoughts for a few minutes until Steve spoke again.
"Do you think we should tell Wendy?"
Catherine sighed. "I think we have to. She deserves to know. She's not my favorite person but she deserves better treatment than this from her husband and the father of her children."
"I agree." Steve nodded. "Plus, with the way Stuart was carrying on today in front of the entire restaurant full of people it's only a matter of time until word gets back to her. Better she hears it from people she considers friends."
"Carrie and I will see her next week at the female midshipman's alumni luncheon," Catherine said. "I'll talk to her then."
Jen knocked softly on Catherine's office door then peeked her head in. "There's a woman here without an appointment who says she needs to talk to you. Her name is Wendy Thompson."
Catherine's surprise registered on her face. Wendy was the last person she expected to drop by the office unannounced.
She checked the time.
Her next meeting was still half an hour away and all her research was in place. "Send her in I guess."
Wendy took a seat across the desk from Catherine and after a few minutes of small talk about their children got right to the point. "Stuart told me he ran into Steve the other day at lunch and … well … he thinks Steve might have misinterpreted something he saw."
Catherine looked at her ex-classmate, trying to ascertain exactly how much she knew. Clearly Stuart had decided to try a little damage control. Catherine just wasn't sure how much of the truth he had actually revealed to his wife. "Steve didn't misinterpret anything."
"He and that partner of his." Wendy brushed a piece of imaginary lint of her pants and tried to act unconcerned. "They have suspicious minds. Part of being a cop I guess."
"Look, Wendy, I'm not trying to hurt you." Catherine's voice took on a softer tone. "But Steve and Danny saw Stuart kissing the woman he was with."
"Since when is it a crime to give another woman a kiss on the cheek?" Wendy snotted.
Catherine shook her head. "It was more than that."
"Listen." Wendy's voice started to rise. "Just because you can't trust your husband doesn't mean I can't trust mine."
Catherine took a deep breath.
The last thing she was going to do was let herself be baited by the likes of Wendy Thompson.
"Stuart admitted to Steve that he was having an affair," Catherine said calmly.
"Stuart said no such thing! You and Steve are just jealous that Stuart and I are doing so well." The venom in Wendy's voice was, in Catherine's mind at least, a good indicator of how hurt she actually was. She had clearly decided it was better to take that anger out on Catherine than direct it where it belonged. At Stuart. "So what if Stuart gave his associate some little bracelet to thank her for her hard work."
"It was a diamond tennis bracelet," Catherine clarified.
"Who cares!" Wendy stood angrily. "We can afford it. We're doing very well. You don't see me having to take a job to help make ends meet. Stuart is an excellent provider."
"I'm sure he is." Catherine remained calm. If Wendy was determined not to face reality, there was very little she could do about it aside from being honest. "Steve and I both felt you had a right to know. What you do with that information is up to you."
"You've never liked me since the day we met," Wendy said with venom in her tone. "Probably because you always knew I could have had Steve if I wanted him."
Catherine bit her lip. Considering the circumstances, she was willing to cut Wendy a little slack, but her ex-classmate was getting very close to crossing the line.
Wendy turned towards the door in a huff.
"You and Steve just leave Stuart and me alone. Our marriage is fine. You worry about your own."
"Wendy, I just want you to know … "
Wendy wheeled back around. "What?"
Wendy could be a very difficult woman and because of that she tended to have very few female friends. Her support system consisted almost entirely of her husband and children. No matter what, Catherine hated the thought of any woman staying in a relationship where she was being so blatantly disrespected just because she felt trapped and alone. "If you ever need anything, or anyone to talk to, I'm here."
Wendy stomped out of the office, slamming the door behind her.
THE END
Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll
Or in the McRoll in the REAL World community here on fanfiction dot net Find us on Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com
You can join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with: Add me, please! in the subject line. Or just drop us a line to say hi! We love hearing from our readers.