He made a flourishing gesture to the heavens, but Grace wasn’t deluding herself that Vince’s trip to Big Frank’s had anything to do with some mystical influence from the beyond.
“Like you didn’t know my mom worked here,” Ryan said. Grace could sense him getting hotter.
“Mama. This your boy?” Rapino appraised Ryan up and down. “Big fella. Fed him good.”
Annie came out from the kitchen to see what was going on. Seeing her reminded Grace of the gun in the safe in the back office. Annie was a shooter. The number of ‘Annie, get your gun’ jokes made over the years were far too numerous to count. Grace had been to the range with her and could attest that she could group her shots into her initials if she desired. Hopefully those skills wouldn’t get put to any test.
“Everything all right?” Annie asked as her gaze traveled across the hard-looking men lining the front of the counter.
“It’s fine,” Grace answered quickly, still holding on to Ryan’s shirt. “Vince, what do you want?”
“So okay, no cake. So…” He checked the menu for a second time. “How about some fountain Cokes for me and my boys then?” he asked.
“How about you—”
Grace gave Ryan’s shirt a tug, both to keep him quiet and to anchor him in place.
“Okay, and then you all go,” said Grace, finding a measured tone at last. “Annie, please get them some Cokes, no charge.”
Annie poured the Cokes from the fountain machine while Vince looked around the restaurant.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” he said. “Can’t believe we haven’t checked it out before. So, where is big Frank tonight? He here? Can I meet the fella?”
“Frank is my father-in-law, and no. He passed.”
Annie returned to the counter with the Cokes.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Rapino said, not sounding sorry in the slightest as he took his Coke and stuck a straw in the lid. “Your husband, he’s dead too, right?”
Ryan tensed.
“Get out,” he demanded.
“Just asking,” said Rapino, faking his upset. He leaned forward, squinting his eyes at Ryan, and growled in a low voice, “Why so hot, bro? You looking for something?”
Grace knew what that “something” meant to these men. Ugly. Violent. No way would she allow that to happen.
“Ryan, it’s okay.” Grace tried to ignore a sour taste that had settled in her throat. “Please, Vince, just go.”
Vince appraised Ryan for a beat, perhaps thinking maybe he wouldn’t just go, but then turned his attention back to Grace. He sent a leering look that filled her with a fresh flutter of fear. Then something changed in him. Like a car downshifting, he seemed to suddenly relax.
“Happy birthday, Rachel,” Vince said, removing the lid from his Coke as he took a big sip from the open top. He raised his paper cup skyward, holding an ice chip between his bared teeth. While sending Grace an angry stare, he tilted his cup to the floor, allowing all of the sticky, brown, syrupy Coke to spill out. It made a loud splash, mixed with the delicate tinkling of tumbling ice cubes. Vince let the empty cup fall from his grasp.
“See you in court, Gracie,” he said. “Looking forward to watching your baby girl get marched off in chains. But I’ll tell you this: one way or another, justice will be served—maybe even before the verdict comes.” He made his final statement while looking Grace dead in the eyes.
Then he turned around, his companions following suit as if it were a choreographed sequence. Away they marched out the door, the bell announcing their departure, the three of them oblivious to the shocked stares of the diners who watched them go.
Ryan shook with furious anger and might have leapt over the counter if Grace hadn’t maintained a hold on his shirt.
“Don’t,” she said firmly. “Let them go. It’s nothing. We’ll clean it up.”
“Nothing?” Ryan’s eyes glimmered with rage.
Sarah, a longtime employee who had watched the encounter from a safe distance, approached with a tentative air. She had a sunny smile, but she needed some natural sunlight and a polo shirt maybe one size larger to keep some of the customers from gawking. Grace liked her chipper personality and knew she was not one to easily get ruffled, but what she’d seen had rattled her good.
“I’ll clean this up right away,” she said hurriedly before setting off for the maintenance closet.
“What an asshole.”