Reno Gabrini: A Man in Full (13 page)

“I told you what happened.  He kept trying to date me, I kept turning him down.  But then he was so persistent that I decided to give him a shot.  We dated, it was good for a while, then we drifted apart.  I met somebody else and that was that.”

Jimmy was stunned.  She hadn’t mentioned that before.  “You dumped my dad?” he asked with surprise in his voice.

She relished answering that question.  “Yes, I did,” she said.  “But it was already a relationship in bad shape.  And your father wasn’t exactly Mister Faithful anyway, which I’m sure you already know that.  I don’t know how your stepmother puts up with it, to tell you the truth.”

“My Dad doesn’t cheat on her,” Jimmy said confidently.

Melita smiled.  “Yeah, okay,” she said.

Jimmy was offended.  “I’m telling you the truth.”

“As far as you know, I get it.  I don’t know him like that anymore.  Maybe he changed, or maybe he just learned how to conceal it better, I don’t know.  And I don’t care.”  Then she took Jimmy’s hand.  “I’m just glad we’re together.  That’s all that matters to me now.”

Jimmy smiled and kissed her hand.  “Me, too, Lita.  Me too.”

But their smiles disappeared when Melita stood up to clear off the table, and she looked out of the window.

“I don’t believe it,” she said.

Jimmy looked at her and then looked out of the window too.  Then he stood up, astounded.

“What’s she doing here?” Melita asked.

“I don’t know,” Jimmy responded absently as he began to make his way toward the front door.

Trina stepped out of her Mercedes in front of the two-story house as doubtful as she had been when she decided to find out where Melita Murphy lived and pay her a visit.  But she had to make sure Jimmy was okay, and she had to make sure that whatever this female was up to she wasn’t going to destroy Jimmy’s relationship with his father.

Inside, Melita stood at the window in the living room watching Trina make her way to the front door.  She was decked down, Melita thought, in a stylish red pantsuit, and she had a way of walking as if she was the baddest bitch in town and didn’t care if you liked it or not.  She was strong like Reno liked them, black like Reno liked them (although he often declared he liked all kinds of women, but to Mel he seemed to favor black women more), and she was tough like Reno liked them.  But why would she come here, Melita wondered.  Did Reno send her?

Jimmy opened the front door looking as confounded as Trina expected him to look.  “Ma, hey,” he said as he stepped out onto the porch and hugged her.  A part of him was questioning her presence big time, and wondering like Melita was wondering if Reno had a hand in this visit, but a bigger part of him was just happy to see her.  “I didn’t expect to see you out this way.  But don’t tell me.  You were just passing by, right?”

“Out in these boonies?  Wrong,” she replied, and Jimmy laughed.

“Come on in,” he offered.

Melita straightened her bathrobe and her hair as Trina and Jimmy walked in. 

“Well hello there, Mrs. Gabrini,” Melita said with a grand smile.

“Hi,” Trina said with a polite-at-best smile.  She wasn’t there to be phony and overdo it.  Especially in light of her history with Reno, and her remarkable beauty.  Trina wasn’t about to pretend with that chick.

But Melita was all smiles.  “Nice to see you again,” she said.  “Welcome to my home.”

Trina thanked her, commented on her good taste, and then all three settled down in the living room, with Jimmy and Melita taking the sofa, and Trina taking the wingback chair.

“So, Ma,” Jimmy got right down to it, “what’s up?  What brings you all the way over here?”

Trina leaned back and crossed her legs.  Her shoes, a pair of spiky Christian Louboutin stilettos, impressed Melita.  She had to give it to her: Reno’s wife had style.

“You weren’t at your apartment last night,” Trina said to Jimmy, “and you weren’t at work this morning.  So I thought I’d better make sure you were okay.”

Jimmy smiled.  That was why he would always love Trina.  She had his back.  “I’m good, Ma, thanks.  I thought it would be a better idea to keep my distance from Dad today.”  Jimmy was a floor manager in the casino, what they called a pit boss in the gambling industry, as Reno wanted him to learn the business from the ground up.  “I’ll be back on the job tomorrow,” he added.

“Good,” Trina said.  “Reno told me you guys had a talk.”

Jimmy nodded.  “Yeah, we did.”

“And it was mainly about Melita,” Trina added.

Melita was surprised by Trina’s honesty.  “Yes, I seem to be the hot topic of conversation these days,” she said.  “Especially with your husband.”

“You’re dating his son,” Trina said, “even though you have a history with him.  He’s naturally concerned.”

“No need to be.”

“There’s a need,” Trina said flatly.  “There’s definitely a need.  He doesn’t want anybody using his son.”

Melita studied Trina.  “Is that what you think I’m doing?” she asked her.

“I don’t know,” Trina responded.  “I’m sure Jimmy doesn’t think so.”

“I know she’s not using me,” Jimmy said pointblank.

“Is that what Reno thinks I’m doing?” Melita asked Trina.

Trina looked at Melita with unwavering eyes. “Yes,” she said.

“But it’s not true, Ma.  Melita is no user.  She’s a kind, considerate, wonderful person.  But Dad, he doesn’t see that at all.”

“He doesn’t want to see it,” Melita corrected him.

“Or maybe it’s not there to see,” Trina corrected her.

Melita smiled.  “That’s a read, y’all,” she said jokingly.  But then she turned serious.  “But I’ll be honest with you, Mrs. Gabrini. I don’t care what Reno thinks. He’s a user so he thinks I must be one too.”

Jimmy looked at Melita, surprised by her comment.  Trina, however, was looking at Jimmy.  He’d better not let that putdown of his father stand, was her thought.

“My Dad isn’t a user,” Jimmy said, to Trina’s satisfaction.  “Not in any way, shape, or form.”

Trina looked at Melita.  And Melita smiled as if she realized her error and was quick to correct herself.  “I know he’s not, Jimmy,” she said.  “I didn’t mean it in any negative way.  I was just trying to make a point.”

“And what point is that?” Jimmy asked her.

“I’m no more a user than he is,” she said.  “That’s really my point.”

Trina, however, wasn’t buying it.  She wasn’t as certain as Reno that Melita Murphy was up to something, but she was certain Melita wasn’t nearly as into Jimmy as Jimmy was into her.  Maybe it was a money issue.  Maybe she was smart enough to know that one day Jimmy would someday inherit the PaLargio and, after Trina’s death, the family fortune right along with it.  Or maybe it was the prestige of being with a Gabrini now, even a young one, and she liked the perks.  Or maybe Jimmy was good in bed and that was enough for her.  Trina didn’t know what the reason was.  But she was certain there was a reason, and she was reasonably certain love had nothing to do with it.

TEN

“Not exactly great,” Trina said to Liz Mertan, her business partner, as they stood behind the counter sipping coffee and reviewing last week’s bottom line.  They were at Champagne’s and had just opened their doors for the day.

“Not great,” Liz said as she raked her blonde hair out of her face, “but better.  At least we’re doing better.”

“Yes, at least that.  My husband will be happy.”

Liz leaned forward.  “I still wish you would reconsider, Tree.  This business will practically run itself if we move to the PaLargio.”

“There’s no empty space at the PaLargio.  Reno would have to shut somebody down to fit us in there.”

“So what?” Liz said in that fake British accent she sometimes summoned.  “That’s the way life goes.”

Trina knew Liz would say that.  It was all about the dollar for Liz and even for Gemma Jones, their other partner, to a certain extent.  But it was about much more than that to Tree.

“You aren’t fooling me for a second, my friend,” Liz continued.  “The fact that some other business would have to decamp to fit us in is not why you don’t want to relocate.”

The newspaper delivery man walked in, causing the door to chime.

“Oh, so you know me like that?” Trina asked her.

Liz smiled.  “I think I do actually,” she said.

“The thing is,” Trina said, “we’re doing better now.  That’s the good news.  Things are slowly moving in the right direction.” Trina smiled when the paper man made it up to the counter.  “Good morning, Marc.”

“Good morning, Miss Trina,” the young man said as he handed her the morning paper.  “Good Morning, Miss Liz.”

“Good morning, Marcus.  It’s warming up.  I know you’re happy.”

“Very happy,” Marc said with a grin as he began heading out of the door with his remaining stack of papers.  “That cold weather is no joke.  But it’s nice out now.”

“Be careful out there,” Liz said to Marc as Trina turned the paper around to see the lead story. 

“I’ll do my best, ma’am,” the young man replied as he left.

“He’s so nice,” Liz said.  “If I was twenty years younger, and he was a bit more mature, I would be all over that.”

“I don’t think your husband will approve,” Trina said absently as she looked at the headline.  “He would probably---,” she added, but couldn’t finish.

Liz looked at her.  “What’s the matter?” she asked.

But Trina couldn’t respond.  She couldn’t stop staring at that headline.  And the cup of coffee she was holding so tightly, slowly slipped from her hand.

Reno walked swiftly into his suite of offices with a trail of men following him.  Lee Jones and Reno’s attorney, Shelton Goldberg, led the pack.  By the time Reno entered his office and was standing behind his desk, the advice was coming fast and furious.

Everybody was talking, with all kinds of suggestions on how to handle the situation, but Reno wasn’t listening to any of them.  He didn’t want to know how to handle it.  That was his business.  He was still trying to figure out what it was exactly he needed to handle.

Shelton Goldberg took off his glasses and began cleaning them with a small cloth.  He and Lee were seated in front of Reno’s desk.  Everybody else were standing.  “Legally,” Shelton said, “it’ll be an attempted rape charge if and this is a big if, the DA decides to prosecute.  Apparently young Miss Grayson went to the tabloids and never said rape, but everything she described was exactly that.  You forced yourself on her, she said.  You tore her clothes.  You almost penetrated her but one of her bodyguards broke into the room and pulled you off of her.  All in the realm of an aggravated assault, with sex thrown in.”

Lee shook his head.  “Yeah, right,” he said. 

“The good news is that she went to the tabloids,” Shelton continued.  “Nobody takes tabloid journalism seriously.  So the origination source is suspect.  Why would she go to the tabloids?  That’s going to be the question.  But the bad news is that the mainstream media got wind of the story and decided to run with it too.”

“I read her entire story in today’s paper,” Lee said.  “It’s very long on inferring this and inferring that, as if there had been a long history of some consensual sex going on, but then suddenly she starts talking about force and clothes being torn.”

Shelton looked at Reno.  “Lee makes a good point,” he said.  “Because that’s exactly how she was describing it.  Had you ever had a consensual relationship with Shay Grayson?”

 Reno frowned.  “What the fuck do you think, Shell?  Have you ever fucked her?  What kind of question is that?  She works for me.”

Shelton cleared his throat.  “I will take your answer to be a no.”

Reno looked at Lee.  “What’s her problem?” he asked his COO and best friend.  “You deal with her and her little antics on a daily basis.  What’s the deal now?  And why would she come to my office so contrite, apologizing all over the place, and now claim I tried to force myself on her?”

This interested Shelton.  “Shay Grayson came to you?” he asked him.

“Yeah she came to me,” Reno said.   “She said she owed me an apology.  She apologized.  And now this?”

“But what was the apology about, Reno?  What did she apologize for?”

“For being a bitch,” Reno said.  “It was nothing.”  Then he exhaled.  “I knew she was blowing smoke even then.  Apologize my ass.  I knew it.”

“It makes no sense for her to go from that,” Lee said, “to attempted rape.”

“Right,” Reno agreed.  “She gives it away all day long, but I’ve got to rape her to get some?  Get the fuck out of here!”

“Did anybody other than you witness this apology?” Shelton asked Reno.

Reno frowned.  “What’s with you and that apology?  It was nothing!”

“But did anybody witness it, Reno?”

Reno exhaled, threw open his suit coat, placing his hands on his hips, and thought about it.  “Lee was there,” he finally said.

Shelton looked at Lee.  “You were there?”

“Yes.  So what?”

Shelton exhaled.  “But nobody else?  Just you and Reno?”

“That’s it.  Why?”

“Because you won’t do!  I was hoping we had a credible witness.”

Lee and Reno both looked at Shelton.  “A credible witness?” Reno asked.  “Lee’s a credible witness.  He has a stellar reputation, what are you talking?”

“But he also happens to be your best friend,” Shelton pointed out.  “That won’t wash.  We need an independent witness, somebody with no skin in the game.”

“But Lee’s also a highly respected man,” one of the senior assistants said, and then all the other senior assistants started voicing their opinions about Lee, about Shay, about the entire affair too. 

They were still voicing those opinions when Trina walked into the office.  They didn’t see her, but Reno did, and his burdened heart lifted.  And he hurried to his wife.  Without saying a word to each other, they embraced.  Reno closed his eyes tightly as he held her.  It wasn’t because of what Shay’s allegations would put him through that hurt him the most, but what those allegations would put Trina through.  Would put his family through.

When they stopped embracing, Trina studied him.  “It’ll be all right,” she said reassuringly.