It was 2 am and I rolled over in bed yet again trying to find a comfortable position. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep. After trying for four hours, resulting in nothing but tossing and turning, I gave up and deemed it was hopeless. Vito's words were still eating at my insides. Vile and degrading to say the least. We had hugged it out and said it was going to be okay, but I knew that Danny was hurt by the insult. Of course, he hid it with a few snarky replies aimed at Vito, but he can't fool me. He took Vito back to his hotel room and Vito promised he would be on the first flight back to Jersey to get whatever notes he had on the guy who shot Danny. I knew that Danny wasn't going to relax until he had some answers. Truth be told, I haven't been able to relax since the shooting either.
Sleep was not going to happen, and I had this nagging sensation in my bones that Danny would not be sleeping either. I reached for my cell phone off my nightstand and dialed Danny's number from memory. I tried his cell and it went straight to voicemail. Sitting up in bed, my heart rate sped up when I heard his recorded message and not his actual voice. Instant panic mode hit me like a ton of bricks. I flung my legs over the side of the bed and hit the floor running, scooping up my discarded jeans and t-shirt off the back of the wooden chair beside the bed and getting dressed as I made my way to my front door. I snagged my truck keys off the hook and pulled the door shut quickly behind me, double checking the knob to make sure it was locked. I'm pretty sure I made it to Danny's place in record time.
Nothing. No Camaro in the drive, no lights on in the house. My heart skipped a beat and I felt the nausea rise. I dug my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed his cell again. Voicemail. Maybe he was still with Vito, so I tried his number. Vito answered on the fourth ring just when I was about to give up. Danny had dropped him off at his hotel and left and he hadn't heard from him, he just assumed he had gone home. I thanked Vito and promised I'd let him know when I found Danny. His apologies all but falling on deaf ears as I hung up while he was still talking.
Then it hit me. I put the truck in drive and drove to our restaurant. Danny said it had been badly damaged by the crew Kamekona recommended and Vito ultimately hired. I didn't figure it could be much worse than the first day Danny showed me the place. He was surely over-exaggerating.
I was wrong.
My heart sank, and I thought I was going to be sick just looking at the outside. There were lights on inside and Danny's black Camaro parked out front. I took a deep breath and was afraid of what I was going to find inside. A bigger disaster than the outside? My partner in shock at what had become of his dream? All of it destroyed in a matter of just a few hours. I got out of the truck and made my way to the door, not ready to embrace the disaster of what lay behind the closed door. To my surprise, the door is locked. After our tools were stolen, Danny relented and had a key made for me. I found it on my keyring and unlocked the door, turning the knob slowly and stepping inside.
I wanted to throw up. All the hard work that we had put in over the last few months was wiped out. There were wires dangling from everywhere, holes in the drywall, plaster smeared on the floor. It looked like a hurricane had blown through minus the water damage. I was in a state of shock. Danny wasn't exaggerating. If anything, he gave me the version that wouldn't induce a coronary. His dream had been more than vandalized. We had just been forced into a backslide that took us to a point so far away from our original starting point that I wasn't sure we would ever get the place cleaned up.
My eyes scan the open room looking for signs of my partner and I become sicker to my stomach the more I take in. I'm beyond angry at Vito. Danny trusted him, and this is what we ended up with, a catastrophe. Movement from what is supposed to be the kitchen catches my attention. I put my hand on the butt of my gun, just in case. Danny emerges from the opening that used to have a door and lets out a startled yelp at seeing me.
"Jesus! You scared the shit out of me!" he bellowed but his bark lacked the usual bite. He looked lost with a broom and dust pan in one hand a trash bag in another. His jeans were covered in drywall dust and if he had been here cleaning for a while, the place was worse than I could even imagine because it didn't look like he had made any headway. "What are you doing here?" he asked me as I took in the destruction surrounding me.
"I couldn't sleep, and I tried calling you, but it went to voicemail and then I got worried."
Danny pulled out his phone and looked at the display, pushed a button and shrugged his shoulders tossing it on the dirty countertop that was supposed to be our beautiful bar.
"Must have died. Sorry. There was no way I could go to bed and leave it like this. It would have eaten at me all night. I had to try and make some dent in the mess tonight. I don't even have words for how I'm feeling right now. I'm pretty sure I had a coronary at some point already."
"It's okay." I glance around the room again, looking for the easiest place to start cleaning. There isn't one.
"Look," he says as he drops the garbage bag to the floor and wipes his hands on his jeans. "You want out. I get it. No hard feelings." He is looking around at the mess as well when our eyes lock. "This isn't what you signed up for," he passed an open hand in front of him at the mess. He wrung his hands together several times, while his brain searched for the words that could explain what had happened to his dream.
His blue eyes are starting to mist over for what I'm assuming isn't the first time since he stepped into the restaurant earlier in the evening.
"Danny," I begin but the words just don't come. I'm speechless. But Danny has never been one to be a loss for words.
"I thought he came here to help. You know? We've backslid so far that we're not even to our original starting point anymore. And I can't even be angry because this is all so surreal. Like a really bad nightmare that goes from bad to worse and there's no end in sight. There's no waking up because I'm already awake and awake is the nightmare." He takes a breath and looks at me again. "I'm serious. You want out, I understand. This has turned into a gigantic mistake of epic proportions."
I step over a pile drywall and make my way to him. He's angry and has every right to be. I'm angry for him, for us, for the destruction of his dream.
"Danno," I say as I place both of my hands on his shoulders. He's trembling beneath my hands and I squeeze his shoulders in reassurance. "I'm not going anywhere. Partners don't bail when things go wrong."
He laughs that ridiculous nervous chuckle of his as his eyes scan the room. "In case you haven't noticed, this is so far beyond anything that could go wrong. Maybe Vito is right and I'm just kidding myself thinking this could actually work."
"It will work," I reassure him. "I believe in you. I believe in us. I believe in your dream."
"You said it was a horrendous idea a few months ago."
I give him a shameless smile. "I may have just been saying that to see how'd you'd react."
"Nobody has been supportive," he adds defeated. "Everybody we have talked to has told us what a terrible idea this has been."
"Nobody knows you like I do. If anyone can make it work, you can."
"You really believe that?" And leave it to Danny to sound doubtful.
"I do."
"But Vito said…" I cut him off by placing a kiss to his lips, effectively shutting him up.
"Vito is wrong." I whisper against his lips and drop my forehead to rest against his. "If it's just the two of us that believe in this place, that's all the fuel we need." He rocks up on the balls of his feet and kisses me with a renewed spirit.
"Thank you."
"Where do you want me to start?" I ask as I reach for his trash bag on the floor.
"You already did by coming here." He steps up and envelopes me in a tight hug and I can feel the tension seep out of his body. "I love you, thank you."
Nothing can stand in the way of this partnership, this shared dream. Danny and I work through the night, cleaning up as much as we can. By morning, things seem a bit brighter because we are in this together. Just like our assumed marriage. Good times and bad times, we are building this from the ground up.