Chapter 5

After introductions, the group of four went into the dining room to eat. Gallo was conveniently placed opposite Alice on the square table. He wondered who's idea it was to arrange it that way. He felt like the only actor filming a movie that didn't know how the scene was going to play out.

But Gallo was hungry enough that food took his mind off of the standoff soon to come. He looked at Alice, "So what did you make, honey?"

Alice grinned; she was proud of her cooking ability, "Steaks. With mashed potatoes, gravy, and tossed salad."

Gallo's mouth watered. He offered to help out, but Alice said no.

Lt. Holdaway, meanwhile was putting a napkin on, while his wife spoke to Alice about helping her in the kitchen. Alice refused again, but her aunt got up anyway.

Gallo knew this was now the time to try and make an impression on Holdaway, but he was smarter than that. Holdaway was waiting to see what he'd say, and act strict to prove himself to be in charge. Gallo wasn't about to give away the advantage here. He'd seen this movie before.

Instead, Gallo excused himself to wash his hands. Taking his time, he went into the bathroom and waited for the water to warm up. Lathering thoroughly, Gallo made sure he looked okay. He was gonna get out of this with face, or he'd never fit in with Alice's family. This was gonna be easy compared to meeting Alice's parents or siblings. This could help or hinder him in the long run, so he had to be calm, like Gordon Gekko calm, or else it was gonna be his ass.

Coming back to the table, he saw the salad was in front of him. Politely asking for the dressing, he put it on his salad. Funny, he thought, he'd forgotten how Alice could make a frigging salad taste amazing. Of course, he wasn't going to kiss up to her in front of the relatives, so he merely smiled in thanks at Alice across the table.

Alice was always better at getting a conversation started than he was. Leaning towards her uncle, she asked, "So how's it going at work?"

Holdaway surprised Gallo by being equally gruff to his neice. Well, maybe not gruff: just not favouring her. Seemed to Gallo that he treated everyone the same way: behind a wall of protection. 'Must be the fact that he's a cop' Gallo thought to himself.

"Well, I don't want to be specific, but I've been assigned to go after this real bad crime boss in the area. We've got word that he's preparing a heist, and we want to stop it from taking place."

Alice's aunt, Viola, turned to Gallo, "So what do you do for a job?"

Gallo spoke as politely as he could without sounding fake, "Well, I own a video rental store. I've got a couple of guys that work for me part-time, and I work full time."

Holdaway raised his eyebrow, "Videos?"

"Movies, yeah,' Gallo replied. That was one of two things that Joe's money had gotten him. First he'd gotten the apartment, then he'd taken work at a video store for a few months before buying out the owner. Business was going well enough, and he hoped he could expand it after a year or two.

He said as much of his plans to Holdaway as not to sound criminal. In truth, it wasn't, as far as Gallo was concerned. Joe had put his own money to help Gallo. How Joe got that money was not any of Gallo's business.

Holdaway didn't seem so, because he was curious about how a man who'd never been to college found the money to buy the deeds to a video store. Gallo noted, with glee, that Alice frowned at her uncle for being rude. Holdaway didn't pay any attention to Alice's look.

Of course, Gallo had planned for these questions, "Well, see, my father was ready to pay for my first year in college, but then my mom divorced him. So then the money got split up between us, but in the end it didn't matter, because I dropped out of college. My uncle felt bad for me so he gave me a loan. In a few months, I'll have paid him back."

Holdaway nodded acceptance, "Well, I can respect a man paying his debts. But college didn't work out for you?" By then they were just beginning on the main course. Gallo took a moment to savour the first amazing bite of the meat, just stopping himself from going 'Mmmm' or something like that.

Gallo shook his head, "No, my brother wanted to go too, and he's always been the smarter one. After the divorce, my parents couldn't pay for the two of us. So I dropped out. Haven't really been on speaking terms with either of my parents, really." Gallo thought he saw a look of sympathy cross Viola's face, but he didn't really look.

'God,' Gallo thought to himself as he filled his mouth with mashed potato, 'how the fuck can I mix fact and fiction so amazingly? Jesus, I should write a Hollywood script or something.'

After that, dinner was more relaxed. Holdaway and Viola weren't as intrusive and focusing on Gallo. Gallo even started recommending movie he'd seen recently. Viola didn't look like one of those people that enjoyed movies, but Holdaway seemed to be listening to recommendations, and even offered his own advice on the topic of films. Not surprisingly, he hated "Serpico".

Gallo figured he'd gotten away so far. Holdaway spoke with more familiarity, allowing Gallo more breathing space. His wife spoke most often with Alice: it seemed odd at this relationship, but Gallo didn't make any comment.

Eventually, Lt. and Mrs. Holdoway got up to leave. Gallo got up to shake Holdoway's hand, and said his goodbyes to Viola, who returned them with a friendly air. Gallo could feel himself breathing easy for the first time since dinner began.

Alice said her goodbyes as the pair of them headed out the door, with Gallo also politely giving a wave.

As soon as they closed the doors behind them, the night was theirs.

"" "" "" " "" """ "" "" ""

The next morning, Eddie showed up at the time Gallo had given him. Gallo hoped that Eddie had remembered the part he was to play even as he introduced him to Alice.

Alice was delighted to meet Gallo's 'brother', "I heard about the wedding."

Eddie shrugged, looking a tad too serious for Gallo's liking, "Yeah well..."

Gallo interrupted quickly, "So, when is it anyway? Because Alice needs to get something really nice." He had asked Alice the night before, as they'd cleaned up the kitchen. She'd been ecstatic, and Gallo had felt a twinge of guilt knowing that this was going to change it all.

Eddie looked at Gallo, and the man saw to his astonishment that Eddie looked genuinely ready to cry, "The wedding's off, Tommy! It's off!"

Gallo was stunned, mostly at the compassion in Eddie's voice, "What happened?"

Eddie sniffed, "That bitch was two-timing me all this goddamn time!" He sniffed again, and apologized to Alice for his cursing. Alice stood there, taking it all in, offering her deepest sympathies and looking ready to cry herself.

Eddie gave a small smile and thanked Alice for the wishes, and after ten minutes or so, Gallo and Eddie left Alice's apartment.

Gallo was happier than he'd been in a while. Not only was everything going fabulous with his job and Alice, but now he could stop worrying about lying to her and they could get together and everything.

All that was stopping him was what Joe needed him to do. Whatever that was, anyway.