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Katie slid onto the open bar stool beside him. “Hey, sailor. Buy a lady a drink?”
He swiveled her way. The smile he gave her was huge and loose and very far from lucid. “Well if it isn’t the prettiest girl in the world.”
Ginny shot her a look laced with disbelief and arsenic. “What are you doing here?”
“Wanted to talk to Judah. How about you?”
“I thought he needed a friend.”
Judah rubbed Ginny’s shoulder in a brotherly way. “I did, honey, thanks. But do you think I could talk to Katie alone for a while?”
Ginny looked from Katie to Judah, then back again. “Sure.” She hopped down from her perch and slung her purse over her shoulder. “Listen, are you …” She ducked her head, then raised her eyes and looked at Judah with naked longing. “Is she …”
“No.” He chucked his fingers under her chin. “It’s like I told you. No girls. Katie and I are just friends.”
She managed a small smile. “All right. I’ll see you around, I guess.”
“You will. Thanks for listening.”
“Any time.”
Katie waited for Ginny to clear the door before she asked, “What was that all about?”
“I apologized. You should be proud. I’m getting good at it.”
“Are you, now?”
“I am. First I apologized to you at the hotel. That one was a little ugly, but I was still getting warmed up. Then I found Paul and apologized to him for being such a hopeless bastard, and also for what I was about to do.”
“Which was?”
“Duck security, sneak back to Iowa, and have a reckoning. Though I didn’t tell Paul that.”
“And you brought Ginny along for your reckoning?”
“No, she kind of followed me. But that’s okay, we needed a reckoning, too. I told her I’m gay, she cried a little, and then we moved on to a discussion of my many faults and how she wants a raise. I think it’s going to be fine.”
Katie tried to absorb that while Judah caught the bartender’s eye and ordered himself another rum and Coke. “What can I get you?” he asked. “I’m buying.”
“Just water, thanks.”
“Make it two rum and Cokes,” he told the woman. “And a water.”
“So I guess Paul and Ginny didn’t confess to sending you threatening messages?”
“No, I’m thinking Ben,” he said. “You?”
“Yeah, me, too.”
“I’m having breakfast at his place.”
“You really think that’s wise?”
“No. And you’re going to realize just how unwise in about twenty minutes, when I get drunk enough to tell you the whole story.”
“I’m not getting drunk with you.”
“Indulge me. I’m doing the Memory Lane thing tonight, and this was my drink of choice when I was too young to know better.”
