Trina smiled, held up her hand, and she and Ashley high-fived. “That is such good news! Although I must say I never thought Boyzie had it in him to put a woman in charge.”
“I’m saying,” Stacy agreed. “Especially one of his strippers.”
“One of his former strippers, thank you very much,” Ashley pointed out. “I haven’t stripped in years, what are you talking about? I’m as legit as you are now.”
When Trina waited tables at Boyzie’s, Ashley and Stacy both worked as strippers. For Stacy it was a way to work her way through college. Even before she graduated and got her current job as an accounts executive, she quit without hesitation.
For Ashley the road to redemption was paved with a lot more challenges, as she had no such clear direction. But she was always Boyzie’s favorite stripper. Because of that favoritism, he eventually thought enough of her to get her off of the pole too. But Trina still was surprised that he had allowed her to rise as high as his second-in-command.
“The question is,” Stacy asked, “does the man respect your authority? Or are you the manager in name only?”
“Boyzie isn’t like that,” Ashley said. “He wouldn’t put me in charge without letting me be in charge. He’s one of the good guys.”
“Since when?” Trina and Stacy asked in unison, and then both of them laughed and high-fived.
Even Ashley smiled. “Since I’ve been in charge, how’s that? I see a completely different side of him.”
“And which side is that?” Stacy asked. “The side that exploits females like females are his playthings, or the side that steals money from his strippers and tips from his waitresses?”
Ashley stared at Stacy. “You can be so judgmental, you know that, Stace? That’s why I don’t like to tell you anything. You think just because you went to college and didn’t strip for very long, you’re somehow superior to the rest of us. Trina didn’t strip at all, all she did was wait tables at Boyzie’s, but she never treated me like I was beneath her, or she was better than me, the way you always did.”
“I’m not judging you,” Stacy corrected. “But I am judging Boyzie. He’s an asshole and that’s all there is to it.”
“Amen to that,” Trina said, and Ashley looked at her. “I’m sorry, bud, but I have to agree with Stace. Boyzie treated us like crap when we worked for him. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t happy for you. We are. We know you’ll treat the girls right.”
Ashley smiled. “I will.”
“I wish you well, too, Ash, you know I do,” Stacy said. “I’m still a little jealous of you, that’s all.”
Ashley laughed. “Jealous of me?”
“Hell yeah! You were always his favorite. He had a thing for dark-skinned women with hazel eyes.”
“Trina’s dark-skinned and has hazel eyes too,” Ashley pointed out. “He didn’t favor her.”
“Not for a lack of trying,” Stacy reminded her. “It was Trina who wouldn’t let him. You remember how Tree was. Boyzie used to be scared of her. He used to say she gave him the evil eye all the time.”
Ashley laughed. “Oh, yeah, that’s right. I remember that. He was scared of Tree.”
“He thought I was going to put some of that backwater, down on the delta Mississippi voodoo on him.” They all laughed. “Whatever the hell that was! But that’s why he wouldn’t fire me when I turned down his advances. He believed I looked too exotic not to have all of these exotic powers.”
“And you let him believe it too,” Stacy said. “Didn’t you, Tree? Tell the truth and shame the devil.”
“Absolutely! I needed that waitressing job back then, but I wasn’t going to compromise myself to keep it. So hell yeah I let him believe it. I played it up, too, girl. Every time he would have a bad night I’d pretend I had something to do with it. ‘That’s what you get for getting on my nerves yesterday,’ I’d say to him. And he’d fall for it,” she added, and they all laughed again.
“Those were the days,” Ashley said. “It’s been a long time, Tree.”
“Too long,” Stacy said. Then she paused. “Sorry to hear about what happened.”
Trina hesitated too. “Thanks.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry too, Tree,” Ashley said. “How far along were you?”
“Just about five months,” Trina said. “Had made it out of the first trimester and I was thinking, well, yeah, everything should be fine from here on out. And that’s when it happened.”
Stacy shook her head. “Damn shame,” she said. “But that’s why I was so shocked to hear from you. You didn’t have to bother with us.”
“I was thinking about you guys,” Trina said. “I see Carmen every now and then in the casino trying to gamble herself up some money, and she said you both were doing good. But I wanted to see for myself.”
“Well?” Stacy asked. “You’ve seen for yourself. So what’s the verdict?”
“Ratchet, girl,” Trina said jokingly, and they laughed. “Utterly hopeless.”
“That’s what I always liked about you, Tree,” Ashley said. “You keep it real.”
“Now that’s true,” Stacy agreed. “Most women in your status, up there where you are, wouldn’t be caught dead with a couple of former strippers like us. But you called us. You checked up on us. That’s saying something there.”
“What are you talking?” Trina asked. “We were good friends back in the day. We all went our separate ways, sure we did. But I don’t see why we can’t reconnect every now and again.”
“We have a girls night out once a week,” Ashley said. “Usually just me, Stace, and Carmen. You should join us sometime, Tree.”
Trina nodded. “Maybe I will.”
Stacy was skeptical. “Oh yeah? When? When are you, Katrina Gabrini, going to join us little people for a girls night out?”
“When this girl gets a night off, then I’ll be happy to join you for a night out.”
Ashley laughed and shook her head. “I walked into that one, didn’t I?” she asked.
“Truck meet face,” Trina replied. “Yes ma’am, you did.”
And they all laughed again. It was a lunch filled with laughter and conversation about what they called the good old days, but what they knew were anything but. And afterwards, after they had their lunch and walked outside of the busy restaurant to wait for the Valet staff to bring around their respective cars, they continued reminiscing. A small crowd of diners were standing there waiting for their cars too, and the atmosphere outside the restaurant was as festive as it was inside.
“We have got to get together more often,” Ashley said. “We had too much fun. We were like the five musketeers again. Remember that, Tree? The three of us and Carmen and Jazz? Boyzie used to call us the five musketeers, that’s how close we were.”
“Jazz,” Trina said, shaking her head sadly. “Either of you know how she’s doing?”
“Not me.”
“Me either.”
“I heard Boyzie fired her,” Trina said. “That true?”
“He had to,” replied Ashley. “She wouldn’t come to work half the time, and when she did show up she came late, and she came with serious attitude. That girl was a mess. Nobody’s putting up with that.”
“Tell me about it,” Trina said. “It’s sad though. Before she became so bitter and jealous-hearted she used to be one of the nicest people.”
“And you did all you could for her, Tree,” Stacy said. “I remember when you took her under your wings at the PaLargio. I was so envious of that girl!”
“Me too!” Ashley said. “I would have given my right arm for a chance like that.”
“I remember how you even gave her a second chance when she blew the first chance,” Stacy said. “But she proved the point. You can’t maintain a business by hiring friends.”
Trina smiled. “That’s what my husband says. And he’s right. That’s why everybody I hired at Champagne’s are all strangers to me. Not a friend in the bunch.”
“So what does it feel like to own you
r own business?” Ashley asked her.
“Great. It’s a challenge, and that’s putting it mildly, but I love it. It’s like a dream come true for me.”
“I can only imagine,” Ashley said. “But I heard that husband of yours want you to move it to the PaLargio.”
“He figure it’ll be easier on me if I moved it, but I decided against it and he’s accepted that. He’s letting me run my business.”
“Now that’s a good man,” Ashley said. “You are so blessed, Trina, to have a good husband. That’ll be a dream come true for me. That’s what I want. Not just a good man, but a good husband, somebody who’ll put a ring on it. Because believe you me, there’s nothing on these streets these days but everybody else’s leftovers. No thank-you.”
“Speaking of husbands,” Stacy said, looking further up the restaurant’s long driveway where the cars the valets had already pulled up were parked. “Isn’t that yours, Tree?”
Trina was puzzled. “Isn’t what mine?”
“Your husband. Isn’t that your husband over there?”
Trina and Ashley both looked further up the long driveway too. And to Trina’s shock, Stacy was right. Reno was opening the door of some nice white sports car while a tall blonde stood beside him. They talked for a moment longer after he opened her car door, and then he placed his hand on the small of her back and kissed her on the lips. Ashley and Stacy both looked at Trina when he kissed her.
But Trina couldn’t take her eyes off of Reno. She continued to watch as Reno helped the blonde get into the car. She buckled up once she got inside and then waved at him as she drove around his Porsche, which had been parked in front of her car, and then drove away. Reno stood there a moment longer, watching her leave, and then began heading for his own car.
Ashley and Stacy waited for the confrontation. They waited for Trina to run up to that so-called “good” husband of hers and read him like a book. But she just stood there watching as he got into his fancy Porsche, slammed the door, and then sped off like the hard-charging asshole they heard he could be. They’d also heard, but would never discuss with Trina, how he was a cheating dog, cheating on her big time, but she always let him get away with it.
“Yes,” Trina finally said, as she watched Reno leave, “that was my husband.” Then she turned to her friends. “So where was I?” she asked.
Stacy couldn’t believe it. “That’s it?” she asked.
“Stace,” Ashley said like a warning. You never messed with a woman and her husband. Even if he deserved it.
But Stacy continued. “That’s all you’ve got to say? Come on now. You are not the old Trina I used to know. You just saw your husband with another woman and all you’ve got to say is where were you?”
“You were talking about your clothing store,” Ashley said.
“Actually, we were talking about finding a good man. Which,” Stacy admitted, “is getting harder to find every single day.”
Stace and Ashley looked at Trina again. They both wanted the backstory. They both wanted to hear all about her troubles with this supposedly good man of hers. And Trina knew they wanted it too. But she wasn’t about to go into anything about her marriage with them. Not that she wasn’t pissed with that husband of hers. She was royally pissed. He knew the kind of reputation he already had. He should know better than to be all out in public kissing on some female. It was undoubtedly an innocent kiss. Trina didn’t for a second think that Reno would cheat on her like that. Reno was just affectionate that way.
But she also knew what it looked like to other people. And although Reno didn’t give a flying flip what other people thought of him, she hated the fact that he never seemed to consider what people thought of her. That was the part that galled Trina. Not the fact that he kissed a woman who was probably some old friend of his. But the fact that he never considered how it made her look. He never seemed to consider that she was tired of the thinly veiled innuendos and the outright gossip. She was tired of her friends looking at her as if she was some clueless, longsuffering idiot wife standing by her rich, unfaithful man.
But that didn’t mean she was going to make a scene in public. That didn’t mean she was willing to feed that gossip beast. And Stace was right. The old Trina would have run down that driveway, snatched that blonde out of that car, and gave both of them a piece of her mind. But Trina, the wife of a hotel mogul, and Trina, the business owner, knew that raising a ruckus like that would not only damage her reputation even more, but it could possibly damage her marriage for good. Which she wasn’t about to do. So her girlfriends could stand up there and salivate for drama and information, but they weren’t going to be getting it from her.
The valet finally brought her car around. She hugged her friends’ necks, said her goodbyes, and got away from there too. She couldn’t wait to get away. It was only after she made it to a red light, and was well out of view of her friends, did she allow herself to react at all. She let out a strained exhale and squeezed her eyes shut. And that undercurrent of doubt, about Reno’s fidelity, about whether or not her blind trust in him rendered her clueless after all, began to take hold. He had some explaining to do.
CHAPTER FIVE
Trina was in the kitchen preparing dinner. She heard the front door open and then slam, and knew by the slam that it was more probably Jimmy rather than Reno. And then he yelled her name.
“Ma!” he yelled.
“In the kitchen, Jimmy,” she yelled back.
When he came in, she smiled. “Hello, buddy.”
“Smells good in here.”
“I thought you were getting off early today.”
“I thought so too,” Jimmy said as he sat at the center island. “But Pete was late again. I had to cover his station until he got there. Where’s Dommi?”
“Out like a light. The daycare went on a field trip to the park today and it wore that little man out. I asked if he wanted to wait up until daddy got home, and he said yes, mommy, and then fell asleep as soon as he said yes.”
Jimmy laughed. “He can’t hang,” he said. “Not even for a three-year-old.”
Trina smiled too. She already had two pots boiling and was cutting up vegetables to add to a third pot.
“You know, Ma, I’ve been thinking. My birthday is coming up.”
“That’s right,” Trina said with a smile. “You’ll be twenty-two.”
“Right. And I’ve kind of made a decision.”
Trina looked at him. “What kind of decision?”
“I’ve decided to get my own place.”
Trina frowned. “You have your own place.”
“I have one of Dad’s apartments inside Dad’s hotel that’s paid for by Dad. I work. I make money. I want my own place, away from Dad’s hotel, paid for by me.”
Trina stared at him. “You sure, Jimmy?”
“I’m positive. I think it’s about time.”
Trina nodded. “So do I,” she agreed.
“But I don’t want to go looking for a place by myself. I want you and Dad with me. I would say Dommi too, but he’d probably destroy those people’s houses. But I want us to go house hunting as a family.”
Trina smiled. Family meant the world to that young man. “That’s a great idea, Jimmy. Ultimately it’ll be your decision, but I like the fact that you want to include us. I’m in.”
“And you’ll make sure Dad shows up too?”
“Oh, yeah, right. All I’ll have to do is tell Reno to be there, and he’ll be there. Yeah, right.”
Jimmy shook his head. “You really don’t know, do you?”
Trina’s heart dropped. She looked at her stepson. “Don’t know what?”
“How much power you really have over Dad. He’ll do anything for you, and you don’t even realize it.”
Trina went back to chopping her vegetables. All she had to do was think about earlier today, when he kissed that woman in public, for her to know that her so-called power over Reno wasn’t nearly as potent as Jimmy thought.
&nb
sp; “You’re staying for supper?” she asked him.
“Does a seeing eye dog have eyes? You’d better believe I’m staying! Especially as good as that food smell up in here right now.”
Trina looked at him, studied him, as if she was debating asking him. She decided to just do it. “So,” she said, cutting up even more vegetables. “How did it go last night?”
Jimmy hesitated too. He began shaking his leg. His love life was still a sore spot with him. “Not great.”
“Oh, Jimmy, why not?” Trina asked as she stopped chopping. “She seemed sweet.”
“She was sweet. Real sweet. Sweet on Dad’s money. Or Dad. I couldn’t tell which. She kept switching between the two. ‘Your Dad is so cute. I can’t believe he’s old enough to be your father. When can I meet him? He’s such a hunk. Does he really own all of the PaLargio, or just part of it?’ And then she’s stunned when I took her ass home and didn’t ask her out on another date.”
Trina shook her head. “These fast-tail girls need to quit. You’re a handsome, smart young man in your own right, but they can’t see you for Reno. When I was their age Reno would have been like an old man to me. But they act as if he’s twenty like they are.”
“Because he’s great looking and rich. If Dad didn’t look like he looked and had what he had, he’d be ancient to them too.”
“You know you’re right,” Trina said with a nod of her head. “Silly girls. Who needs them anyway? God will bless you with somebody wonderful, you just keep hanging on, baby, all right? Don’t settle for less.”
The seldom-used elevator entrance dinged open and Trina and Jimmy both smiled. Nobody used that entrance but Reno, and he rarely used it himself. He walked into the penthouse, as usual, calling Trina’s name.
“We’re in the kitchen, Dad!” Jimmy yelled back.
Reno walked into the kitchen area, tossed his keys on a side table, and then kissed Jimmy on the forehead. He had discarded his suit coat already, and was in white shirtsleeves. Wrinkled white shirtsleeves. “What’s wrong with your apartment?” he asked his son.
Jimmy smiled. “I’m at your house way more than I’m at mine, but you always ask me that same question.”
RENO AND TRINA: GETTING BACK TO LOVE (The Mob Boss Series) Page 6