Page 104 of The Don
“Excuse us, ladies, Dominic and I have some work to do,” Ruben says as he heads toward his office.
My shoulders sink as I watch him walk away. He promised he wouldn’t work tonight, and now he’s disappeared with Dominic. “Oh no,” Rose says as she reads my mood. “What did he do?”
I shake my head and sigh. “Nothing, it’s all me.”
“Really? Because I know these Sacco boys and they can be quite demanding.”
“He promised he wouldn’t work.”
Rose snorts with a chuckle. “Work is in their bones and blood.” This is true, Ruben is always at work. He doesn’t have an off button or even a go-slow one. “Besides, now that you’re going to have a baby, he’s going to take it easy.”
“For a day,” I reply with sarcasm.
“He’s a protector and provider. It’s what he does.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Rose,” I say as we head toward the dining room where Maria has already set it beautifully for dinner.
“Why? What’s happening?”
I collapse into the seat like a damned beach whale. “My hormones are so haywire. One minute I’m hot, then I’m hungry, or I’m obsessively cleaning, or I’m horny. I kid you not, I could go ten times a day and it wouldn’t be enough.”
“Jesus.” Rose is doing her best to hold in her laugh. “How can you walk after that many times? And no wonder he took Dominic into the office to work, he’s forever fucking you so he has no other time to work.”
“I’m an emotional basket case at the moment. I’m so damn needy all the time.” I close my eyes and loll my head back. “I just want to be normal again.”
“Hate to tell ya, sis, but you’ve got a baby coming. Do you really think life is going to go back to what you had? You’ll have to find your new normal.”
“I know.” I lift my hand to rub at the tension across my forehead. A flood of hormones pulsates through my body. “Seriously!” I grumble.
“What is it?” I exhale deeply and turn to look at Rose. “Maybe I can help.”
I screw my nose up as I stare at Rose. “You can’t. Only Ruben can.”
“Ew.” She wags her finger at me. “That’s how you got like this to start with.”
“Well, I can’t get pregnant while I’m pregnant, can I? That ship has sailed,” I snap with irritation. “I’ve got to distract myself.” My stomach gurgles as the baby decides to do somersaults. “I’m hungry, and horny and this baby is going crazy. Look.” I pull my t-shirt up, and sure enough, my stomach visibly shows a little alien doing all sorts of circus acts in there. “Can you let Ruben know I need to eat?”
“Him or food?” Rose teases. I narrow my eyes at her and she leaps to her feet with her hands in the air. “Man, you’re nasty when you’re hungry.” She takes a step backward and turns. Rose disappears and I have a massive urge for fried chicken, feta cheese, and fluff.
“Is my wife hungry?” Ruben asks as he enters the dining room, walks over to me, and kisses me on top of the head.
“Starving.”
“I’ll have Maria serve dinner.” Ruben leaves the dining room as Rose and Dominic take their seats.
“How are you feeling?” Dominic asks.
“Nope. We’re not talking about that,” Rose says.
Ruben returns and sits at the head of the table. Maria begins to bring out all the food, and even though her cooking is always delicious, it all makes me want to gag, until she brings out the fried chicken. My mouth pools with saliva as I stare at it, waiting for the rest of the food to be brought out so I can dive into the chicken. The three of them are talking, but my eyes are glued on the chicken. It looks so juicy as it taunts me, right in front of my face.
“Enjoy your dinner,” Maria announces when she finishes bringing everything to the table.
Ruben moves to take the chicken, but I turn and stare at him. My eyes are wide and my jaw is clenched together so tight that my teeth are grinding. “Chicken, my love?” Ruben says as he decides to give me the stack before he takes any for himself.
I think I empty half of it on my plate then look around for the feta and fluff. “Where’s the feta?”
“I’ll get it,” Ruben says as he stands. When he returns, he’s holding a plate with feta cheese in one hand, and in the other, a jar of fluff.