Chapter 6

January 21, 2015

Sonny's POV

Sonny gave Gabi a hug as soon as he walked in the room. Then he went and sat across the table from her.

Gabi anxiously said, "I am so happy you came to see me, but I am surprised you came by yourself. Is something wrong with Arianna?"

"No! No. Arianna is great! I just wanted to talk to you alone." Sonny reassured her.

Gabi smiled. "I feel honored. So what is going on?"

"First of all, I would really appreciate it if we keep this conversation between us. But I will understand if you cannot do that." Sonny could feel his heart speeding up.

Gabi simply said, "OK."

"Will and I have been having trouble in our marriage. Hopefully we can work things out. But if we get a divorce I would like joint custody of Arianna. She means so much to me. I cannot imagine my life without her. Would you be comfortable with that?" Sonny waited anxiously for Gabi's answer.

Gabi answered, "I know you love her. I know she loves you. I consider you to be her father too. I would definitely support you!"

With tears in his eyes Sonny ran around the table and hugged Gabi. "Thank you. This means so much to me."

"I bet you and Will will be able to work everything out though. You two are meant to be together" Gabi assured Sonny.

"Thanks Gabi. I hope you are right, but I wouldn't put money on it."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Gabi said shyly.

"No. I definitely don't want to add anymore stress to your life." Sonny said.

"It would be good for me to have something new to think about." Gabi encouraged.

Sonny decided to give Gabi a brief summary. "OK I will tell you, but you have to promise to keep it between us." Gabi nodded so Sonny continued. "Will cheated and has not told me."

"So he has no idea that you know?"

"Exactly, and it is important that he doesn't."

"Why?"

"I need to know if he will tell me on his own."

"And if he doesn't..."

"If he doesn't then I know I cannot trust him."

"Will makes stupid decisions sometimes, but I know he loves you. Are you 100% sure that Will cheated?" Gabi looked scared.

"Yes. Gabi I am sorry that I am unloading all of this on you. I love Will. I am just not sure if he is the same Will I fell in love with." Sonny felt so depressed. Gabi must have seen that. She came over to Sonny and gave him another hug.

"He is. Give him time."

"Thanks Gabi. I will bring Arianna back to see you very soon." Sonny was rewarded when Gabi smiled brightly at that comment.

Will's POV

Sonny was not at home and not at Club TBD. This was the second time that Will believed Sonny was at Club TBD and it wasn't the case. This seemed suspicious even though Sonny had an excuse last time. Will had to admit his father coming back into town was a pretty good excuse, but Will didn't understand why Sonny's dad couldn't just go see him at Club TBD.

Will hated to admit that he was worried that Sonny was cheating on him. He was probably being paranoid. He knew that cheaters have a tendency to suspect their partners of cheating.

It wasn't just Sonny's whereabouts that was creating this fear in Will's mind. Will and Sonny have not been intimate in a long time. Will had tried to start the ball rolling a few times, but it just didn't happen.

Will decided he should wait until his marriage with Sonny is more solid to tell him about Paul. He was terrified he was going to lose Sonny.

Sonny's POV

Sonny was standing in front of the door to his apartment thinking.

He had decided to be honest with his husband about something. Well semi-honest.

He was hoping starting a conversation about Paul would help Will open up. He tried to prepare what he was going to say in a way that would not give away his relationship to Paul.

Although what Sonny was going to tell his husband was for the most part completely true, Sonny was going to have to fake the emotions that went with it. Faking emotions had become pretty standard. Sonny practiced his fake smile a few times before walking into the apartment.

As soon as Sonny walked in the door, Will jumped off the couch and gave his husband a peck on the lips. Sonny hated that Will was now giving him so much affection out of guilt. It made everything Will did seem disingenuous. But Sonny put on a big smile for the sake of getting the truth from Will.

Will's POV

"Will, you will never believe who called me at Club TBD."

"Who?" Will asked attempting to match Sonny's excitement.

Sonny slowly said, "Paul Norita." Sonny seemed to be closely watching Will's reaction. Will felt panicked, but Sonny seemed happy. He worried his inner turmoil was visible.

"Oh," Will said trying to appear puzzled without seeming nervous, "What did he say?"

"He is interested in partnering with me to start a new club in another city. What do you think?" Sonny looked excited and nervous.

"I understand why he would want your help. You made Club TBD successful." Will said smiling as widely as he could in his panicked state.

"Did you sell him on this while you were interviewing him?" Sonny asked.

"No. I guess he just loves TBD." Will said still attempting to smile. Will was trying to figure out a legitimate reason for Sonny not to work with Paul.

Sonny looked so happy as he said, "I am really excited. I think this could be a great opportunity." Will felt terrible. He had no idea what would be best at this point. Sonny really needed some success right now. If Will told Sonny the truth, Sonny would not work with Paul. Once again Sonny would be making sacrifices because of Will's bad decisions. If he didn't tell Sonny the truth, then he would work with Paul and the truth would come out.

Sonny nervously asked, "Is everything ok? You think this is a good opportunity, right?"

"Yeah..." Will replied slowly, while rubbing the back of his neck and trying to think quickly.

"Is this about my recent failure? You don't think I can do this. Is that it? You know I felt so happy when I thought it was you who had sung my praises to Paul. I guess you don't believe in me anymore." Sonny was wiping tears from his face, and Will didn't know how to fix this.

"Sonny... I..." Will could not find the words to finish that sentence.

After a few minutes of silence, Sonny cleared his throat and said, "Will, I am going to start sleeping on the couch. And I think we need to start couples counseling. Can you talk to your grandma about who would be a good therapist?"

"Yes. I will do that Sonny. But I do believe in you. Please believe me!"

Sonny simply said, "OK." And that ended the conversation.