Reno looked at that son of his, as he continued to recoup. And he smiled too. “And Dommi,” he said. “If the world turns against me,” Reno added, “I know I’ll still have the three of you.”
Trina took her husband’s hand, and squeezed it.
Two weeks later and Jimmy saw her walking across the casino floor.
“Ma! Wait up!” he yelled as his tall, lean body hurried around blackjack tables and slot machines toward her. He made a decision that he knew his father wasn’t going to like. He needed her advice.
“Off duty already?” Trina asked as he approached her.
“I want to get your take on something,” he said when he caught up to her.
“My take on what?” she asked, as she kept walking. They would have to walk and talk. In addition to the meetings she had to attend on behalf of the PaLargio, she had to also attend to her store. She had partners in Champagne’s, but Gemma, her main partner, was out of town, and Liz Mertan, her other partner, wasn’t reliable enough. She had no time to waste.
“So how’s it going?” he asked her.
She looked at him. “It’s going fine, Jimmy, but I know you didn’t leave your station to ask me that. You know how strict your father is when you guys leave your posts.”
“I know,” he said, and then hesitated again. Although Trina was only thirteen years older than he was, and they did share a bond, she was his father’s woman through and through. Which meant he could be honest with her, but only to a point. He knew he had to proceed cautiously.
But when he didn’t proceed at all, Trina reminded him of the reality. “Time is not on our side, Jimmy Mack,” she said. “I’ve got a meeting and you’ve got a job.”
“It’s Pop,” he said.
Trina smiled. “Isn’t it always?”
Jimmy smiled too. She had a way of relaxing him. “That’s the truth,” he said. “But he’s on my case about college again and why I’m taking so few classes every semester. He’s trying to blame that on Melita too, but she has nothing to do with it. I told him time and time again that I would rather learn the business and work here at the PaLargio than waste my time taking those courses, but he won’t listen to me. He keeps saying he wants more for me. And I’m asking myself what is he talking? What more could any man want? The PaLargio is the top of the heap!”
“But he wants you to do better than he did,” Trina explained. “He doesn’t want you to be that rich man’s son who takes over his father’s business. He wants you to do something exceptional on your own, the way he did when he left his father’s home at eighteen. To a man like Reno, who has never seen the inside of a college for himself, he views a college graduate as the top of the heap.”
“That’s crazy.”
“That’s your father.”
Jimmy hesitated again. “The thing is,” he said, “I’m thinking about dropping out of college.” He said this and looked at her, to decipher her reaction.
But her expression was hard to decipher. She looked at him. “Dropping out?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. I hate school, Ma. I mean with a passion. That’s why I only take like one or two classes a semester. I feel like I’m wasting my time even when I take those. But Pop, he don’t understand. He doesn’t understand me at all.”
“I don’t know what you mean by that. He understands you.”
“He understands the person he thinks I am, but he doesn’t understand who I really am.”
Sometimes Jimmy could be so deep, Trina thought. Too deep for a kid his age. She stared at him. “What doesn’t he understand about you, Jimmy?”
“He doesn’t understand the way I do things. Because I don’t go about it the way he thinks I should go about it, he acts like I’m not doing it right. He acts like what I want doesn’t matter to him. Sometimes it feels like it’s more about him than it is about me.”
Trina stopped walking and looked at her stepson. “Let’s get one thing straight,” she said to the young man she loved as if he was her own. “It’s never about Reno first. It’s always about his family first. Always. He doesn’t want you to go to college to make his dream come true. He wants you to go to college to make your own dream come true. He wants you to be your own man, Jimmy, not a clone of him. He wants you to make your own way.”
“Is that why you opened Champagne’s?” Jimmy asked her. “To get from under his shadow too?”
Trina wasn’t about to discuss something with Jimmy that was really between her and Reno. “He wants you to be your own man,” she said again, and began walking again.
Jimmy continued walking with her, although he knew he was getting farther and farther away from his work station. He tried to ask her questions about how he could get his father to see that he could still be his own man at the PaLargio, and how college wasn’t some necessary means to that end. But so many people were coming up to Trina, and waving at her, and talking to her too that he could barely get a word in edgewise.
Like most days, people inside the PaLargio complimented her on many things, but especially her attire. Jimmy had noticed it too. Today she wore a form-fitting periwinkle blue pantsuit with a white scarf, streaked in purple and blue, crisscrossed at the throat. Her shoes, purple stilettos, rounded out the package.
Trina thanked them for their compliments, although she never viewed her dress style as anything special at all. But, to Jimmy, that was precisely why they loved her style. She carried herself with what they saw as an effortless elegance that she didn’t seem to realize she had. So they complimented her the way they always complimented her. And Jimmy asked for her advice whenever someone else wasn’t asking her something. And it was a normal, super-busy day at the PaLargio.
But then everything changed.
Trina’s surefooted, high-stepping glide suddenly became an unsteady slide and she found herself moving sideways, as if she was falling. If Jimmy Mack had not grabbed her to break her fall, she would have surely hit the floor. The next thing she knew, because she wasn’t sure if she had momentarily blacked out, it was pandemonium in that section of the massive casino. Patrons and employees alike were gathering around, Jimmy was sitting her in a chair at one of the slot machines, hushed whispers of That’s Reno Gabrini’s wife could be heard in her ears as if they weren’t whispering, but shouting out loud.
“I’m okay,” she kept saying, hating all the fuss, but they would not relent. Reno Gabrini was their boss, and she was their boss’s wife. They treated her, not like a woman who simply got a little weak and needed to sit down, but as if she’d been hit by a speeding truck and needed emergency care.
“I’m fine,” she said again as bottled water was shoved to her lips. She drank it, because she did feel dizzy, but she hated the fuss. “I’m just a little dehydrated,” she added as she drank. “I’m fine.”
After several more minutes of trying to end the fuss with continual declarations of being fine, of being okay, of just being a little dehydrated but was now good as gold, she decided to take matters into her own hands. These people weren’t listening to reason. They wanted to impress Reno with their concern for her and was determined to make sure she understood that. But enough was enough.
To the consternation of the crowd, she began to stand up. She was stubborn as a mule when she wanted to be, and everybody who worked inside the PaLargio knew it. But Jimmy knew it even better than they did. That was why he didn’t dissuade her.
She clutched his arm as she stood to her feet. “Get me upstairs,” she ordered him, even though she still felt dizzy.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, helping her away from the crowd.
“And don’t you dare tell Reno,” she added as they walked.
But Jimmy Mack didn’t bother to respond to that. It had already been several minutes. He had a sneaking suspicion, given how things worked around here and how employees constantly sought brownie points from his father by keeping him informed of every little thing, Reno already knew.
THIRTEEN
; “Bad timing,” Reno said as he walked from behind his desk and headed toward her. “I’m on my way out.”
Fran had just entered his office, and was determined to corner him this time. “Just two minutes of your time, Reno,” she said as he approached her.
“Two minutes for what?”
“I told you there’s somebody I want you to meet.”
“And I told you not today, Franny,” he said.
“You told me that yesterday. And the day before that.”
When they met at the door, he kissed his sister on the cheek. She was a good woman in a lot of ways. She loved Reno’s children completely, for one thing. But she was something else in a lot of other ways. With her choice in men tops among them.
“He’s not like the other guys, Ree,” she assured her brother as she returned his affection. “He’s real sweet. Just shake his hand, please? I promised him.”
Reno frowned. “You promised him what?”
“That you’d say hey to him. He’s right outside the office. All you have to do is say hey and bye. That’ll be enough for Pac.”
“Pac?”
“Julian. But we call him Pac-Man.”
Reno wanted to shake his head. Pac-Man. But since he was headed out of the door anyway, and had to pass this boyfriend to get where he was going, he didn’t see where speaking to him would be that big a deal. So he agreed.
Fran, smiling widely, took her big brother by the arm and escorted him out of his office, and into the big, outer room.
The young man, and he had to be at least ten years younger than Fran’s thirty-one years, Reno thought, looked as if he’d just stepped out of a prison yard. He nervously stood to his feet, smiling as if he was going before the parole board. His black hair was slicked back, his cheap suit was one of those old-fashioned types with a pleat in the back, and his lips made him look to Reno as if he’d been puckering for dudes all of his born days. But that was what Fran liked.
“Mr. Gabrini,” he said with a broad smile that made him look even younger. What was he, Reno wondered. Twelve?
“How are you?” Reno said as he shook the young man’s outstretched hand.
“This is Pac, I mean Julian Bellini, Reno. He’s a good Italian boy just like Pop used to tell me I had to have.”
“So you’re doing all right?” Reno asked when the boy wouldn’t respond to his earlier how are you.
“I’m doing good, sir,” he said. “But not as good as you. I just wanted to let you know how much I admire and respect you.”
“You admire and respect me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You don’t know me. But you admire and respect me?”
Pac didn’t know how to respond to that. So he just kept on smiling.
Yep, Reno thought. Dumb as rocks. He was definitely Fran’s type. “Nice meeting you,” Reno ultimately said, glanced at one of his assistants with a roll of his eyes, prompting her to smile, and then left the area.
As soon as he left, Pac-Man threw his fist in the air. “Yes!” he yelled with a grin as if he’d just won the World Series. Even Fran, who usually liked his enthusiasm, didn’t see where just being in the presence of her brother was that big a deal. But Pac was good in bed. And because of that crucial fact, she often found herself making allowances for his sometimes immature behavior. So she grinned too.
Reno heard his screeching just as he left his office suite, and wondered what was that about. But he wasn’t about to go back to find out. He, instead, began making his way down the corridor toward his private elevator. As soon as he turned the corner, however, Joey Baio, a young pit boss with visions of being Reno’s right hand man someday, was hurrying toward him.
Reno smiled when he saw him. He liked Joey. He was ambitious as hell and didn’t know how to hide it. Which meant he wasn’t slick yet. Which made him a good kid in Reno’s eyes. “Slow your roll, young man,” Reno said with a smile.
“Yes, sir,” Joey said, virtually out of breath already. “I’m glad I caught you, sir. I felt I should personally come and let you know, sir.” His fear was that someone would have phoned Reno by now, and he wouldn’t have been the first to tell him.
“Let me know what?” Reno asked as the kid made it up to him. It always amused him how the young bucks tried to butter him up. He allowed it, not because he was falling for their act, but because his allowance kept them loyal. And loyalty was everything to Reno.
“It’s about your wife, sir,” Joey said clearly, as if he had finally found his second wind.
Reno’s smile, however, disappeared. And his famous scowl emerged. He didn’t like for some upstart like this to just casually reference his wife. “What about my wife?” he asked him.
“She fainted, sir.”
Reno’s heart began to pound. “She fainted?”
“Yes, sir. She nearly hurt herself really badly.”
Reno began hurrying down the corridor. “Where is she?” he asked as he moved. Young Joey was moving too, but not nearly as fast as his much older boss.
“She’s downstairs, sir,” he said, trying to keep up. “In the casino.”
And Reno took off. He wanted to take the stairs, but he was up thirty flights. So he took his private elevator, leaving his blabbermouth employee to make his own way. Only Reno went to the wrong place first. Trina and Jimmy had already left the casino by the time he arrived. When he was informed that they had gone upstairs, to the penthouse, he angrily took off again. Back on the elevator and headed for his penthouse apartment. By the time he burst through the front door, Jimmy was in the living room putting Trina’s feet up on the sofa.
“Tree,” Reno said heartfelt as he rushed to his wife’s side. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay, Reno,” Trina said, upset that he had been bothered at all. “Those employees of yours can’t hold water,” she added. “I told them I was fine.”
Reno stood over her and placed the back of his hand on her forehead. His look was so intense that Trina and Jimmy both wondered how he managed to remain in such a heightened, serious state all the time. “What happened?” he asked her, staring at her.
“Nothing happened,” she replied.
“Bullshit! What happened, Trina, and don’t you tell me nothing.”
Trina exhaled. “I got a little dehydrated, that’s all.”
“You fainted?”
“I didn’t faint,” she replied as if he was seriously exaggerating. “It wasn’t even like that. I got a little weak, I sat down, I was fine.”
Reno looked at his oldest son, as if he had to hear a second opinion.
“She didn’t faint,” Jimmy said, backing her up. “But she almost passed out. I was there to catch her.”
“Has the doctor been called?”
“I don’t need a doctor, Reno!”
“She doesn’t need a doctor, Dad,” Jimmy agreed.
“But if you wouldn’t have caught her, she would have fallen?”
Jimmy hesitated. “Yes, sir,” he admitted.
“So why the fuck didn’t you call a doctor? And why didn’t you contact me as soon as it happened, Jimmy?”
“I was trying to help her!” Jimmy insisted. “I was trying to hold her up, I didn’t have time to call you or anybody else. But she’s okay. She doesn’t need a doctor or anything like that. It wasn’t that serious. She’s working too hard, Pop, that’s the bottom line.”
Reno nodded his head. “I know it,” he said, looking at his wife again. “And that’s going to change right here and right now.”
“Don’t start, Reno,” Trina said. “I’m not going through that again.”
“You don’t tell me what you aren’t going through. Not after this.”
“Not after what?” Trina asked with a frown. “I told you I was just a little dehydrated. I’m fine now!”
“Like hell you are! You’re working yourself to death, Tree. And what’s worse you’re working yourself to death over a failing business. It’s a money pit if ever I saw one. It’s
draining every ounce of strength you have right along with every dime you put in it.”
Trina felt the sting of his comments. But she couldn’t deal with that right now. She couldn’t deal with being reminded of all of the resources, all of the sweat equity that she had thrown into that business of hers. With so little return. Because he was right. It was a business on life support. It was failing fast. “I know my body, okay? I know my limitations. And I’m not overworking myself at all.”
“And you didn’t just do that slip-and-slide number downstairs, either,” Reno reminded her. “Oh, yeah, you’re doing just fine, Tree. Just fine.”
“I’m not giving up my business,” Trina said firmly as a flash of irritation crossed her face, “I don’t care what you say!”
Jimmy’s eyes stretched when Trina spoke that way to Reno. She had to know he wasn’t going to let her get away with that. Jimmy remembered a time when his father literally spanked the shit out of her for giving him lip like that. She had to know better.
“Jimmy,” Reno said to his son without looking away from his wife.
“Sir?” Jimmy asked.
“Who’s manning your station?”
Jimmy hesitated. “No-one right now.”
“Get back to work.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And while you’re down there contact Dr. Reeves. Tell him I want him to take a look at my wife.”
Jimmy glanced at Trina. “Yes, sir,” he said, and then made his way for the exit.
When he was gone, Reno squatted down to his wife, so that they could be eyeball to eyeball. Trina tried to make amends. “I didn’t mean to sound so harsh,” she said before he could say anything. “But you aren’t listening to me, Reno.”
Reno stared at her, amazed that she would think it was as simple as that. But he did listen to her.
“It’s been a tough few days,” she said. “I’ll admit that. Champagne’s isn’t getting the kind of foot traffic I had hoped it would by now. So I’ve been working harder, yes, I have. I’ve been working overtime lately.”
“Lately my ass, Tree,” Reno said, refusing to hear any more excuses. “You’ve been consumed with that clothing store even before you first opened it. You’ve been obsessed with its’ success. Which was fine in the beginning. It should have been an all-consuming deal. I knew it was going to take a lot out of you. I told you it would when you first told me what you wanted to do. But it’s gotten out of hand, Tree, and I’m not talking about just here lately either. This shit didn’t just start a few weeks ago. Hell, you work longer hours than I work now! You come home later than I come home sometimes! And you think I’m going to sit back and let that happen? Especially after what happened today?”
Reno Gabrini: A Man in Full Page 13