Page 19 of Above ’N’ Beyond

Another interesting factoid. Bella wanted to buy out her aunt.

“I’ve got to go check on the AC,” she said. “Any questions?”

Jamie shook his head. “I’ve got this.”

As Bella headed for the back door, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and lit up the screen to see who’d called. Jenkins. The man had also texted. Hadn’t Jamie been as clear as vodka that he’d reach out when he had significant intel?

His phone buzzed with another incoming text, this one from Tony. They’d exchanged numbers yesterday. Meet at Bistro.

“She’s not normally so testy,” Sierra said as she filled a tray with water glasses. “Can you get me another tray?”

“Sure.” Jamie grabbed one from behind the bar. “I was beginning to think it was just me.”

“She’s just had a lot on her mind lately.”

“Like what?” he asked, keeping an eye on the door. When Sierra hesitated, he added, “I’m a bartender now. Whatever happens at the bar stays at the bar.”

When she smiled, he could understand why Lou had been struck by colpo di fulmine. Sierra was indeed a beautiful woman any man would be spellbound by. Oddly, Bella’s scowling face popped into his head.

Sierra pulled down more water glasses. “All I can say is that every family has its issues.”

He snagged more glasses and set them on the half-filled tray. “True that.” His family was no exception. In a big, big way.

“In fact,” she continued, “I’m surprised Bella hired you. She doesn’t hire anyone associated with Tony or Paola Mancuso—her aunt, in case you don’t know who her aunt is.”

“Why’s that?”

“Why she hired you or why she won’t hire anyone her family recommends?”

“Both.”

Sierra wiped down the inside of a glass. “Knowing you’re in tight with Tony, I can’t say why she hired you, but having complete hiring control was something she worked out with Paola a long time ago. It’s the one thing Paola did keep her word about.”

Jamie arched a brow. Plying Sierra for more intel was on the tip of his tongue, but he had to tread lightly. Pushing too hard too fast would look suspicious. “How does she find the people who work for her?”

“As for Lou and I, we went to culinary school in Italy with Bella. When she reached out and told us she was opening a restaurant in a primo Nyack location, we moved across country to help her, and she convinced us to stay on. We all work together on the menus, but she gives Lou all the space he needs to create his magic. She spends most of the time managing the place now.”

“And the rest of the staff?” he prodded.

“Want ads, mostly, and on recommendations.”

The front door opened. A woman in her sixties wearing a pink skirt and matching short-sleeve jacket, high heels, and a thick strand of pearls around her neck strode in.

Paola Mancuso. In the flesh.

Jamie’s muscles tightened. He’d recognized her instantly, although he had to pretend he didn’t.

Several people followed her inside. Tony came first, followed by Marco Ianetti and the rest of Tony’s crew. All were in their forties with dark-brown hair and eyes. Personality-wise, however, these guys were as different as BB gun ammo and fifty caliber machine gun rounds.

The men all wore suits and brand-new Ferragamos. Except for Sammy Sneakers, who sported a brand-new pair of Nikes with his thousand-dollar Armani suit.

“Jimmy!” Tony waved him over.

“Here we go,” Sierra whispered, hefting the tray. “The queen has arrived.”

Seemed like Bella’s friend had no love for Paola Mancuso.

“How’d you get here so fast?” Tony made a show of clapping Jamie on the back as he patted him down again. “I musta texted you five seconds ago.”