SURVIVAL INSTINCT

CHAPTER: 16

Tony and Sarah then left for dinner at Garozzo's and had a nice time. The food was excellent, the company good, and there were only two instances when the conversation was less than pleasant. The first came when Tony discovered that she had been to Garozzo's before, and what the circumstances had been.

"I think it was our first wedding anniversary."Sarah pushed a piece of chicken around her plate with a fork, she was having 'The Atkins Chicken and Wedge salad.' "It was our only wedding anniversary because we never made it to the second. Jack took me here to celebrate. But then this woman showed up, someone he worked with, and he asked her to join us..." Sarah said.

"On your anniversary?" Tony asked while cutting his Chicken Spiedini into bite-size pieces.

"He talked to her the rest of the night, while I twiddled my thumbs. When I brought it up later, Jack told me I was being silly, and that it was just business," Sarah said to Tony.

"But it was not?" Tony asked.

Sarah shook her head. "He married her a week after our divorce was finalized." Sarah then had a bite of the Chicken Spiedini.

"I am very sorry, to hear that," Tony said.

Sarah shrugged. It was in the past. It did not bother her anymore. She was not even sure it had bothered her that much at the time. Though her feelings had been hurt, her ego was bruised, and she had been mad with anger, but she was not sure if she really cared.

"Did you love him?" Tony asked.

Sarah looked up surprised. "I beg your pardon?"

Tony repeated his question. It sounded just the same.

"Oh." Sarah finished chewing and swallowing. "I don't think so. I thought I did, I guess. Or maybe not. I married him because it seemed like the right thing to do. You know. He was good-looking, well off, and from a well-known family. He was studying law, so he fit right in with my relatives. My mother liked him because he was always polite and proper. It was the first proposal I got. I had been 23, and not getting any younger."

"I proposed," Tony reminded Sarah.

Sarah smiled. "Yes. But you were eighteen and were going away to college. I was not even sixteen and still in high school. I didn't think you really meant it."

Tony nodded.

"So what about you?" Sarah asked. "I have told you my story. How about you?"

Tony's story turned out mostly similar to that of Sarah. He had moved to California shortly after Sarah married Jack. If it was on a rebound, Tony did not mention it, and she also did not ask it. A few months later he had met a woman who he thought would make an acceptable Mrs. Tony Stevenson. He had proposed and also had been accepted. They very soon got married. But Angelina had not turned out to be the perfect wife at all. She went through Tony's money as fast as he could earn it, and apparently, she was not an asset to an upcoming young lawyer's reputation. She flirted with his boss, drank too much at company gatherings, and did not maintain his house the way he wanted.

"She looked like you, Sarah," Tony said, "so I thought she would be like you as well. But she wasn't. She didn't dress appropriately, did not care about anything but herself." Tony stabbed his fork with suppressed force into the chicken, then looked up at her. "Sorry."

"No problem. Jack was not what I thought when I married him, either," Sarah said. She could still clearly remember when they had dated, he had been charming, generous, and a perfect gentleman. Once they were married, he turned out to be manipulative, shallow, and lousy in bed. And of course, he had blamed Sarah for his lack of success in bed. She was undersexed, even frigid he said. Impossible to please. Which was why he had to go to someone else to get his needs met. It was all foolish, deceptive talk, and at that point, she was just happy to get rid of him.

Sarah's sister Courtney Graham who represented her in the divorce, wanted Sarah to broadcast his infamy far and wide. She was also not happy when Sarah accepted the Ford Mustang car, and a fair, though hardly extravagant, settlement in place of alimony, in an attempt to keep quiet and settle out of court. Sarah accepted that, as she exactly wanted that. Thus very few people knew why her marriage had failed. She knew that Jack's infidelity was his fault, not hers, still, the fact that her husband was dissatisfied with her was not something she wanted the world to know. Thus she did not tell any of these details even to Tony. Her conversation with Tony had been personal enough without that.

The other unpleasant discussion came over dessert when she informed Tony that she had seen Ryan Johnson again. "And he had a black eye. He said he had a run-in with the law."And try as she might, she could not keep a note of accusation out of her voice.

"It was Ryan's own fault," Tony grumbled.

"I don't see you sporting a black eye," Sarah retorted.

"Do you think I am stupid enough to hit him? It was Caesar. Deputy Sheriff Caesar Wellington. Apparently, his ex has been hanging around Ryan. They used to get into it all the time in high school too," Tony replied.

"Let me know," Sarah said. "Caesar's ex-wife is a big, black woman named Melanie?"

Tony nodded. "How did you know?"

"I met her out there at the marshes the other day. She seemed to think that Ryan had brought me out there, and she was quite possessive of him. Poor man."

"Caesar?" Tony asked.

"Ryan. Have you ever seen her? She is as big as a barn. She would squash him like a bug," Sarah laughingly said.

Tony muttered something.

"So how does Caesar look today?" Sarah asked maliciously. 

Tony grimaced. "He has a black eye and a split lip, as well as sore ribs. Ryan is not the kind of guy I would want to tangle with," Tony said earnestly.

Sarah shook her head. She would neither. In any sense of the word.

It was late by the time Sarah got home. She was alone. Tony did not suggest coming in, and if he hinted, the hints were too subtle for her to pick them up. He did kiss her, but it was a friendly, and non-invasive kiss, and more of a friendly type. she did not hold it against him.

"I had a good time," Tony said while holding her hands and looking deeply into her eyes. Sarah nodded. Sarah too had a good time. Or as good as can be expected under the circumstances, considering she had to dwell on her ex-husband and also the failure of her marriage. "I would like to do it again sometime," Tony said.

"I am available," Sarah said earnestly. "Any time you are up this way, just give me a call."

Tony said he would take her up on that offer. She then smiled and pecked him up on the cheek. "Thanks, Tony. Drive carefully."

Tony promised he would. "You be careful too. Do not go into any empty houses with anyone you don't know. I would hate to see you end up like Diana Walter."

"That makes two of us. I will be careful." Sarah ducked through the door and into the apartment before her face could give her away. She was not very good at lying, and she was pretty sure Tony would never consider going back to 102 South Massachusetts Avenue in the company of  Ryan Johnson, as he was particularly careful about everything.