CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The end of their first day at the diner and Reno and Trina were exhausted. Trina had spearheaded the cleanup, leaving the place immaculate, while Reno and Viyla went over the books and then assisted in the cleanup too. But now it was after nine and time, in Trina’s words, to let these people go.
“You guys did great,” she said as the staff of four stood in front of the counter looking at her. “I’m very proud of each and every one of you.”
Then she had to elbow Reno to speak up. “Oh yeah, right, I’m very proud of ya’ too. All of yous .”
“You mean y’all ,” said Nell. “ Yous ain’t no word.”
Sophia couldn’t help it. She was grinning again.
“You got a lot of mouth coming out of that little body,” Reno said to Nell, remembering her cracker comment again. “And where do you get off telling me that yous ain’t no word, but y’all is? In what dictionary?”
“Reno,” Trina warned.
“And since when has ain’t been a word?”
“She meant no harm, sur,” Viyla said with what Reno considered the prettiest smile.
Trina watched as Reno smiled back at the manager. “You’re right. My bad. You’re right.”
Trina looked at Reno as if he’d lost his mind. “Oh she’s right? You ignored me when I tried to shut your ass up, but she’s right?”
“Don’t start, Tree,” Reno said, and the employees all stared at them, with all of them wondering why he kept calling his wife a tree.
Sophia and Carmine looked at each other and shook their heads. That was their parents. No matter where they went, they were always going to be themselves.
“Just thank the people for doing a great job today,” Trina said, “and let’s let them go home.”
“I told’em they did a good job. Good job,” he said looking around. “The place looks better.”
Trina smiled and shook her head. They’d been working their butts off all day long, and that was the best compliment he could give them?
“But listen,” he added, “here’s a little something for each of yous , and yes, Miss Lady, I said yous .” He gave Nell a hard look, expecting a comeback from her. But she held her peace. Then he handed each employee an envelope.
Willie quickly peeped inside of his envelope. When he saw what was inside, he actually smiled for the first time all day. But when he saw an amazed Trina watching him smile, he returned to his old, paranoid self.
Although Nell nor Bertha bothered to look inside the envelope since they would automatically hand it over to their parents (in Nell’s case) and their husband (in Bertha’s case), Viyla did look. When she saw it, her eyes stretched with excitement. But she knew the drill. “How much we gotta give back?” she asked.
Reno frowned. “What are you talking give back? That’s your bonus for working overtime today.”
“Yes sur, we know that. And thank you so much. But how much we got to pay out to your man?”
Reno and Trina glanced at each other. “What are you talking about, Viyla?” Trina asked.
“The man that comes over from Tutwiler every payday. We have to give him half of what our pay is.”
Reno and Trina looked at each other again. “A shakedown?” Reno asked. “In this town? Are you kidding me?”
But he could tell they didn’t understand what he meant. “What is your pay?” Trina asked Viyla.
“We all split whatever we make for that day and the collector comes at the end of the week. Fridays or sometimes Saturday and we have to give the money to him.”
“You don’t have a set pay?”
“No ma’am. When I was first hired by the owner, he said I was to hire a staff and we were to split whatever money came into the diner. He said he would pay for the diner expenses like the lights and water and pay for all the food to come in.”
“Describe this owner?” asked Reno. “Was he a fat white guy named Sal?”
Trina elbowed Reno.
“No sur,” said Viyla. “He was a muscular, very handsome white man named Valentino Luca.”
Trina and the children smiled. Reno shook his head. He had many kicks to shove up Sal’s ass. “He gets to call himself Valentino,” Sal said to Trina, “but I’m Tyrone.”
“Hell I’m Becky,” said Trina. “What you looking at me for?”
“But what is this giving half of your pay to some collector?” asked Sophia. “Is that what Valentino told you to do?”
“No ma’am. He didn’t tell me no such thing. But after about a week after we opened up, that’s when this man came around and said that we had to give him half of what we made, or he would have the whole place shut down. I asked if Mr. Luca told him to do that, and he said yes. But Mr. Luca ain’t never told me anything like that the one and only time I met with him. But I didn’t have no way of contacting him, so I had to believe what that man told me.”
“When does this collector come around?”
“Every Friday or Saturday before closing,” said Viyla. “One of those two days.”
“Does he live around here?”
“No sur. I don’t know where he lives, but he don’t live around here.”
“So how does it work, Viyla?” asked Sophia. “You just fork over half of whatever you make?”
“That’s what he said we had to do if we wanted to keep the place open. So that’s what we do.”
“And you divide the other half between the four of you?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“How much that comes up to?” Reno asked.
Viyla didn’t have to think about it. “We usually make about the same amount every week, so it comes up to about eighty dollars for each of us per week.”
Reno and Trina could hardly believe it. “Why that’s less than minimum wage,” said Carmine.
But the staff said nothing. It was what it was for them. Reno and Trina were most concerned, but they weren’t going to show it to their staff.
“Okay, this giving away half of your earnings is over. That’s not happening anymore,” Reno said. “I’ll be here when this collector shows up and put an end to that real fast.”
The four workers were astonished. “You will?” asked Bertha.
“He will,” said Trina. “Don’t even worry about that anymore. Tyrone’s got you.”
“And besides that,” said Reno, “you’ll divide up the cash receipts for that day, but you’ll also get a weekly paycheck of fifteen bucks an hour for every hour you work.”
The staff couldn’t believe it. “ Fifteen dollars ?” asked a shocked Willie.
“Time and a half if you work overtime,” said Reno.
“And we get all the money coming in too?” asked Viyla.
“Every dime of the drawer,” said Reno. “That’s right.”
All of them were all smiles, and Viyla was teary-eyed. “How can we thank you, Mr. Black?”
“Call me Tyrone. And no need to thank me. I know good workers when I see’em, and you’re good workers. You deserve every dime. But let’s get out of here,” Reno said. “Go home, get some rest, and we’ll see you back here at nine tomorrow morning. We still have work to do.”
The employees, who usually arrived at ten, would have been happy to arrive at four in the morning if it meant fifteen dollars an hour. They gladly began leaving. All except for Nell.
“What are you slouching around here for?” Reno asked her.
“Miss Black said y’all gonna take me home since I told you Mama’nem ain’t gonna like me staying out this late and you said I had to stay or get fired. You gonna take me home.”
Reno looked at Trina. “I am, am I?”
“Yes, you are,” said Trina. “Come on children,” she said to Sophia and Carmine. “Come on, Nell.” And all of them walked out of the diner too.
But Reno stayed back. He stood alone in the space for a few moments longer. It so reminded him of decades ago, when he was a teenager himself and made the decision to leave his father and that mob life once and for all. He would later learn that completely leaving it behind was not an option, but he never would have thought his children would suffer for it because he was hellbent on never having children. Now he had four and two grandbabies. Now he was knee deep in this shit and his children just might pay the consequences. And that fact scared Reno far more than B.B. Bernardi ever would. But it was B.B. Bernardi that stood between his children and freedom right now.
Which made him wonder, as he walked out and locked down the place, if Sal and Mick were making any headway at all, and if they would soon see them coming into this backwater town and giving them the all-clear.
But as he stood there and took in the fresh evening air, he was at least grateful his grands were okay on that cruise and his wife and children were safe and sound with him. He inhaled again. He could get used to a place like this.
“Reno, bring your ass on!” Trina yelled from the SUV, which immediately cut his reverie. “We’re tired. Let’s go!”
He was at least grateful, he inwardly thought as he made his way to the SUV, that his children were safe and sound and with him. But that wife? That was a different conversation.