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“WithoutThe Blue Orchid, I have nothing to keep me there.”
“What about all your other clubs? And your apartment, and your helicopter?”
I expelled a breath of air, and stepped closer to her, sitting down. “I suppose,” I said, “they’re not as important to me anymore.”
“Well, money and material things should never be important to you,” said Lola.
“If not them, what is?” I said.
“People,” she replied.
“Well,” I said, reaching towards the champagne bucket and removing the bottle. “Let’s drink to people.”
***
There weren’t many places to eat in town, and I was worried someone at the yachting club might recognize me. So after we’d come back, we walked into town, and stopped at a humble, ordinary, everyday diner.
“Coffee?” said a waitress, walking by our table.
“Yes please,” I said.
“Sure,” said Lola.
She filled our cups and walked away, eyeing us curiously. We looked a funny pair, Lola dressed up in my shirt, which was enormous on her, and a cute pair of jeans. We both wore a pair of sunglasses, just to make sure no one was going to recognize us.
“I haven’t been to one of these in about fifteen years,” I said.
“Don’t worry,” she said, winking. “They’re still just the same.”
“Do you like them?” I said. “There was one in Philly I used to go to with my mom now and then. I used to have corned beef sandwiches and a milkshake, every time.”
“Was it nice?”
“No!”
Lola laughed. “Getting taken to the diner was a big treat back home.”
“Where do you take Macy when you’re not at work?” I said.
I saw Lola shift a little uncomfortably in her seat. “Why do you want to know?” she said, a little defensively.
“I’m just interested in what you do with a kid,” I said. “Been a while since I was one myself.”
“Well, Macy’s good at school, and I like to take her to museums and read to her a lot,” said Lola. “And if she’s been real good, I’ll take her out for burgers and ice-cream every once in a while.”
“She got many friends?” I said.
“Oh, sure. You know she and Sara’s kid Raul are best friends?”
“That’s nice.”
We chatted away like that for a little while. Out here, without the pressures of my work, the pressures of the case against me, I felt able to relax, and suddenly all the empty spaces in my mind wanted to be filled with Lola. Out here, we could have the closeness I’d longed for.
We were casually chatting away when all of a sudden, I looked up and saw an old guy at the other end of the diner. He was in a booth on his own. I guess he was only a little shorter than me, but he seemed small, lean and wiry. He had rough skin and a pair of blue eyes. Where had I seen those blue eyes before, brilliant and intense? And where had I seen his scraggly beard and gray hair?
“Strange,” I muttered.
“Hm?” said Lola.
