Page 68 of Absinthe Dreams
We took our beers and went out the French Doors onto the patio, where she let out a soft little gasp.
The soft light from the Edison bulbs was just enough to read by if you wanted to, and they were on a dimmer, so you could brighten them up more. I told her about it, and how the hammocks were both enough to fit two if we wanted to, and rated for up to four-hundred-and-fifty pounds each. I took her beer from her and set both of ours on the small metal table between the hammocks. I helped her into hers and went around to mine.
“I could get used to this,” she said happily.
“Still needs some pots and plants. I totally agree on that.”
“How about some hibiscus and maybe some morning glories?” she asked.
“Pfft! Morning glories are weeds and will take over the known world. I was thinking clematis or even some passion flower vines.”
“Morning glories are not weeds!” she cried. “I love their colors and flowers. We had some growing in our backyard over the fence back home.”
“And they took over everything, right?”
“So?” she countered. “They were pretty!”
I laughed and said, “I feel like a point’s gone in my favor.”
“Maybe,” she said, grinning and leaning her head back to look at the sky.
We rocked in silence for a moment, and somewhere from off in the distance, the sound of horns playing some bright jazz filtered through the neighborhood.
“If you want morning glories, I’ll plant ‘em for you,” I said finally.
“Thank you,” she said, and I cleared my throat.
“Need to talk to you about something…” I hated this part. I was worried she’d be hella pissed, and I didn’t want to fight, but I should have known better, even if this thing with her was so relatively new.
“What’s that?” she asked cautiously.
“Back at Marchesi’s, when he handed me that envelope, I really did think all that was in it was the cash for taking down his Nonna’s tree for him. Turns out, there was more than that in it, which I didn’t know at the time. I swear, I didn’t discover it until I hit the bank to put it in.”
“Okay,” she drawled carefully.
“They asked the club for a favor this Friday, and there was extra in it.”
“Okay,” she said again, and her tone was a little guarded.
“We still got this thing going on with the Bayou Brethren, and this is gonna divide us more than usual.” I cleared my throat and said, “I was hoping you were working when this went down, but you’re not. LaCroix wants all the girls at the club with Cypress on lockdown while we go do this thing. You good with that?”
She was silent for a long time and finally said, “You promise you didn’t know it was there?”
“I swear to God, I had no idea until I went to put the money in the bank the next afternoon and I found the extra with the request wrapped around it.”
“Pretty bold of them to write it out like that,” she said.
“I was surprised, too, but the club has a relationship that goes way back with the Marchesi’s. There’s trust there.”
“I really don’t know if we need to gothatdeep into it,” she said. “I know I have a hard time trusting from the house I grew up in, but Idotrust you, and I appreciate you trusting me enough to tell me as much as you have. I’m happy to go on Friday for your peace of mind as much as to get to know the rest of thewomen of the club. I like them, and I really want them to likeme.”
I snorted and laughed a bit and said, “They already do. Youcantrust me on that.”
“Well, that’s comforting,” she said with a dry chuckle.
We fell into a comfortable silence, but I still felt like it held a little tension to it. I wondered if that was going to get any easier, or if it was only going to get harder as we went along.
I certainly hoped it wouldn’t be the latter – but then again…
