“Well, well, well,” Persephone purrs as she approaches the table, giving Riggs a very obvious once-over. She’s dressed like a gypsy with a long, flowing dress in rich purples and burgundy, belted at her tiny waist with a silver chain. She has on a black knit shawl with bells on the tassels that produce a chiming tinkle when she walks, large, silver hoop earrings, a scarf tied around her thinning hair, and to show she is still a modern woman, a nose piercing with a tiny diamond.
I take a moment of great pleasure to see Riggs’s shell shocked before he schools his expression into one of polite greeting.
“Now, you are a cool drink of water,” Persephone says as she stops across the table from him.
“I don’t know about that,” he drawls lazily, offering his hand. “I’m Riggs.”
Rather than shake, she snatches him by the wrist and flips his hand palm up. She runs a brightly painted red nail along one of the creases, murmuring, “Your virility line runs very long and deep.”
A mixture of a groan of embarrassment and a snicker of amusement warbles out of my throat. Riggs cuts his eyes to me, and I shrug helplessly.
Persephone traces another line. “You have much pain as well.”
Okay, that’s getting a little personal. Not that talk about his virility isn’t personal, but I happen to know that Janelle and Riggs don’t come from a great background, so I stop this in its tracks.
“Enough with the palm reading.” I reach out and tug Riggs’s hand out of Persephone’s grasp. “Did you get something to eat?” I ask my aunt, changing the subject.
She flashes me a mischievous grin, knowing damn well if she wants to poke the bear sitting next to me, I won’t be able to stop her. But she decides to be good and leave Riggs alone. With a wave of her hand back toward the patio, she says, “I’m waiting for Steve to arrive. He should be here any time now.”
“Steve?” Riggs asks. “Your husband?”
Persephone looks down her nose haughtily and with slight offense. “As if I would ever stoop so low as to get married. No, Steve is my lover. He’s only fifty-three years old.”
Unfortunately, Riggs had just taken a bite of my chicken burrito casserole and now chokes on it. I clap him on the back and after a couple swigs of beer, he has himself under control.
Persephone smiles triumphantly, knowing she rattled him.
“Well, darlings, I must be going. More people to discombobulate.”
I laugh in delight. “Love you, Aunt Persephone.”
She winks at me. “I love you too.” She then looks at Riggs. “You, I shall reserve judgment on.”
Riggs watches her walk away and when she’s out of earshot, he says, “I hope you don’t take offense, but she is without a doubt the weirdest yet most fascinating person I’ve ever met.”
“That doesn’t offend me, and she would take that as a compliment. Feel free to tell her before you leave.”
“Maybe I will,” he says, and returns to his food.
After Riggs eats, we make our way over to the cornhole game, and he joins the action, playing on a team opposing Janelle’s. She’s as competitive as he is, and there’s much trash-talking going on. For the first time since I’ve seen them together, they seem completely at ease. It’s a joy to watch.
I mingle, talking to family members and catching up on what’s been going on in their lives. Every once in a while, I’ll run into Janelle or Riggs. I’ve noticed he’s engaged in several discussions with various members of the Woodley clan, sometimes garnering three, four, five people around him in conversation. I even play a game of cornhole against Riggs, and I wonder if he checks me out the way I check him out when he’s bent slightly at the waist, ready to make his toss.
While things have fizzled between us—since we seem to be past sniping at each other—it doesn’t mean I’m not still attracted to him. The only thing I have to go on to know if he’s still attracted to me is that I’ve caught him staring intently a few times. And he doesn’t even have the grace to look away when I catch him. He continues talking to whoever he’s with, eyes pinned on me for an eternity before he slowly moves them away.
Riggs and Janelle are among the first of the partygoers to leave. In all, Riggs probably stayed for an hour and a half, which is an hour and fifteen minutes longer than I thought he would. Hell, I’m surprised he showed up at all.
He makes proper goodbyes while Janelle does some last-minute hanging out with her new friends. Riggs first hits up Grandma Katie, thanking her profusely for the invitation, and she tells him he’s welcome back anytime.
Riggs says goodbye to my parents and a handful of others, but he steers clear of Persephone.