Chapter Seven
Seven
I had been successfully dodging Crystal and Geneva for two weeks by the time I strolled into Aubette and heard Geneva scream out, “Chevy, where the hell you been hiding!”
I spun around and my eyes fell on Geneva and then Crystal, who was giving me one of her infamous judgmental looks. I took a deep breath and started toward them.
It was almost eight thirty, and Crystal’s platinum American Express card was already resting on top of the bill the waiter had left there.
If I had shown up ten minutes later we would have missed each other.
If I had had the good sense to remove my shades before walking into that damn dark-ass place I would have seen them before they saw me. Damn!
“I been around,” I said as I pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Been around where?” Geneva asked as she tugged at the blouse that was too small for her back when she was a hundred and eighty pounds, and now she was a long way from that weight.
“You still doing Calorie Counters?” I asked, allowing my eyes to roll over her.
“Don’t change the subject,” Crystal said. She was always coming to Geneva’s defense. “Your home number is disconnected.” And then she leaned in and took a real good look at me and asked, “Do you have a tan?”
“Yes and yes again!” I said with an air of boredom.
“I’ve been calling your job for two days, Chevy, and all I get is your voice mail. Tomorrow I was going to call the main number. So where you been?”
“What is this, the third fucking degree?”
“We were just worried about you,” Geneva said.
I had to soften. “I know, I know. I-I went down to St. Barts for a few days.”
Crystal eyed me suspiciously. “St. Barts? You have money for a vacation but not to pay me back?”
“Calm down. It was on the company. A fam trip. You know those trips are free for travel agents.”
“Uh-huh.”
“But you were supposed to be taking care of Noah’s fish while he’s in London,” Geneva said.
“Oh, it was just two days. Damn, those fish looked like they could use a few days without some food.”
“Well, I hope you’ve been by to feed them since you got back,” Geneva said.
Of course I’d fed them. I looked at the little buggers every day. I was living there now, for chrissakes. Of course, Geneva and Crystal didn’t know that.
“Yes, yes, they’re fine.”
“Oh, okay, ’cause you know Noah would kill you if he came home and found those fish dead,” Geneva added.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said as I surveyed the tall, dark, and handsome possibilities.
“So do you have anything you’d like to share with me?” Crystal asked coolly as she leaned back in her chair.
Geneva’s eyes bounced between us, and then she looked down into her empty glass.
“No, no.” I feigned stupidity even though I could feel her eyes boring into my boobs.
“Nothing at all. Nothing?” she pressed, and her eyebrows climbed higher on her forehead.
Now I was wishing that I’d worn something other than this short white dress with the plunging neckline.
“Well, I know that Geneva has already told you all about my little surgery,” I spat. “She can’t hold water,” I added, before I thrust my new size-Cs at her.
Crystal just shook her head at me and drained the rest of her apple martini.
“You know, it’s a real shame that you’re not happy with yourself,” she said as she plucked the wedge of green apple from the glass’s depths, “and an even bigger shame Geneva and I have to stake out your favorite Tuesday night haunt just to find you.”
She popped the apple wedge into her mouth and chewed on it thoughtfully for a moment. “You lied to me about what you needed the money for.”
“I didn’t lie. I told you I was having surgery. And furthermore, I wasn’t avoiding you. I’ve been busy and I’ve been away.”
Geneva and Crystal just looked at me.
“Okay, so since you’re not avoiding me, I guess we could traipse on over to the Citibank and get some money out of the ATM.”
I looked at her like she’d lost her mind. She knew I didn’t have no damn bank account!
“Look, Crystal, I said I was going to pay you back and I am. Just give me some time,” I said, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
Crystal just eyed me.
“So when did you get back, Chevy?” Geneva asked, trying to break the tension she knew was building between us.
“Late last night, girl. Chile, St. Barts is outta this world. You hear me!”
“Oh, really? St. Barts, or the men?” Geneva asked slyly.
“Oh, them too. And they are rich! Rich! Rich!” I almost screamed.
“Of course they are,” Crystal said with a little revulsion. I just ignored her.
“Guanahani is amazing. Little pastel-colored cottages overlooking the ocean. Simply divine.”
Geneva looked at Crystal again. Crystal’s face was as hard as stone.
“So, um, did you meet anyone?” Geneva asked.
“Of course, girl, this Parisian man. About fifty. He was there on business. I told him I was a wealthy widow traveling the world!”
“So we did the wealthy widow act again?” Crystal chimed as the waiter came and collected the bill.
“I haven’t used that one in a while, girl.” I laughed and caught the waiter by the elbow. “Let me have an apple martini,” I told him.
“Oh yes, you have,” Geneva reminded me.
“Really?” I had to search my mind. I’d told so many lies that it was becoming harder to keep up with them. “Was it at the Connaught?”
“I don’t know, one of those cities,” Geneva said.
Poor thing had never been anywhere out of New York.
“The Connaught is a hotel, not a city. London is the city,” I said and rolled my eyes. “Look at a fucking atlas sometimes, would ya?”
“Don’t let me come across this table and smack those gray contacts out of your head,” Geneva threatened.
I sucked my teeth and looked around for the waiter and my drink.
“Chevy, why do you always have to be so damn degrading?” Crystal leaned in and hissed at me.
I just shrugged my shoulders.
I didn’t think I was degrading Geneva. I was just telling her what she needed to do so she wouldn’t sound so damn ignorant.
The waiter set my drink down on the table before me and then asked, “Should I add this to the bill?”
“Yes, please,” I said and waved him away before Crystal could object.
“You know, girl, you got balls the size of grapefruits,” she said with a sneer.
“Oh, it’s just one little drink, damn. Just add it to the five Gs I owe you.”
Geneva laughed under her breath.
I sipped my drink and smacked my lips together before I spoke again.
“You know, Crystal, you and I need to take one of those luxury trips together.”
“Yeah, I haven’t been on vacation in ages. I think the last real vacation I took was two years ago to Bermuda.”
“It’s not like you can’t afford it or can’t get the time off.”
“I’m just really busy,” she said and signed the credit card receipt the waiter had set down before her.
“Yeah, busy waiting on that boy to take you away or even take you out.”
“?’Scuse me, he is a man and not a boy, and I do not have to wait on him. If I want to do something and he’s not available, I just do it. I’m an independent woman,” Crystal snapped.
“Yeah, whatever.” I was uninterested in going down Crystal’s yellow-brick fantasy road, but I knew she was going to drag me along whether I wanted to go or not.
“Am I at home now?” Crystal barked defensively as she spread her arms out around her. “I’m here, ain’t I? And I think being here and not home constitutes out, doesn’t it?” she said and looked at Geneva for confirmation. And, of course, Geneva agreed.
“Yeah, but that’s only because y’all came out looking for me,” I said, waving at the waiter. “Another one, please,” I said as I handed him my empty glass.
“I’m not paying for that one, Chevy,” Crystal huffed as she gathered herself to leave.
“Didn’t ask you to.”
“Whatever, Chevy.”
Crystal tucked the credit card back inside her wallet. Tossing the wallet down into her handbag, she looked over at Geneva and said, “You ready, girl?”
Geneva yawned. “Bye, Chevy,” she said as she and Crystal stood.
“Yeah, bye.”
“Look, Chevy, you make sure to call me tomorrow so that we can discuss those,” she said, pointing at my new Cs.
I just nodded my head and turned my attention to the crowd.
Crystal threw a ten-dollar tip down onto the table, and then she and Geneva started toward the door.
Grateful they were finally gone, I was able to really relax. I leaned back in the chair so I could enjoy the first drove of nine-o’clock honeys walking through the door.
My, my, was that platinum I was seeing on that brother’s wrist?
I crossed my tight long legs, plastered my face with my million-dollar smile, discreetly plucked the ten-dollar bill off the table, and stuffed it down between my new Cs.
It was going to be a good night!