He smiled. “Not hard. Just not commonly known. Mrs. Gabrini, I’m impressed.”
“Impressed? All it means is that once upon a time I had no life at all and spent most of my weekends, not painting the town, but watching old shows on Nick at Nite.”
He laughed.
“Sit down, please,” she said, and they both sat down. “And please, no formalities. Call me Katrina.”
“Thank you. And Garry, please,” he added.
After the waitress came over and gave Trina her coffee, asked if he wanted anything to drink or eat (he did not), they began talking shop.
“It’s my understanding you’re interested in perhaps investing in Champagne’s via our brand-new franchise model,” Trina said.
“Yes, that’s right. I am interested. But I’m not so sure now that I’ve seen you in person.”
Trina frowned. How could she have blown it already? “What do you mean?” she asked him.
“You’re such a beautiful, alluring woman I’m not sure if I can focus enough around you to partner with you.”
“You need to quit,” Trina said with a dismissive wave of her well-manicured hand. But she was smiling nonetheless.
“Don’t mind me,” Garry said. “You’re married, and I respect boundaries. But I’m not married,” he said with a smile, “and if you have any inklings just let me know.”
Trina laughed. “I have no inklings, alright? So that’s off the table.”
Garry smiled. “Can’t fault a brother for trying,” he said.
And then they got down to business like the business people that they were. Trina explained in great detail the entire concept, their licensing model, how they plan to expand in the coming months. And he was interested. He asked pointed questions and listened carefully to her responses. All of the joking around was completely gone. And he was a prudent businessman, she decided, because, even after all of her flowery words and optimistic pitch, he appeared to be nowhere near ready to pull the trigger.
“What can I do to get you there?” Trina asked him.
Garry thought about the question. “I understand you’re be in Florida next month for a full-blown presentation.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact. We have thirty franchisees already signed up. I plan to split the conference into two sessions, each two days long and each with fifteen franchisees in attendance so that I can have more one-on-one time with them. This will be our first gathering to discuss all of their questions and concerns.”
“Perhaps I’ll come down and see what they have to say,” Garry said. “If the nightmares are minimal, you may very well have me on board. But we’ll see.”
“What exactly will you being on board look like?” Trina asked him.
“Your partner said you were looking at licensing fifty franchises by year’s end.”
“That’s right.”
He nodded. “Something like that,” he said.
Trina smiled. “Fifty of your own?”
“At least, yes,” Garry said. “Make no mistake about it, Katrina, when I go in, I go in big. All the way. But we’ll see,” he said as he stood.
Trina stood too. She didn’t expect such a quick meeting. “You don’t have any additional questions?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “But too many. I’m here in Kingman to open up a strip mall. It’s ribbon-cutting day. My attendance is needed.”
Trina smiled and extended her hand. “Thanks for meeting with me,” she said. “Hopefully we can work something out.”
“I hope so too, Katrina,” he said as he shook her hand and placed his second hand on top of hers. “We’re going to make our dreams come true,” he said, “doing it our way.”
Trina shook her head. “That line is from the theme song of Laverne and Shirley,” she said.
Garry smiled. “You caught it again,” he said excitedly.
“You are really obsessed with that show, aren’t you?”
He laughed.
“Do I need to order a mental health evaluation before we close any deals?” Trina asked.
Garry laughed even livelier. “I would hope not,” he said. “But anything is possible, Katrina. I guess that is what I am trying to convey.”
Trina didn’t realize that they were still holding hands until she felt a slight rub of his thumb. She removed her hand from his. “I’ll email your office the meeting time and place for the Florida conferences,” she said. “Would you prefer to be in the first group, or the second?”
“I’ll surprise you,” he said. “How about that?”
And with that, he made his way out of the diner.
Trina smiled, and sat back down. What a nice, easygoing guy, she thought, as she watched him walk to his car. She watched him drive away. She watched him until he was clean out of sight.
CHAPTER FOUR
Trina, back in Vegas after her morning in Arizona, looked at her stepson with reassurance in her eyes. He was concerned, and rightly so, but she didn’t see where wild speculation was doing him any good. “It could go a number of ways, Jimmy,” she said. “You’re only making it worse.”
But Jimmy Mack Gabrini, Reno’s oldest child from a previous relationship, couldn’t repress his anxiety. “You know how Dad can be,” he said. “He’s overreacting. Why else would he make me come to Vegas in the middle of a work week? I’m not doing as bad a job as he’s claiming. It’s not that bad.”
Trina understood his anxiety. Running Reno’s east coast operations was a dream come true for Jimmy. But she also knew he needed to calm down. “Quit worrying,” she said. “Have rational responses for his questions, not emotional ones, or you won’t stand a chance.” She rubbed his back. “Just settle down,” she said.
Jimmy leaned back and let out a long exhale. They were seated in a booth at the Barker Lounge inside his father’s hotel. The lounge didn’t open for another hour, and therefore only a handful of staff were roaming around. He and his stepmother were sitting side by side. Trina was always his support, the person he turned to, in times like these.
He looked at her. She was the ideal woman to him, somebody tough as nails but also sensitive enough to understand a complicated young man like him. She “got” him, when nobody else seemed to have a clue. When Trina returned his stare, he went there. “What has he told you, Ma?” he asked. “He tells you everything.”
Trina looked at Jimmy as if he had lost his mind. “He what? Your father doesn’t tell me shit half the time. Where did you get that from?”
“Let’s put it this way,” Jimmy said. “He tells you more than he tells anybody else. Except maybe Uncle Tommy.” Tommy Gabrini and Reno weren’t just first cousins, they were best friends.
“I don’t know what his decision might be,” Trina said bluntly. “I’m as in the dark as you are. All I know is he ordered a review. That’s all he told me. What the review was about, how extensive it was, and what the findings were? Your guess is as good as mine.”
Jimmy exhaled again. He hated to hear that. He knew for a fact that if his father kept things from his stepmother, it usually meant because the things he was keeping from her were bad. “Thanks, anyway,” he said, “for coming to this meeting with me. And thanks for telling Dad to have it here in the lounge rather than in his office. He’s always so stern and uncompromising when he’s in his office.”
Trina smiled. Reno was that way when he wasn’t in his office, too, but she didn’t tell Jimmy that. He was worried enough.
She decided to change the subject. “How’s Val?” she asked.
Jimmy slouched down in his seat, as if just the mention of his estranged wife’s name weighed him down. “Okay, I guess.”
Trina looked at him. “What’s that supposed to mean, Jimmy?”
“She’s okay. I guess. She lives in Vegas where you live. I’m all the way in New Hampshire. You’d know more about how she’s doing than I would.”
“Has she allowed you to see Madison on a regular basis?”
“Yeah, Ma, you know
I’m not going to let her keep me from my daughter. Any time I want to see Maddie, anytime, she lets me get her.”
“And when you get your daughter, you don’t ask how her mother is doing?”
Jimmy shook his head. “Not really, no,” he said. “She’s doing her thing, and I’m doing mine. I don’t wanna know what she’s up to. I’m tired of the drama whenever we’re around each other.”
Trina understood. Jimmy and Val were on again, off again more than any couple she’d ever known. Now they were off again. She wasn’t even going to ask them if it was a permanent break, because she knew it wasn’t.
And then, as if Jimmy didn’t have enough problems, his father walked in.
Jimmy immediately sat back up from his slouched position. “He’s here, Ma,” he said as if Trina was blind. “He’s here!”
“I see him, Jimmy, dang,” Trina responded. “Calm yourself down, boy. You’re only making it worse.”
Jimmy did try to regulate his breathing a little better as his father entered the lounge carrying his sunglasses and a folder in the same hand. The fact he was still carrying his shades meant he had been away from the PaLargio, which surprised Trina. She wondered where had he been. But it was the folder he was carrying that concerned Jimmy.
And Jimmy couldn’t help being nervous. He knew his father wasn’t exactly your average Dad. Reno owned the PaLargio Hotel and Casino on the Strip. He was said to be the most powerful man in Vegas. He was the son of a now deceased mob boss, and was reputed to be one himself. This was no ordinary dude he had to contend with. And on top of all of that, his father was also his employer. An employer who was none too thrilled with his work. Which was the reason for this late afternoon meeting.
Reno sat in the booth across from his wife and son. He was none too happy to be there either. Especially after finding out Trina’s whereabouts earlier that day. But business was business.
Trina could see the drain. She could see the strain in Reno’s big, blue eyes. She worried about him. He wasn’t getting enough rest, and neither was she. It sometimes felt as if they were on a collision course. She leaned back. “Did you take your blood pressure medicine, Reno?” she asked him.
Reno didn’t want to hear it.
“The doctor prescribed it, Reno.”
“Doctors. What do they know? I don’t have any blood pressure problem. I have a people problem. Get rid of people out of my life, then my problems are solved.” He looked at her. He saw the concern in her beautiful hazel eyes. “I’ll take it later,” he promised.
And then he looked at his son. “Which brings me to you,” he said.
Jimmy tried to put on his best poker face. But he looked constipated to Trina. She kicked him under the table. He exhaled and tried to relax.
Reno tossed the folder that he held in his hand over to Jimmy. Jimmy quickly opened it. “The review of my east coast hotels is over,” Reno said.
Jimmy was searching through the pages. When he didn’t see a quick conclusion to the review, he looked at his father. “And?” he asked.
“And I’m going to have to bring somebody in.”
Jimmy and Trina both stared at him. “Bring somebody in?” Jimmy asked. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll continue to work out of my New Hampshire hotel and run the day-to-day of all of the hotels. But staff decisions and operational matters, no. I’m going to have to pull that authority from you.”
Jimmy was heartbroken. “But why, Dad?”
“My margins are too tight. There’re too many personnel screw-ups. I’m not running my business that close to the edge. My New England hotels should be performing as well as my hotels in the South, if not outperforming them. But that’s not happening, Jimmy. I’m barely breaking even in your sector.”
“Which means?” Jimmy asked.
“Which means you’re dropping the ball. Which means I’ve got to get somebody in there who can improve those margins in a big motherfucking way. Far more than what I’m seeing now.”
Jimmy was crestfallen. “I work my ass off, Dad. You know I do!”
“I know you do. And you’ll continue to do so. But with some help.”
Jimmy couldn’t believe it. He knew what a demotion sounded like. “So what will my job title be going forward? Will I still be in charge?”
Reno frowned. “What are you deaf? No! You’ll be the GM. So you’ll have a lot of authority still. But I’m going to have a COO running that sector. You’ll answer to him or her.”
Jimmy shook his head. His heartbreak, as per usual with him, began to turn into anger. “You’re wrong for this, Pop,” he said.
Trina hit Jimmy’s leg under the table. Why was he always defying his father’s decisions? Hadn’t he learned anything?
And, sure enough, it was Reno’s anger that rose fastest. “I’m wrong doing what I’m doing? Did you just say that to me?” Reno frowned. “This is my fucking business I’m talking about here!” He spoke so loudly that his lounge staff looked their way. “I don’t play favorites when it comes to my business! You don’t like the terms, then to hell with you. But those are the terms.”
Jimmy was so angry he just shook his head. And then, typical Jimmy, Trina thought, he just got up and left.
Reno didn’t bother calling him back. He knew his son needed to digest the news and to cool off before he got his head bashed in.
He looked at Trina. “I guess you’re angry with me too,” he said.
Trina shook her head. “No,” she said. “You have to do what’s best for the business.”
Reno took solace in knowing she understood.
“Hopefully, you’ll pick somebody Jimmy can learn from,” she added.
“I thought he was learning from me,” Reno said. “That’s why I gave him this opportunity. But after he hired those jokers that tried to take out Big Daddy Sinatra and his family, I realized just how over his head Jimmy really is.”
“That’s why you called for the top to bottom review?” Trina asked.
“Exactly why,” Reno said. “I had to see if my suspicion was right. I had to see if the numbers bore me out. And they did. Barely breaking even, Tree? I can’t have that! Jimmy’s dropping the ball. He’s got the wrong people in the wrong positions and still too many of his friends in my organization. I told him I don’t play that friend shit, but he still isn’t listening.”
Trina exhaled. “Oh, well,” she said, sliding across the seat, “he’ll come around. I’ll check on him later. But don’t expect him not to feel some kind of way, Reno. He really wanted to be successful in New England. He really wanted to do it right.”
She leaned over and kissed Reno on the cheek. But Reno pulled her back and kissed her hard on the mouth. They both closed their eyes and soaked in the wonderful feelings of their tongues interlacing. Even in the midst of their problems, they still turned each other on mightily.
But when they stopped kissing, and Reno looked at her, Trina could tell something more was at work here than mere passion. Trina could tell Reno was pissed. “Where are you headed now?” he asked her.
“Back to work,” she said. Her mouth was within an inch of his. He was still gripping her arm. She had no choice but to stay bent down to him.
“Busy today?” he asked her.
“A little bit.”
“How was Arizona?” Reno asked this and looked at her hard to gauge her reaction. And, to his dismay, she did react. He did see a flash of guilt cross her expressive, hazel eyes.
Trina had to give an extra pull away to get out of Reno’s grasp and stand erect. She didn’t realize he knew about her trip to Kingman. “I thought you said you wasn’t going to have your flunkies spying on me anymore, Reno.”
“Nobody’s spying on you,” Reno said, and then studied her beautiful face. “Do they need to be?”
Trina frowned. “No. Course not. Why would you say something like that?”
Reno knew the game. He was a master at it. That was the kind of question you asked when you wante
d to know how much your partner knew. “What were you doing there?” he asked.
“I had a meeting,” Trina said.
“PaLargio-related?”
“If it had anything to do with the PaLargio I would have told you, Reno. You know that. It was about a new licensing model we’re launching at Champagne’s. Little over an hour to get there, same to get back. It was just a meeting. It wasn’t worth mentioning.”
“It wasn’t worth mentioning but you drove all the way to Kingman for it? Yeah, right. No big deal.”
Trina stared at Reno. “I don’t like the tenor of your voice,” she said.
Reno stood up quickly, angrily. They were toe to toe. “And I don’t like to hear from some fucking secretary that my wife is out of town!”
They both settled back down, with Trina looking around to make sure they weren’t feeding the gossip mill for their employees. The employees were listening like hawks, but were pretending to not be listening at all; to be busy as bees.
“I better never again have to learn from a secretary that my wife is out of town,” Reno said firmly to Trina.
“It was just a quick meeting, Reno, okay? What are you getting all bent out of shape about? I was back before noon!”
“I don’t care if you were back in an hour! You pick up the phone and tell me when you’re going out of state! Just because I pulled security doesn’t mean you don’t have a responsibility to keep your ass secure.”
Then he frowned. “How do you think I felt when I went to your office? Here I am thinking my wife is upstairs working, like she told me she was going to be, but instead her ass in Arizona? That better not happen again, Katrina. I mean that. My business responsibilities are fifty times what yours are and even I don’t pull that shit. You aren’t going to pull it either!”
“Okay, Reno, I get it,” Trina said as she grabbed her purse from the table. “You don’t have to talk to me like I’m some child.”
“Then stop acting like one.”
Trina frowned. “Ah, fuck you,” she said.
“Fuck you!” Reno shot back.
Trina brushed past him and hurried out of the Barker Lounge. She was mad as hell, but immediately regretted arguing with her husband. It always depressed her spirit when they argued.
Reno Gabrini: I'm Losing You Page 3
