Liam looked a little annoyed. He turned away for a moment, probably to calm himself, and then turned back, concentrating only on me. “So, how are you getting along living in my great-aunt’s rooming house?”
“It’s very comfortable,” I said, and sipped my drink.
“Aren’t there dozens and dozens of things in it that you’re not permitted to touch? When I was a little boy, she practically had me in a straitjacket whenever I was there.”
“Some items are off-limits, like her old rocking chair,” I said, smiling. “Mr. Brady thinks there’s a
ghost in the house, maybe the ghost of John Adams.”
“If there was such a thing as ghosts, I think they would find my great-aunt most accommodating,” Liam said. “Julia?”
“As kooky as she is sometimes,” Julia said, “you can’t help but love her. No matter how close she is with Mrs. McGruder and her tenants, she’s really a very lonely woman.”
“Great-aunt Amelia? Lonely? She’s surrounded by our forefathers,” Liam joked.
Julia only smiled and then turned to look at the dancers. I wondered if the alcohol was now making her more melancholy.
“Is Clifford working all night?” I asked her.
“He gets off about ten, but he won’t meet me here,” she reminded me.
“Maybe you should go out there on the dance floor and find someone you know who would,” Liam told her.
“I’m all right. I like Clifford. There are no surprises,” she added, a little sadly, I thought. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Boring,” Liam teased, and looked at me. “Back out there?”
I looked at Julia.
“Go for it,” she said, and turned around to cup her drink the way I had seen Liam first doing it. I hesitated, and she looked up at me. “I’m fine. Go on. I like to watch you dance.”
“Me, too,” Liam added, and tugged my hand.
This time, when we danced, we talked, too.
“You going out with my sister to play it safe or what?” he asked.
“To have a good time,” I replied. “I like her. She’s refreshing.”
“Why?”
“There’s nothing dishonest about her,” I replied.
“And you can tell that how?”
“I have powers,” I said.
We drew close.
“I knew that from the first time I set eyes on you.”
“Oh, how?”
“I have the power to recognize power,” he joked.
We both laughed and got into our dancing again, this time so intently that I forgot to look back at Julia. When I did, I saw that she was talking to a tall, dark-haired man whose complexion under the club’s lights looked like a luminous olive. There was something about him that made me uneasy. He was talking to her, but he looked our way periodically. I saw him sit at the booth and then talk Julia into another Volcano.
“Who’s that with your sister?” I asked Liam when we drew close.