Reno and Son: Don't Mess with Jim (The Mob Boss Series) Read online

  “Good. I wouldn’t want her to marry somebody like that either. But since I’m not marrying her, what difference does it make?”

  “What my Dad is trying to say,” Jimmy felt a need to explain, “is that I’m not involved with whatever he may have going on. Which isn’t anything, really, because he’s not a mob boss or anything like that.”

  “But his father, your grandfather, was a mob boss,” Buddy said.

  Enough of this, Reno decided. He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “Look, Mr. Wellstone, either your daughter wants to be with my son, or she doesn’t. But if you think for a second that I’m going to sit here and pretend she’s hooked up with the Brady Bunch, you can forget that. The Gabrinis are not the Bradys. Never was and never will be. But if she wants an honest young man with a great future ahead of him, then Jimmy’s her man. If she wants an everyday Joe with everyday parents, then he’s not the one for her. It’s as simple as that.”

  Buddy stared at Reno. What amazed him was how blunt the man was. There wasn’t a slick bone in this man’s body. He was even upfront about his connections. Buddy could appreciate a man who didn’t bow just to con somebody. He didn’t appreciate the connections, and he was still wary of his daughter getting mixed up in a family like this one, but at least he heard it straight.

  He stood up, prompting Reno, Jimmy and Val to stand too. “I know you’re a busy man,” he said, extending his hand. “I’ll get out of your way.”

  Reno shook his hand. “They’ll be fine, Mr. Wellstone. Young people always are.”

  Buddy nodded and said his goodbyes, but Reno could still see that doubt. He could also see the dread all over Jimmy’s face.

  And sure enough, within minutes of their departure, Jimmy returned to Reno’s office overwhelmed with dread. Reno was seated behind his desk, talking quietly with one of his female staffers, when Jimmy walked in.

  Reno looked beyond the young lady, who was around the desk standing next to him. “I thought I’d see you again,” he said as Jimmy walked up to the desk. Reno then looked at the young lady. “Give me a few minutes,” he said.

  “Yes, sir,” she said, she spoke to Jimmy, and then she left. There were still about ten people in the office, working the phones regarding some big project, but at least he had his father’s attention.

  “I don’t get it,” he said.

  “You don’t get what?”

  “How could you say that to Mr. Wellstone? You know how people feel about the Mafia and all of that mob stuff.”

  Reno smiled. “Mob stuff? Get a load of you!”

  “But Dad!”

  “Don’t but, Dad me! I’m not lying to that man! Her daughter needs to understand what marrying you will mean, Jimmy, if that’s where it’s headed. You’ve done a lousy-ass job telling her apparently, given all of her sensibilities, but you need to lay it on the line just like I did. They can take it or leave it, but at least it won’t come as any shock to anybody after the fact. We are who we are. And we ain’t the Huxtables. I told them so. I told them the truth. So what is it that I did wrong? Tell me that?”

  Jimmy felt as if he was making a mountain out of a molehill. Because his father was right. His face betrayed his anguish. “I just don’t want to lose her,” he admitted.

  Reno stared at his son. “You won’t lose her,” he said.

  Jimmy needed that hope. “What makes you so sure about that?”

  “Because I know women. Val isn’t going anywhere.”

  Jimmy frowned. “How can you be so sure about that?”

  “It’ll be a cold day in hell before that woman gives you up. You hear me? You’re smart, you’re talented, you have a big heart. And you have gold between your legs, son, like every Gabrini man. Big, juicy gold. She’s not giving that up,” Reno added confidently.

  Jimmy laughed and shook his head. Leave it to his old man, he thought. It would take more than Gabrini gold to keep a girl like Val around, and he knew it. But he also knew that it certainly couldn’t hurt.

  EIGHT

  “A peace offering,” Reno said as he stood in front of the bedroom mirror and tied his tie. “That’s all this is.”

  “Call it whatever you want,” Trina said, as she sat in front of Reno at the same mirror and applied her makeup. “But Jimmy’s concerned.”

  “He’s always concerned. What else is new?”

  “He doesn’t want to lose her, Reno.” Trina looked at him through the mirror. “He loves Val.”

  Reno exhaled. Then he nodded his head. “Yeah, I know. But I don’t see how I ruined that for him.”

  “Jimmy sees it.”

  “How? Because I told the truth? That man wasn’t going to fall for my bullshit. He wanted the truth and I gave it to him. If Val is the kind of gal that’ll listen to her father more than her own heart, then to hell with her. Jimmy doesn’t need that kind of woman anyway.”

  Trina looked at Reno. She could see right through all of that bluster. He was just as scared that he blew it for Jimmy as Jimmy was. Maybe even more so. He so wanted Jimmy to find true love. “Anyway,” Trina said, standing up. “We’d better get going. For once, let’s be on time.”

  Jimmy and Val sat quietly at the table inside the small restaurant. The overhead music, of Kim Carnes singing Bette Davis Eyes, wasn’t exactly to their taste, but it provided the only real energy in the half-filled space. Val immediately doubted her choice, and Jimmy could see her distress.

  He placed his hand on top of her hand. “It’s fine, Val. I like it.”

  “But will your parents like it? It isn’t anything fancy.”

  “They don’t want fancy. Ma said for you to pick a restaurant you liked. And you have.” Jimmy looked around. “It’s perfect.”

  Val smiled. “You’re just being a gentleman, aren’t you?”

  Jimmy smiled and removed his hand. “Okay, it’s lousy,” he said and she laughed. “But it’s our lousy. They get fancy all day long. They can use a little downhome every now and then.”

  Val nodded and lifted her drink. “Agreed,” she said.

  Jimmy watched her as she took a sip. When she finished her sip, he exhaled. “So,” he said, “what did your father say?”

  Val didn’t respond.

  “Come on, I can take it.”

  “He said he appreciated Mr. Gabrini’s honesty.”

  “And?”

  Val looked at Jimmy. “He said if I know what’s good for me I’ll get as far away from you as fast as I can.”

  Jimmy’s heart dropped. “He said that?”

  “He said that.”

  “But my dad’s connections have nothing to do with me. Why is he blaming me?”

  “For some strange reason he thinks you and your father are extremely close. I told him you weren’t, but he doesn’t believe me.”

  Jimmy felt that he and Reno were extremely close, so he didn’t understand why Val wouldn’t, but that wasn’t the issue anyway. “Whether we’re close or not has nothing to do with anything. My father runs one of the largest hotels and casinos in Vegas. He knows a lot of people. He has connections to a lot of people. But I’m not my father. I would have thought your dad was smart enough to understand that.”

  He could tell Val didn’t like him insinuating that her father wasn’t smart, but he didn’t care. Buddy Wellstone couldn’t possibly be the brightest bulb in the box if he thought a father’s connections automatically translated into a son’s connections.

  “He loves me,” Val said, “and he’s looking out for me.”

  “By telling you to stay away from me? You call that looking out?”

  “Put yourself in his shoes, Jimmy. Your grandfather was a mob boss. Your father owns a casino, which, I mean let’s face it, has had its mob issues too. Your father is reputed to be a mob boss himself.”

  That sounded ridiculous to Jimmy. “A mob boss? My Dad?”

  “Don’t pretend you’ve never heard that before, Jimmy. There are some people around here who would declare up and down tha
t your father took over when his father was killed.”

  “I don’t care what they declare. People lie on people all the time. But it’s not true, Val. Just because people say it’s true doesn’t make it true.”

  Val stared at Jimmy. “I know that. That’s why,” she added, taking Jimmy’s hand, “I told my father what he could do with his suggestion.”

  Jimmy stared at her.

  “I told my father that I love you very much, that I want this to work between us very much, and that you’re your own man and will live your life your own way. I told him I wasn’t kicking you to any curbs, so he could forget that. It wasn’t happening.”

  Jimmy continued to stare at her. “And what did he say?”

  Val smiled. “He said good. It’s about time I grew a pair.”

  Jimmy frowned. “What?”

  “Just kidding,” Val said. “But I’d bet that’s what your father would have said.”

  Jimmy laughed. “For real though. But really, what did yours say?”

  Val exhaled. “He told me he loved me, and to be careful. And I told him that I always am.”

  Jimmy leaned closer to her and kissed her on the lips. “I love you, girl,” he said.

  “I love you more,” she said.

  And just like that the ice was broken. Jimmy was relaxed again, and Val was pleased again. They had both suffered after their fathers met, each with their own doubts, but now it felt as if they’d turned a corner. Jimmy would make it up to Mr. Wellstone. He’d do everything in his power to prove the man wrong. But right now, tonight, it was all about Val. Trina told him that if he made this night all about his woman, then he couldn’t go wrong. Since Trina never gave him bad advice, he decided to take it.

  He kissed her again, and began to give her several small kisses as the music changed, from Bette Davis Eyes to the Bee Gees singing How Deep Is Your Love, which caused Jimmy to grin. “Damn, girl,” he said. “The Bee Gees? Really? You sure Mr. Wellstone didn’t pick this place to sabotage us?”

  Val hit Jimmy hard, and they both laughed. But the music was a hit inside the restaurant. The dance floor began to fill up.

  After about ten more minutes of laughter and kisses, Val, who was looking out of the window, noticed a Porsche drive up to the restaurant’s main entrance, apparently realized there was no Valet service at a place like this, and then drove into the restaurant’s parking lot. “Is that them?”

  Jimmy looked out of the window too. When he saw the car, he nodded. “That’s them.” He looked at his watch. “On time for a change.”

  He and Val watched as Reno stepped out of the car in shirtsleeves, grabbed his dark brown suit coat out of the backseat, put it on, and then walked around and opened the passenger door for Trina.

  Trina stepped out too, in a form-fitting blue dress, and then she and Reno began heading toward the entrance.

  Val was always impressed with Mrs. Gabrini’s style. She never overdid it. Her clothes were never excessively tailored or bedazzled with jewels and frilliness, but were often so simple that they screamed elegance. Like tonight. Her dress had nothing but a nice shape to recommend it, but it fit oh-so-perfectly along her curves. She wore understated white pearls around her neck, and carried a small red clutch that complimented her gray, with a streak of red, stilettos. And the way Reno placed his hand in the small of her back, as if he wanted the world to know that she belonged to him, warmed Val’s heart. That was what she wanted too. A man who would love her like that. Although Jimmy showed some signs many times, he was not nearly as affectionate as Reno was. But that’ll change, she thought mischievously, as she looked at Jimmy while he continued to look at his parents.

  Jimmy was just as impressed with them as Val was. More so even, if he was to be honest about it. Despite men like Buddy Wellstone who would always view Reno as some immoral gangster who went around wreaking havoc on innocent people, he loved that Reno was his father. He loved his strength and his honesty. He loved the fact that, whenever he was in trouble and needed him, he dropped everything to help him. Buddy Wellstone could kiss Jimmy’s ass if he thought for a second that he would disown his father or feel embarrassed by his father’s actions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jimmy loved Reno so much that he sometimes wondered if there was a human being alive that he could love more. He loved Val, and he of course loved Trina dearly, but Reno was in a different category from even them. That was why Reno infuriated him more than anybody else. That was why Reno aggravated him more than anybody else. That was why Reno’s approval, more than anybody else’s, meant the world to Jimmy.

  And the way Reno cherished Trina. That was a plus in his favor too, as far as Jimmy was concerned. As his parents entered the restaurant, and began heading toward the table, and Reno was watching the men who were giving Trina that extra look, Jimmy smiled. Although Reno loved and cherished his wife, Jimmy sometimes felt that Reno didn’t always treat her right, mainly because he was a little too familiar with the ladies, but that didn’t mean Reno would tolerate any stuff from any man alive when it came to Tree. Not even a too-friendly look would he tolerate. Which was so hypocritical that it wasn’t even funny to Jimmy. But that was his Dad.

  “Hey you two,” Trina said jovially as they arrived at the table. Val and Jimmy stood up, and Val and Trina embraced. Reno and Jimmy also gave each other a hug.

  “I’m stunned you’re on time,” Jimmy said to him.

  “What stunned? I’m always on time, are you kidding?”

  Jimmy knew Reno had to be kidding himself, and that fact was proven when Reno smiled and winked. Jimmy smiled too. “As I said: I’m stunned you’re on time.”

  “Hi, Mr. Gabrini,” Val said and she and Reno gave each other a one-arm hug. After Trina and Jimmy gave each other a brisk hug, they all sat back down.

  “You two look so cute together,” Trina said with a smile.

  “Thank-you,” Val responded. “You and Mr. Gabrini look . . . cute too.”

  Jimmy laughed. “Dad, she says you’re cute.”

  “Puppies are cute,” Reno said, although he did have a smile on his face. “There’s nothing cute about me.”

  “Then speak for yourself,” Trina said. “Thank-you, Valerie. I’ll take a compliment any way I can get it.”

  And the conversation continued on that superficial path even after they ordered drinks and placed their dinner orders, even after their dinners arrived. Reno, Trina, and Jimmy had a scrumptious seafood tray, while Val had a salad.

  Reno looked at her plate when it arrived, and then looked at her. “What are you on some sort of diet?”

  “No, sir, I actually like salads.”

  Reno was amazed. “You like salads? Who the fuck likes salads? It’s just a bunch of roughage.” Jimmy gave his father an angry look, and Trina knocked Reno’s knee beneath the table. “But if that’s what you like,” Reno added, realizing his lack of tact, “then good for you.”

  Val smiled, but kept on eating.

  “So what’s up with you two?” Trina asked them. “Set a date yet?”

  “No,” Jimmy said, amazed that Trina would go there.

  “It’s been almost two years, hasn’t it?”

  “Almost a year-and-a-half,” Val said.

  “So what are you waiting on, Jimmy?” Reno asked. “Retirement? Waiting for your Medicare to kick in?”

  Val laughed. Jimmy smiled too. “Medicare? No you are not talking to me about Medicare. You sweep around your own front door, old man, before you try to sweep around mine.” Trina and Val broke into laughter.

  “Okay,” Reno said, nodding his head and smiling. “You got me that time. You got me that time.”

  “Moving right along,” Trina said.

  “Yeah, let’s move it on,” Reno said and, since his mouth seemed to be getting him in worlds of trouble tonight, he concentrated more on eating.

  “I thought, after dinner,” Jimmy said, “we’d do something Val wanted to do.”

  Reno glanced at Jimmy. What aft
er dinner? Didn’t he realize it was a great sacrifice for him to leave work and come to this dinner at all?

  But Jimmy didn’t relent. He ignored his father’s stare. “So, Val,” he asked, “anything special you would like to do?”

  Val hadn’t expected that kind of attention, where it would be all about her. She was pleased. “Well,” she said, thinking about the question, “there’s a few things probably.”

  “Name one?”

  “I would love to go bowling sometime. I’ve never been bowling before.”

  “You’ve never bowled?” Trina asked her, surprised.

  “Never.”

  “Me either,” Jimmy said, and Trina was equally surprised.

  “Well let’s do it,” Trina said. “You guys are missing out.”

  Val smiled. “Okay. When?”

  “What do you mean when?” Trina asked. “After we eat. We’ll go after we leave here.”

  Val and Jimmy both looked at Reno, expecting an objection. Trina, however, wasn’t thinking about Reno. He’d do as he was told this night. This was Val’s night, and she was going to make sure he understood that.

  “It’s settled then,” she said, and ate heartily.

  After dinner, however, was dancing time. Val and Jimmy hit the dance floor, while Reno and Trina both had their phones out answering text messages and checking their emails. When Val and Jimmy returned, Val was still amped-up.

  “Let’s go again,” she said to Jimmy.

  “Again?”

  “Yeah. It’s fun.”

  Jimmy shook his head. “It’s not that much fun. I’m exhausted, Val.”

  Val was disappointed. Reno could see it. That knuckleheaded boy of his couldn’t, but he could. And although he was tired too, he asked anyway. “You wanna dance, young lady?”

  Val looked at Reno and smiled grandly. “I really do, yes, sir.”

  Reno smiled and stood up, extending his hand. “Then let’s do it,” he said.

  Val hit Jimmy so that he could let her out of their booth seat, and then she took Reno’s hand and allowed him to escort her onto the dance floor. The song, however, was no longer that upbeat tune she and Jimmy had danced to, but was nice and slow. Reunited (And It Feels So Good) by Peaches and Herb. Reno ended up pulling her into his arms and slow-dancing with her.