“I doan know ’bout that. He’s bin callin’ Luc all the time, askin’ ’bout you. Then he started callin’ me yesterday after I got back. He’s worried ’bout you, honey.”
“Who?”
“Rusty, thass who!”
“Puh-leeze! He’s just feeling guilty over the way he treated me.” He screwed me in bed, then he screwed me again by kicking me out of his life,
“Prob’ly. He asked me to ask you to call him… when yer ready.”
“Is he nuts? What would ever make him think that I would contact him? Bad enough that I begged him not to send me away! Now he expects me to crawl on my knees and swallow my pride again? No way!”
“I doan think he meant it that way.”
“I think he meant it exactly that way. He probably wants me to give him back that envelope you packed for me with twenty five thousand dollars in bonds. Now that he’s had a chance to think about it, he probably thinks he deserves all of it. The louse!”
“Where you goin’?”
Charmaine had hopped up from the table and probably had a maniacal gleam in her eyes. “You were right. I’ve been wallowing too long. Time for me to get on with my life. I’m going to my shops to check up on things. Then I’m going shopping.”
“Oh, thass a good idea. Shoppin’ always gets me out of the blue slumps. Buy yerself a pair of shoes. That’ll make ya feel good. Red ones. With high heels.”
“I forgot. I sold my car. Can I drop you off and borrow your car till tomorrow? I need to buy myself a new car.”
As they walked out the door a short time later, Tante Lulu asked her, “What kind of car you gonna get? Another BMW?”
“Nope. A Corvette.”
Tante Lulu smiled and gave her a high five. “Red, I hope. Ta match yer new shoes.”
“For sure. This is a new beginning for me.”
“Uh-oh, the last time you had a new beginning, you became a born-again virgin. And look how that turned out.”
“This is a different kind of new beginning. I’m gonna get me a Corvette, then I’m gonna find me a new man.”
Charmaine wasn’t sure if it was Tante Lulu or the statue in her purse that groaned then.
Chapter 18
Everybody is an Ann Landers…
“If you want to know what I think, Rusty—” Clarence started to say.
“I don’t. Just sit down and eat your supper.” I am sick, sick, sick of everyone telling me what to do to get Charmaine back. If she wanted me, she’d fight to get me back. If she loved me, like she said, she’d forgive me. Shouldn’t she figure out by now why I behaved like a horse’s ass? If I am as hopeless as everyone says I am, St. Jude would be here with a herd of saints fighting on my behalf.
Even to himself, that line of thinking sounded lame.
And a disgusted St. Jude said in his head, I’m here, I’m here already.
“Grilled cheese and tomato soup!” Jimmy grimaced with distaste.
“Shut your mouth, boy,” Linc told him. “At least it’s not SpaghettiOs again.”
“I wish we had a Domino’s nearby,” Clarence said wistfully.
“Well, we don’t. So there.” Raoul sat down and ate with as much enthusiasm as he could garner for such fare.
They had all been spoiled in one week by both Charmaine and Tante Lulu’s cooking.
“Anyhow, we gotta find a way to get Charmaine back,” Clarence continued.
“We don’t gotta do anything,” Raoul grumbled.
“Well, if you’re sittin’ here waitin’ fer stuff to happen, maybe we should take over,” Clarence said huffily. “Mebbe I should pay her a visit in that beauty spa of hers.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Hey, I can be subtle when I wants to be. I’ll jist make an appointment fer a massage.”
“That’s subtle, all right.”
“They give massages there?” Linc asked with great interest.
“I could offer to help her with her business computers. She tol’ me one time that she had a problem with Excel.” That was Jimmy’s solution to Raoul’s lovelorn dilemma.
“None of you are going to visit Charmaine on my behalf.”