Trina closed her eyes and shook her head. Then she opened them again.
“I’ll handle it, Tree. Please don’t worry about this. I’ll take care of it.”
“But why would she come up with something like that? And she was crying, Reno, like that shit was real.”
“Maybe she thinks it’s real. But it’s not. I don’t have any children running around on the face of this earth but my two sons, James Maxwell Gabrini, and Dominic. Those are the only two children I have. I promise you that.”
And then tears began to appear in Trina’s eyes. And Reno knew what those tears were. They were tears of stress, of strain, of wanting to believe him despite overwhelming reasons not to. He stood up. And she ran around his desk, and fell into his arms.
Reno held her, closing his eyes tightly as he held her. “It’s all right, babe,” he said. “Trust me on that. It’s all right.”
Then he thought about Bridgette, and a different kind of feeling washed over him. Just when he thought this kind of nonsense was behind him. Just when he thought Trina was going to finally get over the stress of her miscarriage and learn to trust again, she brings all of that right back up. He felt a kind of rage and even hatred toward that woman that ran so deep that he couldn’t even put it into words.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Reno’s Porsche stopped at the entrance to Champagne’s. Trina was standing there, looking stunning, he thought, in a beautiful little white dress with black zigzags across the front. And although she looked serene, he was no fool. She was mad as hell at his ass.
He unbuckled his seatbelt and moved to get out of the car to let her in, but she had already opened the passenger door. She didn’t give him a chance to let her in. She jumped right in.
“This is ridiculous,” she said as she got into his car and began buckling her seatbelt. But she didn’t say another word until he had re-buckled his and they were finally on their way.
“This is ridiculous, Reno,” she said again.
“I was a little late,” Reno said as he drove. “What’s ridiculous about it?”
“You’re always late. That’s what. No matter what it is, no matter how important, you’re always late.” Then she looked at him. “Where were you anyway? You said you were on your way nearly an hour ago, Reno.”
“I was leaving my office when I said it. But something came up, all right? I don’t run a nine-to-five operation. Things happen.”
“What things?”
“Things, Tree, things. Bar managers not doing what they’re supposed to do. Floor managers not doing what they’re supposed to do. Talent that think they own the place. Customers who think they’re always right.”
“They are,” Trina said.
“Yes, they are. They aren’t, but they are.” Trina couldn’t help but smile. Reno caught it and glanced over at her. “Is that actually a smile?” he asked, smiling too. Then he took his hand and squeezed her by the chin. “Is my baby smiling at me?”
“Quit, Reno,” Trina said, playfully swatting his hand away.
He gave a one syllable laugh and turned a corner. “But seriously, Tree, I apologize for being late. I wish things didn’t come up and I could have rushed over here, grabbed you, and we would have been there by now. But it is what it is. So let’s just go see this house Jimmy wants us to take a look at, and do what we’ve got to do. I’ve got a meeting in an hour or so.”
Trina looked at him. She couldn’t believe it. “A meeting?”
“Yes, a meeting.”
“Oh, Reno, honestly! Why would you set up a meeting when you knew well in advance how important this house search is to Jimmy! The least you can do is pencil in some time for your family every once in a while!”
“What are you talking? You know how crazy it gets around that place! I just told you how crazy it gets! What the fuck you expect me to do?”
“I expect you to give us some of your time, that’s what I expect,” Trina said. “For once in your life I expect you to stop thinking about the needs of the PaLargio over the needs of your family!”
“I don’t put anything over my family.”
“In major things, no, you don’t. But in the little things that means little to you, but so much to us, yes, you do, Reno. You don’t think it’s a big deal so you don’t treat it like a big deal. But it’s those little things that may matter most.”
Reno glanced at her. That didn’t even sound like his wife. Tree suggesting that he put his business first? She knew better than that. No, he wasn’t attending to every little thing they wanted him to attend to. There wasn’t enough hours in a day. But to suggest they weren’t first in his life was crazy talk, and she had to know it.
Or, Reno thought, as he stopped at a red light and glanced at her again, it was fear talk. It was Trina’s irrational fear of losing her family the way she lost that baby. That lost was still affecting her to where it was changing their relationship. One day they were up, the next day they were down. It was getting kind of worrisome. “Are you okay?” he asked her.
“Yes, I’m okay.”
“I still think you should see somebody, Tree.”
“Oh, so I’m crazy now?”
“No you aren’t crazy, and you know that’s not what I mean. Even the doctor suggested you see a therapist after the miscarriage. I suggested it. But you won’t even entertain the idea.”
“I’m fine, Reno, okay? I don’t need to tell my business to any stranger. I’m fine.”
He knew she was a long way from fine, but the light turned green so he continued driving. Then he realized he could be off base. He realized her obvious anxiety might have less to do with what happened months ago, and more to do with what happened yesterday. He glanced at her again. “You aren’t still worried about that Bridgette Baranski nonsense, are you?”
Trina seemed as if she was going to comment, but then she looked out of the car window instead.
“Don’t be worried about that, honey. It’s a pack of lies, you know that.”
“I know it,” Trina said. “But lies sting too. Especially when your husband fails to mention the fact that he slept with the woman until he’s confronted with it.”
“That’s not fair, Tree.”
“It is fair!” Tree shot back and looked at him. “It is fair.”
Reno exhaled. “I didn’t mention it because it happened years ago, before I met you, okay? It had nothing to do with anything.”
“Yeah, right, Reno. So would it be okay with you if I kiss one of my ex-lovers? That’ll be okay with you?”
“You aren’t kissing anybody,” he said, “so that’s not an issue.”
“I see. You can kiss away, but not me.”
“Men are the aggressors,” Reno said. “Nothing goes down unless that man wants it to go down.”
Trina smiled and shook her head. “Whatever, Reno.” Then she exhaled and looked at him. “But I know she’s lying,” Trina said and took his hand. “And if I didn’t want any drama, I definitely shouldn’t have married you.”
Reno laughed and squeezed her hand. “You got that right,” he said.
And just like that the tension that filled the car deflated, and their love took control. And the drive became far more relaxed for both of them.
“You still have to be in L.A. tomorrow?” she eventually asked him.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Reno looked at her. “Don’t tell me you have a problem with that too?”
Trina smiled and leaned back against the headrest. “I don’t have a problem with it. I guess it’s still so busy for both of us, and I realize it can’t be helped.”
Reno squeezed her hand again. “Just bear with me, babe,” he said. “Things will slow down again. And if they don’t, I’ll slow them down myself.”
“Yeah, right,” she said with a smile. “You don’t know the meaning of slow.”
“What are you talking? I do know the meaning of slow.”
“Look at you now. You’re doing sixty in a thirty mile an hour zone
.”
Reno looked through his rearview. “No cops are around. So what?”
“And that’s all that matters, right? Nobody’s seeing you break the law, so go right ahead and break it.”
Reno laughed. “Okay, you got me there.”
“Thank-you!”
“So I’ll tell you what. I won’t stay overnight in L.A., all right? How’s that? I’ll have my meetings and make it back home in time for dinner.”
“I’ll have to see that to believe it.”
“Okay, maybe not dinner,” he said, and Trina laughed. “But I won’t stay overnight. Will you take that?”
Trina looked at her handsome husband. She loved him. She’d take whatever she could get from him. That was what worried her. “I’ll take it,” she said.
It was a three-bedroom home on Capperton Lane and Jimmy stepped out of his car looking at the modest brick structure. A white BMW was already parked in the driveway in front of the two-car garage, and a young woman stepped out of the home as he made his way up to the porch.
“James Gabrini?” she asked as she walked across the porch and extended her hand.
“Yes,” Jimmy said as he shook her hand.
“I’m Valerie Wellstone. Welcome to Capperton Lane! You’ll find it’s a nice, quiet subdivision, and this home has many features I think you’ll like.”
But Jimmy was too surprised to really hear what she was saying. She couldn’t be much older than he was, she wasn’t male as he expected, and she was far more attractive than he ever could have thought his realtor would be.
“I see,” she said with a smile, realizing why he was looking at her so askance. “You were expecting my father?”
Jimmy smiled. “If Mr. Wellstone is your father.”
“He is. And I know you made the appointment with him. Unfortunately he got tied up across town in a rather complicated closing and couldn’t get away. I’m Valerie Wellstone.”
“Nice to meet you, Valerie.”
“Call me Val, everybody does. And please don’t let my youth fool you. I’m my father’s right-hand woman. I know the business inside and out.”
Jimmy nodded. He was still surprised that his realtor would be this perky young lady, but he was beginning to be pleasantly surprised.
“So, tell me, James, what do you think about the home’s exterior?”
Jimmy finally took his eyes off of her and looked at the house itself. “Yes, I like it,” he said. “I like the fact that it’s brick, and that the windows are so big and modern looking.”
“It has good curb appeal, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“Yes, it does,” Jimmy replied. As do you, he would have added if he was that kind of a flip, flirtatious young man. But he wasn’t that kind, so he held his peace.
“Let me show you what it looks like inside,” Val said, and Jimmy followed her. He wasn’t flirtatious like many young men his age, but that didn’t stop him from checking her out as he followed her inside.
She was small, he thought, and very pretty, with smooth, dark-chocolate skin, and small, but expressive eyes. Although she wore a straight-laced, buttoned-down business skirt suit, the skirt hem was far enough above her knees, and the blazer was tight enough across her waist that he could easily tell that she was more shapely than thin. And her brown, bouncy hair was in a short bob that hung no lower than the nape of her narrow neck, making her look as if she had some sophistication with her youth. But she was still very young.
“Isn’t this entrance adorable?” she said as she swept open the front door and allowed him passage in.
It was a nice entrance, with a wide open great room that connected to a kitchen in the back. The floors were all hardwood and the trace ceilings were cathedral high. “Very impressive,” he said. “Although I know what my dad is going to say.”
Val smiled. “What?”
“Not impressive enough,” Jimmy said.
Val nodded. “Yeah, my father’s the same way. I ended up getting this huge, three-thousand square foot home because nothing I picked was good enough for him.”
“Three thousand feet?” Jimmy asked.
“Three-thousand feet,” Val assured him.
“You must have a husband and at least a couple of kids.”
“Bite your tongue, I have no such thing! Just myself. But that’s what I live in. That big house. I use only about a third of the place, if that much space, but Dad still doesn’t see the waste. He says I’ll grow into it.”
“That’s going to be some growth,” Jimmy said, and Val laughed.
“But I get what you mean,” Jimmy went on. “Nothing is ever good enough for my dad either, when it comes to my selections.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right. My father said that your parents were coming with you. What happened? They changed their minds?”
“No, no, they’re coming. They’re on their way. They’re never on time, but they’ll be here.”
“Well, let’s look at the rest of the house before they get here. I’m getting the sense that you’re liking what you see so far.”
“I am,” Jimmy said, following her toward the kitchen. “I can see myself in a place like this.” Then he decided to go there, to see if she was going to display that gold digger quality he saw in every woman he’d shown the least interest in so far. “I live at the PaLargio right now.”
Val frowned. “The PaLargio? Really?”
“Yeah. My old man owns it so I have an apartment there.”
“Oh, no,” she said, stopping in her tracks. “He owns the PaLargio? My goodness! He’s probably worse than my father then. He’ll probably want you to move into a mansion or something!”
Jimmy smiled. “He’s not that bad!”
“I hope not. I thought it was bad enough being raised Buddy Wellstone’s daughter. But to be raised the son of a man who owns a hotel and casino? I would have hated it with every fiber of my being.”
“You talk like you hated your father’s business that way.”
“I did,” Val admitted. “Every time I would be with my friends around town and see his picture on some billboard, with his smiling dark face and that Wellstone Realty caption, I’d try to pretend I didn’t see it. Then my mother died and he actually needed help. So I got my realty license to help out. Just temporarily mind you. But that was three years ago. Now I love it.”
“Yeah, I work for my father too. Don’t know about loving it though. But it pays the bills.”
“Thank God for that. I hate wealthy kids who don’t want to work for a living, but just live off of their rich parents. It’s disgusting.”
“Don’t you hate it?”
“It’s nauseating,” Val said.
“That’s why I’m getting out of the PaLargio. I don’t pay rent, I have everything at my fingertips. But I feel I won’t grow up if I stay there.”
“Well, buy a home and start paying a mortgage. Take it from me. You’ll feel grown up then.”
Jimmy laughed. And as Val showed him the rest of the home, he found himself looking at her as much as he was looking at the home. Was it possible, he wondered. Could he have finally met a young woman who wasn’t looking to get what she could get out of him? Or was she playing the game too, just a more sophisticated version? He didn’t know. But he did know one thing: she interested him.
His parents arrived just as they were returning inside the house from the back yard area.
“Dad, Mom, hey,” Jimmy said as Reno and Trina walked in. Reno had his hand in the small of Trina’s back and Jimmy was pleased by how they presented. Trina, in her form-fitting white dress, and Reno, in his tailored suit, stuck a magnificent pose. They were such an attractive couple to Jimmy, and his dad emitted such a powerful look, that he felt proud that he was theirs. “I want you guys to meet Valerie Wellstone,” he said to them. “My realtor.”
“Your realtor?” Reno asked, checking her out.
Jimmy smiled. “I know. I thought the very same thing,” he said.
Trina exte
nded her hand. “It’s so nice to meet you, Valerie.”
“Thank-you,” Val said, shaking Trina’s hand. “And nice to meet you too. And Mr. Gabrini,” she added as she and Reno shook hands. “James anxiously awaits your opinion of the place.”
Reno was already looking around. “How many bedrooms?”
“Three bedrooms,” Jimmy said, “and two baths.”
“How much square footage?”
“Twelve hundred.”
Reno looked at his son. “That’s not a heck of a lot of space, Jimmy.”
“Oh, Reno!” Trina said just as her cell phone began ringing. “For one young man who can’t even keep a one bedroom apartment clean, it’s plenty of space.”
Val laughed. Although Jimmy was a little embarrassed, he liked that she found it humorous.
“What’s the asking price?” Reno asked Val.
Val looked at her clipboard. “Two-hundred-forty-nine thousand.”
“It’s Fran,” Trina said as she looked at her cell phone’s Caller ID.
“I told her to stop bothering you,” Reno said. “That’s kind of steep for this little place, isn’t it?” he asked Val, and Val began to discuss comps in the area, time on market, and price negotiation.
“Hello?” Trina said, answering her phone.
“Tree, that’s you?” Fran asked on the other end.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Don’t tell Reno, okay? Reno’s there with you, isn’t he? You can’t tell him, Tree. He’s going to kill me!”
She sounded whiny to Trina, which usually meant more trouble with her boyfriend. “What is it this time?” she asked.
“I didn’t think he would do something like that. I didn’t think Pac would do that.”
“Do what?” Hit her?
“Take him,” Fran said. “I didn’t think Pac would take him like that.”
Trina frowned. “Take who? Fran, what are you talking about?”
“Dommi! I’m talking about Dommi!”
Trina’s heart pounded. She knew she had heard it wrong. “Dommi?” she asked. “He took Dommi? He took my baby?”
RENO AND TRINA: GETTING BACK TO LOVE (The Mob Boss Series) Page 9