Chapter Twenty-three
Mel headed over to see Honey’s new place and when Honey buzzed her in and opened the door for her to enter, Mel’s astonishment rang in her disbelief. “This is unfucking believable, girl. How? Why?”
“Luke. He said the place belonged to a friend who was out of town until September, and he’d gotten permission to let me stay here.”
“Wow.” Mel walked over to the wide windows of the high-rise and stared at the lights of the city in the distance. “I can’t believe it. I’ve always wanted to see what one of these places were like inside.”
“They’re big but not too much. And modern yet with enough of a relaxed feeling that it seems kinda comfy… you know?”
“I know. It’s beautiful but not so luxurious that there’s no personality. Whoever does live here has wonderful taste in art and decorating. You can tell the place is loved.”
“Now who’s being effusive?”
Mel laughed and plopped down on the leather sofa. “Does this man happen to have a wine fridge. If so, let’s raid it and then replace what we use.”
“Beat you to it. Everything is on the island in the kitchen. To celebrate my good luck, I ordered your favorite pizza.”
“Okay, now I’m in heaven.” The girls made themselves comfortable on the stools and filled their wine glasses before passing out the pizza slices. “You say he didn’t tell you the guy’s name who lives here.”
“Nope. Truth to tell, I was pretty flustered from all the attention.”
“Don’t blame you. My brain would have been useless having that dude fussing over me.”
Honey pretended to have a mouthful and just hummed her agreement rather than going into any details.
“Honey, I need to ask you something. Jess said that Linda was asking questions a few days ago about any musicians playing at Nudies who might have been in trouble with the law a decade ago. Did you put her up to it?”
“Yeah. I had my haircut at her place, and we got to talking. She seemed sympathetic and promised she’d ask around. Why, what did Jess say?”
Suddenly, Mel looked uncomfortable, and Honey saw her hesitate as if searching for the right words.
“What? Tell me.”
“Jess was always in trouble back then. Both him, and his brother, Julian. They ran with a tough crowd, Honey. So did Matt and Luke. Worse, some of the guys in the bands upstairs have a history too. I get the feeling they were all bad boys in those days.”
“What’re you saying?”
“I’m saying don’t rock the boat. Jess admitted that the fellas don’t particularly like having anyone talking about them. Linda could get away with it because she’s been around for a long time, but not you. There’s a rumor you’re a cop. In fact, he asked me outright.”
“What? No way.”
“Yes way. They’re always on the lookout for a badge, and if they get a smidgeon of proof it’s you nosing around, it could be dangerous. Jess wanted me to tell you to back off with the questions.”
“Seriously? I hate to let it go, but after getting beaten up last night, I can’t say I have much of a stomach to keep going anyway. Guess you’re right. I’ll lay low.”
“Good. Phew. I was worried you’d argue like you always do. I’ll tell Jess what you said. Funny thing is… he understood about your devotion to Katrina. Said he thought it honorable.”
“Then you told him why I was interested.”
“Of course. Funny thing, he looked like he was going to choke when I first said her name.”
The piece of pizza on the way to Honey’s mouth stopped in midair. “He did? Why?”
“I don’t know. But he recuperated quickly, laughed it off, and said he’d let us know.”
“It sounds like you and Jess are getting close. Tell all.”
Mel flushed but didn’t drop her eyes. “I kinda can’t. This is special Honey. He’s special. It seems wrong to talk about our relationship… like I’d be tempting the universe to mess it up or something stupid like that.”
Honey didn’t laugh. She just nodded and changed the subject. After a few more hours of chatting, laughing, eating more pizza, and drinking, Honey forbid Mel to leave. “You’re too drunk to drive home, my friend. Stay with me. We’ll watch a movie and have a pajama party. I spotted some popcorn in the pantry that we can microwave. And… there’s another bottle of wine,” she tempted Mel on purpose.
“I don’t have any pjs. How can we have a pajama party? It’ll have to be an underwear party.” Mel laughed so hard she almost fell off the stool.
Striking Honey funny as well, she doubled over. Finally, she stopped long enough to come up with a solution. “Hey, I brought a pair of pjs. You can have the top, and I’ll wear the bottoms.”
That made them both giggle more until they began scurrying around to get the popcorn and organize the rest of their evening. In no time at all, they were in front of the large-screen TV with a romantic comedy on the screen while they both slept.
It was Mel who heard it first. “Honey, wake up. Isn’t that your ringtone?”
“What? Oh, right. I changed it along with my number.” She scrambled out from under the blanket and awkwardly ran for the phone where she left it in the kitchen. “Who in the world would call this time of the night?”
Mel watched her and shot up when she heard Honey’s words.
“Hello? Mom? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”