“I’ll handle it,” Arnie promised.
The dinner hour was fast approaching and Carlita still hadn’t given her own meal a thought. Pasta was her go-to, and there was a variation of an old family favorite she was itching to try.
She returned home and made a beeline for the kitchen. Mercedes emerged from her room at the sound of banging pots and pans. “Tony’s bummed.”
“I hope Shelby realizes how much her family means to her and tries to work things out.”
“I wonder where she went.”
“And I wish I knew what was going through her head. The most important thing we can do right now is to be there for Tony and Violet.” Carlita began rummaging around in the fridge.
“What’s for dinner?”
“My super easy pesto pasta.” Carlita placed the thawed container of homemade pasta in the microwave. “Can you run out and pick two cups of fresh basil?”
“Sure.” While Mercedes headed to the balcony and their herb garden, Carlita began toasting the pine nuts and warming the pasta.
Mercedes returned. “We need more basil plants. Two cups wiped us out.” She washed and dried it before giving it a light chop. Following her mother’s instructions, she added it, along with olive oil, to the blender.
The pine nuts finished toasting and Carlita added those, along with some garlic, lemon juice and parmesan cheese to the pesto mix.
“I’ll taste test it.” Mercedes grabbed a clean spoon and sampled a small amount. “It needs some salt and pepper.”
With a quick shake of each and another stir, Carlita took over, adding the pesto to her warmed pasta. She set the dish on the table and began working on her homemade Italian dip, a combination of her secret Italian seasonings, combined with olive oil, red pepper flakes and roughly chopped garlic.
They had just finished setting the table when Tony and Violet arrived. Rambo greeted them at the door.
“Dinner looks delicious, Ma.”
“What is it?” Violet stared at the green pesto and turned up her small nose.
“It’s pesto.”
“It looks yukky.”
“You need to try a bite before you decide.” Tony coerced Violet into a small taste test before she pushed her plate away. She ate two pieces of Italian bread slathered in a thick layer of peanut butter and jelly and then scampered off to watch cartoons.
“Any news?” Carlita asked.
“Nope.” Tony changed the subject. “How was business at the shop?”
“Busy,” Mercedes said. “We had trouble pulling up the database, the computer used to track pawns and customers’ sales records.”
“We tried everything,” Carlita said.
“I’ve been havin’ trouble with it for a couple weeks. Did you try the control-alt-delete trick?”
“Yep. Nada.” Carlita added Josh had shown them the logbook, and they’d used it a few times to record transactions. “You need to go ahead and replace the old one. We can’t run a pawn shop without a reliable database.”
While they ate, Tony laid out his game plan going forward. He needed to get Violet to school, which coincided with the opening of the pawn shop.
“Violet comes first.” Carlita offered to open the shop so Tony could walk her to school in the morning.
Picking her up at the end of the school day wouldn’t be a problem since the pawn shop’s afternoon staff would be on hand to cover for him.
“I want to keep our routine as normal as possible.”
“That would be best, Son.”
After dinner and cleanup, Carlita showed Tony the grainy images of Shelby placing her bags in the back of the car and climbing into the passenger seat. “Do you recognize the car?”
“Nope. I have a friend who works at the DDS – Department of Driver Services. I’ll ask him to run the partial plate to see if he can come up with the owner’s name.” Tony asked his mother to forward the text to him, and then Violet ran into the kitchen.
She tugged on Tony’s hand. “Is Mommy coming home tonight?”
“I don’t think so.” Tony picked her up. “I’m not sure when she’ll be home.”
Violet’s lower lip trembled. “Can I call her?”
Tony shot his mother a helpless look.
Carlita reached for her small hand. “Her phone isn’t working right now, sweetheart. I’m sure she’ll call you as soon as she can.”
Mercedes stepped in and distracted Violet by asking her to help water the balcony’s plants.
“It’s hard not being furious with Shelby.” Tony watched Violet fill the watering can. “It’s one thing to walk out on me but something else to walk out on your own child.”
A feeling of helplessness filled Carlita. Her child and grandchild were hurting, and there was nothing she could do to make things better. “I’m sorry, Son.”
Mercedes and Violet finished watering and returned inside.
“It’s time to head home,” Tony said. “Tell Nana and Mercedes thank you for dinner.”
“Thank you for the peanut butter and jelly sammiches.” Violet hugged Rambo and then chased Grayvie under the table to hug him. Carlita and Rambo accompanied them down the steps and into the alley. “I’ll have my phone with me if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Ma.” Tony attempted a smile. It broke Carlita’s heart as she watched him take Violet’s hand and walk off. Perhaps it was a good thing Shelby wasn’t there. It would have been tempting to give her daughter-in-law a swift kick in the pants.
Rambo and Carlita trailed behind, making their way to the parking lot’s grassy area. There was a commotion coming from the other end. Rambo heard it, too, and began barking out a warning.
A shadowy figure appeared and then stepped under the parking lot light. It was Luigi. He limped toward her. There was a trail of blood running down his cheek.
Chapter
