Making You Mine (6 page)

Yeah, she was in a real hurry to go out with this guy. Grace turned to Rose who looked at her sympathetically. “At least you won’t be alone.”

Suddenly Grace remembered and smiled. “I got a job today.”

“You did?” Her sister’s smile matched her own excitement. “Yeah, at Moreno’s in La Jolla.”

Rose’s blank stare didn’t surprise her. Unlike Grace, her sister wasn’t up on all the area’s best restaurants. She didn’t read “Fine Cuisine” magazine and follow the reviews religiously like Grace did. “It’s one of the best Mexican restaurants in the San Diego area—in all of Southern California if you ask me.” That was saying a lot, especially since Los Angeles was only two hours north of them.

“Really? So you’re their chef now?”

Grace chewed the corner of her lip. “No, I’m bartending. But they said they’d give me a chance and let me cook sometime.”

For a second, Rose seemed disappointed but quickly snapped out of. She knew how much Grace had been going on and on about trying to get hired at a good restaurant. She only had a couple more months of school before she graduated with her Culinary Arts degree. With her foot already in the door and with the opportunity to prove herself she was sure she’d make head chef in no time.

“I knew you’d find a job eventually, Grace. You’re an awesome cook. Abuelita taught you well.”

Grace felt a dull pang in her heart at the mention of her grandmother. Rose’s cell phone beeped and she looked down at her hands. That phone may as well have been surgically attached to her hands the way Rose kept it by her at all times.

“Mom says to tell you to hurry.”

With a roll of her eyes, Grace began changing. Her own phone was in her bag in the front room. No doubt her mother had already tried her phone. “Can you believe her?”

“Of course. This is so typical of her,” Rose said, lying down, putting her hands behind her head.

She had a point. Her mother would stop at nothing short of prostitution and drug dealing to make an easy buck. Even then, Grace didn’t completely rule those two out. She’d seen how her mom dressed on a few occasions when she was just going to
dinner
with a few friends. She was surprised Ruben let her walk out looking like that.

Grace didn’t bother with makeup. Aside from some lip gloss and a little mascara sometimes she never wore the stuff. She wasn’t starting now. The dress she wore was one her mother had picked out. Grace didn’t mind the length, but it was tighter than she was used to and a bit low in the front.

Frank didn’t even attempt to hide what he thought of her in the dress. The bulging eyes and goofy smile said it all. Her mother smiled in delight. “You look lovely, Grace. Don’t you think, Frank?”

He stood up from the sofa. “Stunning,” he said.

Ruben took advantage of the invitation to ogle and eyed her up and down with his own perverted smile. Grace had never felt like such a piece of meat. It was degrading and she glared at her mom. Her mother ignored the glare and gathered her things.

After her mother played the concerned mom in front of Frank, telling Rose not to answer the door for anyone and giving her instructions on what to do in case of an emergency, as if this were the first time Rose had been left alone, they were out the door.

Frank drove them in his brand new Cadillac to a jazz bar on the marina. He said the last time he’d been out here he went there and the music was fabulous. Maybe it was that Grace had had such a long day but the slow music was making her sleepy. Add to a glass of wine to that—forget about it. She caught herself nodding off twice. Thankfully, no one noticed.

When the song ended, the musicians excused themselves for a break. “Your mother tells me you’re a culinary student. How’s that going?”

Grace nodded. “I’ll be done in a few months.”

He leaned over to her. The music that played on the sound system was almost as loud as the live music. He paused to take a drink and Grace took the moment to scrutinize him. He wasn’t unattractive by any means. He was tall, thin and dressed well. But he was at least ten years older than her. That, however, wasn’t reason enough to dismiss him. She knew better than anyone not to judge people by their age. The fact that he was a friend of Ruben’s was what made her question him. Anyone who considered Ruben a friend was suspect as far as she was concerned.

He noticed her scrutiny and smiled. “What are your plans once you finish?”

“I’m already working at a restaurant.” She glanced at her mom who eyed her, almost as if she was hoping Grace wouldn’t say anything wrong. “My hope is to move up once I’ve completed my courses. Then eventually open up my own restaurant.”

She didn’t feel the need to go into any more specifics. Luckily, she didn’t have to. Her mother immediately started in asking Frank about his casino. Grace endured two and a half hours of Frank telling them about how his uncle had left him the hotel he was now running and every detail about his journey in turning it into a casino. Her mother cackled at anything that even remotely sounded like a joke or quick wit.

By the end of the night, Grace was both physically and mentally exhausted. She could hardly believe her mother invited Frank in at the end of the evening for another drink. Thankfully, he said he had a long drive home in the morning and declined but he did say he’d be back to visit again soon.
Wonderful.

Her mother had another think coming if she thought Grace would go through another night like tonight. She plopped in bed with her already snoring sister. With a day like the one she’d had, she was out within minutes.

~*~

Sal didn’t go into the restaurant on Saturday. Since Alex was hardly there during the week he’d go in on the weekends. Typically, Sal would drop by to check things out even if he wasn’t scheduled to be there. Today however, he didn’t want to. He checked first with Alex to make sure Valerie was feeling well enough to be left alone. She was. So after the day he had yesterday, Sal thought it better if he took the day off.

In college, Jason had become one of Sal’s best buddies. They roomed for four years until Jason got engaged and moved in with his fiancé. Even then, they stayed close and often met up for a round of golf or just to throw a few beers back and shoot the breeze.

“What?” Jason pulled over as they reached their next hole. “That’s all you talked about in school. You can’t let one bump derail all your plans.”

Sal got out of the cart. There were still a few players finishing up on their next hole so Jason and Sal pulled beers out of the ice chest.

“It’s just not what I was expecting.” Sal took a swig of his ice-cold beer.

“If you want I can talk to my dad. He knows a bunch of investors always looking to get in on a good deal.”

“It’s not that,” Sal took another drink. “I’ve got plenty of interested investors, it’s just all they’re thinking about is the money.”

Jason laughed. “Sorry to break it to you bud, but that’s usually all investors think about.”

Sal flicked his bottle cap at Jason. “I know that, ass. I’m trying to be flexible but if I leave it up to them Moreno’s will be the next El Torito or Acapulco’s. That’s not what I want.”

“Hey, that doesn’t sound too bad.”

The hole opened up and Sal gave up trying to explain why he wasn’t about to sell out his family name. Halfway through their last hole, Jason brought up an entirely new subject. “I need a favor.”

“I knew it.” When Jason called him out of the blue Sal had a feeling. The last time he’d asked for a favor things got pretty sour.

“What? You don’t even know what I’m gonna ask.”

Ten to one Sal knew exactly what it was. Almost a year ago, he’d gone out with Jason’s fiancée’s cousin Melissa. She was nice enough, in fact she seemed perfect at first. Beautiful, classy, just passed the bar exam, sexy as hell. But she turned into a clinger. Calling and texting him at all hours. Showing up at the restaurant until she finally somehow got in his apartment when he wasn’t there. Made dinner and greeted him in her birthday suit. That actually wouldn’t have been so bad if his date hadn’t been with him when he walked in.

After that, Sal made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her. He couldn’t believe someone so smart could stoop to that level. Before that happened, he’d done nothing to encourage that kind of behavior. In fact, he’d been so turned off by her pushiness he stopped taking her calls and returning her texts.

She called and texted him for months after he completely cut her off. The last time he bothered to read one of her texts, was when one woke him in the middle of the night. Apparently, in her inebriated state she decided she’d profess her love for him. They’d only gone out a few times and he slept with her twice before she started to annoy the hell out of him. Love? He remembered laughing, before rolling back to sleep.

“Dude, Kat’s driving me fucking crazy. All Melissa wants is a chance to apologize to you in person. We’ll be there. You won’t be alone with her for a minute.”

Sal continued to shake his head then stopped only long enough to take a swing. He turned back to Jason and shook his head again. “The girl is a whack job. It took me long enough to get rid of her. You think I wanna start that shit all over again?”

“I told Kat you’d say that, but she says Melissa understands you’re not interested and she’s okay with that. All she wants is a chance to apologize. This has been going on for months, Sal. Melissa’s mom has even started calling Kat’s mom about it. Then Kat’s mom calls her, then who do you think has to hear the crap? I’m begging you, man, just a couple of hours. I’d do it for you.”

For a moment, Sal considered it. He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. The next thing he heard was Jason on the phone. “He said okay.”

“Kat said she loves you,” he grinned. “She’s my fiancée and you know what? I’m okay with that. Because right now I love you, too.”

When Sal didn’t say anything Jason added, “I’ll buy you lunch.” Sal still didn’t answer. “C’mon how bad can it be? We’ll go to DJ’s, play a little pool, have a few beers, she apologizes and everyone’s happy. Done. Just like that. You’re my hero and my fiancée loves you. Beautiful.”

Sunday morning they were doing their weekly inventory. Somehow, for years his parents had managed everything on paper. Incredibly, they were very accurate but now that there was software for everything, it should’ve made things easier. Though, times like today things could get really screwed up.

He was already in a bad mood before he even got to the restaurant. The night before with Melissa had gone well. Her behavior was very impressive, but he’d been fooled by that before. She apologized while Jason and Kat played pool. They even had a somewhat intriguing conversation. She was the epitome of the perfect girl he once thought her to be. That is until that morning when he got a call from Jason.

“That’s the first thing I said when Kat heard the message she left, but she already said she’s going to drop them off today at the restaurant. Kat tried calling her but she’s not answering. So I’m just giving you a heads up.”

Here we go again. Melissa was notorious for leaving things in Sal’s car or his house—her way of forcing another meeting. He should’ve known. He hadn’t even noticed his sunglasses were missing. All he could hope now is that she’d drop them off and he’d be done with her. But Melissa didn’t work that way.

Grace arrived at noon, adding to his already growing aggravated mood. He didn’t understand why he felt the way he did around her. He was over her lying about her age and she’d passed the drug screening and background with flying colors. Yet, being around her made him feel anxious.

Tired of going over numbers, Sal decided to walk out and check on things in the dining room. He saw Grace peeking into the kitchen. He smiled when he realized she appeared to be trying to be sneaky. He took slow, quiet footsteps so she wouldn’t hear him. She turned and saw him when he was only a few feet away and flinched. Sal had to stifle a laugh.