White rum poured over ice mixing with pineapple juice with just a dash of grenadine.  Isabella smiled at the cocktail named for the 1920s movie star who co-founded, with Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, the United Artists.  They said the drink was made for Mary Pickford while on a trip to Cuba and was picked up in bars here in the US before prohibition.  

Isabella, who was dressed in blue, was fond of the Mary Pickford on the occasions when she had time to be leisurely and today was such a day.  Today she'd scheduled a long lunch with Tara Byrne.  She was eager to talk with the other have of the Byrne sibling pair as Gavin had become something of a very dear friend to her.  She wondered if Tara would prove stuffier than Gavin as everyone suggested, and as she had them make a Mary Pickford for Tara, she wondered if she could get the gal to loose up her collar and her tongue about a great number of topics both for Godfather Salvatore's interests, and her own.

Tara arrived late, which was unlike her, but she was still unflappable as she slid into the booth across from Isabella. It was a private booth in the corner, which she certainly appreciated. Isabella had been around long enough to know that it was sometimes better for certain conversations to stay private.

She was wearing a conservative black dress with a high neckline- a bit too professional for summer, but her hair, while up, had several lazy strands falling down that made her appear far less severe than if she'd simply been wearing the black dress and a serious expression. She smiled when she saw Isabella, which served to further lighten the ensemble.

Without pausing, she immediately lifted the beverage to her lips in a manner reminiscent of Gavin and sampled it. Her eyes widened- both from the shock of the alcohol and the exquisite taste.

"Gods- what's in this thing? And how are you? Sorry I'm late."

"Rum and pineapple... grenadine for the color.  They call it a Mary Pickford.  Damn fine drink for a laid back afternoon if I do say so myself.  I can drink half a dozen of these before I start making mistakes I'll regret the next day."  She laughed.

"So, how long do I have you for?  Your brother makes it sound like you're a real work horse."  She sipped her drink.  "Will had a similar impression... I had hoped to ply you with beverages and funny stories and have the chance to get to know you on a personal level... if time allows?"

"... well no wonder Douglas Fairbanks loves her. Absolutely delicious."

She took another long draught.

"Well, anyone's a real work horse compared to Gavin. But yes, I do work too much, and it's one of my only regrets since I arrived in Philadelphia, since it hasn't left much room for a personal life. So yes, beverages and funny stories sound excellent right now."

"Damn shame.  Women who bust our asses for powerful men should be entitled to great drinks and a spin around the damn dance floor from time to time - to say nothing of anything else... speaking of which," She took a drink for courage and continued, "I wanted to apologize and thank you for the use of your pilot and plane last weekend.  I feel terrible that Gavin too such liberties with the man, but I owe you a debt for the trip.  I was going out of my damn mind with recent events in my personal life and Gavin's plan to visit Canada helped me get my head back in the game."

Tara scoffed.

"Drinks and spinning around the dance floor sound pretty good right now. Except I need a partner. Hard to find a good man these days."

She sighed and finished her drink.

"God, I could use another one of these. Buy me a drink and you'll wipe out whatever debt you think you owe me. Gavin has a bad habit of stealing my plane. All the damn time. I'd heard he'd taken it, of course, but I wasn't planning on bringing it up with you. Everyone's entitled to their privacy, after all."

With a small smile, she flagged down their waitress. 

Isabella put a hundred dollar bill down on the table and told the waitress, "Keep them coming."  She smiled and watched the woman nod emphatically.

"That should get us so liquored up that neither of us will recall a single salacious detail of our discussion tomorrow.  So..."  She drank down the last of her first.  "Thanks for the discretion, it's less about me than it is about my Father.  He's ... over protective, especially since the death of my fiancee."

She leaned back and fished into her purse to find the cigarette case she opened with exceeding rareness.  She offered one to Tara before taking one out to light up.  "The Godfather can't be seen as having been disrespected by anyone ... even ranking members of another city.  Wars are caused over less... which, I'll admit, was why I allowed Gavin to take me out of the country.  I figured there was less chance of anyone finding out that I let your brother seduce me if we did it away from the prying eyes of this thing of ours." 

She realized then how strange it was to kiss and tell to a man's sister.  "Sorry... apparently the drink is loosening my tongue already.  Too soon.  Yea."  She winced, but there was no 'unsaying' what was said.  "Well, your brother is a genuinely good soul.  I'm fond of him and grateful for his attempt at treating me to an Irish Wake... in his own way."

"That should get us so liquored up that neither of us will recall a single salacious detail of our discussion tomorrow..."

Well, you let that one slip before I had enough to drink. Interested in salacious details, huh? Whoever could you possibly be wondering about? Fortunately for you, I'm in a mood to get plastered after... well, no need to think about that anymore. 

Tara listened with interest, certainly regarding the loss Isabella had experienced. She was particular curious, of course, about Gavin's potential trouble. And "let your brother seduce me"- an interesting choice of phrase. Didn't want to seem too eager?

She smiled as the waitress brought over their second drinks. Tara arched an eyebrow as she listened to Isabella apologize.

"You don't need to apologize for talking about my brother. I know this will shock you, but he's not exactly an innocent, virginal lamb. I'm sure that there's very little you could say that would offend me, and even less that would offend him. Unless you called him boring, perhaps."

"Can I ask why you call him a genuinely good soul? It's not the description most would have after meeting him..."

"I'm not sure you're drunk enough for the specifics..."  She smirked.  

Tara took her drink and slammed it in what seemed like a single long swallow.  Instantly she held up the empty glass to the waitress.  "I don't need to know the physical specifics on the adult content, but you know... vague details would be nice."

Isabella laughed and started her second glass to catch up.  "Well, it's just, I took him to be just another cad at first.  A shameless flirt, chasing skirts, looking for the next thrill and the next high - always living in the moment & never serious or responsible about anything or anyone; but by the end of our weekend together, I realized he's far deeper than that."

She took a long drag on her cigarette, not noticing Tara almost choke on her drink.  "I had a whole family - hell a whole city asking me to let my sadness and anger over Elias' death out on them.  Everyone was trying to fix me and stop me from being sad... your brother took me away from everything familiar and got me talking about the happy things of our life together instead.  He wanted to know all about how me met, how he made me feel... and why our relationship mattered."

"Before I knew it, we were on the roof of the tallest building in Montreal together.  Alcohol, a blanket, and me thinking I understood what Gavin was all about and what he was wanting from me.  Instead of taking advantage of a woman who would have done anything to forget her pain for a bit..."  She smiled looking down into her drink. 

"He was convincing me that I would be happy and eventually love again.  Instead of reminding me how weak I was for feeling pain and sadness, he ... well, he made me feel strong.  I swear I hadn't REALLY smiled once since I buried Elias... but your brother through his kindness, respect, and friendship... his ability to make me laugh in the face of horrible pain ... it was everything I needed in that moment."

She looked to Tara,  "It's a damn shame he's got such a hair trigger run reflex... he'd make some woman a very happy wife one day if it wasn't an absolute impossibility he'd ever settle down and marry."  she smashed out her cigarette.  "I just hope he let's me be a friend to him in days to come.  Maybe I can find a way to return his kindness eventually."

Tara's brown eyes- so different from the icy blue of her brother's- fixated on Isabella as she was speaking. She could absolutely believe that Gavin gave a woman a great time to help her forget her grief, but what Isabella was talking about regarding conversation, respect, and friendship? That was a hard sell. Had Gavin played her so well that she mistook his seduction for altruism? Shit. Gavin had no idea of the political implications of... but Isabella didn't seem like the type to get snowed like that, even if she was grieving. And making some woman a very happy wife? What the hell happened up north?

Tara was looking down into her drink thinking in silence longer than what was considered polite before she noticed Isabella looking at her.

"Uh... sorry. Lost in my own thoughts, there. What you're saying... it just doesn't sound like Gavin. No one's ever really talked about kindness, respect, or friendship before. I mean, he has associates. People he has fun with, goes drinking with. And I suppose there might be a couple people that he cares about, in his own way..."

She took another long drink, trying to get her thoughts in order. 

"I, uh... I'm sorry. I'm just a bit thrown here. I've known Gavin my whole life, and while I can certainly think back and see the big picture- times when his... call it nobility... has shown through- those moments have been getting fewer and farther between recently. He puts up walls- even for me. Perhaps especially to me. He's protected me his whole life, sacrificing himself to put me in a position to avoid pain... and I owe him everything, but it is... I have a real, honest, serious conversation with him about once a year now, and it's something that, when it happens, it's so nice... but it's also disappointing, because it gives me glimpses of what he could be."

Tara finished her drink, still pondering, before blurting our right before Isabella was about to say something.

“Why do you think the two of you seem to get along so well?”

Isabella shrugged.  "I just assumed this was how he was with everyone.  A man who clearly had a very traumatic childhood, one who is use to playing the savior and martyr to women in bad situations, grows up keeping everyone at arm's length through living in the moment, alcohol, & womanizing.  And, occasionally when he finds a damsel in distress, he can't help but follow his own nature." 

She accepted her third drink from the waitress.  "I just thought that under all those protections and deflections, he is a man who he seldom lets anyone else see ... as you said:  a man who is a touch noble, but a touch afraid of being hurt again and painfully angry."  She muttered into her glass, "A feeling I empathize with entirely."

She took a deep drought of her third glass.  "We showed each other our scars ... probably didn't hurt to see we were alike in some ways.  Physically we're quite a matching pair."  She chuckled rubbing her own belly.  She knew the woman couldn't see the scars but it would have been the talk of the Mafia for weeks after the Godfather of Detroit's daughter was 'killed' by tommy gun fire in the war, only to reappear after a long painful recovery.  

"Sometimes the outside is a reflection of shit we carry with us... Gavin's outsides certainly are.  He protects the source of his scars like a wounded badger in a hole, always trying to stay out of the reach of others lest he get hurt again... and I'm not so arrogant to think that he 'let me in' ... I'm still outside looking in, but I got a good glance through the windows.  He let me vacation in his world, if you wanna call it that... we ended up fishing, camping, and fighting a moose."  She laughed, "It was one hell of a time.  I suspect it's not something he does often, and he wouldn't thank me for telling you he did so... yea, drink up."

She drank the rest of her third drink, feeling light headed now.

Tara's spine stiffened when she mentioned "playing the savior and martyr to women in bad situations"; it was an accurate way to describe Tara and her mother, but Tara nevertheless was surprised at how quickly her childhood was summarized and moved on from. She'd had no idea that Gavin had talked to her about their time back in Newfoundland. How much had he told her? Still, even as she was a bit shocked from the emotions of her past slapping her across her face, her logical side respected how quickly Isabella had broken down her brother's character.

Tara was taken aback by just how much Isabella and Gavin seemed to have in common, and her mouth was slightly open as she stared, listening seriously, until Isabella got to "fighting a moose."

"Wait. What? A moose?"

Tara finished her third drink as well, not wanting to be left behind.

Isabella laughed and nodded.  "It's as stupid as it sounds.  We were driving down this long stretch of country road and going WAY too fast and moose stepped onto the damn road."  She tried to catch her breath.  "And luckily I'm an ace at the wheel - I land this GORGEOUS car,  I mean there's like 35 of them ever made & your brother wrangled one just for me to open up on rural roads.  So anyway, I land it on the opposite ditch and the fucking moose... he's just... casually walking past us munching grass."

She snorts she's laughing so hard she now has tears in her eyes, "Gavin gets out of the car screaming at the moose for trying to kill us.  He PUNCHES the moose in the head several times before shooting the poor stupid thing."  She shakes her head.  "I've seen a LOT of things in my time but I've NEVER had a man beat up wildlife for me."

Tara laughed at the story, even as she noted the rarity of Gavin's gift. 

"Well, it sounds like the two of you had quite the trip..."

She smiled far too enthusiastically at the waitress as two more drinks appeared in front of them.

"It also sounds like you've made quite the impression on my brother. It's good. He could use... someone. If that ever happened. "

She sighed ruefully.

Isabella took a drink just as Tara spoke about her and Gavin as if they might be "something" or that she could be "someone" to Gavin.  It caused her to choke slightly.  Coughing she shook her head emphatically no before catching her breath and tried to explain, "You brother doeshn't want anyone in that way.  Wedding rings are like dog collars in his mind... he wantsh his freedom above all else.  No.  He could never fall for a dame like me.  He'd run from me as fast as he could if he thought I'd set my eyes on him in that way and I wouldn't.  I mean... I like him and he'sh a ton of fun but - I wouldn't want to loosh him."

She wiped the drink from her lips carefully not to smear her lipstick.  "Even if he did fall for me, he'd never own it... that would be the same as walking into a fire fight without protection to that one'sh mind.  And that'sh nothing to say about my father'sh expectations.  Christ!  Can you imagine Gavin kissing my dad'sh - or any father figure'sh ass?  NOPE!"

She looked a touch sad as she said it.  "No matter how much I like him, that one isn't meant for me or any woman.  I'd have more luck catching a leprechaun!"  She giggled.  "Be shides, I've had enough of broken hearts for a while thank you much.  Better to just enjoy whatever little bit I can share with him... and not force the issue.  I mean... honestly, have you EVER  seen Gavin EVEN ONCE really give his heart to any Moll?  Truly?"  She arched an eyebrow, believing she knew the answer damn well.  In her mind, there was no way Gavin had allowed himself to love anyone, even if he fell for a girl, he probably ended it and ran in the other direction.

Tara finished sipping her drink and smiled.

"You're probably right. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part. For the record, I wasn't thinking that he'd be proposing anytime soon. He just... shuns connections, like you were saying. I know that he has people in his life he respects. And people he has fun with. And people he'd kill for. But a true, honest connection at the soul level? No."

Tara burped.

"Shit! Sorry. God, these are good. Although the idea of my brother..."

Tara started to laugh.

"trying to impress you..."

She raised a hand to her mouth, trying to stifle herself.

"... impress your father. God. I'd pay to see that."

After a few moments, Tara's laughter faded away.

"You asked if he's ever given his heart to anyone? Not even close. Well, maybe kinda close once. There was a girl in New York. A model. Redhead. One of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen- and sweet, too. They were together for a long time. Months. Six months? I dunno. Long time. That was the only time I thought that someone had a chance of getting Gavin to settle down. They were a great pair. She was talkative when he was reserved and vice versa. They made each other really happy. And then..."

Tara closed her eyes and sighed.

"... she bought him a fucking toothbrush to keep at her apartment. I was with them when she saw it. She was just trying to be nice, but Gavin dumped her on the spot like a load of bricks. I still remember her crying, crying, chasing him out to the sidewalk and begging him to just forget it. He just stuck his hands in his pockets and walked away. God..."

A very sad expression broke over Tara's face.

"... he didn't even look back. Not once, even as this poor girl was screaming his name and begging him."

Her eyes dropped down to her drink.

"He's never looked back for anyone. And even in the rare cases when someone else leaves before he does... well, he never watches them go."

Isabella sat with wide eyes and in shock.  She knew Gavin rejected the notion of being tied to any woman or relationship but to be so cold it didn't seem like him at all.  Would he REALLY abandon someone he's built something like that with over a toothbrush?  She wouldn't treat a dog that way let alone someone she had a bond with.

She blinked, it was like being thrust into cold water, the scene playing in her head.  Why did she care?  She damn well knew he was this way and it wasn't like she'd planned to have a relationship with him... hell that was why she was here with William.  Right?

She put her drink down.

"Well," She cleared her throat.  "I guessh it's good newsh that we're both just in it for the good timesh."  She forced a smile.  "I'm going to use the ladiesh room.  Please, excuse me."

She slid out of the booth and made her way to the bathroom to check her make up and hair.  "What the fuck is wrong with me?"  She muttered, contemplating how the alcohol must have addled her mind.  She damn well knew who Gavin was, so what if he was more abrupt and crueler about it than she had a stomach for?  Wasn't like he'd ever watch her walk away like that or that she'd ever watch him go... there was no "us" when it came to her and Gavin and there NEVER would be.

She reapplied her lipstick and let her mind drift back to William.  Safe, dependable, sweet ... strong Will.  She smirked at herself in the mirror.  Yes.  Will, not Gavin, was the far better bet for the future.  If there was a future with Gavin at all, it involved joy rides and drinks... not commitment of any kind.  In truth, she felt bad for Gavin.  He had no idea what he was missing out on.  She was a damn fine catch and he'd never know it because he'd NEVER see her that way.  Not even a little.  

Fuck 'em.

She came back out and sat down beside Tara, "We'll after all the spilling on my recent exploitsh I expect fair turn about... let'sh hear all about the men in your life currently.  Who do you have your sightsh set on - and don't say no one cause women of our age ALWAYSH do, even if we know it'sh out of reach."  She picked up her drink again, deciding silently she'd drink this one a LOT slower.

Tara sighed as Isabella returned to her seat.

"I don't want to give you the wrong idea about Gavin. That was a while ago. We were stayin' in New York for a while, headed down to Philly. He wash... 20?" It was a while ago. A long while. He's nicer now... or at least less blunt."

Tara frowned.

"Just... please don't tell'im I told you that story."

Tara raised her glass and stared into it before puckering her lips and drinking it.

"This drink... is the most reliable man in my life."

She sighed even louder as she sank back in her seat.

"Well, Jack Mezzo is the most reliable man in my life. But he's not... like that. We're friends. Best friends. Most of the other men I know well are either my brother or someone who works for me and it'd be akward to date them or they're high enough up in Race Street and they're married or dating someone or I'd just rather have them as a friend."

Tara's expression changed and a small wicked smile eerily reminiscent of Gavin's crawled across her face.

"We don't all have multiple men beating down the door, you know..."

She shrugged, "Most of them aren't here for me... most of them are in it for how close they can get to my Father."  She sighed.  "But a precious few hold promise.  I mean... Will Bowden, for one.  I know he asked my dad if he could date me - though God alone knows why after all I've put him through and with the amount of baggage I bring."

"Maybe we all want the things that we can't have?  Maybe we're stupid like that.  Made to love and chase shit that isn't suppose to be ours while stupidly overlooking happiness in other ways?"  she shrugged.  "I am honestly starting to think maybe Gavin is right and the best course of action for me is to swear off relationships all together and focus on business.  I'd have a lot less headaches in my life if I just worked my ass off all week and occasionally went out with "mr. right now" instead of waiting on "mr. right" all the time."

"And don't worry, I won't tell Gavin shit about this talk.  Nothing good would come of him thinking we were putting our heads together and whispering over, God alone knows what.  I don't need him getting paranoid that I've gone serious on him and am plotting to drag him to a priest.  I'd lose my best moose punching side kick."  She laughed.

"As for Jack..."  She paused letting the shift in topics settle in, "Best friends can be the best way to start, you know.  Is he... maybe, how to say this nicely, playing for the other team?  Interested in ... other things?"  She giggled.  "I'm sorry it's just you're a fucking knock out and you seem like a nice person... so I'm not seeing how he doesn't jump at a girl like you."