He stared at Ellie and waved back.“Are you back from your trip?”
She replied by tapping her chest.“Ellie.Allie’s going to be at least another two weeks before she gets back.She got married!”
Hank’s jaw went slack.“Allie?”
“I know!Freaked me right out,” Ellie confided.
“Fifteen minutes,” I reminded her so she wouldn’t get side-tracked.
I got an eye-roll in reply and she shoved her way into the house.“Damn door always sticks.”She dumped the mail on the coffee table and checked on the refrigerator.“Huh.She must have been in a hurry.I better throw this out.”She pulled out a pizza box and tossed it in the trash.Then, because that was filled, she tugged the bag out and tied it off.I took it from her because tottering up the front steps had been an ordeal, but I wasn’t going to waste any more time waiting for her to take the bag to the back.
“Where are your bins?”
“They’re called trash cans.And they’re behind the garage.Don’t move them to the curb, though.I don’t remember which date is pickup.”
Then she did something unexpected.Ellie tipped higher onto her toes, a mean feat in those heels, and kissed my cheek.“I appreciate you.”
Funny how three little words can be so…powerful.I was still pondering them when I got back.
“We’re good.Let’s blow this popsicle stand and celebrate my very merry un-wedding.”
“Your what?”
“You know…” She sang a few stanzas of a repetitive song I’d never heard.At my confusion, she asked, “Don’t you watch cartoons?”
“None recently.”
“Oh my God.We’re rentingeveryanimated movie when we get home.”
My wince leaked out before I could control it.“Every one?”
She tossed her head in a gesture that could be closest to negative, but it probably meant she couldn’t believe my naiveté.
“I can’t with you.Let’s go.Ticktock, right?”
I checked my watch.We still had eight minutes to make it to the car.That was probably enough time.
It almost wasn’t.She waved at another neighbor, who mistakenly thought she was her sister.Before she got in the car with me, she yelled out, “Hey, Mrs.Carpello, watch this.”Then she kissed me.
With tongue.
The older woman gasped.“Ellie Jacobs, I’m telling your sister when she gets home!”
Ellie laughed and climbed in the car.
When I pulled away, she confided, “That woman can’t tell us apart unless I do something outrageous.”
Which may have been the theme for the party.Yes, my black suit and black shirt fit in well with the color scheme, but it was sedate compared to the leather and sequins, and… was that a gimp suit?Club music pounded against the low ceiling and Ellie didn’t waste a second of her entry to drop her coat into my hands and scream, “Check it out, I’m FREE!”
And wearing something…short with fishnet.
A black woman walked past me and halted just long enough to nudge my jaw shut and declare, “Get used to it.I’m Kat by the way.”
Since my hands were full, I couldn’t shake her hand, or do more than nod and say, “Ellie’s mentioned you.”A lot.
“What are you drinking?”
“Jameson, neat.”It wasthatkind of night.There would be no way to guard Ellie in this madhouse.
