Chapter 20: In For A Penny, In For A Pound
The night of the Grand Re-Opening of Pasquale's was one of the best Tony Prito could remember in a long time. The kitchen and the bar were doing a great job with their ticket times. The employees who had stuck by the Pritos after the disaster, and even the new wait staff that they had hired and trained during the renovations, were on the ball refilling drinks and getting the customers' orders right.
Customers were tipping high, laughing, dancing on the new dance floor and having wonderful night. Tony's DJ, Tommy, was keeping the party atmosphere alive with upbeat songs from his music library, only bringing things down a few times for slow dances. Marco even seemed to be in high spirits, checking in on his security team, Danny and Shawn, and getting nothing but positive reports. Things were going well, and he prayed that tonight of all nights, it stayed that way.
Tony had a contagious grin on his face as he went from table to table, greeting customers and thanking them for their patronage. He even took a few moments of his time to pull Robyn from her perch at the bar and danced one of the few slow dances that the DJ put on.
"Tony, tonight's going so-" the woman began.
"Shh! Don't jinx it." Tony whispered and pulled her body closer to his. Robyn giggled.
"Don't tell me you're superstitious?"
"I'm not too old to start." he winked and turned out to gaze at the crowd.
And just a swell of pride began to bloom in Tony's chest, the crash of shattering glasses nearly made the young man jump out of his skin. Tony wheeled around to the left and saw one of his new waiters, Kit, his bouncer Danny's cousin, kneeling down to pick up the sharp remains of a cocktail glass. The college-aged boy was apologizing profusely to the patron whose cocktail now drenched the front of his shirt. The patron, of all people, was Mr. Charles Wallace, one of aldermen on Bayport's City Council. Fucking great.
The younger Prito brother sighed heavily and Robyn waved him off to go to his employee's and customer's aid. By the time he reached the scene one of his veteran waitresses, Alice, was helping the young man out with a busing bucket and wet cloth to attend to the mess on the floor.
"Kit, Alice, what happened? Sir, are you okay?" Mr. Wallce, thankfully, seemed unperturbed while a woman who Tony assumed to be the man's wife was dabbing his shirt with a cloth napkin.
"Oh, I'm fine. I just got too enthusiastic on the dance floor and bumped into this young fella while I tried to pull my wife into a dip." Tony looked at Kit and Alice as they workeded the clean up. The boy's face was beet-red, even up to the tops of his ears and if Tony didn't know better he looked, given the chance, that he would burst into tears. Poor kid, Tony thought, first night jitters were getting the best of him. He put a calming hand on Kit's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye.
"Kit, why don't you go to the bar and get our customer a complementary drink? Mr. Wallace, what would you like?" The man laughed lightly and waved Tony off.
"No, Prito. Thank you anyway. But I think I'm done for the night." He said good naturedly. But Tony was determined to make sure he kept Mr. Wallace happy. He reached into his back pocket and retrieved a business card from his wallet.
"If you won't take the drink, then let me pay for the dry cleaning of your shirt. Here, take this card and tell Lou it's on Tony Prito. I insist Mr. Wallace." Mr. Wallace sighed and decided to take Tony up on his hospitality.
"Thanks Prito, you're a fine fella. And don't be too hard on the kid, this was clearly my fault."
Tony followed Kit back into the kitchen to the wait staff's station.
"Mr. Prito, I'm so sorry, my tray was full of empty glasses and I was trying to walk around the chairs and then Mr. Wallace came out of nowhere… And I fully understand if you want to dock my pay to cover his dry cleaning…" Tony held up his hand to silence the youth.
"It's okay Kit, accidents happen. And don't worry about the dry cleaning, I've got it covered. I owed him a solid anyway. He was one of the first on city council to approve our petition to put a restaurant here. It's all good." Tony put his hand on the boy's shoulder again to make sure he understood that he wasn't upset with him. "Now give yourself about five minutes to calm down and then come back out. It's busy and you're gonna make some hella good tips tonight if you hustle. 'Kay?"
"*Hella*, Mr. Prito?" Kit's worried expression finally broke out into a genuine grin at his boss's use of the slang term. Tony rolled his eyes good naturedly and turned to go back out into the dining room.
"Five minutes, Kit. I'll see you back out there."
The remains of the evening was busy, boisterous, and glorious. Tony and Marco could not have asked for a better night of business. Around one in the morning Tony was finally locking up the back door and setting the alarm for the night. A few of his wait staff lingered so they could all walk together to their cars parked in the back lot.
Kit fiddled with his car keys nervously as he waited for Tony to join their group. Alice snuffed out her cigarette and tossed it into the butt receptacle in the designated employee smoking area as Tony joined their little group.
"Well, if you didn't hear me tell the ones who clocked out earlier, you guys did a great job tonight! Thank you!"
"So does that mean I can clock in at six tomorrow?" Alice laughed as she looped her arm through Kit's and they headed toward their cars.
"Ha, ha." Tony deadpanned. "How about I see you at four sharp? Get plenty of rest, because if tomorrow night is as busy as tonight was I'm going to need you guys to bring your "A" game. Capisce?"
"Got it Mr. Prito."
"And hey, Kit. Great rebound tonight by the way. How was your tipping the rest of the night?"
The young man nodded modestly before speaking.
"Great actually. Made more tonight than I did a whole weekend at Applebee's!" That made Tony bark with laughter.
"Terrific. Work hard and you'll rake in the tips. Right, Alice?"
"Abso-fucking-lutely! I make more tips working here at Pasquale's than I did during my Hooter's girl days. And I don't even have to wear my push up bra! Although, I gotta say boss, black dress shirts and burgundy ties are a bit constricting. I liked the polo shirts we wore before the fire better."
"Hey, consider the new uniform part of the reboot. In for a penny…"
"In for a pound. Yeah, yeah I get it." Alice chuckled as she and Kit left Tony to enter his vehicle while they walked to Kit's car. Within fifteen minutes they had pulled up to the curb of Alice's apartment building.
"So, three thirty tomorrow? That should give us time to get across the highway during afternoon traffic." Kit suggested.
"Sounds good Kit. And thanks again for the lift. When my car gets out of the shop it'll be my turn to carpool us to work. Deal?"
"You've got it." Kit smiled.
"And tell that boyfriend of your's what an awesome job you did tonight in tips. Tell him you deserve some extra TLC after such a hard night." Kit blushed furiously but nodded.
"I'll let Taylor know in the morning. See ya' tomorrow."
Surprisingly, Kit could see a that the lamp in front of window next to the door of the apartment he shared with his boyfriend was still on. That seemed odd though, Taylor liked for the apartment to be dark when he went to bed. He'd leave the light on over the stove in their kitchenette the nights that he knew Kit had to work late. It gave off just enough light that Kit wouldn't bump into any furniture on his way to bed. And if Taylor was anything, he was a creature of habit.
Kit fiddled with his keys again and finally found the one for the apartment door… Which now that he cared to look at it, was slightly ajar.
"Tay?" Kit whispered. Something was off. Kit slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Taylor?" He called out.
ooOOoo
Alice Wilcox stormed through the employee's entrance of Pasquale's around four thirty Saturday afternoon.
"Where is he?" Alice growled to anyone who could hear. Becca, a short but sturdy girl, was adjusting her tie in the mirror and straightening her apron. Danny was sitting at the break table with a newspaper, working a crossword puzzle.
"He who?" Becca asked without turning to look at Alice.
"Kit! Danny, your little twerp of a cousin no-showed. He didn't even bother to call to say he was running late or wasn't coming at all. I had to scramble to find a ride to work!" Alice complained as she pushed her card into the punch clock. "I even tried to call him to see what the fuck was going on, but he didn't answer his cell phone or the phone at his apartment."
"He hasn't come in yet." Danny said as he looked up from his crossword. Alice rolled her eyes and stuffed her purse in her locker and picked up a clean apron out of a bin. Danny shook his head in confusion.
"That's just not like him to leave someone hanging. I mean, he has his faults and is a little klutzy, but I've never known him to lay out from work without a damn good excuse."
The rest of the night was uneventful. Kit still had not come in, but the rest of the wait staff hustled to make up for his absence. Shawn could tell that his co-worker was distracted. Danny would step off to an isolated corner to check his phone occasionally and return with a grim look on his face.
"Yo, Danny. Still no word from Kit?" Shawnn asked as they punched out for the night. Danny shook his head.
"Nah. I'm thinking about riding over there tomorrow and find out what the hell is going on with him. You know what I'm saying when I say something just doesn't feel right?" Shawn chuckled at his partner.
"I think you're makin' a mountain out of a molehill, but whatever." Shawn placed his punch card in it's designated slot and clapped Danny on the arm.
"Hey Danny." Tony approached his employee. "Did I overhear you say you were going to see Kit?"
"Yeah boss." Danny sighed. He had needled Tony for over a week to interview Kit for a job. Now he was hoping Tony wouldn't resent him for all that.
"Save me a phone call. When you find him, tell him I want him to work the lunch shift Tuesday thru Saturday next week. I don't mean to be a hard ass, but we were really busy tonight and he missed out on a great opportunity to make some good tips. Maybe working the lunch shift for a week will make him appreciate that."
"I understand Mr. Prito and I'll relay the message." Danny looked at his feet. Tony dropped his shoulders when he noticed the genuine disappointment on Danny's face.
"Kit seems like a good kid, Danny. I'm willing to give him a second chance by letting him work a week on the lunch shift. Then I'll put him back on dinner. But he's got to understand that we don't take kindly to blowing off work and not being considerate enough to call in without some valid reason."
"I know that Mr. Prito. And I'll make sure Kit understands that as well."
ooOOoo
Despite turning in late, or rather early Sunday morning, Danny dragged himself to the eleven o'clock mass at Saint Dominic's. When the service was over he approached his Aunt Kay, who was fretted that Kit had not called and checked in with her at all Saturday.
"He won't pick up on his cell phone. I even called Taylor's number and he wouldn't pick up either." She said in hushed tones as she lifted the youngest of her brood onto her hip. "I've got a good mind to go over there. If I can get my neighbor to watch the kids…"
"Ow! Maaaa… Kirby's stepping on my shoes!" Whined her nine year-old daughter as she waited in line with her brothers and sisters behind their mother to exit the pew.
"Shhh Kathy, keep your voice down, you're in church!" Aunt Kay admonished. "Kirby, stop stepping on your sister's new shoes. Kevin! No! Kevin get off the back of the pew, this is not a playground! Kimberly, same for you, too. That's not ladylike."
"I'll… go check on him, Aunt Kay. 'Get him to call you when I find him."
During the drive over to his cousin's apartment, Danny played over in his head how he'd explain to Kit the importance of not screwing things up with the Pritos. Maybe even give him some grief about giving his beleaguered mother something else to have to worry about in addition to raising his younger siblings alone while his father was stationed in the Middle East.
Danny knocked once on Kit and Taylor's door. His heart started to quicken when the door swayed open on the first knock.
"Kit? Kristopher*? Taylor?" Danny stepped into the linoleum foyer of the small apartment. The television in the den was on, playing some random infomercial. Water was running somewhere. Danny turned to the left, but it wasn't coming from the kitchen. No, it sounded like it was coming from the back of the apartment. The bathroom? Oh geez… He did not want to walk in on either of the guys in the shower, or Lord knows what they might be doing in the shower. But wouldn't they have been more careful to lock the front door? Danny slowly made his way to the back bedroom. A light was flickering from the room. Danny peeked in and found the room in disarray. A lamp from a nightstand was upended, the shade cracked and the bulb flickered. The flashes of light matched the tattoo of the muscular man's heart.
"Guys?" He called out again. Emboldened by the rising panic in the back of his brain, Danny banged on the bathroom door.
"Kit! Damn it, answer me!" He tried the knob, but the door was locked. Fuck! Danny threw his shoulder into the door but it still did not budge. He took a few steps back in the hall and aimed the heel of his boot just to the right of the door knob. The door gave and Danny stumbled into the small bathroom, his head barely missing the bowl of the toilet. The first sensation that registered as he collected himself was that his knees and hands were wet and cold. He turned his head to the sound of the running shower.
"Oh dear Jesus! No! No!"
OoOOoo
Author's Notes:
*Kit (for a male) is sometimes used as a shorted form of Kristopher or Christian. Both versions of the name are used in my family (I even have a cousin nicknamed Kit, although this story's "Kit" is not modeled after him, but I like the name.)
This has been a very difficult chapter. Combine a brain cramp with real life issues and well, there you have it. You can go to my profile page if you want to know what's been going on. Otherwise, kindly read and review and get ready for the next chapter. I will make two promises: (1) Frank, Joe and Co. will be back. (2) I'll have it up before next Christmas.