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“Sadie, honey, I’ve got your number. You don’t have any interest in having lunch with me. You’re here to get information about your father.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I tell her. “I’m here to get information about my brother.”
She laughs. “I don’t know anything about him.”
“I didn’t say I was here to get information fromyou, Rainey. That’s an interesting name, by the way.”
“It’s short for Lorraine. Lorraine Lucille Thompson. I’m not even kidding. Did you ever hear such an awful name?”
I chuckle. “I think it’s kind of pretty. It’s better than Sadie.”
“You don’t like your name, either?”
I slow for a stop sign and put my blinker on to turn right. “I’ve never liked it. I always wanted one of those pretty names like Ashley or Brittany or Jordan.”
“Isn’t your dad’s mother named Sadie?”
It’s surprising my father shared that piece of info with her.
“Yeah. The original Sadie Hopkins. But I hate the name, because people used to make fun of me in school. They called me Sadie Hawkins. Said no guys would ever ask me out. You know, because the Sadie Hawkins dance is when the girls ask the boys out?”
“Stupid kids.” Rainey fiddles with her purse.
“Yeah, stupid kids. But I got through it.” A couple of restaurants come into view on the left side. “Are these the places you were talking about?”
“Yeah, pull onto the side road there, and you can take a look. I think there’s a Mexican place, a Japanese bowl place, and a sandwich shop. What do you feel like?”
“It’s your birthday lunch. What wouldyoulike?”
“I’d really like a nice fat steak, but none of these places are going to have that.”
“How about a roast beef sandwich?” I gesture to the sandwich shop.
“That sounds fine.”
I pull into a parking spot on the street. Then I exit the car, and Rainey and I walk toward the sandwich shop called Nora’s Delights. I look around the area, because I’ve got the strange feeling that I’ve entered an alternate dimension. I’m about to have lunch with my father’s girlfriend, who I just met yesterday, and who I have nothing in common with. Still, this could help my investigation somehow. Rainey doesn’t know anything about Joey, but maybe I can get some information about my father.
I may have recused myself and gone on bereavement leave, but I’m not letting this go.
We walk into the restaurant and a server waves at us. “Sit wherever you’d like, ladies.”
“Over there looks good.” I point to a table in the corner.
“Works for me.”
Rainey and I take a seat at the table. She grabs one of the menus from the holder and opens it.
“So how’s my father’s business going? The construction.”
“Same old, same old. He loses more bids than he gets these days because of his drinking.”
I’m surprised she admits that to me. “Oh? He was doing well when he and my mom got divorced. Of course that was twenty years ago.”
“Did Curt drink when you were a kid?” she asks.
The waitress stops by with glasses of water.
“Not that I remember.” I grab a glass and take a sip. “At least not to excess. But I was only eight when they split up so I’m sure there was stuff I didn’t notice.”
