“What’s up, Ope?” Gemma waved at Oprah as she made her way toward the back counter.
Oprah looked up. “Oh, hey, Mrs. Gabrini. How are you?”
“I’m good, thanks. How’s Jim?”
“Busy. His Uncle Tommy is a monster to work for.”
“Tell me about it. I’m married to his brother, remember?”
“That’s right! Your husband is Tommy’s brother. I forgot about that! I need you to forget I said anything at all about Tommy Gabrini, please ma’am.”
Gemma laughed. “Too late,” she said and Oprah laughed, too, and continued to put merchandise on the shelves.
“I thought you had to be in court today,” Trina said as Gemma walked behind the counter and up to her and her computer.
“I was in court. We’re in recess until one this afternoon. Thought I’d come over and lend a hand.”
“The co-owner has decided to grace us with her presence. How big of you.”
Gemma playfully pushed Trina as she looked over Trina’s shoulder at the computer screen. “How are we doing?”
“Pretty good actually,” said Trina. “And I’m talking over all the stores.” Trina turned the screen toward Gemma. “Look at that bottom line.”
Gemma was impressed. “Revenues up eighteen percent?” she asked. “That is good!”
“You like?” Trina asked.
“Are you kidding?” Gemma said. “I love!”
Trina smiled. “Oh, sure! You’re just excited that Sal’s coming home tonight.”
“That too,” Gemma admitted. “He’s been gone over a week now, but it seems like a month.”
“And he still hasn’t called you?”
Gemma hated to admit it. Something about Sal and phones never seemed to mix. “He doesn’t call when he’s out of town on business,” she said. “You know that.”
“I know that makes no sense whatsoever,” Trina said boldly. “He’s no freelancer. He’s a married man with a small son. And he doesn’t even check on y’all?”
“He knows I can take care of myself and our son. And he leaves me to it. He trusts me.”
“But come on, Gem,” Trina said, looking at her best friend. “The fact that he can stay away an entire week and don’t call you once has to hurt. On some level it has to. I know I’d be beyond pissed if Reno ever pulled that shit on me.”
“You’d be pissed if he called you,” Gemma said. “You’d declare he was calling you too much.” Trina laughed. “You’d be pissed,” Gemma continued, “if he didn’t call you. You’d declare he was cheating on you.”
Trina shook her head. “You’re wrong for that,” she said cheerfully.
“I’m telling the truth and you know it,” said Gemma. Then she exhaled. All jokes aside. “I get what you’re saying, though,” she said.
Trina stared at Gemma. Gemma was a tall, slim, beautiful woman with smooth dark skin and a face so serious and intelligent that she was often mistaken as the boss of Champagne’s even though she and Trina were equal partners. But Gemma had that kind of sophisticated look men loved. She knew of many men who asked her personally if Gemma was available. Sal, she thought, had better get his shit together.
Not that Sal wasn’t a busy man. Trina knew firsthand that all of the Gabrinis were workaholics in the extreme. But when most of the Gabrini men were realizing their neglect and trying to rein it in, Sal was still out there big time. His other life, as a major mob figure, made his schedule more unpredictable. She understood that too. But Gemma deserved better!
“Can I ask you a personal question?” Trina asked Gemma.
Gemma was strolling down the inventory spreadsheet. “When have you ever not asked me personal questions?”
“I’m always dealing with rumors about Reno cheating on me,” Trina said, “so I’m asking as somebody who knows what it’s like to face those issues, okay? But do you ever wonder if Sal’s out there cheating on you, Gem?”
Gemma continued to stroll down the inventory lists. “I’ll know if he’s cheating,” she said.
“You’ll know?” Trina asked doubtfully. “How will you know, Gemma?”
“By the amount of times he’s jumping my bones,” Gemma said. “That’s how.”
Trina frowned. “Oh, I forgot. He’s a Gabrini. He may want some before he can put his suit case down good.”
“There’s no may in it!” Gemma made clear. “If Sal doesn’t come home from an out-of-town trip without insisting on multiple sessions with me, I’ll know his ass is cheating. I’ll know it like I know the back of my hand.”
Trina laughed. “Just because he doesn’t pound on you until you’re too sore to walk? That’s how you’ll know?”
“That’s how I’ll know,” said Gemma. “I know Sal’s routine. And he’s a creature of habit if he’s anything at all.”
“But if he doesn’t pound you to the ground, that’s a good thing, too, right? At least your tired ass will get some rest.”
“No, I won’t. I’d be up all night worried that he’s up to something. That he’d been out there cheating. You remember Blanche Delilah and that house in Chicago. I pay attention.”
Trina laughed. “That man can’t win with Gemma on the case,” she said.
“No, he can’t,” Gemma said with a smile, and they high-fived each other.
But when all laughs had died out and they were both looking seriously at a few discrepancies in the spreadsheet totals, Gemma’s heart was feeling some kind of way. If she had been gone a week and hadn’t bothered to phone Sal, he’d be hopping his plane to cuss her ass out and find out what’s her problem. But he was doing it himself a lot lately. A lot!
But then again, she thought, his business trips and the type of dangerous business he often had to take care of were nothing like her business trips. Which made her began to worry about his absence even more, but for a very different reason.
CHAPTER TWO
Sal Gabrini, in his double-breasted suit and sunglasses, was the only thing moving in that warehouse. Not because it was empty. There were four other men in that room. But Sal was the only one pacing the floor, walking back and forth with his Italian shoes hitting that wooden floor so hard it sounded as if he was hammering it, because he was the one who had to decide. Bumper Collins had made the mistake of his life and killed two of their own men in a gun battle that should never have taken place in the first place, and now Bumper’s life, and the life of the two other men who had been with him, was on the line. Sal and his top four lieutenants were discussing it.
“It was an error in judgment,” said Pauley. “Point blank period.” He, along with the three other capos, were sitting down. Sal was the only one still standing. “He got in that fight with somebody he shouldn’t have gotten in a fight with, and he pulled our guys into his own personal battle.”
“He had no business pulling anybody into anything,” Robby Yale said. Robby was Sal’s second-in-command. He was as angry as Sal was. “That wasn’t his call to make. He should have notified you or Pee Wee or Scrubs, or even me, and let us handle that shit. But no. Not Bump. He’s gonna handle it. He’s gonna ask our guys to have his back. Now two of our guys are dead because of his bullshit, and two others are facing the same extinction he’s facing.”