Crystal Ball

by Laney Kay

  He shrugged, unrepentant. “Well, Miss Daisy, if you have a problem with that, what are you going to do about it?”

  So I grabbed him with both hands, gave him a long lick, a quick nibble, and showed him until he just about collapsed.

  Then he returned the favor. By the time we were done, we were both happy, sweaty, smiling, and we were both ready to head for bed. We staggered down the hall together, brushed our teeth, and went to the bedroom. I reached for my nightshirt, but he pulled it out of my hands and tossed it back in my closet, telling me he’d keep me warm. He cuddled me close and turned off the light. But this time, before we fell asleep, he mumbled, “Good night. Love you.” And I mumbled back, “Love you, too,” and we were both asleep immediately.

  13

  The next morning, as soon as we got up, I texted Mo and Sara and Lola, and asked them if we could all get together for dinner that night because we had some news about Luke’s Katrina situation. They all texted back and said dinner sounded great, they’d see us around six and we could talk then.

  Luke made us breakfast and told me he was going to spend the day getting his forms in order and finishing the proposal for my neighbor’s screen porch. I was doing the final video editing on Bella’s interview, so I told Luke I was going to work on the porch and he was welcome to join me there with his laptop or he could use my desk, if he needed it.

  It ended up we both took our iced coffees outside to work on the porch. The dogs stretched out on the floor, under the fan, as usual, and Luke and I worked in companionable silence for most of the day. He got up once to print a proposal and take it next door for my neighbor to look at, but other than that we just worked together. I put the finishing touches on Bella’s story, and when I was done a little after five, I showed it to Luke, who told me it was a great segment and that Bella and I both looked fantastic. I sent it off to my boss at the station and went inside to get started with dinner.

  Luke joined me a few minutes later and we finished making dinner. We cleaned up and I had just popped a chicken caprese casserole in the oven when I heard a loud knock as the door opened. Lola hollered that she hoped we were decent. We looked at each other and laughed as she came into the kitchen with Harrison and Mo right behind her. We all hugged as Mark and Sara knocked on the door and came in waving a bottle of wine. I waved them into the living room. “Y’all go sit. The casserole will take about forty-five minutes and we have time to get y’all up to speed before dinner is ready.”

  Harrison opened the wine as Sara brought glasses from the kitchen and we all sat down in my living room. Mark took the chair and Sara climbed on his lap, Harrison pulled up a kitchen chair next to Mo on the end of the sofa, and Luke and I took the other end, with Lola in the middle. We all got a glass and sipped, but Sara couldn’t take the suspense. “Okay, so what’s going on? Is there a problem again with the Katrina money?” Sara’s brows drew together and she started to look angry. “I hate the damn government! Are they messing with you, cuz, because we’ll get you a great lawyer and…”

  Lola leaned forward and patted Sara’s knee. “Hold on honey badger, it’s good news.”

  Sara looked at Luke for confirmation and he nodded, so she leaned back against Mark and relaxed. “Okay, y’all go on and finish your story. Sorry I interrupted.”

  Luke smiled. “Thanks, cuz. It’s good to know you have my back.” He patted my leg and relaxed back into the sofa. He told them how he’d accidently spotted Glenda and Nick in my story about Bella’s fundraising, Lola’s idea about how to catch them, and what Bella was going to do for us. By the time he was finished, everyone was just silently staring at him.

  Sara was the first to break the silence. “Holy shit. I can’t believe you actually found that skank and your dick of an ex-partner.”

  Mo and Harrison asked if we were planning on going to the fundraiser, and Lola said that she and Luke and I were definitely going, but we’d all have to stay hidden until after the arrest so we didn’t tip off Glenda and Nick. Sara looked at Luke with a belligerent look on her face. “Well, if y’all are going, we’re going.”

  Mo took a big swig of wine and echoed Sara. “Well, if y’all are going, we’re going.”

  Harrison nodded in agreement, winked at me, and added, “Y’all can probably use a little backup, so just let us know the date.”

  Sara looked at me and smiled an overly sweet little smile and clapped her hands in glee. “And Daisy, you know the best part? This is so lucky! We all get to go shopping for something to wear.”

  My heart sank and I guess I looked traumatized, because everyone started laughing. Luke put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed, and I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Hey, if it takes me shopping for an outfit and wearing it to a fundraiser so that Glenda and Nick go to jail, I’ll take one for the team.”

  Amid comments of, “Awww, you’re so brave,” and “Look, she’s willing to do whatever it takes, even shopping, to put away criminals,” I flipped them off as I went into the kitchen to check on my casserole. Ha. Ha. Ha. They’re all so damn funny.

  Luke followed me in and hugged me from behind as I shut the oven door and set the timer for another ten minutes. He buried his face against my neck and gave me a quick smooch. “I appreciate you being willing to go shopping. I think you’re very brave because I know how much you hate it.”

  I laughed and hugged his arms across my belly then pouted. “I know you do. You’re my only real friend here. The rest of those buttheads don’t understand real sacrifice.” I turned and put my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a quick kiss that, as usual, started to get out of control.

  We both realized it and pulled away just as Lola came in to grab a new bottle of wine out of the fridge. “For God’s sake, don’t make me turn the hose on y’all.” She tried unsuccessfully to open the bottle, so she wordlessly handed it to Luke who yanked out the cork with one easy pull. She turned to leave, batting her eyes and saying, “My hero,” as she left the room.

  Luke let me go and laughed, shaking his head. “Good God, all y’all women are crazy as shithouse rats.”

  I shrugged agreeably. “Yep, pretty much. I know.” What else was there to say? Yeah, they’re crazy, but they’re my crazies, and, after all these years, I know they don’t make friends any better than these people. They’re nuts, they’re nosy, they can be unbelievably intrusive, but whatever comes up, they’re all in and I love them.

  At dinner we discussed our plan. They were all interested in meeting Bella, and I told them that if Glenda took the bait we’d all get together to finalize details. Either way, I promised to keep them posted. We all said good night and everyone went home. Well, except Luke.

  As soon as the door shut behind them, Luke pinned me up against it and started kissing my neck. “Alone at last.”

  I started giggling, but the giggles quickly turned into a moan. Lawd, what that man can do to a neck was insane. I felt my knees get weak and he pushed harder against me to keep me upright, until I managed to croak out, “Luke, let’s move this down the hall. I’m about to fall over.”

  He let my feet drop to the floor and then scooped me up and ran us down the hall. We were both laughing like crazy, and he dumped me face down on the bed and fell on top of me. He pulled my hair to one side and started kissing my neck again as he reached under me to undo my shorts. He managed to unbutton them and then he stood up at the end of the bed, dropped his shorts, pulled my shorts and panties down in one quick movement, and pulled my legs apart and knelt in between them. I looked over my shoulder and saw he was staring intently at me. “Can’t decide where to start?”

  He laughed but never took his eyes off me. “It’s like you’re a Thanksgiving buffet and I can’t decide what I want to eat first.”

  That tickled me. I tried to roll over, but he put a hand on my lower back to hold me in place. “Nope. I want you just like this.” I could feel him bend over me and he took a quick bite on my bottom and then licked over the spot. He took both han
ds and started to massage my lower back and slowly moved down toward my thighs and down between my legs. He slid his arm under my stomach and pulled me up onto my hands and knees, placing a thick pillow under my knees. I felt him touch me lightly with one finger, just barely rubbing over me until I opened my legs further to give him better access. He teased me with it, just barely putting the rough tip of it inside me, then withdrawing and moving it slowly up and down. He was driving me nuts. I glared at him over my shoulder. “Stop being such a tease, Mathis. You know payback is hell.” He didn’t say a word, he just winked and smiled and kept doing it.

  Fine. You want to play that way? I tried to reach back and grab him, but he pulled my hands above my head and pinned them to the bed with one big hand, then went back to slowly fondling me with the other hand. Finally, he pushed one big finger all the way inside me to see if I was ready for him, and he must have figured I was, because he let my hands go, lined himself up, and pushed himself in to the hilt in one long thrust.

  I realized I had been holding my breath. He stood up on his knees and grabbed my hips with both hands, and started moving slowly, pulling almost all the way out and then back in just as slowly. He started rotating his hips against me at the end of each long stroke, and after a few minutes of that, I was going crazy. “Harder,” I begged and, finally, he started pounding into me, and after about a minute of that, I was a goner, but he kept going. I felt like a noodle and my arms gave out, but he just kept going. Faster. Harder. Finally, he grabbed my hips so hard I knew I’d have bruises, but trust me, at that point, I didn’t care. He slammed into me and I could feel him get even bigger and harder inside me as he finally let go, which pushed me over the edge again, as well. We both collapsed on the bed, totally wrung out and I wasn’t sure, but I may have become slightly, hopefully temporarily, blind.

  After a few minutes of lying there trying to catch our breath, Luke rolled off me and onto his side and pulled me close to him. He says he’s always afraid he’s going to squish me like a bug, so he’s always a little afraid to lie there with all his weight on me, but I like it. Finally, he rolled onto his back and groaned like an old man. “Girl, you’re trying to kill me.” He sat up and slapped me on the butt. “Wait here and I’ll be right back.”

  I’m not sure I could’ve moved if I wanted to, so I didn’t argue. I heard him go into the bathroom, heard the sink running, and soon he was back. I was relaxing with my eyes closed, and he rolled me onto my back and spread my legs, and I started to protest until I felt the wet, warm cloth. It felt wonderful. I opened my eyes and smiled at him as he carefully and gently started to clean me up. “Just relax and let me take care of this, baby. Trust me, you’ll sleep better if you’re not a sticky mess.”

  When he was done, he went to the bathroom door and tossed the washcloth in the sink and then opened the bedroom door so the dogs could come in. I managed to rouse myself enough to pull back the covers and we got in bed. He pulled me up against him with one arm under my head and the other hand idly fondling me, just rubbing slowly, up and down, a breast here, over my butt, my stomach, my hip, my thigh. I felt him kiss the back of my neck, we both mumbled a quick good night, and fell asleep almost immediately.

  We got up the next morning at about six, as usual. We took a quick walk and a shower, then Luke had to teach his class. He also had a couple of meetings with some local subcontractors whose work he wanted to see, so he would be busy most of the day. I needed to figure out the subject for my next segment and I had a great idea for a new column, so I was going to work on that all day. We kissed goodbye and went our separate ways, each telling the other to call if either of us heard from Bella.

  Luke called after his class ended at noon. “Hey baby girl.”

  “Hey, hot stuff. You got some good news for me?”

  He chuckled. “Yep. Bella called the folks in Puerto Rico and St. Croix and they’re all over the idea of combining their resources for some kind of award ceremony and benefit. Then Bella called the lady in Belize in charge of the newsletter and told her about the idea and she said it was a great idea and that the information would go out in the next newsletter.”

  I whistled long and low. “Lawd, that chick don’t play. You can tell this isn’t Bella’s first rodeo.”

  “No shit. She already wrote a press release announcing that Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and Belize were combining resources to put together a great fundraiser and that everyone could submit ideas for the next three weeks and they’d vote on the best ones and finalize details when she got down to Belize next. When I asked her what our timetable looked like, she’d said that there’s a sense of urgency because everyone needs help immediately, so the timetable would be much faster than usual, hopefully a month, no more than two, after their next meeting.

  “Seriously?” I couldn’t believe they could get it done that fast. “So about two to three months from now, at the most?”

  “Yep. Bella said everyone is so desperate for work that the hotels and caterers will work on whatever timetable we want.”

  “That’s amazing. Did she say that the event is also to recognize those individuals who’ve been helpful with the fundraising?”

  “Yes. So any attendees who are all about the recognition will love to be involved.”

  “So an attention whore Like Glenda will be all over it?”

  “Exactly.” He sounded very satisfied but a little dazed that everything was happening so fast. “You know, Daisy, I really think this crazy idea might work.”

  I was sure it would work, especially with Bella on our side. “I told her to just let me know when she needed the money and I’d send it over immediately. She said that sounded great and she’d be in touch.”

  I couldn’t believe Bella had managed to do all this today. “So that’s it? We’ll have all the specifics after the meeting in three weeks when she meets with everyone and until then we just hang tight?”

  “That’s what it sounds like. Once they decide exactly when and where and who’s in charge of what, we’ll have a good idea of what we need to do next.”

  We both sat silently on the line, thinking. My only concern was whether or not Glenda’s need for attention outweighed her sense of caution. “So the big question is whether Glenda takes the bait?”

  I could hear the anticipation in his voice. “Bella is pretty confident that Glenda will be all over it once she hears the details. She says she deals with women like her all the time and knows exactly what buttons to push to get her to do what she wants.”

  I laughed. “Hell, I believe it! When I did my segment, everyone I talked to said they call her the ‘socialite whisperer’ for a reason. The more difficult they are, the better Bella is at handling them.”

  Luke snorted. “Better her than me. See you in a few hours, baby girl.”

  We hung up and the rest of the day was a typical day for me. I walked the dogs, worked, went to my yoga class, had lunch with a friend, and called Lola to tell her what Luke had found out from Bella. As soon as we’d hung up, the phone rang again and I snatched it up.

  “Hola, Lola, what’d you forget to tell me?”

  My mom’s calm voice answered. “It’s your mother, darlin’ and I was calling because I haven’t seen you in weeks and I wanted to see if you and Luke would like to meet your dad and me for supper.”

  Crap. Busted. But I knew my mom wouldn’t let me off the hook. She probably wanted to make sure I hadn’t run Luke off yet. “Sure mom. Let me check with Luke to make sure he doesn’t have other plans and I’ll call right back.”

  I hung up and called Luke. “Sorry big guy, but my mom is guilt tripping me because I’ve managed to avoid her for almost three weeks so now she wants us to meet them for dinner. Would you mind?”

  He was his usual agreeable self, so I called my mom back. “Hey Mom, that would be great. When and where?”

  She named a restaurant near my house and I said we’d meet them there at 6:30. Since we’d be tied up for dinner, I took the dogs for a
nother quick walk and was home right before Luke walked in at 5:00.

  I made us both a glass of tea and we went to sit on the porch and hang out for a little while before we had to leave for dinner. Luke put on a pair of old jeans and a buttoned-down shirt the same color as his eyes, so he looked amazing. I grabbed an embroidered pair of jeans and a cute, green, swingy cotton sweater that my mom would find only mildly objectionable and we headed out to Luke’s Jeep. He boosted me into the seat, as usual, and we were off. The entire way, I tried to remind him about what a pain my mother could be, but he wasn’t worried about any of it. I, on the other hand, was a hot, babbling mess. “…And you know she’s gonna ask you when we’re getting married and if we do get married what am I going to wear, and why can’t you get me to dress like a lady instead of some ‘homeless ragamuffin…’” I made little air quotes and was about to go off again when Luke grabbed my hand and squeezed it to distract me from my tirade.

  “Hey, what the hell is a ragamuffin, anyway?”

  I shook my head and threw up my hands. “Shit if I know. But whatever they are, they apparently spend most of their time trying to kill their mothers with their inattention to fashion.”

  When we got to the restaurant, Mom and Dad were already seated on the patio with an assortment of tapas and drinks. As we walked up to the table, I hugged Mom while Dad stood up to shake Luke’s hand and then he hugged me and Luke leaned over to kiss my mom on the cheek. We sat down and Luke ordered a carafe of white sangria for me and a beer for him.