“You were taking a nap two days ago,” I told him. “Remember, Rita had come by the hotel to give us all an update on what her friends had done, and Vince had gone out to get Mexican take-out? You went into the bedroom to take a quick nap, and Rita and I sat up and had a little bit of girl bonding time.”
I drove on in silence, twice opening my mouth to say something, then shutting it when I realized it didn’t matter.
We went up to Rita’s apartment, where I was surprised by what we found when we came in the door. Vince was clearly flustered and flushed, while Rita had a very self-satisfied look on her face. I cocked an eyebrow at her, and she winked. “How’s it going, guys?”
“The stitches are out, and I’m going to be sporting a pretty decent scar,” Kade said, chuckling as he gave me a look. He noticed Vince’s condition as well. “How about you guys?”
“We’ve got an opening,” Rita said. “He just used PayPal to put in an order online.”
“So what’s the hold up?” I asked, coming over and sitting on the bubble chair. “By the way, Vince, you okay? You look a bit flustered.”
“Yeah, it’s just . . . hot in here,” he said, fanning himself. “Excuse me.”
He left for the kitchen with Kade following, and I gave Rita a look. “Going well?”
“Very. Later?” Rita asked, looking like the cat that just had a full saucer of cream.
I grinned and nodded. “For sure. By the way, what did he order?”
“I don’t have that yet, but I will soon.” Rita tucked her legs underneath her and frowned. “Kade is recovering so quickly. That means you guys will be leaving for Portland soon, right?”
“Maybe,” I said. An idea struck me. “You know, you could come with us.”
Rita thought about it, then got out of her chair and came over to sit next to me on the arm of her bubble chair, leaning over slightly to keep her voice low. “You serious?”
“Why not?” I said with a small grin. “You said it yourself, your main work is via the Web. You could do it anywhere. Might as well be in Portland.”
“Hmmm, there’s a lot to offer in Portland,” Rita said. “Lots of interesting culture, cheaper cost of living, a pretty good Chinatown in its own right . . . ”
“And lots of good people who care about you,” I said. “And maybe . . . something more interesting too?”
“Maybe. We’ll see.”
Grinning, I patted Rita’s knee and went into the kitchen, where Vince and Kade were in deep conversation. “Hey guys, how’s it going? Are you feeling okay, Vince?”
“Yeah, a lot better,” Vince said, taking a deep pull of a bottle of water. “Don’t know what came over me.”
“Well, if you’re feeling better,” I said. “Kade, Rita and I had an idea. Uhm, could you do a favor for us?”
“Sure, what would you need?”
I thought quickly and grinned. “Dessert.”
Ten minutes later, Vince was giving Kade suspicious looks as he pushed Vince out the door, Kade talking quickly. “Come on, Vince, you know I’m not cleared to drive yet, and you don’t know how to get to Brentwood. Besides, Alix is right, it is the best damn cheesecake in the entire state. Before we leave, we need to have at least one for tonight and one to take back to Portland.”
I closed and locked the door behind them, then turned and went back into the living room. “You have that address yet?”
“I’m closer, but not quite. He’s smarter than I thought, but that’s okay. I’ll have the details of everything he ordered and his pickup address by the time the boys get back.”
“I noticed you said ‘our men’ when you asked me to send them out, so I assume you’ve got your eyes on Vince?” I said, gleeful. It had been years since I’d really had a girlfriend like this, someone I could just talk things over with.
“More than my eyes,” Rita replied. “God, he’s just so perfect, you don’t even know it. He’s strong, cute, smart, and yes, so trainable.”
“Is that so?” I asked, leaning back. “How do you know?”
“If you get a chance, check under his shirt. Those four scratch marks on his chest aren’t there by accident,” Rita said. Her computer beeped, and Rita looked up, going over to check her monitor. “Nope, not yet. Nearly there. Hey, I have a question for you.”
“Go ahead,” I said, leaning back.
“You invited me to Portland, and I’ll be honest that it sounds enticing. But if I do, that means I’m going to be close to you and Kade geographically. Is that okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” I asked. “Hey, do you have any fruit juice?”
“No, but I’ve got some chu-hi.”
“What’s that?” I asked. Rita got off the couch and walked into the kitchen, me following.
“Japanese flavored light alcohol. Kind of like wine coolers, but a lot less geezerish, and some of them are carbonated. Watch how much you put down, the flavor hides the booze well, but would you like one? I’ve got peach, lemon, cassis berry, and a cola one that I hate, but can’t bear to throw out since I had to pay the damn import fees on them.” Rita opened her fridge and squatted down, grabbing one out. “Cassis berry for me.”
“I’ll try the same,” I said, “but my limit is one. It’s still early in the afternoon, you know.”