Tap Dance (Dance Series)

chapter Sixteen



Things were moving along.

I was able to get the appointment with the Claim Adjuster for Monday, the ninth. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to having it over and done with so the removal people could come clean up the mess.

I wanted my own space back.

Not that living at Aunt Estella's was a hardship, not at all.

But it wasn't my place, my special space.

Luckily, work wasn't as busy as it had been and I was able to catch up on all the things I'd shoved aside.

Feeling at loose ends, I texted Caitlin, Crystal and Leila asking about going to dinner at Enrique's on Thursday night.

Leila said she had plans.

Cait couldn't make it for dinner but could join us for drinks afterward.

Crys' text simply said, "Hell, yeah! Need girl time. Am surrounded by dicks all day long!"

If I had thought about it, which I didn't, I probably would've thought having dinner with just Crys would probably be stilted, given our age difference.

But I didn't.

And it wasn't.

She was just as much fun one - on - one as she had been at the mall.

We were seated on the Enrique's patio that only held six tables, but had four outdoor heaters and the fireplace going.

Nice.

Crys arrived wearing the cutest leather shrug, white ribbed tank paired with black cargo pants worn low on her hips, the legs rolled up to just beneath her knee . On her feet she had the feminine version of Doc Marten boots extending up beyond the edge of her pant cuffs.

Wow.

Just, wow.

Our margaritas were half full when we finally made it to the menus.

"Uhm, Marianne?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not big on the full dinners. Only like a couple of bites of everything except the beans. Not a fan of the beans by themselves."

I looked at her over the top of my menu and blinked slowly.

"I'm not big on the dinners either, Crys. And I don't like the rice. What if we do the ala carte stuff and share?" I couldn't believe we had the same tastes.

"Yes! Hey Dee!" Crys called.

"Just a sec, Crys." I heard called back.

"You know the waitress?"

"She's the receptionist at Tangles."

"Tangles?"

"The place where Leila got her hair done."

"Oh, yeah. Her 'full day of beauty' place!"

Crys laughed. Her voice, just her regular every day voice, was a throaty alto and when she laughed it was this warm, slightly rough, sexy sound.

No high-pitched giggles for Crys.

Dee took our order, her eyebrows reaching for her hairline at all the different ala carte food we ordered.

"You got a problem with that, Dee?" Crys asked tilting her head to the side as she watched Dee write out our order

"Not a problem, Crys. But you guys are ordering a shi…a lot of food!"

Crys glanced at me and rolled her eyes.

"And can we get another round of drinks?" I asked after bugging my eyes out a Crys. Everyone knew you don't piss off the person that'll be bringing your food, for God's sake.

After Dee left and our conversation resumed, I learned a lot about Crys that I wouldn't have guessed. Her love of music I knew about, since I'd seen her doing some dance moves when we were at the mall, and Leila had described her singing a cappella the first night they met.

Crys went into detail about that night. When Leila had first tried to make an appointment, she pissed Crys right the hell off with her fancy words and snooty attitude. So Crys had scheduled her for a time when Dex was not supposed to be in the shop.

Then, when Leila showed up and was so nice, Crys felt bad. Then, and I quote, "The universe smiled."

Great line, I thought to myself, tucking it away for future reference.

Dex had shown up and all was good.

Crys asked about my family and I told her about my dad.

I told her about my mom in Shady Acres.

I told her about my Aunt Estella and Greg which had her in stitches because she had dated Greg for a while.

Small world, huh?

Then she told me about her mom, her dad's passing and how Dex and Max were her surrogate parents now.

How they were always, but always, up in her shit -- her words, not mine.

"So, Dex and Leila, huh?" I said, remembering her text she sent earlier that afternoon.

"I know, right? When she came in, I swear to God, I thought she was there to have her colors added. But when he kissed her and called her 'Elle', you could've knocked me on my ass!"

We were laughing and shaking our heads.

When our laughing had finally settled down, my girl Crys just had to add another line.

"Shit happens when you party naked," she said.

Which, of course, completely set my laughter off again.

Dee cleared our table, taking time to thank us for stacking our plates.

I raised my eyebrows at Crys and she shook her head before slurping the last bit of her margarita, for once thankfully silent.

The only reason we had stacked 'em was because we had no room on the table for our own plates, unless we stacked the ala carte dishes.

"Hey, girls. Could hear you two laughing your asses off all the way out on the sidewalk!" Caitlin called making her way to our table and sitting down.

"…and the horse you rode in on, Mrs. Future Gorgeousness!" Crys said straight back.

I couldn't get a breath I was laughing so hard.

Dee came by and asked for Cait's order. Crys passed. I asked for coffee.

"I'm taking off ladies. Got shit I've gotta do," Crys said as she plucked a couple of bills from her wallet and tossed them on the table. She leaned over and gave Cait a one-armed hug. I stood as she made her way around the table to me.

"Fun, Marianne, you know?" she said with her cute, lop-sided smile while she reached for me.

"You bet, baby girl," I whispered holding her close.

"Why the f*ck does everyone call me that?" She mock-yelled as she disengaged from me and turned around. I watched as she bumped fists with Dee as she left.

I sat back down and caught Cait's soft smile.

"One in a million, yeah?" she said softly.

"Oh, dear God, Cait. You sounded just like Jake when you said that!"

"You're too pretty to be a bitch, Marianne!" she quipped with a laugh, which set me off again.

"Are you still seeing Paul Adler?"

Dee was just delivering our coffees, although Cait got the Mexican coffee with the shot of tequila on the side. At Cait's words, Dee bobbled her tray and the cups rattled against the saucers.

"Seeing? Yes. Dating . . . um, no."

"And that means…" Her voice lilted up at the end, in question.

"I've been seeing someone else."

Boy, had I ever.

I watched her roll her hand towards her chest, silently asking for more info.

"Ram."

Her eyes got huge.

"Ram Patel. You know, the Police Chief?" I clarified.

She just looked at me.

"Okay, Cait. Stop looking at me like I'm a new species, for God's sake."

"I knew it. Jake and I saw you and Ram when I was in the hospital, when you brought me that big bouquet. And both of us saw that there was this 'thing' when you looked at each other."

Now it was my turn to just look at her.

"It's kind of a big 'thing' for me now," I said softly, even using my fingers for the air quotes.

"Glad for you, Marianne," she said softly.

"I'm glad for me, too. But we really need to get you back to speaking like yourself instead of like your fiancé." I replied softly.

"To quote Crys. And the horse you rode in on, Marianne."

"Have you set a date yet?"

"For the wedding? No, not yet. I'm working with an attorney regarding the estate my parents left and would like to get through that and school before we actually make it legal."

"Your estate?" I asked.

"Yeah. I told Jake about what I had gotten after my parents died. He'd been through something similar when his dad and his brother passed and said my experience was different than his. And not in a good way kind of different. He put me in contact with his attorney friend, Sam McKenzie, because something was really wrong if that's all I received. Sam said he's heard about a lot of people getting ripped off when Jamison was the executor of the estate."

Holy shit.

I was connecting the dots with regard to my Auntie's finances.

Aw geez.

"What's wrong?" Cait asked when she caught the look on my face.

"My aunt's got some, uhm, financial issues. They seem to have started when my Uncle Roger died." I was almost whispering as I put a possible puzzle together.

If I was even anywhere near the truth, it was ugly.

"Do you think…" She didn’t finish her sentence.

She didn't need to.

I got Sam McKenzie's number from Cait and I made a mental note to call Greg at my first available opportunity.



*.*.*.*.*

"Hello. Am I speaking with Marianne?"

I didn't recognize the male voice that had called me on my cell when I was about to leave Enrique's parking lot.

"And you are?"

"Niko. Niko Milosevic. I believe we met at Buxby's the other night."

Ohmigod.

Handsome.

Actually, young and handsome if we were skirting towards the truth.

"This is Marianne," I acknowledged slowly.

"Hello, Marianne. How are you?" His voice, with only the slightest hint of an accent, was just as stunning as the rest of him.

"Uhm, fine, thank you."

"I was wondering if you were available for dinner tomorrow night?"

Now, you and I both know that when a younger, handsome man asks a gal out, that said gal is flattered and might even entertain the notion for a second or two. Maybe even has a flash thought of a sweaty entwining with the previously mentioned younger, handsome man.

But, in real life?

"I appreciate the thought, Niko. But, like I explained at Buxby's, I'm seeing someone."

I heard him laugh softly.

Shit.

His laugh was as gorgeous as the rest of him. Not to mention, he had the cute dimple in one cheek. Why would I remember that?

"Another time, then. I'll keep trying. I'm nothing if not persistent."

Aw geez.

"Uhm, Niko? How'd you get my number?"

"From your cousin, Greg, of course."

Shit.

I should've known.

"Thanks for calling, Niko." I was trying to think of a way of asking him to lose my number.

"Have an enjoyable evening, Marianne."

"Ah, yes. You, too."

As soon as he disconnected, I called Greg.

"We need to talk, Greggy!" I said, almost yelling into his voicemail. "Give me a call immediately!"

Okay. So I didn't end the sentence at 'immediately'.

I might've maybe, kind of, added the words 'you stupid jerk'.

And there might have maybe, kind of, been a couple of 'F' bombs in the sentences.

Yeah, so?



*.*.*.*.*

It was just after nine when I made it back to Auntie's house. Luckily, she was still up although she was thoroughly engrossed in the news.

"Aunt Estella? We need to talk," I said gently as her show concluded.

"Yes, love?"

"I'm a little worried about your finances." I sat on the end of the couch, close to her chair.

"Oh, Mari. I'm fine. Everything's fine," she said, but she wouldn't look at me as she spoke.

"No, Auntie, you're not."

She whipped her head around to look at me and I saw her face begin to redden.

"I'm fine, Mari, and we have no need to have a discussion about money. It's such a vulgar topic anyway!"

Wait…what?

"It may be vulgar, but it’s something we need to talk about."

"I can't think about it right now. I'm tired and going to bed," she said, gently shooing Floyd off her lap before standing. She wouldn't look my way and quickly made her way upstairs.

I sighed.

This was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

I knew I couldn't go to Sam McKenzie without involving my aunt and my cousin, but how do you force someone to take a step they don't want to take?

I locked up the house and checked to make sure Floyd had been fed and had a fresh, clean litter box. I stood at the bottom of the stairs wondering exactly what it was going to take to get to the bottom of it all.