“And you have to eat before you go.” Audie started to protest, but Beth held up her hand. “Not negotiable.”
“You’re looking out for me, just like Grammaw told you to.”
“And I’m never going to stop.”
That earned her a kiss, her first real kiss in three days.
“I don’t know how you drink that shit,” Dennis said, gesturing toward the plastic pitcher of margaritas Audie had mixed in the kitchen. “Tequila kicks my ass for three days.”
“Mine too. But at least it doesn’t give me beer farts.”
“Mine are usually gone by lunchtime.”
“And everyone in your office is dead. That’s the real reason Jackie wanted to come to work at the shelter, isn’t it? She’d rather shovel dog shit than smell your beer farts.” Audie swirled her drink and took a swig. “How come every time I’m with you, we end up talking about either your dick or your ass?”
Dennis laughed so hard that beer came out his nose. “God, I’ve missed hanging with you, Audie. I wish we could have”—Dennis pounded his fist on his chest and belched—“dickheads’ night out or something. You should come with us tomorrow night. They’re doing Eighties karaoke.”
“Think Dwayne will get up there and moonwalk again?”
“Probably. So you’ll come?”
“I doubt it. Beth has to go back to work tomorrow. She won’t be able to stay out that late.” She braced herself for a snarky reply but it didn’t come.
“I have to be at work at eight. What’s the big deal?”
“You’re taking loan applications, shithead. She’s got people’s lives in her hands.”
“Oh… right.”
“Speaking of the Gallery, what were you up to with David the other night?”
Dennis shrugged noncommittally. “We’re talking again.”
“What brought that on?”
“He came over to where I was with Joel and Dwayne. We danced a couple of times, then went outside and talked.”
Audie fished an ice cube out of her drink and threw it at him. “I can’t believe you’re making me drag this out of you. What’s up?”
Dennis sighed. “He said he had something to tell me about… you know, before. I said I’d listen so we went outside. He told me that the reason we couldn’t fuck back then wasn’t really because he wanted to take things slow. He said he was still stuck on this other guy, his old boyfriend. He kept thinking they might get back together, so he didn’t want to do anything to mess that up.”
“That piece of shit!”
“Nah, he’s all right. I kind of get why he’d do that.”
“Huh?” Audie figured if she didn’t get it, Dennis couldn’t possibly get it either. “He was jerking you around.”
“Yeah, but the way he explained it, I sort of understand. What if Beth all of a sudden told you she needed a little space, that she wanted to take some time for herself? Would you go out and screw around with somebody while you were waiting to see if you two were going to get back together?”
“No, but I wouldn’t be making out with somebody else in front of a couple hundred people at the Gallery either.”
“See, that’s the really weird part. I don’t think David thought he would either. But we really hit it off. It was more than I ever clicked with anybody.”
“So what’s going to happen now?”
“We’ll see where it goes. His old boyfriend decided he didn’t need all that space after all and moved in with some other stromo.”
“Do I even want to know what a stromo is?”
“They’re faggots who want everybody to think they’re straight.”
“Ahhhh.” Audie chuckled to herself as she thought of Beth’s tales about Shelby. “I’m going to have to tell Beth about that one.”
“So you and Beth… you two are like… together for sure, right?”
Her first instinct was to toss back a sarcastic reply, but this was the first time Dennis had even mentioned Beth in a way that wasn’t hostile or condescending. “Yeah, I love her. I want you to get to know her better. You guys don’t have much in common, but I think you’d really like her.”
“But would she be willing to talk about my dick or my ass?” He grinned as he pulled a tin box from beneath his couch and worked the lid off with his fingernails. Inside were two plastic bags of marijuana and the necessary paraphernalia—pipes, papers and butane lighters. He held up one of the bags. “I’ve got some more of that shit from Buddy Mickel if you want it.”
Audie hesitated before waving him off. “Nah, I’m good.”
“And I’ve still got some of what we smoked last time I came over.”
She sighed. “I think I’m about done with all that.”
“What do you mean done?” Dennis reached into the bag and crumbled the leaves, pinching just enough to fill his small pipe.
Audie didn’t want to get into another argument with Dennis about Beth. “I just don’t think I want to be getting fucked up anymore.”
“Not ever?”
Audie chugged her drink and grabbed the pitcher to pour another. “Do you ever get the feeling somebody is trying to tell you something?”
“Yeah, but it’s usually you or Joel, so I’ve learned to tune you both out.”
“Isn’t that the truth!” She tossed another ice cube at him. “It started with me sucking up all those roaches in the ashtray that day I cleaned my car. Then we got pulled over and I had to eat that joint. Then we both got high over at my place last week and Beth and I had a big fight about it.”
Dennis started to protest, but Audie held up her hand. “She was right. I’m not going to tell you what all that was about, but she was a hundred percent right. So I was already thinking I probably shouldn’t do it anymore.” She fought the waver in her voice.
“Then Grammaw died.”
“Audie, your Grammaw didn’t die because of anything you did.”
“I know. It’s just…” If he made fun of what she was about to say, she was going to tear his head off and stuff it up his ass. “I feel like she can see me now… that she knows everything I do.”
Without a word, Dennis dropped the unlit pipe back into the tin box and closed the lid. “That’s kind of creepy if you think about it that way.”
Audie chuckled. “Tell me about it.”
Beth warily scanned the dark neighborhood, wondering if she dared leave the safety of her car to go to Dennis’s door. It was jolting to realize that her new circle of friends now included drug users who lived in seedy neighborhoods. At least Audie was a drug user who lived in a good neighborhood.
She double-parked in the street, as close as she could to the second door from the end, the only unit where the porch light was out, its fixture dangling from the wall beside the door.
Nervously, she rapped lightly on the door and waited.
Audie met her at the door, already wearing her coat. “Hey, baby.”
“You ready?” The odor of alcohol was pervasive.
“I’m a little drunk.”
“It’s okay.” She took Audie’s elbow and walked with her in silence to the car. Behind them, Dennis was watching from the door. “Go ahead and get in the car. I’ll be right back.”
She walked back to the apartment, where Dennis stood in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest. This was Audie’s best friend. She would have to find a way for them to be friends too, because she didn’t think Dennis would take the initiative.
“Thanks, Dennis. I don’t know what she’d do without friends like you.”
The look of surprise on his face was priceless, as he had clearly expected a scolding for his hand in Audie’s condition. “I just thought she needed to relax a little.”
“I think that’s exactly what she needed. She’s been so wired these last few days. It looks like she’s finally going to get a good night’s sleep.”
Dennis shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at his feet, seemingly uncomfortable with the praise. “P
robably. She’s pretty mellow. Half a bottle of tequila does that.”
“I bet.”
“Good thing we didn’t get stoned or she’d be a zombie.”
“You didn’t… she didn’t smoke anything?”
“Said she was done with it. She didn’t want her Grammaw to see her.”
Beth felt a rush of tears, but she didn’t know if it was pride for Audie’s newfound conviction or sorrow for her heartbreak. Either way, she hid her eyes from Dennis when she shocked him with a hug. “Thanks for being there for her. She’s going to need all of us now.”
Chapter 25
Audie steered her nimble vehicle around the ruts in the dirt drive, finally coming to rest in front of a log cabin with a wide covered porch.
“Wow. This is gorgeous,” Beth said, opening the passenger door even before the Xterra had come to a halt.
“You think this is something, wait till you see the lake.” Audie stretched behind the front seat to retrieve her backpack. “Just leave the bags for now. I’ll come back and get them. I want to show you around.”
Buster jumped through the opening over the console and bounded out the driver’s door, running immediately to the edge of the woods to pee.
“I can see why Joel and Dwayne love it here.”
“Yeah, and it’s all ours until Wednesday. Think you can handle being alone in the woods with me for five days?”
Beth snagged Audie’s hand as they started up the steps. “I plan on handling you for five days. It wouldn’t matter where we were.”
Audie grinned. “I always wondered what it would be like to have a handler.” She turned the key in the lock and gave the heavy door a push.
They entered a rustic hallway with a door on each side.
“This is our room over here.” Audie stepped into the small bedroom on the right and dropped her backpack on the braided rug.
“Cozy, huh?”
“I bet it’s more room than we’ll need.” Beth was immediately charmed by the antique bed and dresser, the only two pieces of furniture in the room. “Is that a bathroom?”
Audie flicked a light switch inside the tiled room. “It’s pretty small, but it’s private.”
“It’s perfect.”
“I knew you’d like it. Come see the rest.” She pulled Beth by the hand down the hall into a great room where sliding glass doors opened onto a deck that overlooked the lake. A stone fireplace filled the wall opposite the kitchen.
“This is beautiful. I can’t believe they aren’t out here every weekend.”
“They would be if Joel had his way. But Dwayne likes to go dancing on the weekends so they only get out here once or twice a month.” Audie opened the sliding glass door and led the way outside to the deck. “I told you you’d love it.”
“You were right.” Beth stepped under Audie’s outstretched arm and wrapped her own arm around Audie’s waist. “We could have a place like this someday if we really wanted it.”
“Yeah, maybe when I’m fifty and get Oscar’s job.”
“It’s not that much of a stretch. All we have to do is save our nickels and look for a good deal.” Beth could teach Audie all the things she had learned about making her money work harder.
Together, they could have quite a comfortable life.
“You could always save some nickels by moving in with me. You’re practically living there now as it is.”
Moving in together was definitely in their future, but Beth wanted to give Audie a little more time to go through her Grammaw’s things and get used to thinking of the house as her own.
“I’d have to find a good renter for my condo.”
“I bet Dennis would rent it if you’d let him paint it something besides beige.”
Beth laughed. “I think if Dennis moved in, wall colors would be the least of my worries.”
“Can you imagine?”
“I’d rather not.”
Buster suddenly darted past in pursuit of a squirrel that made it safely to a tree before turning to taunt his tormentor.
“Speaking of your partner in crime, is he coming for Thanksgiving dinner?”
“No, you’re not going to believe this. David talked him into helping serve dinner at a homeless shelter.”
Beth opened her mouth in disbelief. “Our Dennis?”
“Our Tinkerbell. I think David’s a good influence on him… sort of like somebody I know is on me.”
“Somebody you know, huh?” Beth turned and leaned against the rail. She was awestruck by how beautiful Audie looked with the sun on her face.
“Just a woman I met.”
“That’s such a coincidence. I met a woman too who’s been a good influence on me.”
“From the way you were dancing last night at the Gallery, I’d say she tapped into your wild side.” Audie lunged forward and thrust her hips into Beth’s. “Do you call that a good influence?”
“I call that just what I needed.” She pressed her mouth hard into Audie’s for a long, hungry kiss.
Audie looked at her skeptically. “You actually expect me to believe I’m good for you?”
“Yes, I do.” She took Audie’s hands and looked directly into her eyes. “I didn’t get to have a lot of fun when I was your age because of Kelly. With you, it’s like I get to rewind my whole life and have that part over.”
“Your sister’s going to freak out when I walk in the door with you on Friday.”
“I imagine we’ll all freak out a little, but we might as well get it over with. You’re part of the family now.”
“And you’re part of mine… such as it is.” Audie gestured toward the cabin, an apparent indication that she thought of Joel and Dwayne as family.
“It’s a good family to be in.”
A gentle breeze stirred the trees and caused the water to ripple across the lake. Beth loved how Audie’s long hair fluttered around her face.
“You want to walk down to the water?” Audie asked.
“Sure, but I want to take your picture first. Stay right here.”
Audie watched as Beth disappeared through the sliding glass door. “The camera’s in my backpack,” she yelled.
She rested her arms on the rail and stared out across the lake.
Her Grammaw had been right about Beth, about how lucky they were to find each other. Beth was probably right that her Grammaw had died happy knowing they were in love and committed to having a life together. She took a lot of comfort in that.
Beth was everything to her—a fun-loving friend, an exciting lover and a faithful partner. Audie had always envied her friends who had that, but she had never thought she would find it herself.
Whatever it took, she wanted that with Beth forever.
“Ahem.”
Audie turned her head to see why Beth was clearing her throat and broke into a monstrous grin. “That was supposed to be a surprise.”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll be plenty surprised.” Beth leaned in the doorway, sensuously fingering the lime green Dual-Do. “Which end of this is mine?”
“You can have either… or if you’re really good, you can have both.”
“And if I’m really bad?”
Audie’s eyes widened as Beth reached forward and tugged at the zipper on her jeans. “If you’re really bad, then I can have both.”
“I have a feeling that over the next five days, my behavior is going to vacillate.”
“That’s a mighty big word, vacillate.”
“Let’s go back inside and I’ll demonstrate what it means.”
Audie smiled and followed her future back into the cabin. It was definitely the season to be thankful.
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