Carlita ended the call and wandered into the hall. The apartment door catty-corner to their unit opened, and Sam Ivey, her newest tenant, emerged.
“Hello, Sam.”
“Hello, Carlita. How are the last minute wedding plans going?”
“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve got my hands full. My eldest son and his wife just arrived. I’ll introduce them to you later. My brother, Eddie, and his wife arrived unannounced.”
“And uninvited?” Sam guessed.
“You could say that. We’re going to have a full house around here. I hope we won’t be too disruptive.”
“You aren’t going to bother me.”
“You’re still coming to the wedding tomorrow?”
Sam hesitated.
“Sam…” Carlita’s tenant originally rsvp’d he would be attending, having gotten to know Shelby, Violet and Tony since moving in.
As a wedding gift, Sam had taken them on a tour of historic downtown Savannah, something even Violet seemed to enjoy, especially after stopping off at Leopold’s for ice cream.
The problem was Mercedes. Her daughter and Sam had been at odds from the moment they laid eyes on each other. Surprisingly, the majority of the animosity had been on Mercedes’ part.
Carlita suspected her daughter was attracted to the handsome former cop, turned tour guide.
Both had called a truce, but there was still an undercurrent of tension between them. Mercedes was always quick to take off whenever Sam made an appearance.
“You are coming to the wedding?” Carlita pressed.
“Of course.” Finally, Sam nodded. “There’s no way I’m going to miss an authentic Italian wedding feast.”
“Good.” Carlita and Sam descended the stairs and stopped when they reached the bottom. “You wouldn’t happen to have noticed someone out back, dropping off a package earlier today, would you?”
Sam shook his head. “No. I just got back from a group tour and there weren’t any packages on the steps.”
“I guess Elvira had already picked it up by then.”
“I’ll see you later.” Sam gave Carlita a jaunty wave and sauntered off.
“Ma!” Mercedes bolted from the back of the restaurant and jogged towards her.
“You just missed Sam,” Carlita teased. “Where are your brothers?”
“Inside the restaurant. You gotta come quick.”
“Why?” Alarmed, Carlita followed her daughter down the alley. “Is something wrong?”
“Yeah. You gotta see this for yourself.”
Chapter 4
Carlita’s heart plummeted as she stepped into what had been her sparkling clean, shiny new commercial kitchen, her favorite area of the restaurant. “What happened?”
“It looks like someone broke in, lookin’ for something.” Vinnie pointed to the back door and splintered doorframe. “They weren’t very good at it, either.”
Sudden tears welled up in Carlita’s eyes. It was all too much. She could handle the stress of the last minute running around. She could handle having her brother show up on her doorstep.
She could even handle Vito’s goons hanging around to protect her family members. What she couldn’t handle was knowing someone intentionally broke into her restaurant and tore the place apart.
Carlita slumped against the stainless steel counter. A pan teetered on the edge and fell to the floor. It was the last straw, and she burst into tears.
“It’s okay, Ma. We’ll get this place cleaned up in a jiff.” Mercedes put her arm around her mother’s shoulders.
“Yeah. It’s not too bad.” Brittney cleared the counters while Tony headed to the front of the restaurant to check for damages.
Vinnie and his sister began putting away the pots and pans. “We got this. Don’t worry.”
“You’re right. It’s not too bad.” Carlita swiped at her tears. “I guess I’m just stressed out.”
Tony rejoined them. “The front of the restaurant is fine. It looks like they tried to get into the cash register, gave up and left.”
The siblings made quick work of cleaning up the mess while Carlita’s middle son ran next door to grab his toolbox. Upon returning, Tony installed an extra deadbolt he found in the pawnshop and was even able to repair the damage to the back door.
“It’s just some two-bit thieves,” Vinnie assured his mother. “They probably got ticked off when they couldn’t find any cash and made a mess.”
“Right.” Despite her son’s words of encouragement, Carlita wasn’t convinced.
“You gonna file a police report?” Tony asked.
Carlita hung the pot on the hook and glanced around. “Nothing appears to be missing. I’m not sure what I would report, other than having it on record the place was broken into. It’s just one more thing to deal with.”
Despite her children encouraging her to file the report, Carlita decided against it, hoping whoever broke in wouldn’t try it again since they hadn’t been successful.
After finishing up, Tony headed back to work.
Vinnie and Brittney decided to take the trolley to the City Market for some shopping and to grab a quick bite to eat.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur. Paulie, Gina and the kids showed up around dinnertime. Carlita ordered enough pizza for the entire family, and they all gathered in the restaurant’s dining room.
“This place looks nice, Ma,” Paulie said. “We’re looking forward to tomorrow and seeing Ravello’s Ristorante in action.”
Gracie and Noel, bored with the adult conversation, began running around the tables until Noel tripped on a rug, skinned her knee and she started to cry.
“We better get the kids settled in at the hotel.” Gina picked up her whining child. “I’m sure you’re exhausted and tomorrow is gonna be a long day.”
Carlita cast a concerned glance at a pale Shelby. “Shelby, you better get some rest, too.”
“I am exhausted.” She reached for Tony’s hand as she glanced around the table at her soon-to-be family. “Thank you for coming all this way to celebrate with Tony and me. Thank you for all you’ve done to help make our day special.”
Shelby wiggled out of her chair. She reached for the edge of the table when she began to sway.
“Whoa!” Tony
