She kept her head down when she continued, “I’m so sorry about the other night. I’m not an alcoholic, I swear. I just don’t get a lot of chances to relax, and Jacinda, Sayla, and Tabby came over, there were cocktails made by people who can’t measure out spirits, and it—”
“Evie,” I interrupted, making sure to keep my voice gentle. The poor woman looked miserable, and really there was no need. We all drank a bit too much at some point, it wasn’t the end of the world.
“You’re fine. It was amusing, and I’m glad you guys had a good night.” When she lifted her eyes to stare at my nose instead of looking me in the eye, I added, “You’re a good mom to Cody, honey, and you rarely get time just to be you. I hope you get to do it again soon.”
She blinked but still didn’t lift her eyes any higher. “You do?”
“Absolutely. I’ve been in your shoes, and it’s not easy, so any time you get to let your hair down, you should take it. Plus, you’ve got a neighbor who’ll make sure you’re okay, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
Something behind me got her attention, but this time when she looked back at me, it was in the eyes. Thank Christ!
“Thank you so much.”
“Evie, babe, you’re a lucky girl. He’s like your guardian angel. Looks after you when you’re drunk—check, helps out with your son—check, helps remove splinters from your fandola—che— Ow, what the hell was that for?” Rose snapped, and I turned to see that she was glaring at her sister-in-law, Tabby’s sister, Jose.
“Your elbows are like freaking knives. Was it necessary to try and pop a booby with one?”
Jose just rolled her eyes at Rose and then smiled sympathetically over at Evie. “Sorry, honey. She’s got a big mouth.”
Sure enough, Rose looked around the room, realizing belatedly that most of them didn’t know about Evie’s accident with the fence.
“Oops. Technically it wasn’t her fandola, and also technically, it was bigger than a splinter. More like a toothpick.” Sighing, she mimed zipping her lips and lifted a magazine up in front of her face. “Sleep deprivation. I have twin boys who take after their dad’s family.”
“Anyway,” Evie cleared her throat. “Thank you for everything.”
“And thank you for the nice buns.” When she looked up, I shocked both of us by winking at her. “I’ll see you around, neighbor.”
Her lips twitched, and she raised her hand about an inch off the desk in a semblance of a wave.
As I walked back through the salon to the door where Carter was facing out onto the street, his shoulders shaking with laughter, I felt lighter. Something about her just did that to me, but I’ll reiterate what I said about every encounter I had with the woman—what just happened was so weird and random that no one would be able to prepare themselves for it happening.
And then it got better.
As I passed Carter, Evie called out, “Oh, hey, Carter? Could you send our love to Naomi and tell her we’re doing the penis pasta taste test on Thursday if she’s still interested?”
What made it better was that just as she said the words “penis pasta taste test,” he tripped and smacked his head off the door frame.
So, yeah, I walked out of the salon with a much lighter step than I’d walked into it with. I even whistled as I popped my Ray-Bans on my nose and hit the button on my key fob to unlock the cruiser.
All the while, Carter followed behind me, grumbling about what’d just happened and what he’d just heard as he rubbed the bright red lump on his forehead.
She might bring weirdness and randomness into my life, but it was growing on me.
A lot.
Just then, the sound of a loud engine growling near where we were made both of us look up to see the S.W.A.T.’s BearCat driving toward us, with the team standing on the foot runner and with their hands on the railing at the top. They were focused on the road ahead of them, but the driver nodded as he passed us.
“You know, I always thought they sat inside the truck on their way to callouts.”
Opening the driver’s door of the cruiser, I stopped and watched as they went farther down the road. It was an impressive, if not bizarre, sight.
“There’s a few they’ll do that for, but they need to be able to make a quick run to the property or location where the situation is as soon as they get to it. If they have to wait for the door to open and for them to all file out, it costs valuable seconds where perps could either open fire, flush drugs, kill someone, or try to escape,” I explained.