Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Bethany parked her car half a block from Brad’s bar. Parking spaces were dwindling fast. Evie stepped out of the passenger side. Rena and Martha, sitting in the back, didn’t hesitate.
Anxious to party, her friends had dressed for the occasion in sexy black sequin tops and black leather pants.
Evie had gone all out. She’d special-ordered the formfitting, long-sleeve, black silk cocktail dress she wore. While the collar fell just below her neck in front, the open back plunged to her waist. She intended to wow Jimmy to the moon and back.
However, before she left the house, she threw a silk shawl around her shoulders to cover her back. Her father approved the image she presented him. Her mother, who’d seen the dress without the shawl, shook her head. When Urbano saw the full outfit, he’d blow a gasket for sure.
The party was warming up inside the bar. Guests had lined up along the bar. Pop music blared through speakers. Brad had opened the side room, displaying light strings, festive signs welcoming the new millennium, and a net packed with balloons hanging from the ceiling.
Tables with champagne towers to toast the new year stood throughout the floor.
The bar’s muted TV monitors were already tuned in to the show in New York City.
She supposed someone would raise the volume when the midnight hour got closer.
The reserved tables were for the mayor and his wife, the Oakwood council, and other important guests.
Jimmy waved at her from the bar. Brad had requested that his men wear a simple outfit of a long-sleeved white shirt and black pants.
Something about the white shirt, black pants, and the rebellious curl on Jimmy’s forehead made her mouth water.
She threw him a kiss, pulled off her shawl, then twirled on her heels.
Green eyes wide, he dropped his hands onto the counter.
Yay.
Fist pump for Evie!
That was the reaction she’d wanted. A beat later, he arched an eyebrow and flicked his finger, beckoning her.
She sashayed—more like hopped on those heels—over to him. “You like?”
“Do you want to give me a heart attack?”
“No.” She pouted.
“Has your father seen the outfit?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
He laughed. “I want a front-and-center seat for that one.”
“Jimmy,” she chided.
“Find your table? Has your name on it. I’ll bring drinks in a sec.”
“Yes. Yes, and thank you.”
She blew him another kiss, then joined her friends. “Rena, where’s Merilyn?” Evie asked, staring at Merilyn’s empty chair. “I haven’t seen or heard from her in a few days.”
“Yeah,” Bethany said. “She said she’d be here.”
“I don’t know what’s up.” Rena shrugged. “I spoke to her three days ago. She said she was coming down with something. Wasn’t sure she’d join us. And to be honest, she sounded strange.”
“Stranger than her usual?” Martha chimed in. Bethany and Rena laughed.
Jimmy arrived with drinks, and the conversation veered to the celebration.
Several drinks later, Evie glanced at the huge clock in the next room, which Brad had added for the party.
Midnight approached. Her parents, Petey, and a bunch of town officials had arrived.
Anticipation vibrated in the room. The music got louder, and so did the TVs.
The excited host in New York announced the coming of a new millennium.
“I suppose Merilyn’s not coming,” Evie murmured.
Rena shoved her arm. “You spoke too soon.”
“There she is.” Bethany and Martha said in unison.
A beaming Merilyn, the picture of health, waved at the group. Two men, both dressed for the occasion, yet total strangers to Evie, followed her in. They were both big, muscular, and handsome in a rough sort of way. An air of menace emanated from them, but she warned herself to be quiet.
“Hi, girls,” Merilyn chirped. “Meet my dates. This is Kevin and Hal.” She turned to her girlfriends. “Guys, these are my dearest friends, Bethany, Martha, Rena, and Evie.”
Evie was shocked to be included in the dearest friend group. But a new millennium was coming. Maybe things would improve between her and Merilyn.
Hal and Kevin offered a perfunctory greeting to the girls. Hal pulled the chair out for Merilyn to sit.
Kevin bent close to her ear. “We’ll be right back.”
As the two men walked over to the next room, Bethany asked, “Who are they? Where the hell did you find them?”
“I met them at Roger’s a couple of days ago.
” Merilyn folded her hands on the table.
“They’re in Oakwood on business and didn’t know anyone.
They asked me what there was to do and where to go for some fun.
They were really nice and polite. Kevin flirted with me.
I think he likes me a lot. So I invited them to the celebration. ”
Bethany shook her head. “I love you, Merilyn. I’ve known you since we were kids, but you could use some street smarts. You don’t know a fucking thing about those guys.”
“Bethany!” Merilyn exclaimed. “Your language.”
“It’s ’cause I care about you,” Bethany snapped. “Did you have sex with them?”
“No…but I was hoping.” Merilyn fluttered her eyelashes. “I mean, check them out. If they asked, I wouldn’t mind being a Merilyn sandwich.”
“Yikes,” Rena exclaimed.
The sound from the TVs got louder. The new millennium was ten minutes away, and the host of the New York show was close to having a conniption, his voice was so loud.
“All right, everybody,” Brad shouted at the guests. “Gather around the champagne towers and get yours. We’re almost there.”
“Where are your dates, Merilyn?” Bethany asked as she stood. “I don’t see them anywhere.”
“I don’t either,” Merilyn replied, scanning both rooms. “I’m not worried. They’ll show up.”
Evie stood, mindful of her dress. As she moved to the next room, she shifted sort of sideways to prevent her father from catching sight of the plunging back.
A pair of strong arms wrapped her waist from behind. Jimmy’s scent filled her senses. “He’s going to see it sooner or later.” His lips caressed her earlobe.
“Later is better than sooner.” She relaxed against his sturdy chest.
“True. Let’s go get our champagne. I’m kissing you before anyone else.”
“I was counting on it.”
He took two glasses from the tower and passed one to Evie as he put his arm around her waist. “Here we go.” As voices around them started to count down, his green eyes bore into hers. “Is it too soon?” he whispered.
“For?”
“To tell you I love you. Happy New Year, sweetheart.” As his lips brushed hers, the crowd shouted, and she melted into his long, thorough kiss.
Before she could reply, her mother pulled her from Jimmy’s arms and hugged her. “Happy New Year, querida.”
Laughing, he let her go. “I know you love me too.”
The deafening cacophony continued for several minutes. Evie spun from person to person wishing her a Happy New Year. Her father gave the back of her dress a disapproving glare. But Jimmy loved her, and she didn’t care. Happy New Year to her. She was too excited to get worked up over it.
Finally, when the exuberance abated, she went to the bar area.
“Where’s Jimmy?” she asked Brad.
“He’s out in the alley. We needed to empty out some trash. He’ll be back in a second.”
“Okay. Tell him I’m with my friends.”
Brad nodded. “I’ll send him over.”
Merilyn was sulking when Evie joined her friends at the table.
“What’s going on?” she asked Bethany in a low voice.
“Merilyn’s dates have disappeared.”
“You mean, since they went into the other room?”
Bethany nodded.
“That’s odd.”
“No shit.”
Except… Merilyn’s dates were not the only ones absent. Time ticked by. Where was Jimmy? She started to worry when she saw Petey approaching their table.
“Where is he?” he asked. “I came to wish you both a Happy New Year. I thought I’d find him with you.”
Her stomach gave a nasty lurch. An ice-cold sensation settled on her shoulders as she fought a wave of fear. She glanced back at the bar. Jimmy was nowhere. She only saw Brad and the men he’d hired, serving drinks nonstop.
“He went outside. He hasn’t come back,” she replied, containing a hitched breath. Suddenly, she was frozen to her seat. She couldn’t move or think.
“Where could he be?” Petey asked to no one in particular.
She tried to speak, but panic clenched her throat. She sat with her face in her hands.
“I’ll ask Brad.” Petey went to the bar.
A discussion ensued. Brad sent out one of his guys.
He came back flustered. When he couldn’t find Jimmy, the party came to an abrupt end, but some of the guys stayed to search the alley.
The nearby shops were closed. They found no evidence of a struggle, no blood, no ripped clothing, nothing.
The alley was clean. Almost too clean. As if Jimmy had vanished into thin air, and with his disappearance, a heavy gloom settled in the room.
Hours later, Evie stood in her parents’ living room, a statue staring out the window into the pale morning light.
Sick with worry, Petey had joined her. As the day progressed, more reports came in.
The sheriff had asked everyone in town. People had been sent out to search the roads.
Still, not a trace of Jimmy was found. As for her, Evie grappled with one fear after another: Was he hurt somewhere?
Had he run out on her? Had his mysterious past finally caught up with Jimmy and swallowed him up?