just like they did. Help these days just wasn’t what it used to be.
“You going to lunch with your wife?” Anton asked and took the wooden seat in front of the desk, across from Matteo. The chair was also an antique, not meant for real comfort.
“I am. She’ll be joining me here afterward.” Matteo turned the laptop on his desk off and put it in his briefcase. It went wherever he did and always would.
“Very good. I’ll take a ride out to one of our houses, check how things are going.” Matteo knew Anton meant one of the houses “out in the country”, far out of the city and generally hidden away on hills or in forests.
The family now owned, through a variety of holdings, quite a few of the old country houses that the wealthy elite used to escape the heat of the summer in the city. The houses were now places for gambling of many kinds: cards, dice, betting, even slot machines. Each house was checked regularly and staffed by trusted “managers”. Anton was in charge of all of those managers and reported directly to Matteo about the goings-on in these houses.
Matteo suspected far more went on in a few of those houses, but he was about to clear all of that out, once Anton got the proof of it. One of the managers had become a bit too big for his britches, as Marie might say, and would have to go.
“You do that, and thanks, Anton. I’ll see you later.” Matteo left the man in his office and went out to his car, not the car Celeste had sent him to Louisiana in. He sighed as he sank into the luxurious seat and started the engine.
He drove to a place on the outskirts of the city, a quiet little French restaurant that didn’t give two fucks that Yelp or Trip Adviser existed because its clientele only knew about the place through word of mouth. The word of other patrons that could afford the prices, and not just people with a few extra dollars to spend.
He pulled up to the building, a small building that looked like a log cabin made up of very dark wood. The exterior didn’t matter a lot, it was the food that that mattered. Dark, full of tables with white tablecloths and dark chairs, and staff that was ready and able to meet any demand waited inside, and Matteo quickly found his new wife.
He leaned down to kiss her before he took a seat across from her in the back of the restaurant lit with original gas lighting. Flames flickered along the walls and gave the interior a romantic air. She smiled happily up at him as he sat down to join her.
“Hello, darlin',” she drawled and took his hand. “How are you?”
“I’m ready to eat, Marie, and this is as close as we’ll get to that lovely food I learned to love down in Louisiana. I miss the cook I had down there.”
“Bring her up here then,” Marie said lightly, with a soft laugh. “Or we can always go back down there.”
“Soon enough, I know you must miss it. I do and I was only there a short time.” He picked up the menu the waiter left when he sat Marie and looked it over. When he put the menu down the waiter came over to take his drink order.
They both ordered their food and sat with their hands entwined on the table to wait.
“How was your morning, Marie?” he asked, pleased just to be near her. He’d become used to having her in his life now, and the weeks had flown by.
They’d both calmed down after Christmas and settled into the marriage happily. It was still a surprise to him, though, how much he still longed for her company. He’d never wanted to be around anyone as much as he wanted to be with her. It was almost sappy, which he hated, but he couldn’t help it. For now, he’d given in to the urge to please her, and his own need to be near her. Maybe that need would dim over time.
“I met Trina and her mother for breakfast. Audrina has calmed down a little bit.” Marie sat back in her chair and tapped her manicured nails on the table. She’d chosen a dark shade of pink and black this time, and he thought it was adorable how she chose the oddest of artwork for her nails.
“You have charmed them