By the time Tina finished with her ‘Steroid Nick’ routine, complete with gesturing hands, Gus and Rachel were enjoying the show loudly. It took more than a few moments before Rachel could respond in coherent form.
“He…he’s not on anything. I’ll tell you something else. He’s so damn calm, it’s freaky. I don’t have to tell Gus that. I watched the fake FBI guys meet their maker on our HD porch cam. They never had a chance. They reached first, and none of them cleared a holster. We have a wide angle cam on the front sidewalk too. Nick’s expression never changed. I couldn’t tell for sure, but I think he smiled.”
“There’s a reason a guy like Paul Gilbrech backs someone like Nick all the way,” Gus added, “and it has nothing to do with any kind of employee/employer agreement. Paul knows what happened to Frank Richert. Paul and Nick have an understanding. Nick says he trusts him with his life, and other than we minions of Muerto, there aren’t any people listed in that small group.”
“Was that his plan to do everything under the radar this morning, Gus?”
“Nick didn’t hear from John, and that was it. He hit the place. As usual, he was right as rain. They had John chained on a hook getting ready to toast him. Instead they got Muerto. He has some funny plans for John. Did he tell you he’s going to play matchmaker for John with Dimah Kader’s cousin who will be fleeing the East Coast soon?”
“No!” Rachel sat straight in the lounger, taking a gulp of wine. “He never said anything about it.
“We’ve been laughing and insulting him about his matchmaking abilities ever since he mentioned it. John loves the idea, but he’s a Muerto groupie anyhow.”
“My Muerto, matchmaker supreme.” Rachel took a deep breath. “That’s just… disturbing. I’m going to get Muerto to swim with me. Don’t let anyone touch my wine. That’s the only one I get for the day.”
“We’ll guard it, girlfriend. Hey… remember that old movie ‘Hello Dolly’ about a matchmaker?”
“Sure Tina,” Rachel answered on her way out, launching into a swaying dance step singing, “well, hello Muerto, you’re lookin’ swell, Muerto.”
Rachel glanced around to see both Gus and Tina enjoying her rendition of ‘Hello Dolly. “Is that the one?”
“Oh yeah… that’s the one,” Tina agreed.
Rachel found her ‘Dolly’ and the Daughter of Darkness in a comical discussion, feeding each other funny lines. “What’s so funny?”
The two quieted quickly, which provoked furrowed eyebrows, and thin lipped angst in Rachel. “I feel my Princess Bump rising to devastate her surroundings. If you don’t want that, I better get an answer as to why I’m once again the object of derision.”
“You’re not,” Nick said. “Jean’s raking me over the coals for leading women on around us. She seems to think as she does while blackmailing me during our walks to school that I’m flirting. I was reminding her that wallflowers do not grow up to be flirts. We delicate flowers grow to be circumspect and conservative. Jean was of course making gagging noises while I tried to explain it wasn’t possible for me to flirt.”
“Not everything is about you, Princess Bump,” Jean added, immediately hiding behind Nick before Rachel could react. “No hitting. You asked.”
“Who is Muerto flirting with?” When Rachel looked around, she saw more than a couple of women trying to glance Nick’s way without being noticed. “Never mind. I see a few likely candidates. We’ll have to put him in a burka.”
Jean giggled.
“Let me know how that works out for you, Princess. Jean’s hungry. I was going to let her take some money over to the snack restaurant over there called ‘Buckets Incredible Craveables’. She wants a cheeseburger.”
Rachel saw the restaurant was in plain sight, and she knew Jean was no na?ve little girl. “Looks okay to me. Go ahead and get some money from Muerto’s stash in the bag. Be polite and ask Gus and Tina if they want anything.”
“I will, Mom. Do you want anything?”
“No, I ate too much at our brunch in the room.”
“Yeah you did.” Jean hurried off toward the cabana.
“One of these days… one of these days,” Rachel muttered. “I’m ready for a swim. I’m uncomfortable with how good you look in that black bathing suit, Muerto. Can’t you stick your belly out or something?”
“We’ll be in the water, but I can go put on a t-shirt to soothe your sensibilities.”
“No, then I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the view.” Rachel ran a hand over Nick’s chest down to his trunks.
“You need to make up your mind, Princess. Besides, I think you look wonderful in your bathing suit, and I’m already picturing removing you from it.”
“In olden days, when a woman got pregnant, she didn’t have sex again until after she had the baby.”