Red Tape (22 page)

“I’ve missed those big green eyes of yours,” he said. I melted inside.
Needless to say, I went to bed with a huge smile on my face and drifted off to sleep dreaming about the exciting, new life waiting in the not-too-distant future for me.

* * *

Early in the morning, I was awakened by Mandy screaming. I could tell by the way she was screaming that something was wrong. I rushed to her room, placed my palm on her forehead, and found she was burning up. I brought her to the kitchen and gave her ibuprofen to try to reduce the fever. I stripped off her pajamas in an effort to cool her down. Her curly blonde locks were plastered to her head with perspiration. I took her temperature, which turned out to be one hundred and three degrees. I rocked her in my arms for two hours before she fell back to sleep. I carefully placed her back in her crib, then tried to go back to sleep myself, but didn’t have much luck, so I decided to surf the internet.

I checked the website for the Municipal Clerks’ Association of New Jersey, and there it was—the ad for
municipal clerk of Coral Beach. It appeared that Coral Beach was still in the dark ages—not unusual for a government entity. They asked for résumés to be mailed via snail mail instead of through e-mail. I brushed up my résumé and typed up a cover letter. I reckoned I could stop at the post office on my way to the pediatrician’s office. I then dragged my over-tired body to the bathroom to get showered and dressed before Mandy woke back up.

When nine o’clock rolled around, I called the pediatrician and got
an appointment. As luck would have it, they agreed to take Mandy in right away. I woke her up, got her dressed, let the dog out, then loaded Mandy into the car. I swung by the post office and dropped my résumé into the outdoor, drive-up mailbox, then headed over to the doctor. Mandy was an unhappy camper at her appointment. She screamed when they took her temperature. Screamed when they put her on the scale. Screamed at the first sight of the doctor. She continued screaming through the whole examination.

The pediatrician informed me that Mandy had an ear infection and he electronically zipped the prescription for antibiotics over to the pharmacy. I gave the receptionist my co-pay and loaded Mandy back into the car. After a stop at the pharmacy to get her meds, we arrived back home. Given her condition, I decided that I should stay home with her the rest of the day, so I left a message for Kris that I had to reschedule our date for tonight. I wanted our first date to be special, and I didn’t want to ruin it by calling home every ten minutes to check on Mandy. I knew that I would be too worried about her to enjoy myself.

Kris called me back and asked me if Saturday would work to reschedule. I agreed. My next call was to Kathy Norcia. I wanted to let her know I saw the job listing and that I took her advice about applying for the job and using her as a reference. I was actually getting excited about the new job prospect. I guess I had wanted to get back to work more than I originally thought I did.

Chapter 2

The killers debated if any evidence was left behind at the scene of the crime.

“Dumb fool, that
Vincenzo was, jumping in the river like that. Did he think he could get away?” one killer said.

“Ya know that river has a rough current. People drown in it all the time. It’s deceiving. It looks rougher than the ocean, but the current is just as unforgiving,” the other said.

“How’d he think he could swim with a bullet in his chest in freezing cold water?”

“He knew he was dead either way. I personally would have rather us finish the job
if I was him, rather than jump in the frozen river and drown, but hey, to each their own.”

The men laughed.

“Next time, we need to be more careful. I can’t get over what Vinny did to Rocco. I can’t believe Rocco is gone. Gino was pretty upset.”

“
Everything happens for a reason, my dear man. Now that Rocco is gone, things are looking up for me. It all worked out for the best.”

“You sure they ain’t gonna find no evidence at the scene?”

“Nah. They found Vinny’s body miles north of the warehouse. They ain’t gonna be searchin’ the warehouse area. And we moved Rocco’s body here, an hour away. Set it up to look like a hit from our rivals. There won’t appear to be any connection between the two.”

* * *

I spent the next four days trying to decide what to wear on my date with Kris and being over-the-top excited about it. Then, Saturday came and Kris cancelled on me. He said someone called out sick from work and he had to be there. I was incredibly disappointed, but hopeful, as we rescheduled for the following Saturday. I sulked around the house all weekend long, but when Monday rolled around, I received a phone call that knocked me right out of my funk. Coral Beach wanted me to schedule an appointment for an interview for this week. I was stunned that they moved so fast. Government in general was notoriously slow. It had been less than a week since I had mailed my résumé. And the fact they wanted me to interview right away, too, was amazing to me. I agreed to meet them on Thursday.

After hanging up the phone, I ran to my closet to dig through my storage bins, where my work-type clothing had been placed more than a year ago. It took me a while, but I finally found my black suit and I
drove over to the dry cleaners with Mandy in tow. When I got home, I put Mandy down for a nap, then decided to use the quiet time to brush up on interview questions. I took out my laptop and booted it up. I thought it would be wise for me to do some research about Coral Beach prior to the interview, so I checked out their website.

The board of trustees included Marc Coglione,
the village president, Winifred Strega, the vice president, and board members John Paparazzo, Jamie Brooks, and Aspen Ravens. I wasn’t sure how I’d remember all these people. I seemed to have a terrible memory ever since I was pregnant…two years ago! People told me it was “pregnancy brain” at the time. I can’t imagine it was still “pregnancy brain” two years after being pregnant, but what did I know? I kept repeating, Marc, Winifred, John, Jamie, Aspen.

I noted that it seemed there were a majority of Italians working there. I hoped they didn’t mind that my genetic makeup didn’t contain a similarity to theirs. I read their bios and memorized their pictures the best I could in an attempt to boost my chances during the interview by not confusing everyone’s names. I decided the easiest way for me to remember them would be by age and hair color. John had salt and pepper gray hair and was probably in his sixties. Winifred was gray and in her sixties as well. Marc had shoe-polish black hair and I placed him around fifty. Jamie had to be in her forties with medium brown hair. Aspen was such a unique name, the youngest of the group, and the only blonde. At around thirty years old, and somewhat attractive, he would be hard to for me to forget.

When the day finally came, I felt that I was very prepared.
Marc, Winifred, John, Jamie, Aspen
kept running through my head. And, it was a good thing it worked because I was interviewed by all five members of the board of trustees. I thought I had done well. The only question I stumbled on was the one involving budget numbers at my previous job. Quite frankly, I didn’t have the greatest memory when it came to numbers. I told them this and then I joked that there was a reason I became a municipal clerk and not a C.F.O. With the exception of Winifred, they seemed to be amused, so I hoped that didn’t have a negative effect on the interview. I got the funny feeling that Winifred was not thrilled with me for some reason. She seemed to have draped herself over the dais and flung her hair back frequently, as if she was queen of the universe. I estimated her age at sixty-five. She had a thin frame and plenty of wrinkles, likely from too much sun exposure at the Jersey shore. Her shoulder-length gray hair was curly and her hands were freckled with sunspots. Her top was cut a little low for a woman of her age, revealing a portion of her lacy black bra. I hoped this wasn’t purposeful.

President Coglione told me they would be making a decision within a week. He seemed pleased when I said that I could start working immediately. I shook all of their hands and thanked them for meeting me. I left the interview and headed directly to the post office. I had pre-prepared thank you notes to send out to my interviewers and I wanted to get them in the mail promptly.

When I got home, my phone rang. It was Kris.

“How was the interview?” he asked
.

“It went pretty well,” I told him. “Except that I don’t think the
vice president liked me very much. I don’t know how much pull she has, being vice and all, but if she does, I don’t think I’ll get the job.”

We talked about the interview for a while longer, then he confirmed our date plans for this weekend. I was dying to see this guy again. I was starting to forget what he looked like. I could not forget, however, that he was a great kisser. I longed to feel those soft, warm lips again. For the first time in a long time, I felt like my life was starting over. New prospects for a job and for love were providing me with feelings of elation. I was nervous and excit
ed at the same time. I walked around on Cloud Nine for the rest of the week, but then, Saturday came and he cancelled again. This time, without rescheduling. I felt heartbroken. I very badly wanted to go out with this guy. So, I did what any woman with a little respect for herself would do—I chalked it up to him being a jerk and decided to hang back and let him make the next move. That is, after a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia and a good hour of feeling rejected.

So, I waited anxiously by the phone. Day in and day out. I checked my cell over a thousand times to make sure it was working. I wasn’t sure if I was more anxiously awaiting a call from Kris or from Coral Beach, but either way, I knew that if anything was going to happen, my phone would be ringing this week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
, and Thursday brought me no news and left me in total darkness. I was feeling crushed. I should have heard about the job or from Kris by Friday. Yet, Friday was here, and the phone was still not ringing. I was trying to hold out hope, as my job and love prospects were slipping away from my grasp.

An unexpected ring at the door at noon brought a beautiful bouquet of two dozen bright red roses. I quickly ripped open the envelope and pulled out a small white c
ard that said, “
Let’s try again. Happy Valentine’s Day. Kris
.” I could not stop the large smile that came across my face. I had totally forgotten it was the fourteenth. I wanted to be mad at Kris for not making more of an effort to see me, but I couldn’t be mad. My hopes of getting to know Kris were suddenly renewed. I had a good feeling about him.

I called him on the phone to thank him for the roses. He said he hadn’t called me all week because he wanted to surprise me for Valentine’s Day. I told him it was quite the surprise and that I had almost given up on him. He said he had reservations for
dinner tomorrow night and he made me promise to go out with him. I was once again floating around on a cloud for the rest of the day. I completely forgot that Coral Beach never called me.

* * *

The next day, I spent two hours getting ready to go out on my first date with Kris. My hands were shaking so much that it was difficult to put on my makeup. I pulled the sides of my shoulder-length blonde hair back into a clip, leaving the rest to hang straight. I changed my outfit at least fifteen times and finally settled on a pair of black pants and a royal blue sweater. I would have worn a dress, but it was only twenty-three degrees outside. I threw on the tallest heels I had. Standing at a mere five feet, I was extremely short compared to Kris, who had to be at least six feet tall. I thought the heels would bring me up a little higher, so he wouldn’t have to bend down so far if I was lucky enough to get another nice kiss from him. I was trying to think of things to talk about with him when my phone rang. It was Kris.

“Hey! Sorry to do this to you, but my babysitter just cancelled,” he informed me.

The smile departed from my face. I was so disappointed and since we had already tried three times to get together, I wasn’t going to let this little snafu ruin my first date with him. I quickly said, “We can bring him along; it will be fun.”

He hesitated. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Of course I’m sure; it’s no problem at all.”

“The place I was planning on taking you tonight
isn’t exactly kid-friendly.”

“Well, let’s go to Federici’s instead,” I suggested.

Federici’s was a high-end pizza place. They had great Italian food in addition to pizza and I had seen many children eating there. I figured it would have been a good place.

“Did you want to bring Mandy too?”

“No!” I swiftly answered. “I mean, she’s in her terrible twos and she throws temper tantrums often. She probably wouldn’t sit through dinner without causing a scene.”

We agreed to meet at the restaurant in thirty minutes. I didn’t want him to have to unload a three-year-old from the car seat in order to come to my front door, then have to reload him in again a few minutes later, and besides, my parents were on their way over to watch Mandy for me. I really didn’t want him to be greeted by my parents on our first date.
Awkward
!

My parents arrived, and again, Mandy was in a full-blown temper tantrum
with my dog Snickers matching the tone of her wails with his howling.

“What happened?” my mother asked.

“I took the crayons off of her; she was playing artist on the kitchen walls.”

My mother looked over to
discover shades of burnt-orange and magenta smeared in an abstract pattern on the wall.

“My word, how are you going to get that out?”

“Magic Eraser works pretty well,” I said.

“So, this isn’t the first time she’s used the walls as her canvas?”

“No, and I didn’t have time to clean it up tonight. I was trying to control her and get ready at the same time.”

“Well, have a great time on your date.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

I stepped out into the bitter cold and jumped into the frozen car. I started up the engine, scraped the ice off the windshield
, and set out on my way to Federici’s. I parked close to the door and nervously checked my makeup in the car mirror one last time. I stepped out into the cold and hustled through the main doors. I was greeted by a hostess who told me my “dates” were seated in the back room.

I walked through the first dining room and I spotted a couple of
my interviewers: Marc Coglione, the village president with his shoe-polish hair, and John Paparazzo, a member of the board. They waved me over to their table. I cringed at the thought of my potential new bosses seeing me on a first date with a guy I barely knew. I was happy that my table was in a different room. I pleasantly said hello and told them it was nice to see them again. They introduced me to their dining partners, Gino
RighettiRighetti
Righetti and Cal Zamboni of
Righetti Brothers’ Development Corporation. At first glance, Gino and Cal looked like they stepped right out of an old-school mob movie with Cal being the heavy hand and Gino being the Mafia Don.

Cal was younger, probably in his early
thirties, but had quite the receding hairline. He was large, had no neck, and was unusually hairy. His bushy eyebrows and enormous size made him appear fairly scary-looking.

Gino was strikingly handsome and in good physical shape. He had slicked back his dark hair and doused his body in a nice
-smelling cologne. He was very polished-looking, sporting an expensive Italian suit. There was a darkness behind his deep brown eyes, which seemed to examine me from head to toe, trying to figure out if I was someone that could be trusted. I noticed they both wore gargantuan-sized pinky rings. They were cordial enough, though.

Mr. Coglione introduced me as the new
municipal clerk. I was speechless. I hadn’t been notified that I gotten the job. I wasn’t sure what to say. I smiled widely at him and said, “Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.” Marc told me they had to make it official next week with a vote at the board meeting, and that they would call me on Monday to discuss salary. I shook his and Mr. Paparazzo’s hands, saying I looked forward to working with them. I told Gino and Cal that it was nice to meet them, then left to meet Kris in the other dining room.