Green Stone Ring Read online

  Gini felt like everyone in the room was looking at her and sizing her up.

  “And here we go,” the announcer on the TV said. The Patriots received the ball on the 20-yard line, ran to the 30, and then ran along the sidelines all the way to the Washington 40-yard line. “What a great runback,” the sports anchor said.

  As the play calls progressed, Gini stepped around to see the big-screen TV in Ric’s living room. Everyone in the room yelled and cheered as the runback took shape. She was relieved the attention was off her. The next few minutes were intense while the Patriots took the ball down the field, stalling at the 1-yard line. Gini was completely immersed in the game, forgetting the room full of people. “You have to go for it, you have to go for it,” she called out.

  Ric—behind her—was close enough to feel her leaning to the right or left as the play panned out. After each play, her body reacted to the play that was over and readied for the play to come.

  “Come on, go!” She put her face in her hands and let out a big sigh.

  He smiled to himself at her emotion. She was much more of a football fan than he was. The third down was a running play. It looked like they got into the end zone, and everyone in the room cheered with delight. Gini jumped up and down. But the officials said the play was downed six inches to the goal. The room fell quiet.

  “This is the big play,” the announcer broke the silence.

  Gini had her fingers up to her mouth. The ball was snapped, and the quarterback stepped back and floated one into the end zone. It was caught, and the Patriots scored.

  Gini turned to Ric. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!”

  Everyone else was cheering.

  The next series of plays, the Redskins came right back and scored. At halftime, everyone went into the dining room and filled up on the chili, snacks, and cornbread.

  The game went back and forth for three and a half hours. Ric was constantly amused with Gini’s interaction with all the plays. She sat next to him on the couch, right at the edge of the cushion most of the evening. Occasionally, she would turn and look at him, but most of the time her focus was on the TV action. Her ponytail would flip and swing with her every move. That was the Gini he remembered, full of life.

  With only thirty seconds left in the game, the score was tied 28 to 28, and the Redskins had the ball on the Patriots’ 45-yard line. The quarterback reached back to pass; the Patriots intercepted and ran it in for a touchdown, leaving only five seconds on the clock.

  “Oh, yes! Oh yes, that’s what I’m talking about,” Tim yelled. “That’s what I am talking about.”

  “We are going all the way to the Super Bowl,” Gini shouted.

  Everyone cheered. Final score: 35 Patriots, 28 Redskins.

  After the game, they all gathered in the dining room again and ate Gini’s brownies and other sweets on the table.

  “Ric, your friend is quite the cheerleader,” Tim said.

  “Those are my boys, the Patriots.” Gini immediately felt shy when the attention was on her again.

  David stood forward. “You’re Virginia Anderson!”

  “Yes—”

  “I knew I knew you. You’re Virginia Anderson.”

  No one else in the room seemed impressed and continued with their chitchat.

  An hour went by, and slowly everyone started to leave. Gini helped Ric clean up.

  “Ric, this was fun. Thanks for asking me. It put a whole new perspective on watching the game.”

  “You’re very welcome. Someone in the neighborhood has a party every weekend of the season. I’m sure you’re welcome to go to any of them.”

  She went to get her coat. “That’s sweet of you to share your friends. You can keep the rest of the brownies. I need to get going. Catherine sent me an email right before I came here. I need to get back and get started on putting a report together.”

  He walked over and grabbed his coat.

  “It sounds like I’m off to DC this week. Why are you putting on your coat?”

  “I’m going to drive you home.”

  “No, I can walk. I like walking.”

  He finished buttoning his jacket. “But Gini, it’s pretty cold out there, and I have heated seats.” He sang the word “seats.”

  “Okay,” she said turning toward the door. “The heated seats won me over.”

  “How long will you be in DC?” he asked, driving out of the driveway.

  “I imagine I’ll be going back and forth until the Congress winter break. This is a busy time for us, trying to have as much influence on the voting as possible before everyone goes home. The nice thing is all I have to do is pack a small bag and jump on the train. Catherine keeps a room for me at her place, and I keep one for her here. It makes the trips back and forth easy.”

  “Yeah, this is the busiest time of the year for me too, with all the holiday parties. And I’m sure there will be some celebrating of election victories. This is when I earn a large part of my company revenue.”

  Gini felt the warmth and snuggled down into the seat. “Sounds like fun, but a lot of work.”

  “I have the greatest team working for me, and, fortunately, we get to participate in some of the bigger holiday parties, which is fun. You should go with me. When Franco’s in town, you’d both have a great time and meet some interesting people.” Ric smiled as he talked, glancing out of the corner of his eye to watch her take pleasure in the heated seats.

  “We’ll see if my schedule will allow it.” She looked up and saw he was smiling in fun at her. “What?”

  “Nothing. Here we are.”

  “I have had a wonderful weekend, Ric. Thank you so much for everything. I’m so glad I won the bid on the wonderful little box so we could reconnect.”

  “Me too.” He walked her to the front door. “Give me a call or text when you are back in town. We’ll do dinner or something.”

  “I will, I will.” She nodded.

  “You have a good time in DC and say hello to Catherine for me.”

  “Okay.” She turned and went into the building.

  Ric waited until she reached the elevator. As she stepped in, she turned around, and they waved at each other as the elevator doors closed.

  Walking back to his car, he thought about the great weekend. He laughed to himself. Funny how in high school and college, his only friends were Franco, Gini, and Margarita.

  Tonight, it seemed Gini came alive when she was around happy people, he thought. I have many friends and am more than happy to introduce her to them. If all she needed is to be in a crowd having a good time, I can certainly give her that by taking her to my parties. That’s what had saved him through his desperate times. Other people’s warmth, other people’s laughter. It would help her too. His job now was to heat up that cold flame in his old friend and start a fire in her once again.

  Gini opened her messages to read all of Catherine’s emails. Her eye went right to Franco’s message. She opened it and replied:

  I love the pictures. You’re doing such great work for humanity. I’m fine, keeping busy with Catherine. I ran into Ric Santini last week at an event. It was good to see him, brought back so many happy memories. Take care. Love, Gini.

  She looked at the green stone ring. A vision of Franco giving Ric a hand-carved pipe from China appeared. Ric was the best friend Franco had ever had. She knew he would be happy to be with Ric again when he returned.

  The X symbolized a kiss and the knot, intertwining love. She ran her finger over the knot-covered stone on her way to the bedroom, then took the ring off and put it on her dressing table.

  Chapter 5 – Back to Work

  While in college, Gini had worked for the Massachusetts State House as a file clerk. Her supervisor’s sister had had a difficult pregnancy, and the little boy was born with many health issues affecting his heart, lungs, and stomach. Angela had described to Gini how her sister and husband were middleclass, making a comfortable living, but the minute the baby was born, neither of their companies would
insure him because their son had had a pre-existing condition. His health care was going to run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Angela had taken time off to help her sister try to find a solution so the baby could get good health care. She helped her sister find programs and agencies to help with the cost. Once they got insured, one of the baby’s doctors had not been able to get the medicine he needed approved because it wasn’t indicated for that particular treatment. Angela had seemed comfortable talking to Gini about all the issues. It had saddened Gini that an already difficult situation was being made a lot worse because of insurance.

  Catherine White had given a presentation at the State House on the lack of good insurance for children who were gravely ill, outlining her agenda to remedy the problem. Gini had been immediately willing to help. After a few conversations with Catherine, Catherine had asked Gini to join her lobbying firm in Washington, DC, assigning New England as her territory. Gini had given her full attention to the cause since she hired on. Over the three years of her employment, she and Catherine had become close friends.

  The next two weeks in October were hectic for both Gini and Ric. Gini and Catherine arranged to have meetings and conversations with as many congresspeople and committees as possible. Every night they were wined and dined, or they took people out to further discuss the issues and topics of the day.

  “Man, my feet are killing me.” Catherine rubbed her right foot.

  Gini slipped off her shoes. “Why do we cram our feet in these pointed, uncomfortable high heels? We’re gluttons for punishment. I think we have changed some minds. How do you feel, Catherine?”

  “We’ve got to get this health care for kids in the system on the floor. Today I saw a lot of interest, but no commitment for introduction. We can’t let the ball drop with winter break coming. So you go back to Boston and concentrate on the representatives from New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Maine. They have seen the Massachusetts health care work, and are showing interest; let’s not let them get away. If we can get it on the floor, hopefully, it will go into committee with a quick vote. I’ll work on the people here. I think we’ve had two good weeks. Now, we need to go in for the score.”

  “I’m looking forward to getting back to Boston for a few days. Your bed is comfortable, but I long for my own.”

  “I understand. Have you talked to Ric at all?”

  “We did a quick text the other day, but he’s very busy planning parties. I would have never figured Ric Santini as a party planner. He was so serious in high school, and so much in the lawyer mode the last time I saw him.”

  “I have known Ric for a couple of years. I had no idea you and he had gone to high school together. He’s a nice guy, so good-looking and charming. Watch out; he may sweep you away.”

  “Catherine,” Gini said with a sharpness to her voice. “Ric and I are just good friends. Don’t forget I’m a married woman.”

  “Hahaha, married, what a marriage. You haven’t seen your so-called husband for months. What kind of marriage is that? I don’t know why you put up with it. You should tell Franco to get lost.”

  “Catherine!” There was a long silence. “Yeah, I need to have a long talk with him. Obviously, we are going in completely different directions in our lives, but that discussion is for another day. Right now, I just want to go to bed.”

  On Friday, Gini packed her bag and headed to the train station. “Okay, I’ll turn on the pressure, bombard them with these reports, sit on the phone until they hear me out. We’ll make this work. Let’s video call on Tuesday and see where we are.”

  Catherine hugged Gini. “Good. Try to get some rest, honey, because we have a long row to hoe. See you in the next week or so.”

  She waved as the cab pulled away.

  Gini walked into her flat when she got home and threw her bag on the chair. She quickly went through the mail Howard had put on her counter. He was so attentive to all the people living in the building. They all loved him and did what they could to show their appreciation.

  She took a long hot bath and then crawled into her comfortable bed. Without hesitation, she picked up her phone to text Ric:

  In Boston, need sleep.

  He was at a function when he felt his PET vibrate. He pulled it out and read the message.

  Will call u tomorrow, sweet dreams.

  She didn’t hear the vibration sound on her nightstand. She was in a deep sleep.

  About 10 a.m. Gini heard her phone. “Hello, Ric.”

  “I didn’t want to call too early in case you wanted to sleep in.”

  “I’ve been up for a while. Saturday is my run-around day: grocery shopping, which I’m doing now, dry cleaners, laundry, hair, nails, get the picture?”

  “Got it.” He laughed. “I’d like to see you, but I have a party tonight and a brunch business meeting in the morning I have to go to.”

  “Wow, you’re busy.”

  “How about lunch? Can you go to lunch with me today?”

  “Sure.”

  “Let’s meet at Gary’s Bar and Grill over by the park, say twelvish.”

  “Our old college hangout, that sounds good. I’ll see you there at noon.”

  Gini finished her shopping, called her beautician, changed her hair and nail appointments, and walked to the Bar and Grill. Ric was sitting at a table reading something on his PET. As soon as he saw her, he jumped up and walked her back to the table.

  “I haven’t been here for a while. It hasn’t changed a bit. They used to have the best hamburgers here; they even beat Burger King.”

  Ric laughed out loud. He remembered how Gini always wanted to go to Burger King when they were in college. The rest of them were tired of eating there all the time.

  “You and your hamburgers.”

  Her eyes were wide and bright. The blueness was startling. Her full plump lips parted over her white teeth, and the dimples that went deep into her cheeks somehow made him want to grab her up into his arms and never let her go. He noticed she wasn’t wearing the green stone ring.

  “How was Washington?”

  “It was great but busy.”

  She pulled closer to the table. “You know, many people see lobbyists, or politics as a whole, as a dirty business involving paying forward in order to get ‘payoffs.’ But we have such a great country and government, allowing every citizen a chance to be heard, to sit across the desk from our federal or state representative or senator and speak their mind whether they are a paid lobbyist or not. But to do that effectively, you have to be well prepared and documented with facts and figures that support your position. It can be a twenty-four-seven job with very intense periods. It’s difficult emotionally. You never know how it will go. There could be sudden lulls in the action with recesses, elections, and other uncontrollables. I can’t tell you how many times Catherine and I have spent days on a report, and then we have to sit and wait for a month to present it.

  “But it’s important to honor the position of elected office, so we play by their rules. It can be exhausting putting a lot of pressure on officials with phone calls, writing letters, making sure we get to the right folks. Wooing individuals who can get us time with those right people. And sometimes not succeeding, feeling like the time was lost… The key is to believe passionately in the cause for which you are an advocate. That’s the only way you can sustain the energy to get a bill pushed through Congress. And I’m very committed to our cause. Plus there’s such a great vibe in DC, I never get tired of it. I love the energy of the city and working with the different levels of government. I can’t see myself doing anything else.”

  She was always able to state her case when something was important to her. He was convinced Catherine had hired the perfect person, Gini, for the job.

  “How about you?”

  “Let’s see; I have been picking up all kinds of work. You remember the guy that came up to me after the Westcott Gala?”

  She nodded.

  “He was there representing a man by the name
of Valentino Vasquez. He’s from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Gini, this guy is loaded. He is building a resort in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and wants me to help him promote the sales. And he’s also building a huge resort on a private island in the Bahamas. He wants me to help him with that one, too.”

  “Ric!” Her eyes opened wide. “That’s fantastic. Are you going to take the job?”

  “Absolutely! I went down to Florida last week. Val lives in this beautiful mansion on the intercoastal canal. You would love the place. It has a nice guesthouse right by the pool. And he has a yacht bigger than my house. Like I said, he’s loaded. I told him I need to deal with all the holiday parties and events until the end of the year. Then I could really dig in and give him a lot of my time. He agreed on the time frame.”

  “Will you be moving to Florida?”

  “No, I’ll just be taking business trips down there. You and Franco must go with me sometime. It’s nice there, warm and sunny. Wow, I never thought my life could be so good.” He sat back in his chair as he realized what a great opportunity he had been handed.

  She could see how pleased he was. “I’ve never been to Florida. A nice warm day on the water sounds great to me.”

  “I had never been there either. I mean, I thought I was so worldly rubbing elbows with the rich and famous here in Boston, but this guy makes them all look like paupers. And, Gini.” He leaned forward and closer to her. “He’s the nicest man. A bachelor, I guess. There are young women and occasionally young men there around the pool all the time.”

  “Like Hugh Hefner. Now I know why you think it’s such a great place.” She was surprised she felt a twinge of jealousy.

  “Oh, no, those girls are pretty, but certainly not my type. Besides, they are there living off Val; I’m just a small fish. It’s kind of nice on the eyes, though, I’ll have to admit.”

  Gini was feeling protective of him. She didn’t want her friend to be taken advantage of by some bikini-clad beauty. He was vulnerable now that he was single—so good-looking, women probably constantly hit on him. She laughed silently to herself; that was so much Mama Elizabeth’s way of thinking. Should she be concerned? He seemed to take all of Val’s extravagance in stride. Ric always had a good sense of reality. But he was still hurting—he’d admitted that. Could he resist someone showing him affection? Men were generally weaker at resisting such advances. He was her friend, and she cared about his well-being. That was all it was, just caring for her friend.