said with a laugh. “Tell youwhat. I’ll keep my ear to the ground and let you know if any information comes through the office.”
“Fair enough. In the meantime, I thought I’d take a ride up to Mendocino tomorrow. Anyone interested in coming along?”
“Hell, that’s a three-hour drive each way, chère. You know my back will never make it.”
I was tempted to snipe that if he went to a physical therapist and cut out the pills and booze, it would help speed up his recovery. However, I kept my mouth shut, having been through that argument only last night.
“I’ll go with you, Rach,” Terri offered. “I might as well see what the northern coastline looks like.”
“Terrific,” I said.
That would give me quality time with Terri, while Jake found out how much fun it was to spend an entire day alone. It might prove to be the wake-up call that he needed. Only when he dropped the I-can-tackle-this-problem-on-my-own attitude, and got some serious help, would his condition ever improve.
Just the possibility made me feel good enough to eagerly jump up and begin my usual slap-dash job of washing dishes. I figured why slave over such things? They were only going to get dirty again, anyway.
Terri picked up one of the plates I’d just washed and gave it the once-over.
“Sparkling clean as usual,” he wryly noted, and began to scrub it himself. “Remind me to buy my own set of silverware and dishes so that at least one of us doesn’t come down with a mysterious ailment that’s traced back to eating off dirty dinnerware.”
I remembered Ma Aikens’s kitchen and had to agree that Terri probably had a point.
“Now I’m going upstairs to make myself absolutely gorgeous.”
Terri already looked good enough to make me feel like who-dragged-that-inside roadkill.
“Why? Are you going out with friends tonight?” I asked, feeling slightly envious.
“As a matter of fact, I’ve decided to get a part-time job at one of the trendy transvestite clubs downtown. I can use a little extra spending money, what with that damn lawsuit pending. Besides, getting out will help spruce up my social life.”
That was enough to set off a series of alarm bells in my head. I hadn’t realized Terri planned on staying in San Francisco for quite so long. Not only that, but he already had a circle of friends in the area. Unless there was something going on with Vincent that he hadn’t told me about.
Terri quickly picked up on my line of thought.
“Vincent and I had a little tiff on the phone last night. Let him see what life is like without me for a while.” He sniffed. “You know how men can be, constantly taking you for granted. Well, I’ve decided it’s time to rock his boat a bit.”
I couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded. Terri had never let on that something might be wrong. Was I so wrapped up with my own problems that I could no longer tell when my best friend was going through a crisis? Talk about feeling remorse. If I were Catholic, I’d have won hands-down as the patron saint of guilt.
“Just don’t go getting any ideas about teaching me a lesson, chère,” Santou teased. “My boat’s already been rocked quite enough. I’d hate to have to go through another plane crash and crawl back out in order to prove how much I love you.”
“Very funny,” I retorted, still not used to Jake’s newly morbid sense of humor.
“Listen, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t the two of you join me? You could probably both use an evening on the town,” Terri suggested.
“Count me out. All I want to do is watch TV and get a good night’s sleep. But why don’t you go with him, chère? It would be good for you to blow off some steam. Don’t worry. I’ll be perfectly fine by myself.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, ready to kill myself if I spent one more night planted in front of the Sports Channel.
“Absolutely.” Jake chuckled. “Anything that’ll keep us from duking it out over the remote control.”
Ah, domestic
“Fair enough. In the meantime, I thought I’d take a ride up to Mendocino tomorrow. Anyone interested in coming along?”
“Hell, that’s a three-hour drive each way, chère. You know my back will never make it.”
I was tempted to snipe that if he went to a physical therapist and cut out the pills and booze, it would help speed up his recovery. However, I kept my mouth shut, having been through that argument only last night.
“I’ll go with you, Rach,” Terri offered. “I might as well see what the northern coastline looks like.”
“Terrific,” I said.
That would give me quality time with Terri, while Jake found out how much fun it was to spend an entire day alone. It might prove to be the wake-up call that he needed. Only when he dropped the I-can-tackle-this-problem-on-my-own attitude, and got some serious help, would his condition ever improve.
Just the possibility made me feel good enough to eagerly jump up and begin my usual slap-dash job of washing dishes. I figured why slave over such things? They were only going to get dirty again, anyway.
Terri picked up one of the plates I’d just washed and gave it the once-over.
“Sparkling clean as usual,” he wryly noted, and began to scrub it himself. “Remind me to buy my own set of silverware and dishes so that at least one of us doesn’t come down with a mysterious ailment that’s traced back to eating off dirty dinnerware.”
I remembered Ma Aikens’s kitchen and had to agree that Terri probably had a point.
“Now I’m going upstairs to make myself absolutely gorgeous.”
Terri already looked good enough to make me feel like who-dragged-that-inside roadkill.
“Why? Are you going out with friends tonight?” I asked, feeling slightly envious.
“As a matter of fact, I’ve decided to get a part-time job at one of the trendy transvestite clubs downtown. I can use a little extra spending money, what with that damn lawsuit pending. Besides, getting out will help spruce up my social life.”
That was enough to set off a series of alarm bells in my head. I hadn’t realized Terri planned on staying in San Francisco for quite so long. Not only that, but he already had a circle of friends in the area. Unless there was something going on with Vincent that he hadn’t told me about.
Terri quickly picked up on my line of thought.
“Vincent and I had a little tiff on the phone last night. Let him see what life is like without me for a while.” He sniffed. “You know how men can be, constantly taking you for granted. Well, I’ve decided it’s time to rock his boat a bit.”
I couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded. Terri had never let on that something might be wrong. Was I so wrapped up with my own problems that I could no longer tell when my best friend was going through a crisis? Talk about feeling remorse. If I were Catholic, I’d have won hands-down as the patron saint of guilt.
“Just don’t go getting any ideas about teaching me a lesson, chère,” Santou teased. “My boat’s already been rocked quite enough. I’d hate to have to go through another plane crash and crawl back out in order to prove how much I love you.”
“Very funny,” I retorted, still not used to Jake’s newly morbid sense of humor.
“Listen, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t the two of you join me? You could probably both use an evening on the town,” Terri suggested.
“Count me out. All I want to do is watch TV and get a good night’s sleep. But why don’t you go with him, chère? It would be good for you to blow off some steam. Don’t worry. I’ll be perfectly fine by myself.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, ready to kill myself if I spent one more night planted in front of the Sports Channel.
“Absolutely.” Jake chuckled. “Anything that’ll keep us from duking it out over the remote control.”
Ah, domestic
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