by Nina Barrett
“Oh, Sis. I’m so sorry. This is heartbreaking. Ed and I were at the hotel when the skies opened last night. We decided to come down today and see what the story was. Things are at sixes and sevens with the convention. The Cote d’Azur has power, but, of course, not everyone is staying there.”
Rosemary’s friend, Ed, stepped up beside her, laying a hand on her shoulder as her sister looked at him. “The weather service called it a hundred years’ storm and it looks like that’s about right.”
“I hate for you to see the shop this way. It used to look a lot better. Something we were proud of.” Cinna waved a limp hand.
“I know, Sis. Mom and Dad were really impressed when they were out here and you’ve been remodeling too.”
Hm, not really.
“Well, that was then. Right now I’m just taking a look at the situation. I don’t know where Magdalena is. I hope she didn’t get stranded somewhere. I was sorting through things in the back and throwing most of it away. That’s where our kitchen and pantries are.”
“It looks like the storm surge came up about three feet.” Ed paused as the lights flickered on briefly before going out again.
“Maybe they’re making progress. Once you get your power back and the fans going, things will start to dry out in this desert heat.”
“If you have some more rubber gloves, we can help you, Cinna,” her sister offered.
“No, really. I don’t know how much I’m going to do today. Just more or less putter around. You didn’t come to Vegas to deal with this mess.”
“Oh, this could be our chance to be part of a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Right, Rosie?” Ed moved over to straighten a chair as the door behind him opened.
Rosemary had turned to answer him as the hanging temple bells sounded.
“Tom? Tom Marco,” her sister asked.
As if her day couldn’t get any better.
Chapter Eleven
They were staring at each other, stock-still. In jeans and an old sweatshirt, Tom probably didn’t look all that different from the college kid her sister had known back in Iowa.
“Rosemary?”
“Yes, wow!” She moved to offer her hand, smiling. “It’s been a long time.”
“I didn’t realize you were in Vegas.” Tom shook his head.
“We’ve been here a couple days. Just in time for the big flood. Ed, this is a friend of mine from college, Tom Marco.”
A friend?
“Tom, I’d like you to meet Ed Dwyer. Ed has a medical practice in Chicago where I’m living now. We’re out here for a convention at the Cote d’Azur on developing and promoting medical-related websites. We came up this morning to check on Cinna and see how she was.”
“Glad to meet you.” Ed shook hands with Tom. “Quite a city you have here. Bit different from Chicago.”
“Usually. You aren’t quite seeing it at its best. It’ll bounce back quickly though.”
“So what are you doing now? Do you live here in Vegas, Tom?” Rosemary asked.
“Yes, I do. I’m manager at the Imperial Hotel Casino, just a couple blocks over on Ogden. I moved out here after I left the army.” He was still staring at Rosemary, hands on hips.
Like most men. Nothing really changed.
“Yeah, I heard you had enlisted.”
Chat, chat, chat. Just like old home week. She shifted uncomfortably.
She must have attracted his notice. Tom tore his gaze away from Rosemary to look around.
“Looks like you took a hit too, Cinna. We’ve got power at the hotel. We managed to jerry-rig a generator to get basic services going. Some of our guests aren’t up to climbing stairs. How are you doing on cleaning? I can cut a couple people loose from the Imperial to give you a hand.”
“No!”
Rosemary turned to frown at her.
“Really, it’s no trouble. We’ve pretty much got our situation under—”
“No, no. Just. Forget it.” Her voice sounded shrill. Ed was looking at her too, his brow wrinkled. She had to get hold of herself before the whole sordid story spilled out to an audience. “I don’t need anything. I’m just sorting through things now. Mags, Mags will help when she gets in.” She shut her eyes and bit her trembling lip. The sight of him was too much to bear.
“She’s probably still at the Imperial. She and David stayed over last night,” Tom said slowly.
Of course. She’d forgotten the complementary dinner he’d offered them. It had probably been part of his scheme…to have her roommate out of the way when he brought her home. It seemed a lifetime ago now.
“David helped get things up and running last night. It was great having him there.”
Nice someone had been on hand.
“Well…if you don’t need anything.” He paused searching her face. “I guess I’ll go on back. Good seeing you again, Rosemary.”
“Sure, Tom.” Rosemary looked at her friend. “Ed, why don’t you go on with Tom? You can see this end of town and take a look at the damage. We’ll both have some stories to tell when we get back home. I’ll help Cinna out here.”
“Sure, if you don’t need me.”
“Come on. I’ll show you the Imperial, the post-flood version anyway. We’ve been open just over a year.” Tom held the door for Ed as the two men left.
“Tom Marco.” Rosemary shook her head. “Small world. I always wondered what happened to him.”
Cinna stared at her in disbelief.
“You came down on him pretty hard. What’s going on, Cinnamon? He made a special trip over here when he’s probably hip deep in mud and crud back at his hotel. Are you two dating?”
“Are you nuts? Never.”
“What’s wrong with Tom? He was a nice guy.”
“Rosemary, get real.” She couldn’t keep it together anymore. She was hanging by a thread. Her night in Tom’s bed, the flood, the shaky future of their fledgling business, the Celestial Harmony fiasco, Magdalena off somewhere with their tea scout.
“He’s horrible. That piece of trash loser! He left you up the river. He takes ad-ad-advantage of…” Hot tears exploded as she doubled over, covering her face and trying to regain control. She felt nauseated.
“Tom Marco? He was always…” Rosemary put her arms around her and guided her to a chair. Flinching, she unknotted her sweater, put it on the dirty seat, and made Cinna sit down.
“Sis, did you think he was the father of my baby? That he was the one who got me pregnant?”
Cinna straightened, fighting to regain composure. Rosemary tore a paper towel off the roller and gave it to her.
“Is that it? Is that why you’re acting so weird about him?”
“Well.” Cinna wiped her face and steadied her trembling chin. “He, he was the one you were dating, wasn’t he? I mean…”
Rosemary was shaking her head. “He wasn’t the one who got me pregnant. Don’t blame him. Oh, I had fallen for him. Any girl with a pulse would have. And he was such a nice guy. Hanging out at our house, helping Dad with those little fix-it projects he always had going, running Sage around, asking you to go places with us, eating Mom’s home-cooked meals. I should have tumbled to it earlier that it was my family he’d fallen for, not me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know he grew up in foster care. His nose is the way it is because one of his mom’s boyfriends got impatient with him and hit him with a beer bottle. Cinna, he was four years old. He just loved being part of a family. That was his attraction to me.”
Rosemary righted another chair and covered the seat with paper towels.
“Oh, I had a major crush on him. And I was ready to do the deed with him.” Her face softened and she laughed ruefully. “We never quite got to it though. At a critical moment, he started babbling about our family.”
“Our family?”
“Well, you actually. Something about that guy you ran cross-country with. How he didn’t think he was trustworthy. Not exactly the kind of thing to put a girl in the moo
d. I told him off and stomped away.”
“So you two never?”
“Never ever.”
“So…?”
“Who knocked me up?” Her sister sighed. “Blame my vanity. You remember Rob Richardson?”
Rob Richardson. The name was familiar. Rosemary watched as she wrinkled her brow trying to think.
Rob Richard…
“Mr. Richardson!”
Her sister winced.
“Mr. Richardson? Rosemary, he was our art teacher. And he was like thirty.”
“And married. As well as having that awful overbite. Yeah, it’s disgusting. I was hurting over Tom. Rob used to come into that restaurant where I was working. Staying late over a cup of coffee, talking to me about my plans after college like he really cared. One night he asked if he could drive me home. Said he and his wife had separated.” She rolled her eyes. “Turned out she was off in St. Louis taking care of her mother after she’d been injured in an accident. I guess my ego needed to believe I could attract someone.”
“Oh, Rosemary.”
“It was just a time or two, parked in his car behind the football stadium. Maybe the fact I’d been a cheerleader did something for him. Anyway, it made me grow up fast. Mom and Dad turned out to be a lot smarter than I’d given them credit for. They told me I could use the pregnancy as an excuse for the rest of my life or as a turning point to make something out of it. So I got serious. I made the decision to give my baby and me the kind of lives we both deserved. I went to Iowa City to stay with Aunt Louise until the baby came, went through with the adoption, finished college, and made a career for myself.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know if I am.” Rosemary shook her head. “I mean somewhere there’s a kid growing up with the family who loves him. He will turn thirteen this summer, hopefully with my drive, and let’s be honest, my looks, and, I guess, his father’s artistic talent. I’ve got the life I’ve worked hard for and maybe Ed.” She smiled. “He’s a good person, Cinna. I want you to get to know him. He and his ex co-parent their daughter. He knows all about my pregnancy and he’s fine with the choices I made.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“Well, it brought me where I am today, so I don’t really mind it. I’m just sorry I wasn’t more open with you. Tom didn’t love me and leave me. With his background, he couldn’t ever desert a child. I always wondered what had happened to him. When I got back from Iowa City, I tried to find him, but he’d dropped out of school. His uncle said he’d joined the army.”
Cinna drew a shaky breath, crumbling the paper towel in her hand.
“Come on, if you’ll show me where you keep the rubber gloves, we can get busy cleaning up this mess, but Sis…”
She raised her head to look at Rosemary who was evaluating her critically.
“I hear a lot of emotion about someone you call a waste of time. You know…if you’re not dating him, maybe you should.”
****
“Boss!”
Tom looked up from across the atrium where Brielle was holding the door while Ron helped maintenance workers lug the rugs out of Memories, the hotel’s gift shop. Dolores waved a hand at him as she picked her way across the muddy floor.
“How’s everything? Didn’t know if you’d make it in. Looks like you’re ready to work,” he said. His assistant manager had skipped her usual business attire in favor of a UNLV sweat suit that had seen better days.
“Oh, yeah. Streets are open now. It looks like you’ve got a good crew in here. Leon is parking the car. He’s going to lend a hand. His office is closed since it’s Sunday. No damage there, but no power either.”
“Good. It’s just basic clean up at this point. When we get this floor cleaned, I’m going to have spa services bring down their mats so we won’t keep tracking muck in again. We’ve got some private contractors coming in later to haul this mess away. Luckily, we’re not unionized because I’ve got our people doing everything.”
“The last of the carpeting is out.” Ron Caisson, breathing heavily, came over to join them. “Morning, Dolores. What do you want done with the curtains in there, Tom?”
“I don’t think it’s worth the expense of cleaning them. Just pitch them along with the carpet. Dolores, I’m going to ask you and Brielle to take a quick inventory of what we have in the gift shop. Separate what’s salvageable and what isn’t. Maybe when Leon gets here, he can help carry things out to the street for you.”
“Sure. Good to see you here, Ron. Did you have any trouble getting in?” Dolores asked.
“I came back last night when things started to go south.”
“Wow. Long night then.”
“Going to be a longer day. I’ll get started on those curtains.”
His assistant manager watched Ron return to where his crew was working.
“Well, that sounds promising,” Dolores said, her eyes widening as she looked up at him.
“Doesn’t it? He did a job and a half last night. Maybe things are beginning to turn around for him.”
“How’s Gentleman Jim doing with all this?”
“Actually, okay. Of course, he’s seen worse in his lifetime. I mean he survived the Battle of Britain, right? The Exeter Club suffered broken pipes because of the pressure so it isn’t just the ground floor that’s been affected. The wainscoting there has buckled and water got into the walk-in humidor. I’ve scheduled a senior staff meeting up in the penthouse at ten. We all need to touch base and see where we stand.”
“What’s the story on the power here?” Dolores asked. “It seemed to be out most everywhere while we were driving over.”
“We lost it just before midnight. We were able to jerry-rig the emergency generator from the construction site which has been providing power for the elevators, ventilation system, and emergency lights. I left the restaurants, bars, casino areas, and kitchens in the dark. Got a ton of spoiled food now.”
“Along with hungry guests.”
“Right. I had an automatic phone message sent to all the rooms inviting them to use the stuff in the mini-bars to tide things over until food services can set up some kind of cold buffet.”
Ron deposited a heap of draperies by the door and came over, stripping off his gloves.
“The worst of the stuff is out of Memories now, but it’s going to be a while before we can re-open for business in there.”
“At least it’s not a critical area for operations. I just want to get the worst of this stuff out of the lobby area. Take a breather, Ron. You deserve it. I’m going to get a cart and someone from security and then we’ll do the pick-ups.” He turned to Dolores. “When we lost power last night, none of the receipts were collected so the shift accounting didn’t get done. We need to collect the cash drawers from the bars, restaurants, casinos, and the employee tip drop boxes.”
“Leon!” Dolores waved at her husband as he entered, paused and looked around, shaking his head. “Okay, Tom, Leon and I will give Brielle a hand.”
He secured a cash cart and security guard and came back to the atrium. Outside the door he could see Ron smoking a cigarette with other employees. He parked the cart momentarily and checked his phone.
Delete, delete.
“Tom, quite a scene here.”
Caught off guard, he looked up. “Joe. Didn’t expect you in today. How’s everything over at your place? What’s Lotsa Slots look like?”
“The ground floor is a mess. Thirty years in Vegas and this tops it all. Most of our stuff was up high enough to keep it out of harm’s way. Thought I’d drop by and see what the story was over here. It’s Sunday. I didn’t know if you wanted me to run the regular maintenance check on your machines or not,” Joe Niemeyer said.
“No, no. That stuff’s toxic. I haven’t got anyone working over there yet. We’re still trying to get the lobby area clear so we can take care of arriving and departing guests.”
“Looks like you’ve got power. We’re still waiting on i
t over on Fremont.” The grizzled Vegas veteran shook his head.
“We were lucky to have back-up.” He watched Ron stub out his cigarette, glance his way, and turn to say something to the others. “Any word on when the grid’s going to be back up?”
“Someone told me maybe noon when I called in about it.”
“Well, thanks for showing up, but go take care of your own place. We can probably delay maintenance on our machines for a while. Hopefully, we’ll get the Imperial up and running before too long.”
“Just give me a call when you need me. I have the feeling business all along Fremont is going to be down this week.”
Ron rejoined him as their security guard pushed the cart into the Memories Gift Shop.
“Didn’t expect to see our slots tech in today. Guess he doesn’t expect any business at his place.”
“It was probably curiosity as much as anything. It’s not like he doesn’t have plenty to do at his store. I’m hoping at our staff meeting we can get a timeline hammered out for cleanup and restoring services. Ladies, how’s it going?”
Dolores straightened up from behind a counter and rolled her eyes. “We’re probably looking at a ninety percent loss here, Tom. Sweatshirts, T-shirts, calendars. You name it. Most of that stuff was down low where the surge of the water got to it. Even the plastic coverings didn’t protect the merchandise.”
“It wouldn’t be worth the cost to sanitize it all. We’ll dump it and take the write-off. Brielle, what’s the story back there?”
Ron’s assistant was holding the storeroom door for Leon.
“Better, the shot glasses, mugs, poker chips, and jewelry came through okay. But the stuff in boxes—playing cards, baccarat sets—all that’s a loss.”
Dolores rested against the wall and crossed her arms.
“It’s going to take a while to re-order and restock, Tom.”
“Right.” He turned on the register and used his key to unlock it. “At least it’s not a primary area for operations. Ron and I are making the rounds. We’ll be back in accounting when we’re done if you need us. Otherwise, Gentleman Jim’s at ten.”
“I’ll be ready for a break.” He heard a sigh as Dolores knelt behind the counter again.
