Page 8 of Red Snow
Detective Jarrod Granger
“ALRIGHT, MAN. HERE’Syour chance to let me know what I’m about to get myself into.”
Marcus takes a sip of his Hennessy and Coke and frowns at me as he puts his glass down.
“What do mean, whatyou’regetting into?” he replies with a chuckle. “You’renot getting into anything. This is me, and she’s just a girl I met a while back, that’s all.”
“A while back?”
“Yeah, a few of months, I guess.”
“Are you falling in love with this chick? I mean, we’ve been friends since we were kids, and you’ve never gone out of your way to introduce me to a girl you’re dating. Unless, of course, you count Danielle,” I joke, smiling at the insult. Marcus hates when I mention the fact that he dated our boss, Sergeant Danielle Howell, a couple of years ago.
“Oh please, don’t give me that shit. I may have dated her, which I regret, but you fucked her before I did, so don’t act all high and mighty about it.”
Crap. I hate when Marcus trumps my jokes with the truth about me and Danielle’s short fling a year and half before he hooked up with her.
“Ugh. Why you gotta bring up old shit?” I snip back, giving him my best scowl.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Anyway, Yolanda is a good girl, Jarrod. Nothing like Danielle. She’s smart. Sophisticated.”
“Oh my god!” I exclaim with wide eyes.
“What?”
“You’re fucking falling in love with her!”
“Oh geez, what are you talking about now?”
“Smart and sophisticated? That’s what guys say when they’re falling in love. You never hear a guy saying shit likesmart and sophisticatedunless they’re talking about some girl they’re falling in love with. I can’t believe you’re falling in love with this chick and I haven’t even met her yet. I thought we were friends, bro.”
“Geez, calm down and stop jumping to conclusions,” Marcus says behind a laugh. He picks up his drink and takes a swig, his bald head shining in the dim lights of the Anchor Pub. “I didn’t say all of that. I just said she was smart and sophisticated. It’s just a truthful description, not an admission of love. Wow, you’re a mess. Stacey must’ve really messed you up.”
“Oh, so we’re just taking all kinds of cheap shots tonight, huh?” I reply.
The mention of Stacey’s name sends an unexplainable sensation of warmth and anxiety coursing through me. The feeling is so unsettling that I have to take a swig of my Courvoisier to steady myself. Good thing I ordered it straight.
“My bad,” Marcus backpedals, sensing my discomfort. He knows Stacey tends to be a sore subject. “All I’m saying is that you obviously have a problem with relationships. I know the last one, the lastrealone, didn’t end the way you wanted it to, and that can be like a knife in the ribs when it comes to love. But, you can relax, bro, because I made sure Yolanda brought a friend tonight.”
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “A friend for me?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t have you feeling like the third wheel. I got your back.”
“That’s more like it,” I reply, forcing myself to smile. “What does she look like?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? What the hell? Why didn’t you check her out first, or ask Yolanda? What if she looks like a garden gnome? You set me up for failure!”
Marcus lets out a chuckle as he eyes the entrance to the bar.
“Calm down, psycho, I’m sure she looks fine. Anyway, we’re about to find out if she looks like a garden gnome right now, because I see Yolanda at the door.”
I take another swig of my drink, just in case she really does look like a garden gnome and I have to act like she doesn’t, so I don’t come off as rude. While Marcus eyes the door, I take a deep breath and straighten out my black and gray argyle sweater. I swipe a stray strand of hair off my black pants as I stand up and turn around. I feel like I’m holding my breath, hoping the person who approaches me isn’t some sort of gargoyle-looking chick who gets attached too easily.
I see Marcus lift his hand and signal to someone, so I follow his gaze and see a tall, slender, dark-skinned woman with thick black hair that flows down to the middle of her back. She’s really beautiful, and I’m wondering if this is Yolanda or the girl she brought for me. I try to look next to her, but the Anchor Pub is packed as usual, so she’s basically surrounded by everybody. She approaches us with a wide smile on her face and immediately goes in to kiss Marcus on the lips. This is Yolanda.
“Hey, beautiful,” Marcus greets, smiling like a kid on Christmas. “You lookridiculouslygood.”
