Chapter 29 #2
“I’ve been waiting for this kiss for a long time. I could tell you felt something for a while, but I wanted to give you the space to decide if you wanted to act on it.”
“Thanks for letting me take my time. It feels right. That I know.”
“Let’s finish our food and relax right here; nothing like the waves to calm you down. Then when we’re ready we can head home. How does that sound?” Kim asked.
“Perfect. You want to spend the night with me?” Gina asked.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
No one was home when they got to Gina’s. They each showered and then slipped into bed. Both were exhausted. After a few long kisses, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
The next morning, they cuddled for a while. “I’m not ready quite yet for our next step, but I promise I will be,” Gina said.
“I’m in no rush. I’ll follow your lead,” Kim said. “And right now I think we’d better get going. We have a busy day ahead of us.”
They grabbed coffee, and once in the car, they were touching each other’s hands as Gina drove to their office.
As Gina and Kim were walking into their kitchen to pack up the orders and head over to Rago’s, Gina came to a complete stop. Across the room she spied Mario talking to Peggy, who was laughing at whatever he was telling her. Gina’s stomach dropped. What the hell is he doing here?
“I’ll meet you in the back, Kim. I see someone I know, talking to Peggy.”
“Okay, don’t be too long. We have to be over at Rago’s in an hour to set up.”
Gina walked over to Mario and Peggy. “Hi, Mario, fancy meeting you here.” She knew everything he had done to Angie but didn’t know if he knew she knew.
Mario leaned in and hugged her. She almost gagged.
“How’s my girl? I sure do miss your uncle.
Peggy here tells me you started your own catering company.
Good on you. I think your aunt may have mentioned something.
Small world. Peggy and I were having dinner last night and she mentioned you had moved into her space. ”
Gina swallowed hard. “Actually, we’re renting our own space here.” She pointed over to where Kim was packing things up.
“Peggy gave me a tour earlier. I see you’re pushing your aunt’s pesto. There’s no better. I wasn’t aware you could cook, especially after what you served at Vinnie’s funeral.”
Gina wanted to spit in his face. “We know some things and Angie has joined our business; she’s an excellent cook. But of course you’d know that after all the meals you ate at her house. It’s so sad about what happened to her pension, don’t you think, Mario?”
“I don’t know anything about that, honey.” He gave her a dismissive look. “I haven’t been here since Peggy and her crew moved in years ago.”
“Mario is the one who got us all the school lunch contracts through the city. I had no idea you both knew each other so well.” Peggy patted Mario on the back. “He’s an important man to know.”
“My uncle worked with him for years, treated him like family, didn’t he, Mario? Excuse me, I need to get going. We have a catering event in an hour,” Gina said.
Gina walked away feeling sick to her stomach and wanting to stab Mario with a kitchen knife. She took some deep breaths and started to help Kim finish loading the bins.
“What is wrong? Your face is beet red and the veins in your neck are bulging.”
“Let’s get the fuck out of here and I’ll tell you on the way to Rago’s.”
While they drove, Gina gave her the background about Mario in more detail than Angie had already shared. She told Kim that it was likely Mario was the one who had put a hit out on Ralph.
“He’s a fucking pig and I hate him. Wait till I tell Angie,” Gina said.
“Calm down. Time to put on your smiling catering face. We have mourners waiting on us.”
Gina and Kim put out a huge spread for the Italian family who had money to burn.
They even ordered flower arrangements to decorate the tables.
Large women, clad in all black, wearing black lace chapel veils wandered around weeping.
Gina watched as they sampled some of the food and could tell it met with their satisfaction.
They nodded their heads between bites and went back for second tastes.
Louie was pleased that they had added new items to the menu and made sure to try them. “You gals are doing a great job. I need a last-minute favor.”
“Sure, Louie, what do you need?” Gina asked.
“My sister’s having a kids’ party out in the suburbs later this afternoon, and the person who was supposed to cater it just got taken to the hospital. So there’s no food and she’s freaking out.”
“Yikes, I’m so sorry.” Gina thought for a minute.
“Kim and I need to be here, with this big crowd to serve. I have a friend, Thad, who could handle a kids’ party.
Would you be open to that? We have plenty of food at our kitchen.
I can send him and his girlfriend there to pick it up and bring it to the party.
They won’t have to play games with the kids or anything, just set up the food, right? ”
“Just the food. Those kids are wild, so they’ll be running around, no games.”
“Okay, Louie, let me give him a quick call.”
Gina stepped outside and Kim followed. “You really think it’s a good idea sending Thad to one of Rago’s relatives?” Kim asked.
“They’re in a bind, and it’s a bunch of kids. The more we help Louie, the more he’ll help us,” Gina said.
Kim raised her eyebrows. “Okay, just proceed with caution.” She walked back in to check on the food and drinks.
Gina called Thad. “Hey, dude, how are you?”
“All good, just chilling here with Daisy. What’s up?”
“I need a big favor, but you’ll make some good money.”
“I’m down. Hit me with it.”
Gina explained the situation and that he’d need to meet Kim at their kitchen and she’d help him pack up some of the simple treats; he could even make the Triscuit treats he had perfected at her house. There were lots of Jell-O shots in the fridge.
“Sounds cool, Gina, what’s the address of your kitchen? We’ll meet Kim there. Good timing on the call; we were just about to smoke a joint, but we’ll do that after the party.”
“You’re a lifesaver. Kim will meet you there in thirty. Thanks, buddy.”
“Sure thing. We could pick up some pizzas if you want.”
“I’ll order some to the house. You’ll just have to put them out.” Gina went back inside the funeral parlor and gave Kim the update.
“Okay, call me if you need me to bring any more food back here after I pack up and send Thad and Daisy on their way.”
“Thanks, Kim. I’ll take care of things here.”
Kim headed out and Gina went in the back to Louie’s office where he was busy with paperwork. “I’ve got a crew heading out in about an hour. Just so you know, Thad’s girlfriend Daisy has purple hair this week. I hope your sister won’t care.”
“You should see my sister’s older daughter. Multiple-colored braids, tattoos, pierced eyebrow. Thad and Daisy will fit right in. Thanks, Gina.”
Louie’s phone rang. “I’m sending someone out to set up, put out the paper products; the rest is handled.” He winked at Gina.
She gave him a thumbs-up and headed back out to check on the food. Mourners kept coming and coming. Gina could hardly keep the food and drinks replenished.
Kim returned within a half hour with a full report. “Thad and Daisy are on their way. They have enough food for a small army. Thad is going to make balloon animals for everyone. He demonstrated one for me; he’s good. Who knew?”
They both started to laugh but got a side glare from one of the old lady mourners.
The rest of the Rago event went without a hitch. They cleaned up and headed back to the kitchen, where they unpacked and cleaned up. Peggy’s gals were fast at work as usual. Several strolled over and asked if they could try those Jell-O shots they had seen Kim packing up earlier.
“Sure, but there’s no booze in them.”
“We can’t drink on the job.”
Gina pulled out the last tray and offered all of them one.
It was after five when Gina and Kim headed over to help the caterer they had worked for in the Gold Coast. She had called begging them to help for just a few hours; several of her team had come down with the flu.
It was the last thing Gina and Kim wanted to do, but they agreed.
They knew there would be some seriously expensive, delicious food there.
They were tired of all the things they had been serving.
The event in the Gold Coast ended around nine and they stumbled back to Kim’s car. When Kim pulled up in front of Gina’s, she leaned in and gave Gina a long kiss. “I hope we can go on a proper date soon, but right now all I can think about is passing out.”
“Get some sleep, and I’ll do the same. Let’s talk tomorrow.” Gina got out of the car and barely made it upstairs. She kept playing the same Katy Perry song in her head—“I Kissed a Girl”—until she fell asleep.
Early the next morning, Gina’s cell phone started ringing. She kept ignoring it until she heard loud banging on her apartment door. She got out of bed and opened the door. It was Kim.
“What are you doing here? It’s eight in the morning. I thought we agreed we’d get to sleep in today, no gigs.”
“We’ve got big trouble.” Kim handed her a large coffee. “Rago called me. He said he’s been trying to get ahold of you and no answer. He’s pissed. I’ve never been yelled at in Italian. Chinese, but not Italian. I asked him to slow down.”
Gina was wide awake now. “Uh-oh, what happened?”
“Seems the kids at the party are all home throwing up and have diarrhea. Rago’s sister said it was from our food. The families are furious and they want Louie to fire us.”
“What the fuck! Do you think Thad and Daisy did something?” Gina asked. Her heart was pounding away now.
“You better call Thad now. I have no idea. But Louie wants us over at his place, like ASAP.”
Gina called Thad at Daisy’s place. He picked up. “What happened at the party? All the kids are sick and they think it’s from the food. Did you guys put anything in it?”
“Uh, no, why would we do that? We set everything up. They were downing the Jell-O shots, loved the Triscuit treats, and inhaled the pizza. The balloon animals were a big hit and we left.”
“Well, something went way wrong, and Kim and I are heading over to see Rago now. I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything. I just can’t figure it out,” Gina said.
“All cool here. Sorry about the kids. They were fun.”
On the way over Kim and Gina were racking their brains about what would have caused the problem. They went over everything they made and sent over to the kids’ party; it didn’t make sense.
Rago was waiting for them at the front door. They walked inside and followed him to his office in the back.
“What the fuck! My sister has angry parents who had to take their kids to the doctor for dehydration. You both need to get to the bottom of what caused this. I don’t care how you do it, but until you do, you’re not catering any more events for me or anyone I referred.
I have a reputation to uphold.” He shook his head in disgust.
“Louie, you have to believe us. This isn’t our fault,” Gina pleaded. “No one from your service yesterday got sick, did they?”
“Not that I know of, but it only takes one bad experience. Call me when you have an answer, and if you don’t figure this out, then I’ll call the city and have your catering license revoked.”
“Please don’t call the city. Please,” Gina begged.
“I’ll give you one day and then you girls will need to find a new career because your name will be mud in this town.” His phone was ringing and he motioned for them to leave.
Gina called Angie on the way back to their kitchen.
“Hi, honey, can’t talk long. It’s a big day for Lorna and me. We’re meeting for lunch before work. We have a big night ahead of us.”
“Whatever it is, I need your help.” Gina recounted the kids’ party and aftermath.
“Something sounds off. I know you’re both so careful about your food preparation. Even Thad is a freak, washing his hands all the time. I’ve watched him. Is there anything you can think of that you did differently? Anyone besides you two working in the kitchen?”
Gina thought for a moment. “Fuck!” she screamed.
“What?” Angie asked.
“Yesterday when we got to work, Mario was at the kitchen. Seems he knows Peggy and she gave him a tour of our area before we got in. You don’t think he could have, would have, put something in the Jell-O?”
Angie let out a gasp. “I got this weird text from him yesterday. He hasn’t returned any of my calls since the pension thing went down.”
“What was the text?”
Angie read the text. “‘I wouldn’t try anything or you and your family will pay.’ I excused it because it didn’t make any sense, but now it does. I bet he put something in your food.”
“We have to prove he did this, but how? We pissed off Rago and no one does that.” Gina slammed her hand on the dashboard.
“Leave this up to me. I’m so done with Mario’s crap. You and Kim go back to your kitchen, clean everything out of the fridge. Check all your ingredients. Throw away anything that doesn’t look or smell right. That pig has gone too far, going after you two.”
As soon as Gina and Kim walked in the kitchen door, Peggy was waiting for them, hands on her hips.
“What the fuck did you feed some of my girls yesterday? They called in sick.” She shouted and threw aprons at them.
“Put these on. You bitches are working for me all day, for free. I’ve got lunches to get out! ”
Mike, the owner, was standing next to her. “When you’re done there, I need you both to come see me. If Rago calls the food inspectors, they’ll come turn this place upside down and you’ll both be out of here.”