“Seems like old times,” Charlotte said, toasting Lucky and Bo with a glass of sweet tea. “Bo, did Richie here tell you that whenever he came to visit, the first thing we’d do is go out for pizza?”
Uh-oh. Bo’s evil half-smile didn’t bode well for Lucky. “No,Richiedidn’t.”
“Yeah, Vic…” Her smile fell. “Crap. Me and my big mouth. Sorry, y’all.”
Bo reached across the table and took her hand. “It’s okay. I know all about Lucky and Victor Mangiardi.”
She cut her eyes toward Bo and back to Lucky.
“Really. It’s okay. Please, finish what you were saying.” Bo leaned in. His ears might start flapping any minute now.
Charlotte waited, a question in her eyes. Good for her. After all this time she still had her brother’s back. Lucky nodded. While he didn’t flaunt his past in front of his present and future, it was a bit late to start hiding.
With his permission, Charlotte took off and ran. “Victor liked restaurants with valet parking, if you get my meaning. He didn’t like throwing back pizza and beer with us rednecks.”
Funny. Someone recently sent Lucky a photo of Victor and Walter, of all people, munching pizza.
Bo leaned in some more. “You don’t say.” Any farther and he’d topple over into Charlotte’s lap.
“You’ve met me, right?” Lucky tossed in. “Then you know I’m redneck.”
The waiter strolled by with a pitcher of tea. Everyone but Bo held up their glasses for more. “Thank you, hon,” Charlotte said.
Bo wasn’t finished digging up embarrassing facts about Lucky. “Charlotte, if you don’t mind my asking, you’ve been living up north for years, and L… Richie’s never lived out of the south. So how come your Southern accent is thicker than his?”
If looks could kill, Bo would be dialing 9-1-1. Just wait until they got home.
“Well… there’s two reasons, really.” She waited for Lucky’s nod again. “Being around Victor exposed him to high falutin’ rich folks. They kinda rubbed off.”
What? “Did not!” He didnotsound like Victor or his rich-assed friends.
“Did too!” Charlotte stuck out her tongue.
Strange how whenever they got together, they still acted like kids.
Bo broke up the fight. “You said two reasons. What’s the other?’
Charlotte smiled, so much like the devious girl she’d once been. “’Cause I talk like this on girl’s night out at the club and never pay for a single drink.”
“Mom!” Todd shouted.
“What?” She raised a brow in her oldest son’s direction. “You’re grown and practically out of the house now. I don’t have to pretend I’m perfect no more.”
“You’ll always be perfect to me,” Ty said, batting his eyes.
“No, you’re not getting a new truck, so stop buttering me up. You’ll drive my car to get your license like your brother did.” Damn, she did sound more Southern than Lucky.
Ty wilted. “Yes, ma’am.”
She kept the truth to herself, but Lucky didn’t have to be a genius to figure out her secret. Weekly calls to the parents probably left her talking like she’d left the farm only yesterday. And no rubbing Lucky’s nose in the painful truth.
Hell, in a year or so, Lucky might revert to his old speech patterns. Who knew?
“What we doing the rest of the day?” Charlotte asked.
“I dunno. What you got in mind?” Lucky’s recovery left hiking Stone Mountain out of a list of possibilities.
She flashed her wicked smile again. “You ain’t tried to outshoot me lately. Reckon you still can?”
