Reno and Trina: In the Shadows of Love, Book 12 (19 page)

Three Weeks Later

Buddy
Wellstone flipped steaks on one grill, and ribs and chicken on the other grill
as he and Reno drank beer and talked, and Dommi and Sophie ran around the small
backyard as if they were having the time of their lives.

“I thought
you were supposed to help,” Buddy said as he grilled.

“I am
helping,” Reno said, as he stood beside Buddy on the patio of Jimmy and Val’s
small Vegas home.
 
“I’m watching the
kids.”

Buddy
laughed.
 
“I mean help me cook, you know
what I mean.”

“Cook?
 
Me?
 
You got the wrong one, Buddy.”
 
Buddy laughed.
 
“I haven’t cooked
since 1989.
 
And everybody who ate
whatever it was I cooked were rushed to the hospital.”

Buddy
laughed, took a swig of his can of beer that sat on the grill stand, and
continued to tend to his meat.

“I’m just
thrilled we’re going to get some real food,” Reno said.
 
“Val and Jimmy eat like birds.”

“Especially
Val,” Buddy said.
 
“I specifically asked
her what did she want for her return meal, thinking she was going to say, ‘oh,
Daddy, you know what I like. Salad, salad, and more salad.
 
But oh, no.
 
Not my baby girl.
 
She said she
wanted ribs, and chicken, and steaks, and I’m like, damn!
 
You’re talking my language now!”

“I know
that’s right!” Reno said.
 
“Salad.
 
I don’t even like that sound of that name.”

“I’m glad
you were able to come, Reno,” Buddy said.

“I don’t
know how glad Val will be.
 
She get so
stiff every time I’m around.”

“Ah, she’s
just afraid of you,” Buddy said as if it was no big deal.

“What is she
scared of?” Reno asked.
 
“I’m not going
to harm her.”

“It’s not
that.
 
You’re just an in-your-face kind
of guy, Reno.
 
She’s not used to
that.
 
Don’t take it personally?”

“Well I
can’t take it as a group.
 
I have to take
it personally.”
 
Then Sophie cried out
after falling on her butt again, and Reno moved from around the grill and
pointed his finger at Dommi.
 
“You pull
that shit one more time boy and I’m going to kick your ass, you understand me?”

“What did I
do?” Dommi played dumb.

But Sophia
didn’t.
 
“He pushed me,” she said.

“Push her down
again,” Reno warned him.

But Dommi
had his own take on events.
 
“This
backyard so tiny, Daddy,” he said, “it’s like running around in a room!”

“Push her
down again,” Reno repeated, “and I’ll run you around a room alright.
 
I’ll run you around real good.
 
You want that?”

Dommi shook
his head.
 
“No, sir.”
 
Then he helped his baby sister up.
 
“I wish it was like before,” he said.
 
“That’s what I want.”

Buddy looked
at him. “You wish what was like before?”

“I wish it
was like it was after I got back from the kidnapping place.”

Buddy began
grinning.

“I got
anything I wanted,” Dommi said.
 
“I got
away with anything I wanted.”

“So what are
you saying, boy?” Reno asked.
 
“You want
to be kidnapped again?
 
Because I can
arrange it.”

Dommi smiled
and began shaking his head.
 
“Never,
never, never ever again,” he said.

Buddy
laughed.
 
Reno smiled too.
 
“That’s more like it.
 
Now stop living in the past and treat your
sister right.”

“Yes, sir,”
Dommi said, and he and Sophia were off and running around again.

Reno heard a
car pull up on the driveway.
 
“I think
they’re here,” he said.

Buddy turned
his meats one more time, closed the grill tops, as Reno rounded up his
children.

“They’re
here,” he yelled, and Dommi took Sophia by the hand and ran with her to the
patio.
 
Buddy picked up Sophia and headed
inside the house, but Reno stopped Dommi and pulled him back.

“What did I
do?” Dommi asked: his usual refrain.

Reno knelt
down to his son.
 
“You didn’t do anything
wrong,” he said.
 
“I saw the way you took
your sister’s hand just now and helped her to the patio.
 
I wanted to thank you again for how you
protected your sister from those bad guys that day.”

“I told her
to stay under the bed no matter what.”

“That’s
right, and that was exactly the right thing to do.
 
You’re a hero in my book.
 
You know why?”

“Yes,
sir.
 
Because heroes look out for the
ladies and the babies first.”

“That’s
right.
 
You always make sure your sister
and mommy are safe before you do anything else.”

“And then
you find a weapon,” Dommi said.

Reno hated that
his so-young son had to know about weapons, but he had to.
 
He frowned and patted Dommi’s stomach.
 
“That’s right, son,” he said.
 
“Then you find a weapon.”

  
“When are you going to teach me how to
shoot, Daddy?
 
I know boys younger than I
am and they go hunting with their daddies and they know how to shoot a
rifle.
 
I can’t even shoot a gun.”

“Lord have
mercy,” Reno couldn’t help but say.
 
The
idea of his son with a gun terrified even him.
 
Dommi might gun down everybody in sight just to see what would
happen.
 
“Get up,” he would say after
shooting everybody.
 
“Why won’t y’all get
up?”

“Let’s go
say hey to Auntie Val,” Reno said instead, and Dommi, remembering why they were
having this cookout in the first place, took off running.
 
Reno wiped his forehead with the back of his
hand as if he just dodged a bullet.
 

When he made
his way through the sliding glass door, through the kitchen, and into the
living room, Jimmy was holding Val’s hand as she walked gingerly to her
sofa.
 
When she sat down, she reached for
Sophia.
 
Buddy sat the little girl on her
lap.

“You look
wonderful, baby girl,” Buddy said to Val as Reno arrived.
 
“Don’t she look good, Reno?”

“She looks
great,” Reno said with a smile and moved over and kissed her on the cheek.
 
Jimmy could see Val blush.
 
“Welcome home,” Reno said to her.

“Thank-you,”
Val responded.

“Why do you
walk so slow?” Dommi asked her.
 
“I can
walk way faster than you.”

Jimmy looked
at his baby brother.
 
“Get a bullet
through your brain and see how fast you walk then,” he snapped.

“James!”
Reno warned.
 
“Don’t give him any ideas.”

Buddy
laughed.

“Where’s
Ma?” Val asked.

“She’ still
at Champagne’s finishing up,” Reno said.
 
“She and Gemma are still there. But they should be on their way soon.”

“They’re
alone?” Val asked.
 
She was still
traumatized by events and Jimmy knew it.
 
He placed an arm around her waist.

“Sal’s with
them.
 
He’s on guard duty tonight.”

“Oh, good,”
Val said, smiling.
 
“That’s alright
then.”

“Sal’s back
in town?” Buddy asked.
 
“Man, am I behind
the times.
 
I thought he and Gemma were
still in Japan.”

“They been
back,” Reno said.
 
“And Sal still won’t
let me forget the fact that I didn’t call him and Tommy as soon as it all went
down.”

“Those
kidnappers said they would harm you-know-who if you called them.”

“I told him
that,” Reno agreed.
 
“But you know
Sal.
 
I should have found a way.”

“I don’t
know how,” Buddy said.
 
“It was handled
in less than twenty-four hours.”

“But you
know Sal,” Reno said again.
 
“If he can
find a way to be pissed with me, he’ll find it.”

They all
laughed, including Val, whose only ill effect of her ordeal were headaches,
which the doctor said should go away soon too.

“Let me get
back to my meat,” Buddy said, hurrying back toward the patio.

“Smells
delicious,” Val said.
 
“I can’t wait!”

Reno shook
his head.
 
“And here I was thinking you
were a, what-you-call those people, Jimmy?
 
A vegetation?”

Val covered
her mouth with laughter.
 
Jimmy shook his
head.
 
“A vegan, Dad.
 
A vegetarian.”

“Right,
that,” Reno said.
 
Jimmy started laughing
too.
 
“What?
 
What’s so funny?”

“Yeah,”
Dommi asked.
 
“What’s so funny?”

Then he and
Reno looked at each other.
 
Reno shook
his head.
 
“That brother of yours,” he
said.

Dommi shook
his head too. “That brother of mine,” he agreed.

“You gals
ready?” Sal asked again as he looked at his Rolex again.
 
“I don’t want to hear Reno’s mouth.”

“We’re just
about there,” Gemma said as she and Trina were shutting down the last two of
their registers.
 

But then
knocks were heard on the door.

“Nope, we’re
closed,” Sal said, as he sliced one of his fingers across his throat as if that
was the symbol for
closed
.

When Trina
looked up and saw who it was that had knocked on the locked store door, she
frowned.
 
“What does she want?” she said
aloud.

Sal looked
at Trina.
 
“You know her?”

“That’s Amy
Shumer, Sal.
 
She used to work for
Reno.
 
I’m positive you saw her around
his office before.
 
She was his
right-hand woman.”

Sal looked
at her again.
 
“Oh, right.
  
Her.
 
Yeah, I remember her ass.
 
The
troublemaker.”

“That’s the
one.”

“I thought
you told her you didn’t believe her lies about Reno.”

“I did tell
her.”

You wanna
see what she wants?” Sal asked.

“No,” Trina
said.
 
“But I’ve got a feeling I’d
better.
 
Let her in, Sal.”

“Looks like
she’s becoming a stone unturned,” Sal said as he began heading for the
door.
 
“Reno’s slipping.
 
He should have handled this a long time ago.”

“He did
handle it,” Trina said.
 
“I thought I had
too when I told her I wasn’t hiring her.”

“Well she
apparently didn’t believe you,” Sal said, as he began unlocking the door.
 
“But if she tries any bullshit tonight, I
guarantee you she’ll believe me.”

“Hello,
Sal,” Amy said when he opened the door.

“You know me
like that?” Sal asked her.

She
smiled.
 
She wasn’t about to get into it
with the likes of him.
 
“I need to speak
with Mrs. Gabrini.”

“Why you
wait until closing time to show up?”

“I just got
off.
 
I had to work the day shift.”

“The
what
shift?” Sal asked.

“May I come
in?” she asked.

Sal looked
around the parking lot.
 
Then he let her in
and locked the door back.
 
But he
remained behind her as she walked up to the counter.
 
Trina and Gemma walked from behind the
counter and up to Amy.

“What is it,
Aim?” Trina asked her.