“Where’s Mike?” Carlita cast a concerned glance at the clock on Ravello’s kitchen wall. “He shoulda been back from his deliveries by now.”
Arnie, the restaurant manager, wiped his hands on his apron, and hurried over. “I was wondering the same thing. I’ll call him.” He plucked his cell phone from his pocket and tapped the screen.
The back door leading to the alley flew open and Mike appeared.
“There you are. We were getting worried about you,” Carlita said. “How did the deliveries go this time around?”
“The same as last.” The delivery driver pulled a stack of receipts from his pocket and tossed them on the counter. “I got lost over on Stalwart Street. I drove around and around those shock busters the city calls charming historic chunks of brick that rattle my muffler. The tips aren’t near enough for the wear and tear I’m putting on my car.”
Carlita’s heart plummeted. Not another one. “You’re quitting?”
“Yeah. Not only am I putting wear and
tear on my car, but my old lady is nagging me to death. She doesn’t think it’s safe and keeps insisting that taking on a second job isn’t worth the hassle.” Mike apologized for the short notice and after Arnie told him his last paycheck—which wouldn’t be much considering he’d only been employed for a few days—would be direct-deposited into his account, he left.
“We’ve gone through three drivers in less than two weeks.” Carlita stared at the pile of delivery receipts. Her dreams of taking her restaurant to the next level with Downtown Deliveries, her new food delivery service, were fizzling.
She had the customers, had the business now that they were in the holiday season. Catering and food delivery were in high demand. Unfortunately, Carlita was struggling to find a dependable delivery person.
Her success had come with a price tag, namely feeling
overwhelmed and overworked, not to mention bone-tired. But she was also stubborn and not ready to give up on the lucrative food delivery gig.
“I’ll start running the help-wanted ad again,” Arnie said. “First thing tomorrow morning.”
“Why bother?” Carlita asked. “No one wants to do the deliveries. We’re getting one excuse after another.”
“What choice do we have? To pack it in and try again
in a month or two?”
“And give up all the holiday business. We could try a third-party delivery service again.”
“Last time we checked, the ones I contacted said they didn’t have anyone available and could put us on a waitlist,” Arnie reminded her.
Carlita’s eyes drifted to the doorway, watching as Mike’s headlights bounced off the side of the building. He sped to the corner, nearly
colliding with one of Elvira’s EC Security Services vans on the way in. Tires squealing, he sped off. “I’ll do it myself.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Savannah’s as safe as the next city and I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but being a woman making deliveries in the evening is
asking for trouble.”
“I have a gun.”
“I didn’t ask, but I’m sure Mike did, too. How will it
help you when some big, burly thug jumps you from behind?”
It was a concern, and one Carlita had worried about with all her drivers. “Maybe I could hire Luigi to go with me.” Her tenant, a former mafia bodyguard and formidable man, would make even the most hardened criminal think
twice.
“And put him on the payroll and pay him for his time?” Arnie pointed out.
“True. It
wouldn’t make much sense for me to hire Luigi to help me with deliveries. We would have to pay him even more than we were paying Mike. It would eat up the profits and we would barely break even,” she sighed.
“I’ll put my feelers out to see if I can come up with anything,” Arnie promised.
“Although I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
“I appreciate it, but I’m leaning toward trying to do the deliveries myself, starting tomorrow. I can’t let this opportunity slip away.” Carlita settled in at the desk to close out the day’s sales, paying close attention to the deliveries.
Ravello’s Italian Eatery was making money. Good money. If she discontinued the deliveries, she would miss out on the extra year-end income, something she planned to use to surprise her hard-working staff who had stuck with her, with a nice Christmas bonus.
Mercedes appeared, and out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Arnie pulled her aside. They began talking in low voices.
“Hey.” Carlita
wrapped up her bookkeeping and felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned to find her daughter standing behind her. “When are you coming home?”
“I’m almost done. In about half an hour. Have you heard from Sam?”
“Yeah. He decided to stay at his friend’s place up in Charleston until next Thursday.”
“Next Thursday, huh? I guess he figured he needed a real vacation. How did he seem on the
phone?”
Mercedes shrugged. “Mellow.”
“Mellow in a good way?” Carlita’s daughter had recently
voiced concerns her boyfriend, who was also her tenant, was acting somewhat strangely. According to Mercedes, he seemed distracted.
When questioned, Sam either blew it off or insisted he had a lot on his mind. At first, Carlita suspected her daughter’s investigative tendencies were overreacting,
creating a mystery when it was simply what Sam said—that he was preoccupied with his business or any other number of things.
“Mellow, as in, I’m not getting a good read,” Mercedes said. “He originally planned to come home Sunday afternoon, but then extended it.”
“Have you met his friend, the one he’s visiting?”
“Nope, but Sam talks about him a lot.”
“So, you think the trip is legit?” Carlita asked.
Mercedes tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I have no reason
not to believe him, other than I’m still getting a weird vibe. Not all the time. It comes and goes.”
Carlita could see her daughter was concerned and decided it was best to let it drop. If Mercedes needed an ear, she was there. If not, she was confident the couple would work through whatever was
going on. Instead, she changed the subject. “If you’re hungry, I’ll grab us something to eat on the way out.”
“Sounds good, Ma.” Mercedes slipped out the back door and Carlita finished updating the books, ready to call it a day.
She grabbed some leftovers and waited for Arnie, who wasn’t far behind.
“Don’t worry about the deliveries, Carlita. We’ll figure something out.”
“I hope so. Tomorrow’s a new day.” Carlita told him goodbye and shifted the bag of food to her other arm, contemplating her current situation on her way home. Mike’s abrupt departure left her little choice. There was no way she could walk away from the lucrative delivery service.
Ravello’s was already building a steady, loyal clientele of regular delivery customers. If she pulled out now, they would go somewhere else and she would lose the business she’d worked so hard to get.
Carlita suspected some of the uptick was a direct result of her restaurant being featured on Divine Eats in Savannah, a Channel Eleven News show hosted by none other than Autumn Winter, another one of her tenants. The exposure had placed Ravello’s on the list of one of the places to dine in historic downtown Savannah.
Business was humming along, but it came with a price tag, namely feeling overwhelmed, overworked, not to mention exhausted.
“Hey.” Elvira emerged from
her building and sprinted toward Carlita’s stoop. “We have a problem.”
“Let me guess…the building department finally condemned your place as unsafe because the foundation is crumbling with all the jackhammering and excavating you’re doing,” Carlita joked.
“I’m giving the basement project a rest,” Elvira said. “I’ve contacted the city. An inspector is coming by to approve me to work on my parking lot.”
“Nice. You’re finally going to get rid of the gravel and pave it?”
“No. I’m digging it up.”
Carlita made a choking sound. “Where are you going to park?”
“Sandy Sue Jarvis offered to let me and my crew use her lot across the street. It won’t be for long.” Elvira made a digging motion. “My plan is to dig it up and fill it back in within a day or two.”
Carlita had noticed her neighbor spending an extraordinary amount of time wandering around her property, metal detector in hand, along with another device she was certain was some sort of treasure-hunting equipment. “You found something.”
“Big.” Elvira’s eyes lit. “I dug down about a foot and the detector went nuts.”
“Good luck.” Carlita turned to go.
Elvira stopped her. “That new delivery guy of yours is tearing up and down our alley. He almost sideswiped my work van a couple of hours ago. I think his name is Mike.”
“It won’t happen again. He quit.”
“Seriously?” Elvira’s eyes widened. “You sure do have a lot of trouble keeping delivery drivers. How many have you gone through now? Let me guess, they find out you have mafia ties and freak out.”
“It has nothing to do with my family. At least I don’t think so. They all have excuses. It’s a tight job market right now and, let’s be honest, delivering food isn’t one of the most desirable jobs.”
“It wouldn’t be at the top of my list.”
“I’ve decided I’m going to do it myself.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m building a good customer base. If I give up on it now, I’ll lose those customers.”
Elvira wrinkled her nose. “You might want to rethink that.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not safe for a woman, especially one your age, to be out alone after dark making deliveries.”
“What do you mean…a woman my age?”
“An older, more mature woman.”
“I…”
Elvira lifted a hand. “Don’t take what I said the wrong way. I’m not trying to insult you because I’m right up there with you. Anyway, I think you’re asking for trouble. You might as well put a big bold bullseye on your back, one with reflectors, so the criminals can easily spot you.”
“That’s a terrible thing to say,” Carlita chided.
“I’m only telling you like it is.” Elvira tapped the EC Security Services patch on her jacket. “Crimes increase this time of the year, especially as we get closer to the holidays.
Criminals are looking for easy money and delivery people are ripe for the picking.”
Elvira was right, and she and Arnie had voiced a similar fear, one that had been nagging in the back of Carlita’s mind all evening. And if anyone knew about safety and crime statistics, it would be a woman who
owned not only a security services company but also an investigative services business.
“I appreciate your input. Unfortunately, I don’t have much of a choice.” Carlita stuck her key in the lock and opened her back door. “Good luck with the inspector.”
“Thanks.” Elvira crossed over to her side of the alley. “I hope you reconsider about doing those deliveries,” she said before slipping inside and closing the door behind her.
A small sigh escaped Carlita’s lips as she entered her building and traipsed up the stairs.
She could hear muffled voices coming from her apartment and eased the door open.
Her son, Tony, Mercedes, and her fiancé Pete were seated at the table, their heads close together and talking in low voices.
“What’s going on?”
Pete sprang from his chair and grabbed the bags of food. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
Carlita’s scalp started to tingle. “What’s wrong?”
“Mercedes called an emergency family meeting,” Tony said.
End of the Sneak Peek. Side Hustle in Savannah coming soon!
