"Angelfaced With Regrets" (3/3) (PG) (L&S Fic!)

(See part one for disclaimer!)

Shirley bounced with unrestrained energy as the cab crawled down Times Square; she bolted from the cab, dropping incorrect change on the cabbie's cushion before tearing Veenie from the backseat and rushing down a flight of stairs to Carmine's apartment.  

"Hey, lady!  You owe me a twenty!" The driver shouted down to her.  Without breaking her stride, she dug into the pocket of her dress and pitched a fistful of dollars at him.

"Keep the change!" She hollered back at him, dragging her wide-eyed daughter down to Carmine's apartment.

She still felt appellation when she saw the dingy yellow door and felt vibrations from the preening, angry music that blasted from behind the door.  

She knocked firmly twice, to no avail, until she finally began to shout Carmine's name, over and over.

Lenny's face peering out between the chained-in locks was such a welcome sight that Shirley nearly cried at it's sight.  The locks slipped loose, and he was the first to ask her, "What happened ta Walter?"

She shook her head, "It's too awful," She whispered, pained.

Lenny's eyes were sympathetic, "You can tell me, Shirl."

"Walter..." she gulped back tears, knowing that Veenie couldn't hear over the music pounding in the background, she whispered in Lenny's ear the rest, "He cheated on me overseas."

He blinked in shock down at her.  Then his face darkened and the protective friend she had become accustomed to took over, "Where is he?"

"Len, pounding on him's not gonna do any good." She knew that Walter would do far worse than hit Lenny back; he'd sue him for every penny he had.  And the only thing he owned of any value now was the ring he wanted to place on her best friend's finger.  

His posture loosened a bit.  Shirley was relieved that she hadn't revealed the part about Walter's illegitimate child; Lenny had been a bit on edge ever since Laverne returned to California.  His expression changed entirely when he saw Vennie's cowering form, "Heya."

She perked up a bit, "Hey," She smiled weakly, her voice quivery.

"You want me to take her outside?" He asked her, and she nodded.  Quickly, they switched places, and she stood in the doorway to Carmine's apartment.

The scent of cheap perfume clashed with another cloying odor that prickled her senses with familiarity.  Through the smoky haze of incense, she scanned the room for Carmine, finally locating him on the couch with a newspaper spread over his face.  She realized suddenly that he must have been sleeping off the effects of that afternoon's matinee performance.

She gingerly lifted the paper from his slack face and stared down at his features. Ah, how beloved they had once been...still were.  She sighed and felt a pang in her heart for all of the years they had spent together,

"And I threw them away," She whispered, "For Walter." The idea made her feel sick.  Her whispered words had the unconsciously desired effect of waking Carmine.  He blinked up at her,

"Shirl?" He asked.

"Yeah." She smiled down at him.  There was an awkward silence in the intimacy of those moments; suddenly Carmine sat up and swung his legs down off of the couch.  

"What happened to Walter?" He asked, "His plane get delayed?"

She wondered for a moment who would have told Carmine that Walter was coming back; she had been studiously avoiding him for weeks now.  She quickly remembered Lenny's presence in the apartment and realized what had happened.  

She bit her lip, "Walter and I aren't together any more."

Carmine's brow rose, "Isn't that a little sudden, Shirl?"

Shirley itched her upper arm, "Walter...wants a divorce..." She admitted, her eyes downcast.

An expression of alarm crossed his face, "What did he do?"

"He...had an affair...and his mistress is...expecting."  She finished, humiliation filling her tone.  

Carmine's expression was smug, "I knew it.  Doctors and lawyers can't be faithful."

Shirley's eyes filled with tears, "Carmine!  Please!" She whispered.

Carmine's expression softened as he wrapped his arm around Shirley's shoulder, "I never shouldda let you marry him."

Shirley's eyes became stormy, "Let me?!  LET ME marry him?!  I chose to marry Walter Meeny!"

"And look at where it got ya," Carmine spread his arms out, "Five years away from your friends and family."

"It gave me my beautiful daughter!" She uttered passionately, "And five years of travel.  Five years with a man who I thought loved me." She shook her head, "But the more I think about it, the more I know that he didn't love me, that there was always something between us..."

"What was it," Carmine's eyes were filled with a tender poignancy, "What was between ya?"

Shirley felt the pad of his thumb brush her cheekbone, "You," She said, "The one man who stood between me and Walter was you."

***

Laurel Vista greeted Laverne in the coldest way possible; with complete and almost dispiriting silence.  

Hours after getting "Home", she wished she were back with Shirl in New York.   Every day that ticked by seemed meaningless.  Worse yet, every corner she turned seemed to evoke a memory of Lenny.  Trying to take her mind off of things only made it worse.  

Her only respite was at Cowboy Bills; Edna depended on her for the extra help; Laverne had replaced her father almost entirely in the kitchen and in the back office of the restaurant.  It was something her father had tried to train her to do ever since buying the Pizza Bowl.  Like a mechanical robot, she worked for weeks.

But her heart was lost in the puzzle of her soul; so lost that she neglected to confide in Edna or her father her troubles.  

On one particular despairing afternoon, she took out all of the old postcards and letters he'd sent her from college.  She beamed proudly; they had been so impressed with his skills as a musician that they had been willing to overlook his lack of book smarts.  They treated him, Lenny had written her, "as an Idiot Salam", which she took to mean savant.  

Very gradually, his slapdash, notelike writing began to take on more traditional constraints of spelling, punctuation and sentence formation.  But they never became staid; soon, he wrote as he had always spoken.  

In those letters lay the clues; the answer to the question "Why did I kiss him?  Why do I have feeling for him?".  They were tender, gentle, hope-filled letters, filled with encouragement that she drew on for her daily life.

Reading them once again, she realized what role Lenny played in her life; she was a perfect cross between big sister and feminine ideal for him; he for her, a rock, something to hold on to and do everything for her that Shirley and her father couldn't.  

Now she knew how distressing it was to be completely alone.  Without Lenny and Shirley in her life, she was just that.  What she wouldn't do to have her friends here now, even...

The situation crashed in on her at this point and, upset beyond words, she began to cry.  She didn't even notice a presence behind her until a garbage bag went sailing by her head.

A sharp trill of delight went up her surprise, "Boy, am I glad to see you here!"  She said through her tears, stooping a bit and wrapping her arms around the short, dark figure.

A flabbergasted Squiggy winced in Laverne's arms.

*****

Carmine shook his head silently.  

Shirley filled with panic, "Did you hear what I said, Carmine?  I said that you were the reason Walter said our..."

Carmine sighed patiently, "So, that's what Walter says.  That doesn't change anything between us."

Shirley's chest heaved, "You mean, after everything you said to me...last New Year's Eve..."

"That was last year," He said, "You didn't do anything about it then, and it can't be fixed up now.  I can't help it if you wrecked your marriage over..."

Shirley gathered up her discarded handbag, "I see." She said stiffly, "Well, MR. Ragusa, I see that we'll never agree about this subject.  So, from now on, I'll let you live your life, and you can keep yourself out of my affairs."

Carmine's expression reflected shock at Shirley's new brusqueness, "If that's the way you want is, Ms. Me-..."

"MS. Feeney, now." Shirley snapped, "Goodbye, Mr. Ragusa." She heard some faint curse leave Carmine's mouth as she closed the door behind her and fled up the stairs leading to the city sidewalk as quickly as she could.

She caught a snippet of the conversation Veenie and Lenny were having on a bench right next to the set of steps.  

"Do you think Jeffery got a good home?" Her daughter asked whistfully.

"Aww, sure," Lenny said, and she could hear the smile in his voice, "The lady who ran that pawn shop told me that they were taking him to a nice Iguana ranch in Arizona."

Shirley smiled at the lie, but deep inside she felt sorry that Lenny had sold his most beloved possession in the world to buy that engagement ring.  Walter had never made such a grand gesture for her in her life.

His money felt dirty, the last few hundred dollars from their joint account burning like a coal in her purse.  Galvanized, she stepped onto the pavement and smiled at her daughter.

"I dunno, Len," She said, announcing her presence, "I have a feeling that Jeffery's probably pretty lonely out on that Iguana ranch.  He probably misses you pretty badly."

He smiled at her benevolently, but whispered beneath his breath, "I sold him in a pawn shop.  That and my guitar."

Shirley smiled back benevolently, "In fact, if I were your Uncle Lenny, I'd do what I really want to do and fly out to California, while you and I go try to find Jeffery."

"Gee, Shirl, that'd be swell, but.." He mouthed over Veenie's head I'm flat broke.

Shirley opened her purse and handed him a hundred-dollar bill.  His eyes bulged out.  

"That should make up for all of the Christmas gifts Walter never gave you and Squig for the past five years."

Lenny grinned, clutching the money; he quickly ruffled Veenie's hair, told her to be good for her mother, and took off down the street, attempting to grab a Taxi.

As he sped down the street past them, Shirley took her daughter's hand, "Come on, Veenie; I want to see where Uncle Lenny sold Jeffery to the Iguana Ranch lady..."

****

"...And that's what's been goin' on for the past few months."

Squiggy was almost slack-jawed.  Maybe that was his natural state.  Laverne couldn't imagine what horrors the army had wrecked upon him.  "That's all that happened ta ya?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, Laverne, I'm not gonna stand in yer way...if you REALLY wanna marry Len..."

"Waitaminit; I didn't say that."

He frowned, "If ya don't, I'll crush yer..." Laverne's look became more menacing,  "Well, I'll hurt ya a little." He smiled and said, in what amounted to a pleasant voice for Squiggy, "Yer the least ugly girl Lenny's ever loved, anyway...and I ain't just sayin' that."

Laverne winced at the backhanded compliment, "Thanks, Squig."

"Now, are ya ready to shut up and listen ta what I have to say?"

Laverne nodded with a surprising level of docility.  

"Good!  Get yer coat, we're goin' to Vegas."

"What?!" Laverne's nose curled up, confused.

"Vegas, you know; city that never sleeps; big buildin's with neon...the sandy apple..."

"I know what Las Vegas is, Squiggy.  But why're we going there?"

"Is not a Miss Rhonda Lee gettin' married in Las Vegas tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yeah, she and Dick said they were getting' sick of waiting," Laverne slapped her forehead, "I forgot to buy them a gift!" She climbed to her feet and put on her coat, "Gee, Squig, it's awful nice of you not to want Rhonda to get married alone.  You guys never did get along very well, though.."

"Acourse I couldn'ta let 'er get married alone.  Every wedding needs a groom."

"Yeah.  Dick's a nice guy."

"Dick?!" Squiggy made a contemptuous face as he yanked Laverne out of the door, "Dick nothin!  Rhonda's marryin' me!"

(To be continued in "But He's my Weirdo!")