Page 5 of Lady Luck's Kiss
“Good thing I have no life,” she heard Beth say in a monotone voice.Here we go,Charlie thought. It was a slippery slope forher friend sometimes and if she got in a funk, everyone knew it. Thankfully, it was easy to coax her out of it as well.
“Sure, you do!” Charlie protested, “Seriously though, it’s short notice. Do you want to go?”
“Yeah, I’ll go with you. Have any clodhoppers?”
“Any what?” Charlie asked, laughing at the term.
“Boots! Clodhoppers are slang, girl. I knew you never got out from under the hood of that car, either that or the carbon monoxide from the shop is getting to you.”
“Har-de-har-har and no. No, boots unless they are my steel-toed boots for work. Would that be all right?”
“Good gravy, no! C’mon over and I will loan you a pair of mine.”
“You don’t mind?”
“As long as you don’t step in a cowpie, no, I don’t mind. You know I’d do anything for you. It’s the least I could do in return.”
“No cowpies, I promise.”
“See you in a bit then and beer is on me since you have the tickets.”
Hanging up the phone, Charlie left the apartment, started up the truck and pulled out onto the road. She drove for a time before pulling off the main drag to the side road where Beth lived. She saw the older Nissan 280x in the driveway and itched to get her hands on it, but Beth’s roommate never brought the car to her. She didn’t even know if it ran. Charlie knocked on the door and Beth yanked it open with a wide grin. “C’mon in, big winner,” she drawled loudly and held the door for Charlie.
“I don’t know about ‘big winner’ but…” Charlie teased and held up the tickets.
“These are ringside seats. We are gonna be sniffing horse sweat all night long! Yee haw!”
Scrunching her nose, Charlie said, “Since you put it like that,” she hesitated, thinking of the last time she went to a zoo and the stench.
“Horse sweat and sexy cowboys!” Beth said, winking. “The two will cancel each other out. And with enough beer, you won’t smell a thing,” she told Charlie firmly. “Put those on.”
Charlie eyed the brown and black boots that stood in the corner. She was wearing a summer maxi dress that buttoned up to her bosom and she was completely sure that those boots were not designed to be worn with her dress.
“I think I will wear my sandals,” she said, peering at her feet.
“No, you don’t,” Beth said with a grin and threw a pair of socks at Charlie from around the doorway where she had disappeared a moment ago. “No sandals or you will be covered in dirt by the end of the night. The boots will look great and if you unbutton that top button…”
“I will look like a tramp falling out of my dress?”
“No, you will look like a single woman trying to wrangle herself a cowboy,” Beth said, finishing her original thought.
Beth took that moment to come around the corner in the tightest pair of jeans that Charlie had ever seen. “Dang, Beth! Did you paint those on?” she said, shocked at the outline of her friend’s body.
“No, but if you are looking, then some of the cowboys will be, too,” she said aggressively and winked at Charlie.
“Well, that much is true,” Charlie admitted and put on the socks and boots. She had to admit that she could see why people wore the leather boots. They were extremely comfortable and felt better than her favorite sneakers. Looking down, she was surprised to see that she liked the look of them as well. “Not bad.”
“Right?” Beth agreed, pulling on her own elaborate boots that had flecks of blue on the panels and a strange print to them.Charlie later found out that they were Beth’s favorite boots and made of ostrich skin.
This was Beth’s domain today they would be in: cowboys, rodeo, country music, etc. Charlie would be looking around at everything today just to absorb the experience, if nothing else. She was out of her element. If you asked her what the torque specs were for an intake manifold, she could tell you.
But this?
This was new…and a bit exciting!
Beth was happy to be going and, frankly, that is why Charlie adored her. Beth’s enthusiasm was infectious and exhilarating. When her friend was happy, nothing bothered her and everything made her smile. When Beth was in a mood, she quickly perked back up.
Charlie loved that about her friend.
