AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thanks,” I replied, glad that I’d gotten a beaded white evening pouch to go with my dress, realizing I’d need to bring a few essentials to Josie’s shindig. “I really appreciate it.”
“Not a problem. See you two at the party!”
With that, Noreen headed out of the master bath and over to the front door. Calvin and I followed her, both of us probably figuring it would be rude not to see her out. After she stepped outside and waved, he closed the door behind her, then stood there, gazing at me for a moment.
“What?” I asked.
“You look amazing,” he said. “I can’t tell you how much I want to kiss you right now.”
“Why, Herman Munster!” I exclaimed in tones offauxshock, and he grinned.
“Don’t worry — I won’t,” he told me. “I don’t want to mess up your makeup.”
“Or yours,” I returned. “I hate to think what all this dark lipstick would do to your own makeup job.”
Calvin grimaced, and reached up as though he was going to touch his own mouth…and then thought better of it at the last minute. “Noreen would kill me.”
“Probably,” I said cheerfully. “But we can get some water and drink it carefully before we head out. That much should be safe. Besides, it’s probably a good idea to hydrate. Hazel made it sound as though Josie puts out quite a spread.”
“That’s what I’ve heard, too.”
I tilted my head up at him. “You’ve never gone to one of her parties?”
“No,” he replied. “She’s invited me year after year, but I always came up with an excuse not to go. My people try to avoid socializing with the Globe community, and I thought it better to stay away.”
Once again I thought of how much Calvin had done to swim against the tide just by being with me. He was sacrificing a heck of a lot more than I was, and I reminded myself that I needed to be patient.
“Well,” I said softly, “I’m glad you’re going with me tonight. It means a lot.”
He reached over and stroked my hand. Gently, because Noreen had put that greenish makeup on every exposed surface, and I could tell he didn’t want to smear any on me or my dress. Still, that soft touch told me a lot. He was doing this for me because he loved me.
How could I ask for anything more than that?
3
All in the Cards
Josie’s housewas a big Craftsman place up on Mesquite Street, not that far from the Victorian home where Miriam Jacobsen, former head of Globe’s Chamber of Commerce until she was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder, used to live. Miriam’s current place of residence was the Gila County Jail, where she was awaiting trial. That happy event was supposed to take place sometime in December, which seemed quick to me but probably felt interminable to Ms. Jacobsen. The judge had deemed her a flight risk because of her wealth and the opportunities to leave the country that it presented, and so she remained locked up for now.
Anyway, I’d been to Josie’s place a couple of times before this — she’d invited Calvin and me over for lunch once back in September, and she’d asked Hazel and me over not too long after that to help her pick out the new color for her dining room — a lovely sage green. For her Halloween party, however, the house had been utterly transformed. Orange icicle lights hung from the porch eaves, and intricately carved pumpkins marched their way up the front steps. A witch in a pointy hat and striped stockings appeared to have crashed into the large sycamore tree in the front yard, and one side of the lawn had been converted to a graveyard, complete with swirls of dry ice mist drifting around to provide more atmosphere.
Voices and laughter floated out the open front door, and when Calvin and I entered the living room, we saw it was packed with mobs of people in a variety of costumes — devils and ghosts, vampires and nuns, cowboys and a few individuals in what looked like Ren Faire garb.
Despite the costumes, I recognized almost everyone — Josie’s nephew Brett in a train conductor’s uniform, his wife standing next to him in a pink fairy costume. Off to one side were my friend Hazel and her boyfriend Chuck, the two of them wearing — respectively — a saloon girl outfit and a getup right out ofTombstone…or maybeWestworld…with a wide black hat and a long black frock coat. The Wild West ensemble suited Chuck perfectly, thanks to his all-American good looks of sandy blond hair and piercing blue eyes, while Hazel was definitely sultrier than I’d ever seen her, with her mid-brown hair pulled up into a showy pompadour and her greenish eyes highlighted by some seriously smoky shadow.
I even spied Henry Lewis’s wife Joyce over by the refreshment table, her best friend Lynda Holt at her side. The two of them had dressed up as Patsy and Edina fromAbsolutely Fabulous,and since Lynda was tall and blonde, she made a perfect Patsy with her severe French twist hairdo and Chanel-style tweed suit, while the shorter, plumper Joyce was doing a credible impression of Edina, her curly brown hair swathed in a wild scarf, and with a too-tight pink track suit and high-heeled boots completing the ensemble.
The one person I didn’t see was Chief Lewis, but that didn’t surprise me too much. I guessed that he’d made sure he was on duty this Saturday night so he could avoid being pressured into wearing a costume. Unlike Calvin, Henry Lewis didn’t strike me as the sort of person who would be a good sport about that sort of thing.
As soon as they caught sight of us, Hazel and Chuck came over to greet Calvin and me.
“You lookamazing!” Hazel exclaimed. She had a clear plastic wine glass in one hand — no red Solo cups at Josie Woodrow’s soirées, apparently — and, judging by the way she wobbled a bit in her high-heeled lace-up boots, that wasn’t Hazel’s first glass of chardonnay.
“Very cool,” Chuck agreed as he reached out so he and Calvin could exchange a quick hand shake. “But I think I got the better deal in the whole costume department. I don’t think I could’ve put up with all that makeup on my head.”
Calvin gave a resigned shrug, a lift of the shoulders that was even more impressive because of his heavily padded suit jacket. “I have to admit, it does itch.”
“Poor baby,” I said, and rubbed his arm. “I’ll be sure to make it up to you later.”
