Crystal Ball

by Laney Kay

  He completely ignored me and backed me against the wall. He pinned me there and kissed me thoroughly, the whole time grabbing my butt with one hand and sliding a hand into my low neckline with the other.

  By the time he let me go, he had almost changed my mind about heading downstairs. Fortunately, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and gasped. My lip gloss was gone, one boob was halfway out of my dress, and I looked like I’d just rolled out of bed. Somehow, I found the strength to back away. I held a hand out protectively in front of me and started backing toward the bathroom. “Get away from me, Luke Mathis. If y’all are making me go to this party, I don’t want to look I just got laid in the elevator.”

  He started laughing, and raised one eyebrow as he started slowly advancing toward me. “Come on Daisy, you’re already a little messed up. A little more isn’t going to hurt. Just a couple more minutes.”

  He pretended to try to grab me and I let out an embarrassing squeal and I bolted for the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind me. I could hear him laughing on the other side of the door.

  I got the dress back in place with everything tucked in and put on some more lip gloss. When I opened the door, I gave him my best stinkeye, which made him laugh, so he offered his arm and we left to meet everyone in the bar.

  When we got there, the other guys were already there watching a football game. They all looked very handsome in their island finery. Mark had on a light gray linen suit, and Harrison was wearing a traditional guayabera, a formal Mexican wedding shirt, and a pair of lightweight pants. I batted my eyes at all of them and told them all they were the handsomest men I’d ever seen. They just rolled their eyes and laughed a little uncomfortably, which cracked me up, and we went back to watching the game.

  The other ladies came down right on time, and they all looked beautiful in their dresses. Sara and Lola were in black, but where Sara’s was slinky and formfitting, Lola’s had an empire waist with chiffon flowing to the floor that made her look like a queen. Mo’s dress was green and hugged her long, toned, frame like it was made for her. All of the guys stood up and said that we would be the four most beautiful women at the event. We all smiled at each other, the guys and I chugged the rest of our beers, and we left for the gala.

  Bella was right. We all had a blast, even me. When Bella first came out to start the evening, she said that, before we got started, there had been a change in plans and Glynn and Nicholai weren’t going to be the hosts for the evening. She gave a quick summary of what happened and then dimmed the lights and put up a short video of them being slammed on the floor and handcuffed, Glynn screaming obscenities and ranting about Puerto Rico not being part of America, and then the part where Agent Prince read them their rights and all of the charges against them.

  When the lights came back up, the room was dead silent and everyone was frozen in shock. Bella shook her head with a disgusted look on her face. “You know the worst part was that they stole the money from hurricane victims. The money they took was supposed to rebuild a levee near the Ninth Ward, the poorest area of the city, and when they took that money, they didn’t care what happened to those people.” She paused theatrically. “Those poor people were in the exact same boat we’re in right now, and she and her husband had the nerve to act like she cared what happened to Belize and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.” She paused again. “I say good riddance, and I hope they rot in jail, and then rot in hell.” Everyone started clapping, Bella rubbed her hands over her face and took a deep breath to compose herself.

  “Okay, enough of this. Let’s get down to business. We know how to raise money, we know how to get things done, and tonight is all about making sure that Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and Belize can return to normal as soon as possible. Let me show you what we’ve already accomplished.”

  The lights went back down and the video was very powerful, showing the storm damage, what rebuilding had already been accomplished, how much money had been raised, and how much more was needed. The lights came back up, and Bella immediately began giving awards to those in the audience who had helped the most. As she promised, the business part of the evening was over in less than a half hour. She announced where we could look at the items for the silent auction, reminded us that any items could be shipped to our homes, and then motioned for the servers to start bringing in the food. The DJ cranked up, and by eight o’clock, the place was rocking.

  Even my mom was in a fabulous mood. She walked up to where we were all sitting, a large, almost empty, glass of wine in her hand, and I braced myself for her opening remarks. Instead of an immediate verbal attack, she smiled at everyone and came over to give me a hug. She pulled back and ran her hand over my still-controlled curls. “Daisy, you look so pretty and I love what you’ve done with your hair.”

  What?! I actually looked behind me to see who she was talking to, and Lola kicked me under the table and muttered for me to shut up and be nice. I felt completely disoriented. I whispered out the side of my mouth. “Holy shit, how much of that wine has she had, Lola?”

  Lola shrugged at me and whispered back. “Shit if I know. Maybe it’s the type of wine. You need to find out what that is and invest in the winery.”

  I nodded my agreement, unable to look away from the sight of my mom being both supportive and non-judgmental. She hugged Luke and kissed him on the cheek. “Clayton told me the whole story and I’m so glad those horrible people are in jail, and I hope that now you can move on with your new life.”

  That’s more like it. I relaxed as I waited for the next comment that now we could get married, or now he could accompany me to a new class to learn how to dress, or he could convince me that a breast reduction make me look fabulous, or something. But nothing.

  She took a careful sip of her wine and smiled at everyone else. “And the rest of y’all look amazing.” She tipped up her glass, finished her wine and put the empty glass in the middle of the table as she smiled at each of us. “Well, I hope y’all enjoy your evening. I’m going to go find some of my friends from Atlanta, and,” she patted me on the head. “Maybe find your Daddy so we can do a little dirty dancing. Y’all have fun and I’ll see all y’all when we get back to Atlanta.” And she spun effortlessly on her high heels and left. No parting shot, no passive aggressive comment, nothing. Just a wave over her shoulder and she was gone.

  We were stunned. And now I was seriously getting worried. “What just happened? Did y’all see that? Did anyone else just hear my mom compliment me on my hair? Should we tell my dad? Do you think she’s had a stroke or something?”

  Mo shook her head and pointed out my mom dancing with my dad. “She looks good to me.”

  I was afraid to turn around. “She’s not really dirty dancing with my dad, is she?”

  They all laughed, so I turned to see her looking happy and healthy. I was still doubtful and made a note to check on her next week after we get back to Atlanta. And possibly sign her up for a neurological workup and some kind of brain scan. At the very least, I’m going to buy her about twelve cases of that wine.

  Between us dancing, drinking, and eating, Sara, Lola, and Mo stayed busy bidding on funky jewelry and artwork. I won a set of cookware and some new wooden utensils for my kitchen, and started trying to win a pair of custom cowboy boots for Luke. Harrison was bidding on a week at a vacation rental house in Florida, and Mark told us he was determined to win a custom shotgun.

  The guys eventually took a break to go check the football scores, and Sara and Mo went to the bathroom and to take a look at the desserts. Lola and I were hot and wanted to cool off, so we each grabbed a glass of wine and went outside and stretched out in two lounge chairs by the pool.

  “How’s Luke?”

  “He’s fine. Glad it’s over.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, me too.” She turned on her side so she faced me. “So, now that this is all over, what about y’all? What’s the plan? Are y’all going to move in together or get married anytime soon?”

  I
shrugged. “I don’t really know. There’s been so much going on with all this and his new business that we haven’t really talked about it.” I rolled over so we were both facing each other. “Truth is, we love each other, and I definitely want us to live together, but I don’t know about the whole marriage thing. I don’t know what I think. I’m certainly not in any rush.”

  Lola smiled. “That makes sense. Would you marry him, if he asked?”

  I didn’t even think about it. “Yep. In a second.”

  We grinned at each other and went back inside to rejoin the rest of the group. We hung around for another couple of hours, which was just enough time for me to slip in a final bid and win the custom boots for Luke. By the end of the evening, Lola had bought a custom designed necklace from a local artist, Sara and Mo each had a couple of paintings and some really fun jewelry, Mark had his shotgun, and Harrison had won a five-day vacation rental in the Florida Keys for ten people.

  By the time the auction ended, we were all tired. Bella came out to thank everyone and said that, although the numbers weren’t final, they had already surpassed all of their goals and all of the projects would be fully funded. She thanked everyone, told everyone good night, and asked the winners to come fill out the shipping forms for the silent auction items. We got in line, paid for our items, arranged for shipping, and went to find Bella before we left.

  Bella was standing by the door, thanking everyone, and saying her goodbyes. She looked beautiful, but exhausted, then Luke walked up to her and hugged her off her feet. He let her go and stepped back so he could see her face. “Thank you for everything, Bella. None of this could have happened without you.”

  She was embarrassed and waved it off. “Glad I could help. It couldn’t have happened to two nicer people than Glenda and Nick.”

  He grinned. “Well, I have some other good news. I just got a text from Prince and Spencer and they wanted us to know that they all landed safely and Glenda and Nick are now in a jail cell in New Orleans. It should be on the national news, and it’s all thanks to you.”

  She smiled and patted his cheek. “Thanks for letting me know. That’s a great ending to a great evening.” She waved to all of us. “I’ll see y’all when I get back to Atlanta.” We all waved goodbye, grabbed a shuttle van, and went back to our hotel.

  It was a beautiful night, breezy with a full moon, and we decided to go back to Lola’s room to sit out on the balcony overlooking the water. Mark made us drinks with some rum that Lola had bought in a drugstore across the street, and we settled in to watch the waves and relax.

  I had my bare feet in Luke’s lap, he was idly rubbing my feet with one hand and sipping on his drink with the other. Mo hesitantly asked Luke how he was doing, and he thought about it for a moment.

  “You know, it’s really weird. It doesn’t feel real. I thought it would be some big deal when they were arrested and hauled off, but it really doesn’t feel any different.” He took another swig of his drink. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly happy about it, but the actuality was kind of anticlimactic.”

  Lola was sitting on his left side, and she turned to see his expression. “What do you mean? You didn’t feel any closure after they were arrested? Was that not a good thing?”

  His answer was immediate and he rushed to reassure her. “No. No, it’s a great thing and I’m really glad those two are finally having to face the consequences of what they did.” He took another sip of his drink. “I’m very glad they’re behind bars, and I’m extremely glad this is all finally over. But really, I told Daisy the other night, for the most part, I moved past all this a long time ago.” He smiled and tipped his head back, enjoying the sea breeze against his skin as he thought about what he was trying to say.

  He looked at everyone, and smiled. “I’m in a new city, and thanks to all of you, I’m around people I love and care about every day, and I’m about to start a new business. Everything in my life is new and exciting, and all this other stuff is just old bullshit I left behind when I left New Orleans. I’m just glad that, except for testifying in their trial, that chapter in my life is over.”

  “I doubt that you’ll ever have to testify,” Lola predicted. “It would be tried in the U.S. district court for the eastern district of Louisiana, which is right there in the middle of downtown New Orleans. The evidence against them is pretty extensive and, trust me, you wouldn’t want to be on trial for stealing Katrina funds in the middle of New Orleans. I’ll bet they’ll do some kind of plea deal.”

  Luke looked at her skeptically. “I’m sure that’s what Nick will do, but I can’t imagine Glenda will go to prison willingly.”

  “She’d better,” said Lola. “Mayor Nagin got ten years for the shit he pulled, some lady politician just got five years, and some scam artist chick got 43 years. She’d better take the best deal she can get because those prosecutors aren’t playing.”

  “Will they end up in that cushy low-security prison where Nagin ended up?” Mo asked.

  Lola shrugged. “Who knows? I’m not sure what’s available. I know Glenda can’t go there, because that’s a men’s prison, plus it’s low security with no fences. They’ve already proven to be a flight risk, so I’m thinking that will not be the prosecutor’s recommendation. They’ll probably end up in some medium-security federal prison somewhere in the South.” Lola smiled and held up her drink in a mocking toast. “Maybe they’ll sentence Glenda to one of the work camps. That would be a perfect hell for her, wouldn’t it?”

  We all laughed. Luke was shaking his head at the thought. “I can assure you, she will not be one of those let out early for good behavior. If she gets in trouble every time she mouths off, that mean bitch may be there the rest of her life.”

  He stood up and held out his hand for me to join him. I stood up and took his hand and he pulled me in close and put his arm around my shoulders. “And on that note, I’m ready to call it a night.” He turned us to face everyone. “Thanks for coming with me. It really means a lot to have all y’all here and I appreciate it more than you know.” We started toward the door as everyone said goodnight.

  When we got to our room, Luke was still quiet. When I asked him about it, he just said he was tired and wanted to grab a shower and get some sleep. We took a quick shower, dried off, got in the bed, and Luke rolled on his back and cuddled me up to his side. He didn’t seem stressed, but I figured that he had been through a hell of a day, so I decided to finish it off with a bang.

  I rolled over and sat up so I could see his face. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “What’s on your mind, Daisy?”

  I smiled at him. “Well, you’ve had such an exciting day that I wanted to make sure it had a great ending…”

  “Would that be happy ending?” He asked, bobbling his eyebrows and winking at me as he laughed.

  I wrinkled my nose at him and stuck out my tongue. “Well, yes, as a matter of fact, that would be a happy ending, but I also have another surprise for you.” I showed him a picture of the cowboy boots I’d won for him. “You get to pick the colors, the type of leather, everything, so I hope you like them.”

  He looked at the picture and grinned. “Daisy, I love these. Thanks so much.” He pulled me down over his chest so he could kiss me.

  I kissed him back, and then put my hand on his chest and pulled back up. “Wait, I have another surprise. Well, actually, it’s a question. And it’s on a totally different topic.” I took a deep breath. “Would you like to move in with me?” Before he could say anything, I started babbling. “I know your lease is up in January, and I didn’t want you renew it because I wanted you to move in with me instead. Well, actually, I’d like you to move in now, even though you’d have to keep paying your rent for another month or so…”

  He put his finger on my lips to shut me up, and I stared at him with big eyes. He pushed up on one elbow and looked into my eyes. “Daisy, are you sure about this?” I nodded emphatically, his finger still against my mouth. He smiled slightly, and it tur
ned into a grin. “Really?”

  I pulled his finger down and grinned back at him. “I’m totally sure. We’re practically living together now, but I think we should make it official.” Then I frowned at him. “But I’ve been thinking about it and we’re going have to add some stuff to the house. It makes the most sense money-wise to run your business out of the house, so you need an office.”

  He started laughing. “My Daisy is always so practical.” He sat up and faced me on the bed. “First, let me be clear. I would love for us to live together, so yes, I would love to move in with you. As soon as we get back, not when my lease is up. I was hoping you’d want us to eventually live together, but I’m really excited you want to do it so soon.”

  He looked a little embarrassed. “Actually, I think I’ve figured out something that will work great for both of us. I started out just trying to expand your screen porch, but I kind of took off with a couple of other ideas while I was playing with the plan. Check this out.” He jumped off the bed and went across the room to grab his laptop, and came back to sit down again, tapping on the keys as he spoke. “I drew up a plan last month, and I figured I’d show it to you when this stuff was all over.” He turned the laptop around and pushed it towards me. “And, since it’s all over, I think now would be a great time.”

  I looked at the plans, stunned at his ideas. “See?” he pointed to the drawings. “I can expand your office out into the backyard to give us enough room to make two offices and I’ll put a barn door between our areas so we can leave it open or close it off, whatever we want. With the extra space, I can also expand the screen porch and I’ll put a little fireplace on the far end so we can sit outside when it’s cold.”