Another Shot: A Modern-Day Ruth and Boaz Story (3 page)

Chapter 3

"Who ya got with you, Ms. Lu?"

"She ain't Lulu," Little Mike said.

"What took you boys so long?" Frankie said, changing the subject. They ignored him for a second, stopping in front of Laura to look her over. They both stood in front of her with sweet smiles like they didn’t know what to say.

"I can't believe you boys are so big," she said. She pointed at the younger one. "You were just a baby the last time I saw you. You probably don't even remember me." She looked at the older one, giving him a sad smile. "You used to play with Tony and Tommy all the time," she said. "I'm sure you remember."

He nodded and smiled. "It's good to see you. Mom cried when she found out you was movin' back home. She's real excited to see you. Dad wouldn't even let us tell her we was movin' you in, or she would be here right now."

Laura smiled. "Tell your mama I'm happy to see her. I'm happy to see you boys too. You went and became men while I was gone."

They both smiled, and she glanced at me. "This here's Rae. She belonged to my Tony and she's what's got me through all this."

She took a deep breath and I knew she was trying not to cry. I stuck my hand out toward the one closest to me.

"I'm Rae."

"Ben."

I shook his hand.

"William," the other one said, when I turned my attention to him.

They were both young, strapping men and all I could think was thank goodness we had help getting these boxes upstairs.

"There's a freight elevator down the hallway on the right," Frankie said, reading my mind. "We can all catch up over dinner sometime, but we should get movin'."

Ben and William both clapped at the same time, looking like a team getting ready to take the field. Thanks to this kind of enthusiasm (and Little Mike's brute strength) we had the truck emptied in no time. Laura stayed in the apartment the whole time, looking through it, imagining where we'd put our things. Maggie mostly stayed out of the way too. I made a few trips to the truck, but the guys kept saying for me to take it easy, so I finally listened and let them finish the job.

Frankie stayed in the apartment with Laura and I while the others got the remaining boxes. Frankie was the oldest in the bunch, and seemed to be in charge. Laura had never mentioned anything about them being mobsters or anything, and maybe it was racist of me to assume something like that just because they were Italian, but Frankie was the epitome of a mob boss—complete with snakeskin boots and gaudy gold jewelry. I liked him—liked the whole scene. I thoroughly enjoyed watching him interact with the other guys, and caught myself feeling thankful for the new beginning.

The place was furnished. It wasn't glamorous, but it was better than anything we could do for ourselves at this point. We sat at the small, vintage table in the dining area that connected to the kitchen.

"There's a few dishes in the cabinet. Pots and pans too. I had some food brought up since I thought you might not feel like shopping. There's a deli with groceries down the block. You'll remember it. We all hang out there still. I was thinking you could do about ten hours a week cleaning for the rent. Does that sound fair?"

"It's more than fair, Frankie, and you know it," Laura said with her head down. The others were out of the room at the moment, and she continued speaking, but stared down at the table, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry you're stuck helping me out again."

He reached over and put a hand on hers. "I'm glad to do it, Laura. Vivian is too. She's real excited you're back."

"I'm not the same person I used to be, Frankie. I'm never gonna be the person you guys remember."

"Sure you are," he said with a little smile. "Your still the same to me."

She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "The ten hours a week is more than fair for the place. I'll pick up more work, and with Rae at the camera store, we'll be just fine. We'll work out a payment plan for you as soon as we get on our feet."

"I know you will," said Frankie, "and I'm really not worried about it. We haven’t even taken care of the dealership and the house yet. Just get settled and we'll figure it all out." He patted her hand. "If you need anything, we're right down the street."

"It means a lot, Frankie."

"This one's marked for you, Rae. Where's your stuff going?" Ben asked.

"In the nook." I said. I stood so I could offer to help, but they wouldn't let me.

The guys were only there for a little while longer. I had a window in my nook that overlooked the street, and I watched as Joey took off in the truck with Maggie behind him in their car. The brown car pulled up again and William and Ben got inside. Frankie and Little Mike took off on foot down the sidewalk in what I assumed was the direction of Frankie's place.

I had given my email address to Frankie earlier, and I got a message from him that night. It included instructions for showing up to my first day at work at the camera store.

Dominic's assistant sent the message. She said I should go by the store from 2-4 on Thursday and ask to speak to Debbie in shipping and receiving. Debbie would help me work out a schedule and give me all the details for my new job. I liked my old job at the coffee shop, and I caught myself dreading the sound of
shipping and receiving
, but I had faith that I could work up to something better.

***

By the time I'd been on the job for three days, I'd already learned everything there is to know about opening a box with a cutter. Nic's Photo and Video was a much larger business than I expected. I assumed I'd get to know the guy Dominic who'd given me the job, but I was relatively sure he didn't even know I was there. The shipping and receiving area of the store was huge, but it was in the basement, and the receiving section, where I'd been put to work, was a much smaller secluded area near the back of the building.

I worked with three other people every shift, which was nothing compared to the twenty or so that worked in shipping at any given time. It was my job to deal with returned items. I had a little area where I inspected the item and made notes about its condition. It almost always had to be cleared by a tech who'd make sure it was fit to be resold, but I was the first step of the process.

Don't get the wrong idea about it being in the basement. It was, technically, but we had high ceilings with a row of windows at the top, and actually got a good bit of natural light down there. The receiving crew shared a common area, but each of us had our own little cubical as well. We were encouraged to decorate our space however we liked. It was the opposite of a sterile, office environment, which made the job better than I expected. Plus, I got along with my co-workers. Considering that I was dreading being locked away in a shipping and receiving dungeon somewhere, the job wasn't that bad.

Everyone I talked to seemed to love Dominic. They said he was an outstanding boss and that's why his business had taken off the way it had. His store was one of the biggest suppliers of photo and video equipment in the world. Apparently, if I had ordered a nice camera off the internet, (which I hadn't) I would have most likely gotten it from Nic's. Debbie told me that the first day I came when she couldn't believe I'd never heard of it.

I was standing on the far side of the loading bay during my lunch break when a man walked by. He was tall with dark hair wearing jeans and a button-up shirt layered under a jacket. His clothes were stylish and I caught myself straightening just to avoid looking like a total slob next to him.

"Smoke break?" he asked coming to stand next to me.

"Lunch break."

"Did you know there's a park just up the street?"

"Yeah, but I don't mind it back here. It's usually quiet except for the ones who come out to smoke, and they stay over there by the door."

"How long have you been working here?" he asked.

I thought he might be a rep for one of the brands we sold. I could totally see him being a guy who travels around the city selling a product that everyone wants like Canon or Nikon.

"I just started," I said. "I'm working back here in receiving."

"Do you like it?"

I smiled and shrugged. "It's fine," I said. "I worried that I'd hate it, and I definitely don't."

"Would you rather work in another department?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine where I’m at right now. I don't have enough experience to work on the floor anyway. The only photography experience I have is using my camera phone," I said, laughing. "But I'm interested now that I have this job. I think I could get into it now that I'm here checking out all this cool gear. I sort of regret that it's taken me this long to take interest." 

He smiled. "It's an amazing art form. You can tell stories with photographs. Do you have any good ones on your phone?" he asked.

The question surprised me, and my thoughts went to the camera roll on my phone. There were a ton of pictures of Anthony on there. The phone was in my bag, but I never even looked at it any more. I didn't see any point since I had the service turned off after Anthony's death.

"I'm in between phones right now, actually," I said shyly.

"What are you doing for pictures?"

"I guess I haven't taken many lately."

"That's a shame." He'd been standing, but now he sat next to me on the curb.

"You need a bench out here," he said.

"It's fine," I said, scooting over to make room for him. "Like you said, there's a park down the street."

"Do you think you'll keep working here?"

"It's hard to tell. I'm thankful for the job, but I had more responsibility at my old one. I'm not saying I don't like this one, but I'm gonna be doing my best to move up or move on pretty quickly."

"What do you think about the boss?"

"His name's Dominic."

"You haven't met him?"

"No. But I've heard he's a good guy. Everyone in there seems to really like him."

Just then, the door opened and a guy I worked with named Matt peered out. "There you are Mr. Russo," he said. "Your assistant said she needs you to call her back as soon as you can."

I looked at Mr. Russo who gave Matt an easy smile.

"I'll text her Matt, thanks for letting me know. And call me Dominic."

Matt smiled and gave a little bow as he closed the door.

I looked over at the guy sitting next to me. "Isn't Dominic Russo the guy who owns this place?"

"Yes."

"And did you just ask me what I thought about him when I didn't know he was you?" 

He scrunched up his face as if he was deciphering the question but then smiled and nodded. "Yes."

"You gave me this job."

"That's what I hear," he said. "I was talking to Matt and Debbie earlier. They told me you were the one who came to town with Lulu."

I cringed inwardly at the name Lulu, not wanting her to have to correct him if he called her that. I was so taken aback by this stranger turning out to be Dominic, that I didn’t' say anything about.

"Debbie and Matt both said what a great job you're doing."

"They're both really nice," I said. "Everyone is. It's a great place to work. I hope I didn't come across as ungrateful when I said I'd be moving on."

"Not at all," he said. "Receiving's not for everyone."

I smiled at him. "It's great, and I don't take it for granted that the job fell into my lap."

"From what Debbie and Matt tell me we are the lucky ones."

"I don't know if I'd go that far, but I am pretty handy with a box cutter." I drew it out of my back pocket and flashed it. "Fastest hands in the west."

He laughed a deep, rumbling laugh that had me smiling. "I'm pretty sure you should stay at my store," he said. "We can move you up, down, or sideways until you find the position you want, but I'd like to hang onto you."

"I'm enjoying my spot in receiving right now. The timing was right for me to do this type of job. I need the quiet since I'm still processing everything."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about the accident. Tony and Tommy were my second cousins. We used to play together all the time before they moved. I hated to hear about what happened."

"I hated it too," I said. We were both quiet for a few seconds. "You don't think this kind of thing will happen to you. Something just seems wrong about being a widow at twenty-three."

"Which one were you married to?"

"Tony. I called him Anthony."

"How long were you married?"

"A year. But we'd been together for four."

"Was he good to you?"

I sighed. "The best."

"Lulu's precious too. They're a good family."

"It's tough for her right now, but she'll get through it."

"I'm sure it's tough for both of you. I'm glad you have each other."

I smiled at him and stood up. "My break is almost over." I dusted my backside as he stood. He was standing close to me, towering over me like he must have been a foot taller. Maybe it wasn't that much, but he was a big guy and I stared up at him with a smile.