Page 39 of Whiskey & Honey
“Of course I do, Mr. Sullivan. I’m a princess. Mother, I would like a cake now.”
“Just a minute, Clementine. The adults are speaking. I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Felicity Remington-Thorne,” Felicity says to Piper, extending her hand.
“Yes, Felicity, I know who you are. I’m your son’s teacher and you and I grew up together.”
“Really? I don’t remember you.”
I look at Piper to make double check that smoke is not filtering from her ears as she puts her sweet-as-pie smile on and looks from Clem to Felicity before she responds. “I can assure you we did. Now, Clementine, how about you and I find a few more participants and we’ll get this cake walk happening.”
“Oh I don’t want to walk; I just want a cake.”
Before Piper can retort I step in. “Clem, that’s not how it works, but it’ll be a fun reward if you win. How about you run and find a few classmates or kids from other classes and we’ll get a round going. Piper, why don’t you make sure you have the music cued.” Once I’ve sent Clementine and Piper off, hopefully avoiding a meltdown by one and a cat fight by the other, I turn to Felicity.
“Ben, you look quite handsome. The cowboy look suits you.” This woman has got to be kidding me. She’s practically petting me as she purrs her words at me. Removing her hand from my bicep, where she’s managed to caress me into the uncomfortable zone, I side step her as I see Clementine making her way across the room with a few kids.
“Thanks. Look, Felicity, you did grow up with Piper and maybe you could be a little kinder to her now than when we were kids.”
“Piper? Who is Piper?”
“Piper Lawrence? The woman you were just rude to and the one who is your son’s teacher.”
“That’s Pathetic Piper? No way! Wow, she must have paid big bucks for a makeover.”
I’m momentarily stunned silent as I process what has just been said. Managing to corral my anger at the insulting words this woman has said, I return to the spot I just vacated so there is no question she can hear me. “Do not call her that. Ever. Do you understand? That is cruel and not appropriate behavior for a woman and definitely not a mother to a young girl. I’m going to walk away now, please do not be rude to Piper.”
Instead of staying at the festival, I’ve decided to leave and put some distance between myself and what just happened at the cake walk. Piper told me that Felicity had been awful to her growing up but I didn’t know the extent of it until that moment. I’ll never understand the cattiness of some women and frankly don’t want to understand it. I lost my temper a little but I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone speak to Piper that way.
I have a few hours before we’re all meeting at Country Road. Plenty of time for me to get out to the house, work off whatever has me behaving like a caveman. A few hours swinging a hammer should help release some of the frustration and tension.
I managed to work myself into exhaustion and contemplated blowing off Halloween all together. I’m not sure if it’s the idea of spending the night with my friend Piper or the ridiculous amount of text messages I’ve received from the guys that has me parked in front of Country Road. To top it all off, I’m dressed as some throwback version of the Cowboy from Village People. When we first joked about reliving a Halloween of our youth, I wasn’t expecting everyone to be this pumped, but damn if they aren’t.
Ashton has been cutting and sewing until her fingers bled for weeks. She not only made her costume and Piper’s but she helped spruce up both mine and Owen’s. Unsurprisingly, Jameson didn’t need help with his Neo look; then again, a pair of sunglasses and black coat aren’t the hardest costume to put together.
Owen is living out his childhood dream as a policeman. He explained that every year his mother forced him to dress as a clown when all he ever wanted was to dress as one of the men in blue. This was his chance to live that childhood dream so he turned to Ash for “flare,” whatever that is. Landon completed our band of misfits in a no-nonsense construction worker look. Which, is also his everyday wardrobe. Basically he’s dressed up as himself. Why couldn’t I have wanted to grow up to be a teacher and not a cowboy? Maybe I’ll tell my students to keep this in mind for their future Halloweens.
Yep, together we’ll look like half of the Village People even though that wasn’t the plan. Ashton did an excellent job on our costumes and insists we are all going to rule the costume contest. Considering I’m getting here closer to the end of the night than the beginning the chances I’ve missed out on standing on the stage being judged for my costume is pretty high. Thank goodness.
Before I can even open the door I feel the music pumping through my body and know the place is likely packed. Not looking forward to mindlessly searching for my friends, I sent a text to Owen when I parked. A quick check of my phone confirms he hasn’t responded.
Instead of wandering around like a lost puppy, I decide to head straight for the bar to see Ashton. The closer to the bar I get, the less I want to be here. That is, until I see Ashton. Nothing my sister does surprises me but seeing her as Dolly Parton stops me in my tracks. Choosing to portray her favorite character from her favorite Dolly Parton movie, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
With her dark hair hidden beneath a platinum wig, Ashton is covered in head to toe pink. The feathers from her poor excuse for a robe fly around her like a cloud as she mixes a drink. She’s painted her lips fire engine red and her long acrylic nails look more like weapons. I shake my head as I notice she’s added to the bust of the nightgown she’s wearing. If it wasn’t Halloween, I’d go into big brother mode and toss a sheet on her to cover the parts of her she clearly hasn’t.
“Brother of mine! About time you got here. The douche crew is in full effect; you may need to save them.”
“Yeah, I’m not saving anyone except whoever may get stuck with those things in their face.” Gesturing to her ample, yet fake, bosom, I wink and take the beer she offers me.
“Oh please, this is every man’s dream.”
“Not mine. I’m done after this,” I say, signaling my beer. “I have to be up early to get out to the house.”
“Of course you do. You spend more time with that house than your own family. We’d like to see it one day, you know.”
I guess I should at least take my family out to the property. I kind of wanted to wait until it was closer to done than not.
“Noted. We’ll make plans soon, okay?”
“Deal. Anyway, the guys and Piper are over there on the upper level. It doesn’t look like I’ll get a break anytime soon so say hi for me.”