Courtney grinned. “Are you kidding? I loved it!”
“Really?” Julia laughed with relief.
“Totally! For once, I wasn’t the Angry Black Woman. You were the Angry White Woman!”
Julia smiled. “I couldn’t help it. What a jerk!”
“Right?”
“You think it’s racial? Is that why?”
Courtney snorted. “Duh, and we’re women.”
“Strong women.”
“Hotwomen.”
They both laughed again. Julia exhaled, feeling looser. “God, I would kill for a decent cup of coffee right now.”
“Here? Good luck. There’s no DD, and the only restaurant around is May’s, in Ashland.”
“Too bad.” Julia could see that the street was practically desolate. Dingy attached rowhomes lined the block, some boarded up. There were almost no parked cars, and the sidewalk was broken in places. Nobody was on the street, and two storefronts were boarded up and graffitied over. “It really is a ghost town, isn’t it?” The breeze carried a whiff of a bad odor. “Do you smell that?”
“Yes, we’re downwind from the mine fire. There’s an open vent not far from here.”
“A vent? From the earth?”
“Yes. You just breathed toxic gas, but no worries.” Courtney sighed. “I remember when this town was hoppin’. I used to get Snickers at the Qwik-Mart, and Grandma Kay got my hair cut at Jay’s, there.” She pointed to the boarded storefronts, shaking her head. “Only Jacie’s is left, the drugstore. We can get ice cream there. Old-school, not bougie.”
“I can deal with that.”
“Great minds.”
Jacie’s drugstore turned out to be narrow and empty, with flickering overhead lights and a jaundiced linoleum floor. There were four aisles of white metal shelves half-full of dusty products, with old signs likeFEMININE ITEMS. In the back were refrigerated cases of beverages and a case of ice cream novelties.
Julia looked through the frosty glass at Strawberry Shortcake bars, Bomb Pops, Fudgsicles, and Nutty Buddy cones. “Are we in finals again?”
“Yes, and you’re my Nutty Buddy.” Courtney glanced over with a smile, her pretty face illuminated by the lights from the case, and Julia’s heart lifted to see her happy, even briefly.
Later, they sat on a bench in front of the drugstore. “Okay, this is delicious,” Julia said, eating her ice cream sandwich. “All we have in Italy is gelato.”
“Poor you.”
“Seriously, this is better.” Julia wasn’t kidding. She licked the side of the sandwich.
“You can’t beat Strawberry Shortcake.” Courtney raised her bar, embedded with pink and gold bits.
“What’s the stuff on it, anyway?”
“Straight-up carcinogens?” Courtney winked. Her phone rang, and she checked the screen, brightening. “Good, it’s Paul, probably at the airport.”
“Put him on speaker so I can say hi.”
Courtney pressed the button. “Hey, honey, how are you?”
“Bad,” Paul answered, sounding miserable. “I missed the flight.”
Courtney grimaced. “How?”
