16. For Christ’s Sake
16
For Christ’s Sake
The Tell-Tale Tart
Combine equal parts fresh orange juice, grapefruit juice, and lime juice in a pitcher. Add a splash of agave nectar. Pour over ice, then top with club soda. Garnish with a cherry.
DANNY
“ D anny Carbone, is that you?” a white-haired lady asked as I set the pitcher of margaritas on their table. She’d just joined her friends who, I noticed, wore matching navy skirts and white blouses with a medallion pinned to the pocket.
“Sister Frances!” I said. She stood, and I hugged her.
“How long has it been?” She stepped back and scanned me from head to toe, lingering on my shoulder-length hair.
I pulled it back into a ponytail and secured it with the elastic on my wrist. “I graduated twelve years ago, so that long I guess.”
“It doesn’t seem possible,” she said. “Just the other day, you were the studious boy in my algebra class.”
She introduced me around the table to the sisters. They were all younger than Sister Frances. She stepped closer to me, and the women restarted their conversation. More quietly, she said, “I don’t suppose you ever made it to college?”
“Nah.” I ducked my head. “There wasn’t enough money for all five of us to go. Leo and I got jobs, but the younger ones all went. Giuliana is a physical therapist, Tony works at an insurance agency, and Elena is a computer programmer.” I straightened my shoulders.
“And what about your cousin Nico?” she asked. “I always worried about him, especially when…”
“He got his GED in prison. And now he works here.” Barb had let me hire him when no one else would, even after he’d done his time for stealing those cars.
“You should be very proud.” She patted my shoulder. “Of yourself too. Do you manage the bar?”
“More or less. And I’m…” I couldn’t keep it inside. I still wanted to impress my favorite teacher. “I’m buying it later this year.”
“Really? Then my sisters and I will only have our weekly tipple here from now on.” She grinned.
“Tuesday is ladies’ night,” I teased.
“You think men cruising for ladies could handle all this?” Laughing, she gestured at her friends.
“They wouldn’t have a chance, Sister Frances. Can I get you anything…” But a flash of dark, unruly curls had caught my eye.
Lucie paused on the other side of the glass door and waved tentatively. We hadn’t seen much of each other in the last couple of weeks since she and her friends had come to Leo’s pop-up restaurant, but at least she hadn’t seemed to be actively avoiding me. Even though I’d said I genuinely liked her like I was still that fifteen-year-old boy in Sister Frances’s class.
But it gave me an idea. When I beckoned her in, she pulled open the door and strode into the bar. She still looked tired, but her cheeks looked a little fuller and had some color in them.
“Sister Frances, this is Lucie Knox. Lucie is a reporter for the city paper, and she’s writing a book. Lucie, Sister Frances taught me math in high school.”
The women shook hands, though Lucie looked slightly horrified to be meeting a religious sister. She looked at her hand like it might be singed.
“Lucie’s book is about women’s legacies,” I said. “She’s looking for women to interview. Sister Frances, don’t you spend your summers volunteering with an organization that builds schools and clinics all over the world?”
“These days, I spend more time teaching and serving in those schools and clinics than building them, but yes.”
Lucie’s eyes were bright. “Could I interview you, Sister Frances? Not tonight, but sometime? I’d love to hear your story.”
“I’m always happy to talk about the mission,” Sister Frances said.
I grinned, imagining the battle between these two strong women. Sister Frances would want to talk about the aid group and what they did, but Lucie would tease out the personal details. She’d get Sister Frances to admit she had a legacy.
As they exchanged contact information, I headed to the bar. Lucie grabbed my arm and pulled me around the side to the narrow hallway that led to the restrooms.
She stopped and looked up at me. “Thanks, Danny. That was really thoughtful of you. Sister Frances is exactly the type of person I’m looking to interview.”
“Of…of course.” I was standing way too close to her. The light from the exit sign glittered red in her hair, and her dark brown eyes seemed to glow, drawing me in. I could smell the coconut in her curls and under that, the musk of her skin. My gaze dropped to her chest, where her black shirt stretched and parted, revealing the deep valley between her breasts. Had her boobs gotten bigger? I wanted to bury my face in them.
Whoa.
I stepped back and dragged my eyes back to her face.
She smirked. “See you around, Danny.”
As she slipped past me, her boob grazed my arm. I stilled for a minute until I could walk. Then I went straight to the walk-in cooler in the kitchen and stood there shivering until I got my erection under control. There were nuns in the building, for Christ’s sake.
And although my dick was completely on board with Lucie’s neighbors-with-benefits plan, my brain knew it was a bad idea. I’d already fallen too far to survive that.