Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick [6]
“I’ll cancel.”
“But—”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “You didn’t know you’d lose your job today.”
I rose to my feet. “I’ll get dressed. Er, shower and get dressed. And we’ll—”
“Suddenly you’re feeling better?”
“Well, no,” I admitted. “But I don’t want to spoil—”
“Then let’s save it for a night when you’re in the mood.” He smiled and added, “For everything.”
“I’m sorry. I feel terrible about this.”
He waved aside my comment. “Forget it. Raoul’s is the wrong place to take a woman who isn’t hungry. If I’m going to pay that much for dinner, we have to eat every bite.”
I smiled. “Spoken like a man on a cop’s salary.”
The phone rang. I grabbed the receiver . . . but then I just stared at it without pressing the TALK button. I felt a sudden sense of looming dread.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” Lopez asked.
“I’m afraid it’s my mother,” I said.
“She calls on Sundays?”
“No, she calls whenever things are going badly.”
As the phone continued ringing, he said, “Don’t you want to talk to her?”
“No, of course not.”
“She’s not one of the people you called today?” he asked.
“Good God, no!”
He blinked at my tone. “Then how does she know things are going badly?”
“I’ve never figured that out,” I said. “She just has this uncanny sixth sense. Whenever things are at their lowest, she calls me. And within minutes, she manages to make me feel even worse.”
“I see.”
“It’s her gift.”
“Maybe you should get a phone with caller ID.”
“I can’t buy a new phone, I’m out of work.” I’m an actress, my budget is tight. My current phone would remain in use until it died. “I should never have given my home number to my mother!”
I knew even from our short acquaintance that Lopez was much closer to his parents than I was to mine. However, since his mother pestered him often by phone, perhaps he sympathized with my problem.
“Here, I’ll answer it,” he said. “If it’s your mom, I’ll tell her you’re in the shower.”
“You can’t do that!” I clung to the cordless receiver when he reached for it. “I’ll have to explain what a strange man was doing in my apartment while I was showering!”
“I’m not that strange,” he said. “Besides, she must realize you date. I mean, if my mom realizes that I date, then surely—”
“Dating and being naked in the next room are not synonymous in my family. Anyhow, then she’d fight with me about dating someone who’s not Jewish.”
“How would she know I’m not Jewish on the phone?”
There are things that Gentiles just don’t understand about Jewish mothers.
Realizing that any caller who was not my mother would give up in another ring or two, I girded my loins and answered the ringing phone. “Hello?”
“Esther! Esther Diamond! Sweetie! It’s Stella,” boomed a robust female voice in a strong Queens accent.
“Oh, Stella,” I said with relief. “Thanks for returning my call so soon.”
I met Lopez’s eyes and smiled. He took the ice cream carton from my lap and ate another spoonful.
“Are you kidding?” Stella said. “I called back as soon as I got your message. Of course we can use you around here! A good voice, sturdy feet, and a strong back? There’s always a place for you at Stella’s, sweetie. You wanna start this week?”
“I’ll be there tomorrow.” We made arrangements, and then I said, “Thanks, Stella.”
“No problem, sweetie.”
When I hung up, Lopez noted my relief and asked, “An audition? A job?”
“Well, I won’t starve or lose the apartment. I got my old day job back. The one I had right before Sorcerer! Waiting tables. Though ‘day job’ isn’t quite accurate. I usually get off work around two o’clock in the morning at Stella’s.”
“Stella’s?”
“It’s a restaurant called Bella Stella in Little Italy.”
He frowned. “On Mulberry Street.”
“You know it?” That didn’t surprise me. It was a pretty famous place.
“Of course I know it, Esther. There’ve been two mob hits there in the past five years, and Stella Butera launders money for the Gambello crime family.”
Okay, so it was notorious as well as famous.
Bella Stella was a Mafia hangout, particularly popular with the Gambellos. This notoriety, of course, also