‘Good to know,’ he replied, wholeheartedly appreciating that she was still trying to lift his spirits.
She stood up, unusually serious for a moment. ‘I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but you’ll survive this, Dario. It’s a business. It’s not life or death. And there will still be good stuff ahead for you.’
He was so moved, he began to feel quite emotional until she cracked and added, ‘I mean, not as good as me, but at least half decent.’
With that, she took herself off, leaving nothing but love behind her. They’d been a terrible married couple and he had never regretted their divorce, but he didn’t think he’d ever loved her more – as a friend and mother of his wonderful daughter and volatile son – than he did right now.
At least Nicky brought the total number of people who would stick by him through this to one. Three if he included his mates, Talia and Brodie, but they weren’t family. And he still hadn’t had the most difficult conversation of all. His dad would probably come in around four, so that gave him a few more hours to prepare. There was a slim possibility that Matty would try to get in there first by calling Gino to discuss this with him before Dario had the chance, but he knew his son – he was headstrong, impulsive, explosive sometimes, but there was no way he’d deliberately upset his grandfather.
Dario leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, ran through every single facet of the situation in his mind once again. Was there a way out that he’d missed? Something he hadn’t tried? A move that would delay the inevitable and give them even a shred of hope? He went over it again and again and again but came up blank every time. He had to face facts – times had changed, they’d been hit by a barrage of problems through no fault of their own, and the result was that the restaurant was failing.
Eyes still closed, he was about to go through it one more time when the door burst open so swiftly, he thought it was either a SWAT raid or Matty back for round two.
‘Right, I need to talk to you.’
Sonya. Not Matty. He wasn’t sure who was the most terrifying.
Slamming the door behind her – could no one just close a door today? – she marched over and plonked herself down on the seat opposite him. ‘Right, Big Pierce, what’s going on? And don’t say nothing, because I’m never wrong about these things and I’ll get it out of you anyway.’
There was a tiny temptation to fob her off, but he dismissed it immediately. It was Sonya – she deserved more than that.
‘Sonya, I’ll tell you, but I need you to swear that you’ll keep this to yourself until the time is right because I still have to talk to my dad.’
‘Aw fuckery, I knew there was something. I’ll keep it quiet, Dario, but I need to know the score. Am I losing my job?’
To his surprise, he saw her bottom lip quiver and he paused. He’d known her since he was a boy and he’d never seen Sonya emotional like that. It almost made him change his mind about sharing the news, because he couldn’t bear to upset her even more, but it was too late. He couldn’t backtrack now, but he decided not to give her a direct answer about her job until he’d told her the full story.
‘Back in 2020, when the pandemic struck, the restaurant was hit pretty hard…’
She was nodding. ‘I remember. We were all shocked when you and your dad kept on paying us our full wages.’ Their long-standing staff were family to them, so there had never been any question that they would do that. ‘I still had my Ollie at home then and he cost me a fortune with all that Wi-Fi stuff to keephim amused. If you hadn’t done that, I don’t know where I’d have been.’
Dario hated that she was about to find out. She’d taken Ollie in when he was a teenager and his mum – Sonya’s daughter – had remarried and moved down south. Ollie didn’t take to her new husband and hadn’t wanted to go with them, so Sonya had offered her spare room and her unconditional love. Thanks to that, Ollie had turned into a fine young man who was now studying architecture at university and Sonya beamed with pride every time she spoke about him.
‘We were happy to do it. You know we care about every single person that works here.’
‘So I’m not losing my job then?’
He hesitated and her shoulders slumped.
‘The thing is,’ he went on, ‘when we were finally able to re-open, you know the crowds didn’t come rushing back. It’s taken years to get even close to the level of business we used to have, and we’re still not quite there yet. And, at the same time, the cost of everything we need and use has increased in price, sometimes twofold.’
Sonya groaned. ‘This is like waiting to get to the bit in the movie where the bad bastard serial killer wipes everyone out. You know it’s coming but you’re still hoping for the best.’
‘There’s no best, Sonya, I’m so sorry. I’d do anything to change that but there’s no option. We’re going to have to close.’
For once in all the time that he’d known her, she said nothing, just stared straight ahead for so long, he wondered if she’d fallen into some kind of trance.
‘Sonya? Are you okay? Look, I know it’s terrible news but…’
‘I’m losing ma house,’ she blurted, and Dario immediately joined the dots. The frantic work. Coming in early. The ferocious display of vacuuming fervour. He’d known she was upset about something, but not this. The knife of self-loathing that was stuckin his heart had just been given another twist. He should have found another way to save them. To save Sonya. ‘The landlord is selling up because he knows he can get a packet from a developer for the land. Thirty-seven years I’ve lived there and he’s tossing me and everyone else in the block out with four weeks’ notice. And all the other rents and deposits for two-bedroom flats in the area, even in the crappiest of streets, are out of my reach. So I need this job, Dario, because I’ve got nothing left without it.’
Another twist of the knife.
Dario leaned forward, his arms on the desk, his wounded heart taking charge of the situation. ‘Sonya, I swear to you, we will take care of you. You’re part of our family, so even if that means…’ He tried to rack his brains for something tangible and settled on, ‘…Even if that means you work helping out Dad with cleaning his house, I’ll make sure that you’re paid the wage you earn now for as long as you need it. I’ll write you any reference you need, and I’ll ask around my friends and see if I can come up with anything on the accommodation side. Just give me a bit of time on that. But consider all of it done. Like I said, we’ll take care of you.’
Her forehead creased as she processed that. ‘Really?’
‘Really,’ he promised.
