Something Else (17)

Chapter Seventeen – Dinner at DiMartino’s

The hostess was an older Italian woman in her late fifties. She greeted Jack and Jaycee warmly and asked if they had a reservation. Jack responded with “Well, yes. The name is Tanner. Party of two.”

“Ah, yes Mr. Tanner. Two for 7:30. Right this way.”

They were led past the bar to a table dressed in white linens with a fiasco wine bottle and candle in the middle. They were seated and given menus then the woman lapped their napkins and offered a wine list. Jack declined.

“Mario will be your waiter tonight. I’ll send him right over.”

“Wow!” Jaycee said. “Nice place.”

“Yeah. Looks the same as it did eight years ago when I came here with my parents.”

They both began to peruse their menus and soon a short but stout Mediterranean looking man approached the table and said “Buona sera. My name is Mario, and I will be your waiter tonight. Can I bring you a cocktail?”

Jaycee took the lead and said “Why yes, Mario. I would love a cocktail. How about a Stoli Martini? Very dry, straight up.”

Jack followed with “And I’ll have a 7 & 7.”

“Very well,” Mario said, and he left immediately for the bar. Jack followed him as he left and noticed a large man sitting at the end of the bar that looked very familiar. Thinking back to the previous Wednesday he remembered who he was. He was Big Denny, the friend of Louie’s who came to the club with four others and met Richie, who bought them a round. They also stayed for the Sexy Legs contest and Denny was a judge.

That night he served their drinks and had overheard part of their conversation. He remembered Denny saying that he worked for his dad in a restaurant. But this was quite a coincidence. Jack had no idea that Denny’s last name was DiMartino and that this was the restaurant.

“Excuse me for a minute.” Jack said to Jaycee. “I see a guy I know at the bar and want to say hello.”

Jack rose pushed his chair in and strode confidently to the bar. Big Denny turned to see him coming and stared back but showed no sign of recognition.

“You’re Denny, right? I met you last Wednesday at Something Else.”

“Yeah. And who are you?" Denny said unsmilingly.

“I’m Jack Tanner. Louie introduced us. I was your bartender. Cuervo Gold shots and a Budweiser chaser, right?”

Denny smiled and put his hand out to shake. “Of course. Now I remember. How you doin’ Buddy?”

“Great. I had no idea that this was your place.”

“Well, it’s not exactly my place. It’s my family’s restaurant. Have you been here before?”

“Only once. My dad introduced me to this place about eight years ago. It was such great food I thought I’d come back with a date.”

“So where is your lady friend?”

Jack turned and gestured toward the table where Jaycee sat waiting. “That’s Jaycee, my friend.”

“Yeah. I recognize her. Good lookin’ babe.”

Jaycee saw them staring, smiled then looked away just as Mario delivered the drinks to the table.

“Thanks. You want to come over and have a drink with us?” Jack asked.

“I can’t. I’m meeting a guy. Another time.” With that Denny downed the remainder of his glass of red wine stuck out his hand to shake and said, “I hope you both have a great dinner. I might see you at the club. I like that place. It’s Something Else.”

Jack smiled broadly, shook his hand, and said “Great. We’ll see you at the club.”

When he got back to the table Jaycee was taking a big gulp of her dry martini.

“That’s Big Denny DiMartino. His family owns this place,” he said.

“I know who he is,” she said curtly.

“Really. How do you know him?”

“From a past life.”

“You mean from that place in O’Fallon where you used to work?”

“Yeah, that place. He’s friends with Jimmy the manager who I dated for a while. He was a regular. He used to hit on all the girls.”

“Did he hit on you?”

“No. He knew I was with Jimmy, so he left me alone. But the girls talked about him. Jimmy encouraged Samantha and Heather to spend time with him. He would get real handsy and the bouncers were told to give him a break and look the other way. He was a big tipper though, so nobody complained.”

“I guess you’re not impressed.”

“I think he’s trouble. Rumor has it he’s ‘mobbed up,” she said taking another big sip of her cocktail.

“Mobbed up. That’s a term I’ve only heard on TV. You think he’s in the Mafia?”

“I don’t really know. I only heard rumors. I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s also into porn.”

“I would guess a lot of men who frequent places like that are into porn.”

“No, I mean he is a producer. He and another guy that works there are making movies. Big Denny recruits the talent. One of my good friends did a flick for them and made a grand for three hours in the sack. She told me that then they wanted to turn her out. They said it would only be ‘high end,’ big money. When she declined, they got her fired from the club.”

Jack sipped his own drink. They focused their attention on the dinner menus and neither of them spoke for several minutes.

“You like ravioli?” Jack asked.

“Sure. I eat it all the time with my daughter. Chef Boyardee. They don’t serve that here, do they?”

Jack smiled and said “No that’s totally different. This is an appetizer. They are little pouches filled with meat and cheese and fried. Looks like they come with Marinara sauce. You want to try them?”

“Sure.”

“Do you see anything you like as an entrée?

“You said that the Chicken Parmesan was good. With Fettuccini Alfredo. Right””

“It was very good. Eight years ago. But maybe it’s even better now. Why don’t we get two different entrees, and we can share?” Jack suggested.  

“I like that. What looks good to you?

“I like the Bistecca alla Fiorentina.”

“Speak English, will ya? I’m from the mid-west.”

Jack laughed and said “It’s a prime Porterhouse steak that’s grilled and seasoned and is popular in Florence Italy. A little olive oil and some sage and rosemary.”

“That’s the most expensive item on the menu,” she exclaimed.

“You don’t worry about that. You just enjoy the dinner and the company. That is, if you find both to be satisfactory.”

“So far, both are more than satisfactory,” she said with an alluring smile.

Mario returned to the table and asked, “Do you have any questions about our menu?”

“Not really. It’s just a good thing that your descriptions are in English. Otherwise, we’d need a translator.”

Mario wasn’t amused and waited for the order.

“Let’s start with the Fried Ravioli to share. Then she’ll have Chicken Parmesan with Fettuccini Alfredo and I’ll have the Bistecca. Can I get gnocchi with that?”

“Yes sir. Not a problem. How would you like the steak cooked?”

“Medium, please. Pink but no blood.”

Mario rolled his eyes and said somewhat impatiently “Yes, sir. Our chef knows what medium is. Will there be anything else?”  

“Yes. We’ll have two more drinks.”

He looked across at Jaycee and said, “Do you like Chianti?”

“I don’t know. Is that wine?

“Yes. Red wine. It goes great with Italian food.”

She nodded and Jack asked Mario to add two glasses of the house Chianti to be served with the entrees.  

“This’s nice,” she said. “Thank you.”

“I should thank you for thanking me. That’s how this all got started. All I did was jump over the bar and almost get my ass kicked by three goons from the boonies of St. Charles.”

“Hey. St. Charles is in the country. It ain’t the boonies. I live there.”

“Sorry. I guess there might be some redeeming value out west across the river. My dad actually bought a lot in a new development called Lake St. Louis. I don’t know much about it, but it is almost forty miles to St. Louis from there. Dad says he’s getting in on the ground floor of a community that will explode and he’s gonna make a lot of money.”

“I heard about that place. That’s even farther out than where I live. They have got a great clubhouse with a giant swimming pool and two lakes. One of the customers was trying to impress me and told me he owned one of the first houses they built there. He wanted me to come and see it. I told him my social calendar was quite full.”

“You might get to see that clubhouse if you want to.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dad owns a lot. Membership in the clubhouse comes with ownership. When it warms up, we can go as his guest if you want to.”

“It’s likely going to get colder before it gets warmer. At least warm enough to go swimming.”

“Well, that gives us something to look forward to down the road. Doesn’t it?” He said.

Mario returned to the table with their cocktails and removed the empty glasses.

“Your appetizer will be right out,” Mario advised.

They both sipped their drinks and enjoyed a quiet moment.

“We never really talked about Mickey.”

“It’s not a subject I like to talk about.”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

She hesitated, then said, “I thought he was completely out of my life. Two years ago, we dated for about a year. I met him after I broke it off with Jimmy, the manager of the club. He owns his own construction company, and they did some work expanding the building. I never saw him as a customer. He and his crew were usually finishing up when me and the other girls came to work in the early evening. We flirted a little and then he asked me out on one of my nights off. We just went to a bar, ate burgers, and played pool. It was a fun time and I needed to have a little fun.

I spent a lot of nights at his place in Wentzville. He has a built-in pool, and he would invite my sister and my daughter to come over in the summer and swim.

He asked me to move in with him several times, but I said ‘no.’ He said I could bring my daughter but he wasn’t keen on having my sister live there too. She isn’t financially self-sufficient. She has a minimum wage job and couldn’t afford to live in our apartment without a roommate.

He was really a nice guy and he treated me like a princess. He brought me flowers and little gifts. Nothing fancy but he seemed thoughtful.”

“Sounds like he must have fallen hard for you.”

“Hard is putting it mildly. After the first few months he would call me several times during the day before I went to work. Then he would call the club and ask for me. When they told him I was working he would get angry and tell Jimmy to have me call him right away. When I didn’t call back, he would get even angrier.”

“Did you try to talk to him about his possessiveness?”

“Yeah, and he did back off for a while. But soon he started up again. I told him not to call the club anymore. I had to work. I didn’t want our relationship to get in the way of me making a living. I needed that job.”

Mario then arrived at the table with the raviolis and two small plates and set them in the middle between us.

“So, this went on for how long?”

“I guess about seven or eight months. I tried to break up with him twice. The first time he said he would do better and bought me a diamond bracelet. He must have spent a thousand dollars on it. I told him I couldn’t accept it and handed it back to him. When he left my apartment that night, I found it in the gift box on the counter in the kitchen. So, I kept it, and we got back together.”

“What about the second time?”

“About two months later he took me to dinner and said he wanted to marry me. He had a diamond ring in a box that he passed to me at the table. He said he wanted me to quit my job and move in with him. He said that he hated that I was dancing naked in front of other men. He said he would pay for my half of the apartment so that my sister could continue to live there.

We were in a public place so I told him we should talk about it later. He resisted and said we needed to talk about it right then. I told him I didn’t want to be dependent on him. I needed my own space. He wouldn’t listen. I got up to leave and he grabbed my arm and pulled me back into my chair. I told him that he was hurting me, and he let go.”

Jack said, “We should eat these while they are hot.” He picked up a plate and set three raviolis on it then spooned some of the Marinara onto the side. Then he passed the plate to her. He then did the same for himself and they each bit into the little warm pouches.

She continued, “We finished our meal, walked to the parking lot and he said he wanted to go back to his place. I said ‘no,’ that I wanted to go home. He kept saying how much he loved me and that he wanted to marry me. I kept deflecting and finally told him that I didn’t love him. That made him angry. He grabbed my arm with one hand and put his other hand on the back of my neck, forcing me to move forward toward his car. I tried to get away and swung at him with my free hand but missed. He backhanded me in the mouth, chipping my tooth, then he smacked me on the side of my face with a closed fist. I fell backward and onto the hood of someone’s car. The owner of the car had just parked it and got out yelling. His friend in the passenger seat also got out and both of them moved toward Mickey who braced for a fight. There was a standoff.

The driver asked if I was okay, and I said no; that I needed a ride home. Mickey said that he would take me home, but I refused to get into his car. My lip was bleeding, and my face was red and beginning to swell.

Another car pulled into the lot and the occupants stared at the altercation as they went by. A couple leaving the restaurant also stopped to see what was happening. Mickey got the message, turned, and walked quickly to his car. He squealed his wheels on the pavement and gravel as he lurched out of the lot.

The men who intervened told me that they could take me home, but I said I’d call a cab. They said they would be witnesses if I decided to press assault charges and gave me their contact information.”

Mario appeared and removed the appetizer plates. Just as he did another waiter came behind him and placed the entrees in front of them. Then Mario set another small plate next to each setting and said “I heard you say you wanted to share. Your Chianti will be delivered in just a few minutes. Buon appetito.”

“Looks great!” Jack said looking down at the sumptuous meal. “The portions are huge.”

“I don’t know if I can eat all of this,” Jaycee said. “I might have to take half of it home for my daughter.”

Mario delivered the wine and the couple concentrated on their meals, cutting off portions and sharing between them.

Between bites Jaycee asked “How about you Jack? I told you my sad story. Do you have one?”

“Mine is one of regret and disillusion. I’ve been out on my own since I was seventeen. I’ve made a lot of bad decisions. Most of them because of my rebellious nature.”

“So, you are a bad boy…”

“Not really bad. Just impulsive. I ran away from home on an impulse. I joined the Army on an impulse. I thought I wanted to be a cop on an impulse, but I realized it wasn’t for me. I was stuck in a three-year contract in the service and wasted valuable time in getting my life started. Now, at almost twenty-three I’m a bartender with no future prospects.”

“But you are a good bartender. You’re a very good bartender. And I think you’re smart and a good person.”

Jack blushed and could only say “Thanks.”

After a few minutes they both raised their wine glasses at almost the same time. Seeing this Jack said, “How about a toast?”

“What are we toasting?”

“How about new beginnings?’

“To new beginnings.” She agreed and their glasses touched. Then they both sipped and stared into each other’s eyes.

The meal wound down and they both moved back from the table a few inches when Mario came back with the dessert menu.

“All of our desserts are house made. You will love our Cannoli’s.”

Jaycee’s eyes went wide, and she said “I can’t eat another thing. Can I take the rest of this home with me?”

Mario nodded and removed their plates. Jack said, “Bring her a Cannoli to go and then I’ll take the check, please.”

Jaycee smiled.

“Denny DiMartino has taken care of the check,” Mario said.

Both Jack and Jaycee were surprised and showed it. “Wow! He didn’t have to do that,” Jack said. “Can I thank him?”

“He’s already gone tonight but he said he would see you soon at Something Else.” Mario responded.

After a moment Jack reached across the table and gently grabbed Jaycee’s hand. “Thanks for coming out to dinner with me tonight.”

“No. Thank you. For everything. To new beginnings,” she said with an alluring smile. “My place?”

“Sure.” He replied.