Sempre: Redemption

20

Haven nervously watched the clock, waiting for the black rental car to slowly pull up the street. It parked in a free spot directly in front of the brownstone, and Corrado climbed out, fixing his tie and looking around before heading inside. He tapped once on her door, patiently waiting for her to open up.

She started stammering as soon as he entered, trying to explain what had happened, but he held his hand up to stop her. She flinched from the sudden movement and he froze. “I have no intention of harming you.”

Haven stood still by the door as he checked out the place. The apartment appeared undisturbed and Haven felt ridiculous, wondering if Corrado had flown out for nothing.

“Is your upstairs neighbor home?” he asked.

“Uh, no, not yet,” she said. “Kelsey stayed with a guy last night.”

“Look around and tell me if anything has been taken,” he said. “I need to check her apartment and make sure neither of you have been bugged.”

“Yes, sir.”

She sorted through things, taking inventory, and found nothing missing. Even the cash she kept in a drawer was still there. Always use cash, Corrado had said, never leave a paper trail.

Corrado came back downstairs after a bit, leaving the door open a crack as he lingered near it. “The place is clean. Anything missing down here?”

“No,” she replied. “I don’t really own anything valuable, though.”

“Value doesn’t always equal a monetary amount,” he said. “No diaries?”

She shook her head before it dawned on her. “Oh, crap!”

Darting into the living room, she scanned the bookshelf and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the worn leather book amongst the others. “I have Maura’s.”

Haven turned to him and started to speak, to ask what she should do, when the front door thrust open, catching Haven off guard. She gasped as Corrado turned, reaching into his coat for his gun. He clutched it but didn’t pull it out as Kelsey appeared in the doorway, her eyes darting between Haven and Corrado.

“Who’s the DILF?” she asked, leaving the door wide open as she motioned toward Corrado. Her eyes scanned him, a small smile coming upon her lips.

Haven’s cheeks flushed. “Kelsey . . .”

“Is this your missing friend?” Corrado asked. “The one that lives upstairs?”

“Missing?” Kelsey’s brow furrowed. “Are you a cop or something?”

Corrado glanced at her. “Do I look like a cop?”

“Sort of,” she said. “I mean, you do have a gun.”

Corrado immediately removed his hand from his weapon, covering it again with his coat.

“He’s . . .” Haven started, unsure of how to explain it.

“Corrado,” he said, finishing her statement as he politely held out his hand.

“Kelsey,” she said, shaking it. “Obviously you already know that, though.”

“Yes. If you’ll excuse me, I need to make a phone call.”

He walked to the kitchen, pulling out his phone. The moment he was out of earshot, Kelsey jokingly punched Haven’s arm. “Where the hell did he come from?”

“Uh, I’ve known him for a while,” she mumbled.

“I’m not gonna lie—I was hoping you wouldn’t go home alone last night. I hoped you’d get some of that stiffness knocked out of you, if you know what I mean, but how did you pull that?”

“You think we . . . ?” Haven was stunned. “No way! He’s married!”

“So?” She shrugged. “A man like that needs more than just one woman to take care of him. I can’t believe you spent all night with him and still didn’t get laid.”

“Why do you think I spent all night with him?”

“You have the same clothes on from yesterday,” she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Did you at least blow him?”

“Kelsey, shut up!”

“You’re such a prude,” she said, smirking. “If you won’t, can I?”

“No!” Haven shook her head furiously. “Oh, God, why would you want to?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?” she asked. “Are you blind? He has that whole mysterious and dangerous look about him. There’s no way a man like that isn’t well endowed.”

“Stop!” she hissed.

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Oh, relax. I get it. You have no interest in men, except for Cartman . . .”

“Carmine,” she corrected her.

“Cartman, Carmine—same difference. I’ve known you a few months now, honey, and I’ve yet to see that guy. He doesn’t call, he doesn’t write, he doesn’t visit. He may as well be a ghost, but that fine specimen in the kitchen? He’s real, he’s tangible, and there comes a point where you have to give up the fantasy for the reality.” She paused and glanced down the hallway as Corrado headed back in their direction. “And it doesn’t hurt when the reality looks a hell of a lot like my fantasy.”

Corrado stepped in the room, slipping his phone in his pocket as he gazed at Haven. “You should be safe here, but I’m going to have the locks replaced.”

A tense silence fell over the room as Kelsey’s eyes clouded with suspicion. “Did something happen?”

“Someone broke in,” Haven mumbled. “They were here when I got home.”

Kelsey’s eyes widened. “Did they get anything? Did they hit my place, too?”

“She scared them away before they could make it that far,” Corrado chimed in. “No harm done.”

Haven nodded, confirming the lie. She looked at the clock as another bout of tension swept through the room. “I need to get ready. We have somewhere to be.”

“I’d rather you skip it today,” Corrado said.

Haven shook her head. “I can’t.”

He gave her a curious look. “Can’t, or won’t?”

“Won’t.”

He nodded as if he had expected that answer. “Proceed, then.”

Haven left the two of them alone in the living room to get dressed. Kelsey was sitting on her couch eating when Haven returned, but Corrado was nowhere to be found.

“He stepped outside,” Kelsey said before Haven had a chance to ask. “Got a call from what I assume is his wife. Major mood killer.”

Haven shook her head. “He’s not your type. He’s a serious person.”

“I noticed,” she said. “He’s intense. You’re not in, like, WITSEC are you?”

“What?” Haven asked.

“WITSEC. You know, witness protection, where the government gives you a new identity so gangsters can’t find you?”

Haven cracked a smile at the irony, considering it had been the gangster to give her a new identity to hide from the government. “No, it’s not like that.”

“So how come I’ve never seen him here before?”

“He doesn’t live around here.”

“Where does he live?”

“Why are you so nosy?”

“Because I am,” she said, laughing. “How did you meet him?”

“He’s a . . . friend of the family.”

“Really? He looks really familiar, like I’ve seen him somewhere before,” she said, standing. “It’s strange. He is a cop, though, right?”

“Why the questions?” Haven asked.

She shrugged. “I’m just trying to figure out who he is. Is it a crime to want to know about my friend’s life? You don’t talk much about it.”

“There’s not much to tell.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Whatever, let me get dressed and we’ll go.”

Corrado’s car was gone when they headed outside. They shared a cab in silence to the Rainbow Art Center and spent the morning cleaning the place, organizing everything and gathering up all of the kids’ artwork. They carefully framed them all and spent two hours affixing the paintings to the wall and decorating for a party. Kelsey left at one point to get snacks and drinks as Haven blew up balloons. She turned around to get something, nearly colliding with someone standing there. The person grabbed her shoulders as she screamed, caught off guard.

“Relax,” Corrado said. “It’s just me.”

“How did you know where I was?” she asked.

He raised his eyebrows. “You think I don’t keep tabs on you?”

“Well, sure, but I didn’t know how closely.”

“Close enough that I could find you at any given moment,” he said. “It’s my job to know. It’s nice what you do here, by the way.”

“Oh,” she said, flushing. Was that a compliment? “Thanks. I enjoy it.”

“I imagine you do,” he said. “Maura did similar things. She always said if she helped just one person, it would have been worth the sacrifice.”

“She mentioned that in her journal,” Haven mumbled. “I feel the same way.”

“So you understand why Carmine left you, then?”

Haven cringed from the question, not expecting it.

“Vincent fought to ensure Carmine didn’t turn out like him, but at eighteen he made the exact same decision his father did anyway,” Corrado explained. “It’s logical they’d worry what happened to Maura would happen to you, too. What they fail to realize, though, is the main thing Maura tried to teach them. Cambiano i suonatori ma la musica è sempre quella.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

He didn’t answer for a moment as he wandered through the room, his attention focused on the juvenile paintings. It was weird watching him. Haven never took Corrado as someone who would be remotely interested in those sorts of things.

“You read her journal, so am I correct to assume you know I failed her?”

“Failed her?” she asked hesitantly. “She didn’t see it that way. She said you were always fair to her, even when she was . . . you know . . . in your home.”

“I could’ve done more.”

“Can’t we all?” she responded. “We’re only human, after all.”

“You’re a lot like Maura, but there are some differences. She wouldn’t have stood here and held a conversation with me, that’s for sure, and she would’ve certainly abandoned her plans the second I demanded.” He paused, smiling with amusement. “Regardless, I see why they’d worry, but just because a person’s situation changes, doesn’t mean they change. It doesn’t matter if you’re in North Carolina or California or New York or Illinois—you are who you are. That’s what I meant by it.”

The door swung open then, sunlight filtering in from outside.

“Have you ever been in a Wal-Mart?” Kelsey hollered, coming in the room and dropping bags on the floor. “That place was a madhouse. I felt like I stepped into some alternate universe where banana clips and blue eye shadow are still in style. And Jesus, what’s with all the big hair? I’m surprised I made it out alive! Half those women looked like they could eat me for supper! And I swear, I saw a minivan in the parking lot with one of those honor student bumper stickers, and the woman driving had on . . .” She glanced over, her words faltering when she spotted Corrado. “. . . Mom jeans. Hello, there.”

“Hello,” Corrado replied. “I’ll let you ladies get back to your work.”

He strolled away, stepping outside as he pulled out his phone.

“Personal bodyguard?” Kelsey asked, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Is this like the Bodyguard movie, steamy affair included?”

“No. I told you, it’s nothing like that.”

“Pity.” She shrugged and started digging through the bags, setting up the snack table. They ordered pizza and Haven fixed the punch when people arrived, the children excitedly running in while their caretakers lingered off to the side. Some didn’t even bother to stay, instead dropping the children off at the curb.

Corrado stuck around for the party, watching warily, so quiet and stoic most barely noticed his presence. Others, however, cast him suspicious looks as they kept their distance. Haven smiled, realizing they likely thought the same thing Kelsey had—he was a police officer.

It was chaotic with so many kids running around, and Haven did her best to keep everything under control as they held a ceremony and handed out certificates. When it was over and time to go, Haven gave each kid a hug, telling them the same words that had been spoken to her at their age. Words she had lost focus of in the midst of all the heartache, but words both Maura and her mother had wholeheartedly believed.

“Never lose hope,” she said. “You’re special and meant to do great things in the world. I believe in you.”

Kelsey offered to walk one of the kids home as Haven cleaned up the mess. She could sense Corrado’s eyes on her but ignored him the best she could, trying to finish what she needed to do.

Corrado cleared his voice. “Were you attached?”

“To what?”

“Those children.”

“Yes,” Haven said quietly. “They reminded me of myself.”

“Strange how those things work. Doesn’t matter where you go—there will always be someone.” Haven nodded and reached for the large black trash bag, but Corrado grabbed it. “I’ll get this for you.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled. “The Dumpster is out back.”

Haven finished cleaning up and grabbed her things before heading for the parking lot, finding Corrado’s empty rental car parked by the door. She started around the building to see if he was still at the Dumpster. She froze when she saw him behind the parking lot with a man, the driver’s side door open on a black car with New York tags. The man had his back to her, so she couldn’t see his face, but his body language told her it wasn’t just casual conversation.

The man climbed in the car after a second, tires squealing as he sped out of the opposite side of the parking lot.

Corrado approached. “Do you need a ride?”

“I can walk,” she said. “It’s just a few blocks.”

“Nonsense.” He waved her off dismissively. “Get in the car.”

Corrado didn’t speak at all during the drive. Not long after they arrived, someone showed up to change the locks on the brownstone.

“I have some things to handle, and I need to get some sleep,” Corrado said, handing Haven a new set of keys. “I’ll be leaving tomorrow to make it to the wedding.”

Wedding? “Someone’s getting married?”

“Dominic and Tess,” Corrado said, eyeing her peculiarly. “Didn’t you receive your invitation?”

She shook her head slowly. “No. I had no idea.”

His expression flickered, a frown on his lips. “I must’ve forgotten to send it. There’s still time, though, if you’d like to send a gift. I’ll stop by in the morning before I leave to pick it up, if you want to go get something.”

“Okay,” she said, not knowing how to respond to that. “Thanks, I guess.”

“I suppose you’re welcome,” he responded. “Have a good evening, kid.”