Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Magnolia
Thursday nights were poker night for the Dragonfly Diamonds.
Some people might not understand my deep affection for these ladies who were all in their sixties and seventies, but they were truly golden, no pun intended.
The night Felix had kicked me out, I’d spent it in my car, parked on a side street in town under the shadows of a grand, old, gnarled tree that seemed like a refuge through my tear-swollen eyes. That tree happened to be in Dotty’s yard, though I didn’t know it then.
Not only had she offered me the studio apartment above her store, but she’d given me a job when I had no work experience and only a burning anger and desire to prove to Felix I’d be fine without a penny from him.
She’d lent me a sympathetic ear and insisted I tag along with her to poker night to get out of my head for a few hours.
I hadn’t known what to expect from the weekly gathering of these much-older-than-me women, but what I’d found was kindness, humanity, empathy, and encouragement.
They’d applauded me for standing up to both my former fiancé and my father.
I shouldn’t have been surprised when I walked into Dotty’s home this Thursday evening to discover all six Diamonds waiting for me with expectant grins on their weathered but beautiful faces.
“What’s going on?” I asked slowly as I looked from face to eager face.
Loretta stood and hugged me. “We’re having a quiet little celebration this evening.”
“What are we celebrating?” I asked as Dotty took the bottle of gin from me. Normally I brought wine, but she’d suggested gin instead tonight because she had something special in the works.
“Karma,” Nancy Solon sang out.
Rosy McNamara broke out into the Taylor Swift song, making me laugh.
“Whose karma are we celebrating?” I sat on the sofa between Kona and Darlene, who reached over and gave me a side hug.
“You have to ask?” Loretta asked. “As I understand it, one Felix James recently got what was coming to him.”
I fell back into the cushion and laughed. “I love you, ladies. I should have known you’d be all over that.”
“We’ve got your back, dear,” Kona said.
“We always have,” Dotty called out from the kitchen that was partially open to the living room.
“You ladies are the best,” I said, feeling light and joyful.
“Normally we wouldn’t like to celebrate someone’s misfortune,” Darlene assured me.
“But he’s an evil man, and he deserves everything bad that comes his way,” Loretta said.
“You won’t hear any arguments from me.” I leaned to the coffee table and helped myself to tortilla chips and salsa. “Is this your homemade salsa, Nancy?”
“You guessed it. I brought the mild for some of our weak-ass friends.” She eyed Rosy, then laughed with the rest of us.
“Just because I have a weak stomach does not mean I am a weak ass,” Rosy declared.
“I would say raising six boys mostly by yourself makes you anything but weak, Rosy,” Loretta said. She stood and went to the kitchen, then came back with two glasses of a beautiful bright blue drink.
“What is this gorgeous cocktail?” I asked as she handed one of them to me.
“Tonight’s special is the Karma Fizz,” Loretta explained. “But wait for the rest of us so we can do a toast.”
I took the drink and sniffed it. It smelled sweet and of lime, orange, and gin.
“They look spectacular,” Kona said as Dotty delivered two more.
“Not as spectacular as it would’ve been to be a fly on the wall when Mr. James got his walking papers,” Darlene said.
“Can you imagine?” Loretta laughed as she brought out the last three cocktails. “What I wouldn’t do to see video of that.”
Still standing, Dotty raised her glass. “To karma coming around.”
“Hear, hear!”
“Cheers!”
We clinked and sipped. The cocktail was delicious and a little dangerous, as it would go down as easily as a juice box.
“I’ve got another one,” Rosy said. “To our Magnolia, who has every reason to hate that man, but instead of wasting her energy on anger and hatred, she’s focused on her new life and building it up.”
“Yes,” Dotty said amid another round of hear, hear.
“To resilience,” Nancy added.
We all drank to both, me with gratitude and love in my heart.
“If we’re being sappy, I’ve got one,” I said. “To all of you, for building me up when I was at my lowest, for having confidence in me and helping me build confidence in myself.” My eyes teared up out of nowhere. “I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
“We’re going to be stewed before we get to the appetizers,” Kona quipped.
“You keep drinking,” Darlene said. “I’ll win all your money at the card table.”
“These karma whatevers might be worth it,” Kona replied. “Maybe they should be our signature drink.”
“Lord knows we’ve been around long enough to see a lot of karma served,” Loretta said.
“Maybe none as sweet as Felix the Shit,” Nancy said, making me laugh.
“We call him Felix the Fuck,” I clarified.
“Better yet,” Nancy cackled.
“Thank you, ladies,” I said. “You’re truly the best.”
“To us,” Rosy called out, raising her glass again.
“To soon-to-be-inebriated us,” Kona added.
We all sipped again. Then Dotty said, “So if Felix is out, does that mean your grandfather’s business will go to you, Magnolia?”
I set my glass on the coffee table. “Ugh. I hope not. I don’t want it.”
“No?” Rosy asked. “Even with Felix out of it?”
“You’ve got your own business now,” Dotty said.
“Plus zero interest in property development,” I clarified. “My business might be a newborn with an income to match, but I don’t want that dirty money.”
“You think they’re dirty or just cutthroat?” Loretta asked.
I shrugged. “If they put their daughters up for marriage in the name of business, I don’t think they stick to a strict moral code.”
“Isn’t that the truth?” Darlene emphasized.
“It’s worth a lot of money though, right?” Dotty asked.
I nodded. “I assume so. I’ve never had a thing to do with it. Besides, I’d think it would go to my mother, not me.”
“Is she interested in it?” Kona asked.
“I doubt it, but we haven’t talked about it. I assume my grandfather will get the board to change the bylaws and allow him to handpick his successor.”
“Well,” Nancy said, “if he sticks you with it, you could always sell it and find a way to do good with that money. Start making up for the negative they’ve put out in the world.”
“Or I could ignore it and let the company self-implode,” I said, grinning.
“Or you could do that indeed.” Loretta stood and said, “We better get the sustenance started. And Magnolia, wait till you see dessert.”
Two hours later, after a round of bacon-wrapped dates, a delicious, hearty sausage and tortellini soup, and savory ciabatta bread, Dotty brought out dessert with much fanfare.
With her back to us so I still couldn’t see what it was, she stood still while Loretta…lit a match?
“You know it’s not my birthday, right?” I asked.
A high-pitched sizzling sound ignited. Dotty turned around, revealing a gorgeous midnight-blue and lavender cake with a single, lit sparkler jutting out of it.
“This is a karma cake,” she proclaimed.
Rosy broke out into Taylor’s song again, standing and swaying her hips.
We were on our third round of Karma Fizzes, and spirits were high even before the cake, but that cake got us excited like only sugar—and karma—could. The inside was a lavender sponge with honey buttercream and ribbons of edible gold glitter throughout.
“It’s perfect.”
“Wait till you taste it.” Dotty beamed.
Once we all had a generous slice and had quieted down enough to devour it, Loretta said, “So, Magnolia, I’ve seen a manly pickup truck parked outside your apartment a few times lately.”
I forked a big bite of culinary perfection in my mouth, considering how to answer that.
“A manly truck like maybe a farm truck?” Rosy asked.
Loretta nodded and winked. “Definitely something a farmer would drive.”
“Maybe it’s a Lily Pad customer?” I offered dryly. Luke was the opposite of Dotty’s paper-store customers.
The round of laughter confirmed they all knew I was joking…and guilty.
“I don’t mean to pry,” Loretta continued, “but if you have anything you’d like to share with us, your secrets are safe.”
I swallowed my food. “It’s not exactly a secret, just not something we’re not broadcasting.”
“You and Luke Durham?” Kona asked. “I thought you were arch enemies.”
“We were.” I launched into the short version of our history and my mother’s visit and Felix’s part in the whole thing.
None of it needed to remain a secret anymore.
My conscience was clear. “The only reason I’ll ask you to keep it quiet for now is out of respect for Luke and his daughter.
I don’t know how he plans to approach that yet. ”
“We’ll keep it to ourselves,” Loretta said, and though she had a rep for being the queen of the town gossip club, I trusted her to keep her word in this case. She wasn’t a mean-spirited gossip, just…involved. She knew everyone, worried about everyone, kept track of everything.
“So is this serious, Magnolia?” Kona asked.
I let out a nervous laugh. “It’s new. It’s scary because we have a history. It didn’t work out before, so I’d probably be crazy to think it could this time.”
“You never know till you try,” Darlene said. “He’s a looker. Definitely worth trying, I’d say.”
“I wish you the best, darling girl,” Rosy said, and the others voiced their agreement.
“Karma can be good too,” Nancy pointed out. “Maybe it’s coming around in your favor after dealing with that small, insecure man for most of your life.”
I liked that thought but knew there was more to Luke and me working out than karma. A lot more.