“But we had such a great couple of weeks together,” Alex whined, pouting.
“Don’t confuse good sex with a relationship, Alex.”
“Um, ouch. I thought I was calling you so you would make me feel better.”
“I am your friend, Alex. A true friend. And a true friend tells you how it is. I am keeping it real. Now, go pour yourself some wine, take a nap, and in a couple of hours get your ass up and come over. We are BBQ-ing and my sister is watching the kids later so we can go out.”
“I don’t know if I feel like seeing people and going out, Mari,” Alex sighed. “I’m feeling sorry for myself.”
“I know you are. That’s exactly why you need to come out. I know you, remember? You are going to be checking your phone constantly, crying woe is me, and eating ice cream.”
Alex was silent.
“This is the last time I am asking. Come over - we barbecue at 7:00.” Mari hung up.
WTF? Alex thought. Everyone is hanging up on me!
* * *
Alex ended up doing exactly what Mari had told her to do—after checking her phone one more time she turned it off, gulped down a glass of white wine, and took a nap. When she woke up she resisted turning on her phone and instead staggered into the kitchen to check the time on her coffee maker. 6:00 PM. She had slept for over four hours and, other than feeling a little groggy, she had to admit she felt better.
She brewed half a pot of coffee and grabbed an handful of almonds from the mason jar on her counter. While she waited for the coffee to finish its brew cycle she chugged two glasses of water and began to feel a little more human. The coffee pot sputtered and gurgled, letting her know her fresh pot was ready and she grabbed her favorite mug—the one with the picture of the silver disco ball that said “keep calm and disco on.”
With her head clearing and the smell of strong coffee rising from her favorite cup, Alex walked into her bedroom and turned on her phone. She plugged it in to the docking station in her bathroom so she could listen to her disco playlist on Pandora while she got dressed. There is nothing like a good disco song to shift your mood.
Josh hated disco and never let her play it in the house. Since he had moved out, anytime she began to second-guess her decision to break up with him she would put her disco station on as a personal Fuck you! I am glad you are gone! Look at me, I’m listening to disco!
Tonight, listening to “Boogie Oogie Oogie,” she began to feel better. She stood in her closet singing along “get on up on the floor, ‘cause we gonna boogie oogie oogie ‘til we just can’t boogie no more” and chose her clothes for the night: her favorite jeans, a tight, low cut T-shirt—sexy in a casual way—and a pair of her favorite wedge sandals.
Alex arrived at Mari’s just as the party was in full-swing. She walked along the garage and through the side gate into the backyard. Paper lights were strung along the fence and there were floating candles in the pool. Mari’s friend David was outside he-manning the grill and the smell of the cooking tri-tip made Alex’s stomach growl.
Mari’s girls were sitting in a circle on the lawn with their friends, underneath the hammock. A boy was trying to push one of the girls out of the hammock with his feet and most of the kids had their phones up to their faces taking video and pictures of the shenanigans. They were laughing and having a good time, and Alex found herself wistful for the romantic angst of the teen years over the more mature, but no less painful, angst of the adult years.
Mari’s sister Naomi spotted her and, waving a bottle of beer in her hand, called out to her, “Hey Alex, I have a cold one with your name on it!” Naomi was Mari’s older sister and was even more outspoken than Mari. If Naomi had an opinion you were sure to hear it—whether you wanted to or not. Her heart was in the right place, just like her sister’s, but she missed the tact gene, and sometimes Alex and Naomi bumped heads. Since Naomi was happily married to her high school sweetheart she thought she could dispense her romantic wisdom to the masses freely. Alex didn’t always agree.
“Thanks, Naomi,” she said, grabbing the cold Corona and taking a big swig. “Good to see you again—and this is just what I needed.”
“So I hear,” Naomi said, already getting started. Before she could dig into Alex’s missing love life, Alex asked where Mari was.
“In the kitchen, of course. Go help her get out of there and make her join the party. She won’t listen to me.”
Alex walked towards the back of the house and saw her friend step out onto the porch carrying a giant bowl of fruit salad in one hand and what looked like a fifty-pound bag of tortilla chips in the other.
“Hey, girl!” Mari’s face broke into a huge smile when she spotted Alex. “Good on ya! This is just what the doctor ordered to fix that case of the mopes you got going on.”
Alex took the bag of chips from Mari and walked over to the food table with her. As she filled the chip bowl she listened to Mari as she filled her in on the who’s who of the teen crowd —which boy her older daughter had a crush on and whom he liked instead. Alex found herself appreciative of the normalcy and steadiness she felt being at a summer family barbecue. As she finished off her beer and headed over to the cooler for another, she began to feel more relaxed and grounded.
Beer in hand, Alex walked over to the grill to say hello to Mari’s man-friend David. He was an investigator in the Prosecutor’s Office, but Alex rarely saw him and hadn’t worked with him on any cases. There were over a dozen investigators associated with their office, and most of the time they were out in the field doing interviews and follow-up or they were in trial. She knew him best through Mari.
He was in his mid-50s, and she recalled hearing he was divorced. He had been friends with Mari since she and Alex began working for the county. Alex knew he was a very private man, and that he and Mari had a mutually beneficial friends-with-benefits type of relationship that kept them both happy and out of trouble. Alex felt a strong kinship with David out of their shared love for Mari, and as long as he made her friend happy she was satisfied.
“Whatcha cookin’ there, Cowboy?”
“Hey, Alex.” He leaned over to give her an air kiss. “Hope you are hungry ’cause we got some goooood grub today!”
“Just tell me when, David, and I will be first in line!”
David grabbed a plate from the table next to the grill and sliced a few pieces of tri-tip for Alex. “Better to be first than last, with these vultures around!” he laughed. Alex wasn’t sure where David had grown up, but he had an accent that was a mix of Southern and cowboy with a little ghetto thrown in. She loved listening to him, and his laugh was as big as his heart and Mari’s put together.
Alex finished her second beer as she made her way back to the food table and piled her plate with fruit salad, potato salad, tortilla chips, and a huge scoop of salsa. Then she looked around for an open spot and—not seeing one—headed into the house to sit at the kitchen bar counter, where it was cooler. Mari was at the sink washing silverware and Naomi was next to her drying. They both got quiet when Alex walked in. The silence didn’t last long before Naomi said, “So, tell me about this man you are seeing.”
Alex paused with forkful of potato salad halfway to her mouth and shot a look to the back of Mari’s head. I know you can feel me giving you the stink-eye, Mari.
“Well, he was pretty awesome until he stood me up.” Alex knew better than to play it off. One thing she knew about Mari was that she didn’t keep much from Naomi. Unless Alex made Mari swear to keep it to herself, she knew anything and everything she shared with Mari was being shared with Naomi too. Most of the time she was OK with that and the times she wasn’t, she made sure Mari knew to keep what she was hearing to herself—under penalty of de-friending.
“What?!?” Naomi had the good sense to act surprised, but Alex knew she had already heard about it. “Oh, there is something wrong with that man then, honey. Don’t you settle for that treatment, Alex Barton.”
Alex managed a brave smile. “Oh, it’
s not like that. Really, it’s not that serious.”
“Not that serious?” Naomi scoffed. “When a man treats you like a queen for a couple of weeks and then disappears off the face of the Earth without a peep? I’m sorry, that is serious business right there. Seriously wrong.”
Naomi turned to Mari, “Hey Mari, wasn’t it Maya Angelou who said when someone shows you who they are, believe them?” Alex could see Mari’s head nod, but she still hadn’t turned around. You can’t have that many dirty forks, Alex thought.
Naomi went on, “I don’t care how busy you are, in this day and age there is no excuse for not communicating. You text, you call, you email. No excuse for that kind of behavior.”
“Speaking of no excuses,” Alex said, standing up. “There is no excuse for me not to have a beer in my hand. I’ll be right back.”
Mari turned her head as Alex walked toward the sliding door and Alex silently mouthed, “Thanks a lot!” as Mari gave her a big, fake stage smile and rolled her eyes.
Alex came back in with another beer and pulled her phone out of her back pocket setting it on the table next to her plate. She ate her meal and chatted with Mari and the rest of her guests who came in and out of the house looking for napkins, silverware, or the bathroom.
Alex finished her plate of food and checked her phone again—no calls, no texts. Mari watched Alex and walked over toward her with her hand out.
“Give me the phone,” she ordered.
Alex sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She handed Mari the phone.
“Come on, let’s clean up a little so we can head out,” she said, shaking her head and putting the phone in her back pocket.
Alex helped pick up empty cups and abandoned plates. She brought the leftover food into the kitchen, where Mari packed it up. They loaded the dishwasher and put away the perishables.
David came in with the last of the beers from the cooler. “You coming with us to the Salty Dog?” he asked, handing Alex another beer as he put the rest in the fridge.
“Sure, as long as you drive me there and make sure I get home in one piece.”
“At your service, as always,” David said, smiling at Alex and putting his arm around Mari. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”
* * *
10
Chapter Ten
The three of them said goodbye to Naomi and her husband Kevin, who were spending the night with Mari’s girls. They all climbed into David’s truck and he drove them to Scottsville’s most popular dive bar and billiard hall, the Salty Dog.
The Salty Dog had been around for years—and smelled like it. It was a dark-paneled room with waxy red booths lining the right side and a big room with three pool tables, dart boards, and a juke box on the left. In the center at the back was a long bar lined with ratty bar stools on one side and a couple of hard-looking, tattooed bartenders on the other. It was a very popular place with hipsters and cops. It was a strange combination, but it worked.
David always knew a few of the old retired law enforcement regulars planted at the dark end of the bar and walked over to greet them as soon as they walked in. Mari headed over to the pool tables to queue up for the next game and Alex made a beeline for the bathroom. The beers had made their way through her system and she really had to pee. As she passed the men’s room she nearly ran into a guy coming out. As he pushed the door open she had to stop suddenly to not smack her face into the door.
“Oh, sorry!” he said, equally surprised to have almost slammed the door into her.
“No worries,” she said, looking up into an unfamiliar face. She thought he smelled like soap. He stood still, just holding the door mere inches from her face.
“Um, excuse me—gotta pee!” she said, shuffling by him sideways.
“Oh, sure, sorry.” He let her pass and let the door close behind her.
Alex came out of the bathroom and looked for Mari and David. She spotted them at the far pool table where they had started setting up their game. Alex walked over and held her hand out, palm up, in front of Mari.
“What?” Mari asked.
“Phone please,” Alex said.
“Alex, I don’t think—”
“I know you don’t. Gimme. Now.” Alex gave Mari a big, fake grin that looked more like a grimace.
“Fine. Here. But don’t just sit at the bar staring at your phone all night, OK?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Alex said as she turned on her heels and walked to the bar.
She picked a spot in the middle of the bar and glanced at the TV above the bar as she sat down on the slimy barstool. The local baseball team was up 6-0 in the bottom of the 9th. The guy bartender was down at one end of the bar, one leg propped up against the bar sink, chatting with a couple of young women with tattoos and Bettie Page hairstyles. Alex felt old and unhip.
She checked her phone again.
Nothing.
She took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly.
“You look like you’d rather be home reading a book.”
She felt someone settle themselves somewhat clumsily on the barstool next to her. She smelled fresh soap and realized it was the guy who had nearly slammed the bathroom door into her face. She turned to look at him. This time she noticed his blue eyes and a kind face with a nice smile.
“Yeah, well, you would too if you got stood up.” She looked back at her phone and then over to the bartender, who was now laughing loudly with the girls at the end of the bar.
“I’m sorry, I must have heard you wrong—you said you got stood up?” Blue Eyes asked.
“Uh, yeah. That’s what I just said.”
“If he stood you up, then he ain’t shit. That’s what I just said.”
Alex looked at him. He was trying to make a mean face, but he just looked goofy. She gave him a weak half-smile.
“Maybe my phone is broken,” she said, pouting.
“Well,” he said, reaching into his back pocket. “Give me your number and we’ll test it out.” He looked at her expectantly, his finger over the keypad on his phone.
She shrugged. “828-592-4474.”
“Wait,” he said. “8-2-8…”
Alex rolled her eyes. “5-9-2…”
“5-9-2,” he repeated, carefully hitting the numbers with his thick finger.
“4-4-7-4.”
“4-4-7-4.”
Her phone rang. She picked it up, stared at it, and powered it off.
Dropping it on the bar she looked at him. “Wanna buy me a drink?”
“Sure, on one condition,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“You have to tell me your name.” He held out his hand across the bar in front of them. “I’m Cody.”
“Alex.” She shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Cody.”
“Well done.” He winked at her and waved to the bartender, who finally peeled himself away from the Bettie Page twins.
“A shot of Patrón for the lady, please. Club soda with lime for me.”
“Tequila? Jesus,” she said, as she shook her head and grimaced.
“Of course. There’s really no other option.”
She laughed. “Why’s that?”
“Well, first off—you clearly need to get the asshole who stood you up out of your mind, and there’s no better mind eraser than a little lick, shoot, suck.” He smiled. She noticed a slight dimple in his left cheek.
“And second?”
“Second, it increases my chances of kicking your ass in some pool. Your friends just finished their game—it’s our turn.” He slid off the bar stool and nodded his head toward the shot glass in front of her. “Bottoms up, Alex.”
Alex tossed back the white liquid, shook her head like a dog after a bath, and followed Cody to the pool table. Mari and David had relocated to a booth and were laughing over a round of drinks with some of David’s friends. Mari had her eye on Alex and waved when Alex looked over. Alex waved back and grabbed a pool cue. She noticed Cody was wearing a soft cast boot on his right foo
t and asked him what happened.
“I sprained it at work yesterday. Just need to wear this until they can get a better look at it next week.”
“Well then, since you are handicapped I guess I should let you break,” she said, handing him the triangle.
Alex was not a good pool player but either Cody wasn’t either or the tequila had improved her game. She actually thought she had a chance to win until she scratched trying to hit the orange into the corner pocket.
“Oh crap!” she laughed, covering her mouth with her hand and looking around to see if anyone else saw.
“Dang, girl, I think you ripped the fabric on that one!” Cody was laughing so hard he grabbed his stomach. He leaned back, nearly lost his balance, and had to hop on his good foot to stay upright.
“Look out, Hop-along!” Alex screamed, covering her eyes as he bounced over to her, steadying himself with his cue.
Cody took his phone out of his pocket. “Come on over and take your picture with the One and Only, World Famous Salty Dog Pool Champion!”
Alex shook her head, laughing and put her arm around him as they smiled at his phone.
“Can I get you another drink?” he asked. “You know, to ease the pain of losing? It’s the least I can do for such a worthy opponent.” He waved one arm extravagantly to his side and bowed deeply to her.
“I shouldn’t,” she said, laughing. “But I’m tempted.” Cody stood up and locked eyes with Alex. They held each other’s gaze for a long minute. Cody broke away and said, “Well, that settles it!”
He hobbled and Alex followed him back to their spots at the bar. Cody ordered two more shots for Alex and asked the bartender for his change in quarters. The bartender set two shot glasses in front of Alex and a tall stack of quarters in front of Cody. He pushed the stack over to Alex. “Consolation prize—go feed the juke box.”
Alex smiled and grabbed the coins. She walked over to the juke box and flipped through the selections. She looked back to see if Cody was watching her but he had turned and was talking to the old guy next to him at the bar. He’s awfully friendly. She watched the movement of his muscular shoulders and back as he gestured animatedly in conversation with the old man and the bartender who had joined in. She made her selections and walked back to Cody. As she slid back onto her seat she put her hand on his shoulder. He turned to her and smiled. Alex liked his smile.
The Crime of Seduction Page 8
