Page 5 of Road Queens
“Again, she shouldn’t have to.”
“If we’re gonna do the shouldn’t-have list as it pertains to Cassandra ‘Goddamned’ Rivers, I want to find an armchair and get comfortable. Oh, look, there are three, because my bookstore kicks ass.” But she stayed behind the counter. “Could you stop looking at me with your huge pretty eyes? It’s like staring down the Little Match Girl, for God’s sake.”
Sidney said nothing, just widened her (small, squinty) black eyes and ruffled her curly brown hair until it was a thorough mess. It madeher look still more imploring, which was as radical a departure from her everyday demeanor as Amanda had ever seen.
She sighed. “Fine. I guess we could ... I dunno, look in on her? Find out about the charges and when they’re gonna remand her antisocial ass. Maybe even ... go for a ride? The three of us? If we can spring her?”
“You know she ditched the bike after ...”
“So maybe all the other stuff I said. And then you and I could go for a ride, maybe hit Nordstrom’s and check out the Tory Burch flats.”
Sidney beamed, frown lines smoothing out in an instant, her eyes nearly disappearing as she grinned. “Aw, shit, yeah! That’s great, let’s do that. All of that. I know you just opened, but maybe we could head over to the station at lunchtime?”
“I could watch the store for you,” Dave offered. He waved his phone at Amanda: “I thought I had a meeting with the Maplewood guy to give him a project update, but he canceled a few minutes ago.”
Amanda shook her head. “Sorry, refresh my memory. The Maplewood guy?”
“Yeah, he booked me a couple of months ago. We went golfing, do you believe it? First time I golfed with a client. He could’ve gone with a construction company closer to where he lives, but he tracked me down specially.” Dave puffed up a little as he said it, which was adorable. “The point being I can hang around for a bit. And y’know I’ve done it before.”
Amanda beamed. “It’s why you’re my favorite customer!”
“You say that about every customer.”
“Hush up and watch the register—ack!”
Sidney had already grabbed Amanda’s elbow and hauled her out from behind the counter, intent on the door.
“Pitch pens till the cup’s empty, knock over the Books That Should Be Banned display, put metal in the microwave, whatever. We’ll seeourselves out.” Sidney blew her chronically too-long bangs out of her eyes. “C’mon, let’s book. No pun, et cetera.”
“Is that even a pun, though?” Amanda asked.
“You won’t be sorry.”
“I’m already sorry, Sidney, not to mention upset, because I keep spouting clichés. Bye, Dave! Allright, I’m coming, don’tyank.”
CHAPTER TWO
“What d’you mean, where’s my bike?” Sidney asked. They were on the street in front of Amanda’s Hole, squinting in the summer sunshine. “It’s not here. Obviously.”
“Then you’ll have to ride bitch.”
“You insisted we never use that phrase.”
“I don’t make the rules. Or the vernacular. I just arbitrarily enforce them. Sometimes. When I can be bothered.”
“Or I could, I dunno, drive my car?” Sidney gestured to the dark-blue vehicle parked across the street. “Like a grown-up?”
“I thought it was weird when you came into the store in shorts and a T-shirt.” On a bike at sixty-five miles per hour, shorts and a T-shirt might as well be made of Kleenex. Ninety-five and so humid it’s like breathing through hot, damp cotton? Too bad; get your leathers.
Sidney treated her to a patented Sidney Derecho eye roll. “God forbid I dress appropriately for the weather.”
“Is that a minivan?” Amanda gasped. “In a legal parking spot?”
“You know it is. Lots of space,” Sidney replied defensively. “My hockey gear fits.”
Amanda was still goggling. “Did you feed a meter this morning, you domesticated bitch?”
“Oh, like there’s something wrong with not getting a parking ticket,” Sidney snapped.
