Bosom Bodies (Mina's Adventures) Page 2

  “Five? I can’t pronounce it once.” He shook his head. “It’s the wrong time of year to leave home, I think. You couldn’t have gone even if you wanted to, tomorrow is the day.”

  “Don’t remind me. I’m nervous enough. What am I supposed to do? Adams will be there, you, me? I’m just there to sign whatever you two think is good. You know I don’t understand half of what is going on.”

  “Mina.” Paco looked at her. His eyes reflected surprise and sadness. “It’s too late now, but I do wish you had tried harder to understand the business your mother built.”

  “Come on. You know I trust you, and I trust Adams. What happens if we accept the offer? No more West Coast Software? We get our money and retire?” She laughed. “How cool would that be? Retired at twenty-four.”

  “I would not retire. I’m hoping to negotiate staying on. I also want to make sure they keep our best and most loyal employees.”

  “I’ll be unemployed then.” Mina meant it. Since Paola’s death, Paco ran the software company and Mina collected a salary because she was the heir, not because she earned it. If the deal took place, Mina would come into a very large amount of money and be free to pursue other interests. Adams, her lawyer, had convinced her to lease-purchase the upscale condo in Newport Beach with that event in mind.

  “Here we are,” Mina said with as much enthusiasm as possible.

  “Here where? I don’t see your Bug.”

  Bosom Bodies looked deserted, no parked cars, no lit signs, nothing. Mina realized they weren’t open. What she thought would be an early shift was actually Sunday’s opening time, which meant her car was still tucked away in the locked parking lot behind the building.

  “Maledizione. Bad luck, this place is bad luck.” She got out of Paco’s car to peek through the frosted glass of the main entrance. Inside all was dark. The place wasn’t due to open for another ninety minutes. She couldn’t possibly ask Paco to sit around for that long; she had to do something. Oh, Brian, where are you when I need you?

  She went back to the car. “Paco, let’s get the tire out of your trunk, throw it over the back fence, then you hold me so I can climb over the fence and…”

  The look on Paco’s face told her he wasn’t going to do any of it. He shook his head and stroked his mustache with his forefinger like he did when he knew it was better to say nothing. He was right, as usual.

  “You need to use that stuff for men, you know? For your mustache, it’s getting gray.”

  “I’m over fifty,” he continued to shake his head, “and don’t change the subject.”

  She thought of her mother at the oddest times. Like now. “Paola would have been thirty-nine this year.”

  They looked at each other and both sighed.

  “Paco, I have a plan B. We get the tire out of the trunk. We roll it by the gate. I sit and wait until the manager comes to open, then I call Triple A. They change my tire while I change for work. What do you think?”

  “It doesn’t matter what I think. I can’t stay and keep you company, I have to go to a baptism, and if I’m late my wife will never forgive me. It’s her side of the family. Let’s get the tire.” Before opening the trunk he looked around as if to reassure himself it was a safe decision.

  Bosom Bodies was in a quiet, secluded part of Balboa, removed from the main drag where most of the tourist shops and eateries could be found. Mina thought of Bosom Bodies as an acquired taste that most customers weren’t anxious to brag about.

  “I’ll be fine Paco. Thanks a lot. I’ll see you tomorrow at the office and I promise to look the part.”

  He still seemed unconvinced, but after checking his watch, Paco got back in his car, and started the engine. He turned to wave and then hit the gas. A year as the president of a software company hadn’t changed him much. To Mina, he remained a gentle and caring man.

  At first, Mina walked around pretending deep interest in the architecture of the building, but after ten minutes on high heels and hard asphalt, she sat on the tire, hugging her knees to her chest and sending subliminal curses to the adult industry in general and to fans of Big Boobs in particular.

  A rumbling engine perked up her attention. Oh, no. It’s that annoying Diego. What’s he doing here? Where’s Barbara?

  He rolled up just inches from her pointed-toe shoes, stopped the bike by the gate and unlocked it. Mina stood while Diego still sat there on that big roaring thing. Dark sunglasses hid his eyes. He removed the helmet and placed it on the gas tank. “Well, if it isn’t the tire fairy. Did you find it under a pillow?” He grinned—a grin tinged with sarcasm.

  “Where is Barbara?” Mina refused to acknowledge his stupid remarks.

  “Sunday is her day off. I’m opening up,” another smile, “after I watch you change the tire.” He was still straddling the Harley by the open gate. Mina managed to get the tire upright and slowly rolled it into the fenced parking area where her car sat. She leaned the tire against the passenger door of the Bug, rubbed the dirt from her hands and walked toward the entrance. A few minutes later Diego unlocked the door. Neither of them spoke. She headed for the women’s bathroom while he disarmed the security. By the time she washed up and changed clothes, three other employees had arrived. She called Triple A for someone to come and change her tire before she realized she forgot to bring the fake eyelashes. Oh well, the red wig and the padded bra would have to do.

  She recognized Lisa, the cashier, and one of the cute waitresses from the night before. Two other women were unfamiliar to her. Mina glanced into the kitchen to say hi to Angelina and maybe get something to eat. The toast she ate at noon left her with a growling stomach. No one was in the kitchen, not even Diego. Who would do the cooking?

  Minutes after five o’clock, men trickled in; music blared from the hidden speakers. Sunday or not, it was business as usual at Bosom Bodies. Mina prayed no one sat at her station. She kept herself busy around the kitchen pass-through with an eye to the back door still wondering where everyone had disappeared.

  “Ginger, psst, Ginger.” Lisa motioned her to the back office.

  What was going on?

  “You calling me?”

  “Yes. Angelina hasn’t showed up. That’s unusual. She is always on time. Diego will be alone in the kitchen. Since you are the newbie, you may have to help him out.”

  “In the kitchen,” Mina started to say, “help that jerk?” but caught herself in time.

  “Yes. I’m sorry. I’ll make sure the girls split the tips with you.”

  “No, no, it’s not that. I don’t know a thing about cooking.”

  Lisa shrugged, “There isn’t much to learn about what we cook here.”

  Finally, something Mina could agree with.

  “Okay. Can I change back to my own clothes?” she asked. A noise came from the kitchen, the sound of pots and pans crashing to the concrete floor. Mina and Lisa rushed over. Angelina was crouched down picking up the objects of the crash.

  “There you are,” Lisa said. “What happened?”

  Angelina looked up, shrugged and went back to collecting the cookware. There was a large bruise under her right eye. Before Mina could ask about it, Diego came from the freezer area and started to scrape the grill. He seemed oddly oblivious to all the commotion.

  “Angelina, do you need help with that?” Mina said

  The young woman shook her head. She looked so sad and helpless. Who hit her in the face?

  “Let’s get back to work,” Lisa said. The remark was aimed at Mina. Happy hour was in full swing. Most of the tables were taken, even the ones Mina was in charge of. Maledizione. She adjusted her “Ginger” nametag, grabbed the notepad and sashayed over to her first table of four. The strut was strictly for Diego, in case he was ogling.

  At Mina’s first table, a woman sat with three men. Mina liked that, thinking she wouldn’t have to put up with lewd comments about the prominent part of her—top. All four wore suits, another welcome exception to the casual surrounding.

  Fo
r the first time since she set foot in Bosom Bodies, Mina wore a genuine smile to greet the customers. One of the men, his back to her, erupted into a laugh. Something familiar about that laugh brought Mina to a stop. She studied his back, the way the sleek dark hair brushed his shirt collar, his broad shoulders still shaking from the laugh. No, not Brian’s buddy Detective DeFiore. Of course it had to be him. The only Italian characteristic about DeFiore was his last name and that came from his stepdad. Everything else, especially his hair, was pure Asian.

  Now the suits and the woman, it all made sense. They were cops, possibly celebrating the good outcome of a case. Happy hour to be had by all! What should she do, hide in the bathroom like the day before? And then what? While she pondered the situation, the woman at the table seemed to notice Mina. She motioned her over.

  Mina walked to the table making sure she stayed behind DeFiore’s chair. He would need to make a complete turn to see her face. Pad and pencil ready, she smiled at the woman and waited for the order. She planned to avoid speaking. DeFiore might recognize her accent.

  The man to DeFiore’s left waved his hand over the table. “Can we get some appetizers—like maybe sometime today?”

  Mina nodded and pointed to the colorful menu folded in the center of the table.

  “Something wrong with your voice—Ginger?” It was an impatient question.

  “Oh, sorry, my throat.” Mina covered her mouth and coughed lightly.

  “Hey, if you’re sick, you shouldn’t be serving food. Get someone else.”

  “Gladly,” Mina said louder than necessary.

  “Mina?” DeFiore spun on the stool so they were face to face. He recognized her? She only said one word.

  “Sir, my name is Ginger.” She pointed to her nametag while trying to tell him to shut up with her eyes.

  The way he looked at her, she wanted to die, but she wanted to kill him first because he immediately began laughing at her. “What the hell are you doing here, and dressed like that?” He said ‘like that’ while staring at the padded part of her T-shirt. His eyes traveled up to the red wig. “Kid, Halloween was last month.”

  “Sir, you are mistaking me for someone else.” She smiled sweetly and, while looking straight into his eyes, stomped his foot with her heel. “My name is Ginger, can I take your order?”

  He winced but said nothing.

  After she collected everyone’s order she turned away and overheard the woman ask, “You know her?”

  Mina didn’t hear DeFiore’s answer, but she did notice Diego standing by the glass divider with his arms crossed, watching her.

  Chapter 3

  Mina couldn’t sleep. She blamed the unfamiliar noises of her new place, but unfortunately it wasn’t that simple. Paola, her mother, had spent her life creating, building for the future. It hurt Mina to know after her mother was murdered, Paola’s life, from Mina’s point of view, would be dismantled and sold off piece-by-piece—her car, her magnificent home, and now her business.

  The next morning, Mina, Paco and Adams, the lawyer, would meet with a group of foreign venture capitalists proposing a majority investment in West Coast Software.

  “Mina, you know Paola would have approved,” Adams said. “She would have told you a merger or other major cash influx is the only way to take the company to the next level.”

  If only there was someone Mina could talk to about all the unexpected turns happening in her life. Brian had not called since Saturday night. She missed him, but his traveling through Europe was convenient in one way at least. If he’d been here, Mina knew DeFiore would have rushed to ask his buddy Brian what Mina was doing moonlighting at Bosom Bodies.

  Recalling the look on DeFiore’s face when she stepped on his foot made her giggle in the dark. Thank God she was done with that so-called job. After the office meeting tomorrow she would return the clothes, wig and padding to Barbara, wish everyone a great life, and move on with hers. Maybe she’d give a small gift to Angelina. Her sad little face haunted Mina. With some luck, Monday could be Diego’s day off, and she wouldn’t need to deal with him.

  It would be considerate to wash the uniform before returning it. That’s why she brought it home. Her washing machine had yet to be installed, same with the dryer. This was her first home—so many things to take care of. Mina fell asleep thinking about her mother and how different life would be if she hadn’t been murdered.

  Not bad. Mina examined herself in the bathroom mirror. The suit fit pretty good. First time she had worn it in six months. Made her look—old. Maybe old wasn’t the right word, maybe more grown up and wise? Right now Mina wished she had glasses to wear. People with glasses were always taken more seriously. Lawyers, professors and presidents wore glasses. Where could she get some?

  The phone rang. Mina rushed to her bedroom. It could be Brian. “Hello?”

  “Hey Mina.” She recognized Margo’s voice. The fact that Mina was technically her boss didn’t keep Margo from treating her like an old friend. Mina was okay with that. Both had survived life-threatening experiences at the time of Paola’s death, and both came through stronger. They formed a bond, the kind of bond only women seem to understand.

  “Yes, Margo?”

  “Oh, good, you’re awake. Paco said, ‘No rush.’ The meeting is postponed by an hour. Flight delay or something. Whatcha wearing?”

  “My dark blue suit.”

  “That weddings and funerals thing again? Don’t you have something more cheerful? I tell you what, I’ll lend you my jewelry, have some earrings in my desk drawer and I can run home and get a necklace or a nice brooch.”

  Mental pictures of Margo’s gaudy jewelry flashed through Mina’s head. “Thanks Margo, that’s very nice of you. Adams told me to keep it subdued, I have to look… restrained.” Good choice of word. “Okay, Margo, see you later. Thanks.”

  An hour to kill? Boring. What could she do for an hour? The small pile of laundry on the bedroom floor called her name. Good idea. She picked up the uniform and bra, went into the bathroom and filled the sink with warm water. There wasn’t any laundry soap. Mina squirted shampoo in the water. If it was good enough for hair, it should be good enough for clothes. The Bosom Bodies T-shirt was the hardest one to wash. Cheap rhinestones covered the lettering on the front. She couldn’t rub too hard in case the rhinestones came unglued and fell off. Five minutes later she was done. Where should she put the laundry to dry? The terrace of her fourth story condo looked sunny and inviting. Mina went outside. Should she drape the wet garments over the banister? Something about the idea didn’t feel right. Water would drip on the terrace below. She went back inside and hung the laundry around the bathroom.

  An hour later, Mina parked her Bug in the spot reserved for Calvi, her last name. Every time she stepped inside West Coast Software, the bulk of her repressed emotions came hurling back. Margo sat at her desk wearing her usual double serving of make up and flaunting enough glitter to decorate South Coast Plaza’s Christmas tree.

  “Hi, Margo, am I early?"

  “A little, just enough for you to mind the phones while I run to the john.”

  Before Mina could argue, the door to the bathroom swished closed on Margo’s flouncy skirt. Mina sighed. The receptionist chair had been replaced with a new one, but other things hadn’t changed.

  She sat, like she had many times before, praying the phones wouldn’t ring, because emotions filled her throat and her soul. She laid her head on her arms resting on the desktop, thinking about the past. Any minute now the front door will chime, and Brian will walk in with a smile on his face and a bag of muffins from Columbo’s. Paola will call us into her office, and we’ll joke about Brian spending too much time around West Coast Software instead of studying.

  Paola’s office was now Paco’s. Mina ran her fingertips under her eyes, careful not to smudge the mascara. Where was Paco?

  Just then the front door did chime, and Paco came in with Adams, each holding a cup from Columbo’s. The physical difference between t
he two always made her smile: Paco burly and on the short side of tall, to Adams thin and tall, with hair as white as sand by moonlight.

  “You bring me something?” Mina smiled.

  “We didn’t know you were here. Where is Margo?” Paco looked toward the ladies’ room and rolled his eyes. “We’ll have the meeting in my office. Let’s make sure there are enough chairs.”

  They headed toward Paco’s office when the main phone on Margo’s desk rang. Mina hesitated for a second before turning back to answer. “West Coast Software, may I help you?”

  “Mina, is that you?” It was Brian. “Mina, can you hear me okay?”

  Mina plopped into the receptionist chair and cupped her hand around the mouthpiece.

  “Oh, Brian, I have been so worried, how are you, where are you, is everything okay?” She blurted the whole sentence without pausing or inhaling.

  “Mina, slow down.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “I’m fine. Mom is fine. Things are a little hectic. We’re still on the road. There was a problem with the bus in the middle of nowhere. That’s why I didn’t call before.”

  “I miss you so much. The investors are going to be here any minute. I want to talk to you. How many hours difference is there? Eight, nine? Can I call you when I get out of here?”

  “I can’t give you a number to call me until we get to the hotel, and right now we are stranded in the countryside waiting for a bus to replace the one that broke down.”

  Before Mina could say anything else, a group of men walked into the reception room. The door to the ladies’ room swung open. Margo’s special men-searching radar must have gone off. She rushed to her desk, a flirty look on her face.

  “May I help you?” She smiled at the four Asian visitors.

  They all wore suits and a stern look. Well, not all. One of them, the one who looked younger, bowed slightly and announced in perfect English they were there to discuss business.

  “Brian, so sorry, got to go,” Mina whispered into the phone, “love you,” then hung up.

  She followed the investors into Paco’s office, ignoring Margo’s disappointed expression.