Page 11 of Tommy Gabrini: All Fall Down
Trina respected her for that. “You told me nothing but the truth. I’ll give you that. I do need to get my own house in order, yes I do. But you’re still too solicitous to Tommy’s good-looking ass. That’s true too!”
Grace looked and Trina and couldn’t help but smile. “You’re hopeless, you know that?”
“I know it, girl, I know it,” Trina said, and both women laughed.
“Hey Grace.”
They looked up and saw Orrie Neal walking toward their table.
Grace smiled. “Hey there. I thought you were still in L.A.”
“I got back last night,” Orrie said, and then looked over at Trina.
“I don’t think you’ve met Reno’s wife Trina yet.”
“No, I haven’t had the pleasure,” said Orrie.
“Trina, this is my Chief of Operations Orenthal Neal. But we call him Orrie.”
He and Trina were about to shake hands until Grace said his name. She nearly hesitated in shaking his hand when she heard that name, but she didn’t. She shook it. “Nice to meet you, Orrie.”
“Likewise.”
“So what are you up to now?” Grace asked him as Trina stared at them both.
“Just grabbing a bite to eat to take upstairs. I’ve only been away a fortnight and already I have a pile of contracts waiting for my signature. But I will need a moment of your time a little later to let you know what the truckers were telling me during their union meeting.”
“I’ll put some time aside,” Grace said.
“And nice meeting you, Mrs. Gabrini,” Orrie said to Trina, and then he walked away. Trina watched Grace watch him as he walked away.
“So that’s Orrie Neal,” Trina said when Grace looked at her.
“How would you know about him?”
“I know he tried to push you into expanding Trammel into southern markets, but Tommy wouldn’t let you.”
Grace couldn’t believe it. “Who told you that lie?”
“You know who. Tommy tells Reno everything, and Reno tells Tommy everything. Those two gossip more than women do. Especially when it concerns what you and me are up to.”
“And then Reno tells you everything.”
“That’s right,” said Trina. “What did he get wrong?”
“Orrie never tried to push me into doing a thing. I’ve been begging the board to expand markets, but Tommy has avery conservative outlook on expansionism and the board will do whatever Tommy wants.”
“Even though you’re the owner?”
“It is what it is, Trina. I gave up on that battle years ago.”
“So you expanded then? Reno said Tommy wouldn’t go for it. Are you telling me he went for it?”
“No. He shot the idea down three months ago. We even had an emergency board meeting about it. I put up a fight, but in the end Tommy’s position prevailed.”
“Because you backed down?”
“Because the bylaws allowed him to overrule me, Trina. Why do you always have to think it’s because I’m supposedly so weak for Tommy that I won’t fight for my rights?”
