Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) (26 page)

Trina
smiled.
 
“It’s about time you get here,”
she said.

“I
don’t control the courtroom,” Gemma said as she made her way toward the
counter.
 
“And compared to that judge we
had today, Judge Judy is a sweet, shy little thing.”

“He was
that bad?” Trina asked.

“He
was brutal,” Gemma said as she made her way behind the counter and sat her
purse and briefcase in one of the bottom drawers beneath the counter.
 
“He denied every motion I had and granted
every one of the prosecution’s.
 
It was a
train wreck from beginning to end.”

“And
you were probably tired before you got there,” Trina said as she glanced over
at Gemma.

Gemma
began readying the second cash register for the day and didn’t respond.
 
She wanted to keep her personal life private
and Trina could respect that.
 
She
therefore moved on too.
 

But
then Gemma hesitated, and then smiled.
 
“Very,” she finally said.

Trina
looked at her.
 
She knew what she
meant.
 
“Yeah, we were wondering what was
taking Sal so long.”

Now
Gemma could not contain her giddiness a moment longer.
 
She began shaking her head.
 
“Trina, Trina, Trina.”

“What?”

“That
man, that man, that man.”

Trina
smiled.
 
Seeing button-down,
tough-as-nails, not-about-to-let-any-man-control-her Gemma Jones all giddy with
relationship excitement was a sight to behold.
 
Trina wasn’t sure if she liked it, though.
 
It was, given Gemma, kind of
hypocritical.
 
“What about that man?” she
asked.

Gemma
started as if she was going to discuss it, and then she shook her head again.

“I
see,” Trina said as if no further explanation was needed.
 
“So you let him go there?” she asked.

Gemma
looked at her as if she had just challenged
 
her.
 
“I
let
him go where?”

Trina
returned the challenging look.
 
“Oh, come
on, Gem.
 
There.
 
You let him go there.”

“I
let him drink a bottle of my beer, talk to me for hours, mainly about the
Gabrinis, and leave my home.
 
The only
place he went last night was back to your home.”

Trina
was surprised.
 
“Then why are you up in
here talking about that man, that man, that man if nothing happened?”

Gemma
smiled. “Because nothing happened.
 
And
instead of shoving off because no action was to be had, he stayed anyway.
 
And I mean he stayed for hours.
 
I respected that.
 
That’s all I meant.”

Trina
shook her head. Gemma was certainly one of a kind.

“But
it was funny,” Gemma volunteered.
 
Trina
looked at her.
 
“The longer he stayed and
talked with me, the more he kept expanding.
 
It got so big, girl, that he had a balloon in his pants.
  
When
 
he excused himself to the bathroom, I almost died laughing.”

Trina
leaned back and laughed herself.
 

“I
was floored,” Gemma went on.
 
“That white
man is
big
,
you hear me?”

But
she didn’t have to convince Trina.
 
She
was no longer laughing and already nodding.
 
“He’s a Gabrini,” she said.
 
“None
of those men have equipment issues.
 
Trust.”

“Oh,
I believe you.”
 

But
then it was Trina’s time to shake her head.

“What?”
Gemma asked her.

“Not
what.
 
You.
 
I can’t get over it.”

“Get
over what?”

“I
can’t get over you.
 
You’re acting like
some starry-eyed kid in love for the first time.”

“In
love?”

“That’s
how you’re acting.”

“Pa-lease.
 
I am not in love with any Salvatore Luciano,
okay?
 
But even if I was, although
I’m
 
not, what’s wrong with that?”
 

“You,
Miss Seventy-five percent, remember?
 
You’re
the one who said no man is going to control you.
 
But now you seem more than ready to cede
control to Sal of all people.”

“How
do you leapfrog from what I just told you to that?”

“Because
you like Sal.
 
And let me tell you,
Gemma, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that Sal Luca is going to let
some woman dictate to him.
 
It’ll never
happen.”

“First
of all,” Gemma said in that lawyerly, set them straight tone of hers, “I am not
ceding control to Sal or any other man.
 
Did I enjoy his company last night?
 
Yes, I did.
 
Did he fuck me like
it was nobody’s business?
 
No, he did
not.
 
Would I enjoy it if we went there
someday?
 
Maybe.
 
Why not?
 
Do I want to be his girlfriend and ultimately his wife?
 
Hell no!
 
He’ll be packing up and heading back to Seattle soon enough, and will
forget he ever met me.
 
Which is
fine.
 
I’ll forget his ass too.
 
So let’s just move on and forget about that.
 
It’s not going to happen.”

And
Gemma did get to work.
 
But Trina
continued to stare at her.
 
She knew how
sensitive Gemma could be.
 
She also knew
how insensitive Sal could be.
 
He
undoubtedly laid down the law last night, telling her not to get too attached
because he wasn’t interested in her that way.
 
And Gemma, being the proud woman that she was, probably made clear that
she wasn’t interested in him that way, either.
 
But Trina knew better.
 
Gemma had
had more than her share of men wanting her only for that one thing, and over
time she started accommodating them because she needed, and wanted that one
thing too.
 
But she also wanted so much
more.
 
She wasn’t fooling Tree.

“Besides,”
Gemma eventually said.
 
“Sal’s not
husband material anyway.”
 
She looked at
Trina.
 
The hope in her eyes broke
Trina’s heart.
 
“Is he?”
 
she asked.

But
Trina wasn’t going to placate her good friend.
 
“That’s not for me to say,” she said.
 
“Sal offered to die for me and my children once, when we were in that
situation with Tony Tufarna.
 
So in my
book he’s a kind, loving, wonderful man.
 
But that’s in my book.
 
In most
people’s books, however, he’s a whole lot more.”

“Such
as?”

“He’s
a tough, and strong, and mean and vengeful man.
 
Some minorities think he’s a racist.”

Gemma
was staring at Trina now.
 
The door to
the boutique opened, and a customer stepped inside.
 
“Is he?” she asked Trina, ignoring the
entrant.

Trina
smiled.
 
Don’t worry
, she wanted to say.
 
“No, he’s not,” she said instead.
 
“He sometimes says insensitive things.
 
He is not politically correct, that’s for sure.
 
But his heart is good.
 
That’s for sure too.”

“Hello,
Katrina,” a voice said that caused both Trina and Gemma to look.
 
Gemma remembered her as the woman who paid
them a visit once before, and asked if Reno was Tree’s husband.

Trina,
however, knew who she was now.
 
“Hello,
Belle,” she said to her.
 
“What can I help
you with?”

“I
wish to speak with you.
 
About a very
personal matter.
 
Could we go into a
private room?”

Trina’s
heart wanted to take her upstairs to the office and hear what she had to
say.
 
Mainly because Trina felt
incomplete.
 
She and Reno never did finish
their argument about just what Belle was about, and why he didn’t bother to
mention that they had been lovers in the past.
 
But Trina’s every instinct was telling her to stay put; to not go
anywhere private with this woman.

Just
as Reno had drilled into her, she followed her instinct.
 
“You can say what you need to say right
here,” she said.

Belle
glanced at Gemma.
 
“Do you mind?” she
asked her in a way that clearly meant for Gemma to get lost.

“Yes,
she does mind,” Trina said.
 
“This is a
place of business, not a social center.
 
Now what is it that you want?”
 
Trina didn’t like her.
 
She
realized that even before she knew she had once been Reno’s lover.

“Okay,”
Belle said.
 
“As you wish.”
 
Then Belle looked Trina dead in the eye.
 
“Reno, your husband, was my lover in the
past, and he’s still fucking me now.”
 

Although
she got a shocked look out of Gemma, she didn’t get so much as a rise out of
Trina.
 
Trina, in fact, was staring at
her.

Inwardly
surprised by the lack of response, she nonetheless went on.
 
“That night at the mayor’s home, when Reno
pulled me into the library, he made love to me even then.
 
Right there on the bright orange couch.
 
He insisted on it, to be honest with
you.
 
He said he’d never had a woman
quite like me and he missed our combustible get-togethers.”
 
She said this with a smile.
 
“That’s what he calls our unions.
 
Combustible get-togethers.”
 

Trina
continued to stare at her as if she was staring at a misbehaving child.
 
When there were still crickets coming from
Trina, Belle got serious.
 
And her smile
left.
 
“He’s planning on leaving you,”
she said pointblank.

Gemma,
stunned, looked at Trina.
 

But
Belle kept on jabbing.
 
“He wants me back
and he’s plotting his escape.
 
Even as we
speak.”
 
Still nothing from Trina.
 
“We were together in Atlantic City, did he
tell you that?
 
He was there with his
son.
 
The one that’s not yours.
 
I was quite surprised that he would be
parading me in front of his child like that, but he did.
 
He treated me as if I was his real wife.”

Trina
shook her head.
 
“You’re a lying bitch,”
she finally said.
 
And she said it so
firmly that even Gemma was taken aback.

“Excuse
me?” Belle asked.

“You’re
a lying bitch,” Trina repeated herself.
 
“Now
I don’t know what you’re up to, but one thing I know for certain, my husband
has nothing to do with it.
 
Or with
you.
 
So you can get your old-ass,
flat-ass self out of my store.”
 
Then
Trina’s face turned hateful.
 
“Now get!”
she screamed, as if she was commanding a dog.

Belle
hadn’t expected such a response, and it showed.
 
Her once soaring confidence was now crash-landing.
 
And the anger on her face was equally
contorted.
 
But she did get.
 
She left.

Gemma
looked at Trina.
 
She didn’t know what to
say.
 
But Trina knew what to do.

“I’m
going to call Reno,” she said as she began to head for the stairs.
 
“I’ll be in the office.”

“Sure
thing,” Gemma said, her face like a mask of confusion.
 
She didn’t think she could ever trust a man
the way Trina trusted Reno, especially in the face of so many rumors and
allegations.
 
Not ever.

Reno
placed his hands around Grace’s waist and hoisted her up onto the
banister.
 
They were at an amusement
park, eating cotton candy and attempting to sit on a banister that overlooked a
peaceful, geese-filled lake.