Page 124 of A Little Luck
Exhaling a laugh, warmth rises behind my ears. “Jemima helped me plan that.”
“No kidding.”
“Did you like it?” I give her a cringey smile, but she puts her arms around my neck, rising onto her toes and kissing my lips.
“I loved it so much.” She exhales a little laugh. “For all my trauma-laughing and survival skills, I’m just a hopeless romantic at heart.”
Hugging my arms around her waist, I lean down to kiss her ear. “You can pack all those other things away. All you need to worry about from now on is the romantic part.”
Threading our fingers, I’m ready to head out the door, when an unusually tall, blonde woman in a sparkly purple, bell-bottom pantsuit enters the room.
It only takes me a blink to realize…
“Is that a drag queen?” Excitement is in Cass’s tone.
“Monay?” Jemima’s voice rings out over the music, and she runs across the room to hug the new arrival.
“Girl! I have been looking everywhere for you!” Monay places her hand on her chest before hugging Jemima, who looks tiny by comparison.
In her white platform boots, she has to be checking in at around six-foot-four.
“Guys! This is Monay Strangely, my absolute favorite Dolly Parton Christmas impersonator from Branson!” Jemima gestures to her friend. “Monay… this is everybody!”
“It’s always ahard… candy Christmas when I’m in town, if you know what I mean.” Monay bats her false lashes and laughs, waving her hand at us like a pageant participant.
“What are you doing here?” Jemima’s eyes are as wide as her smile.
Monay’s expression turns serious in a blink. “I came to get you, Jem. You’ve got to come back to Branson with me tonight.”
Jemima’s face is serious as well, and her voice drops so low, I only barely hear her response. “You know I can’t go back there. He’s looking for me.”
“Dennis sent me to get you, girl. Things are getting hard for us queens, and he can’t keep your daughter any more. You’ve got to come get her or he’ll have to turn her over to the feds.”
“He can’t do that! She’ll get lost in the system!”
“Hang on.” Cass walks up to where her sister is speaking low and fast, but not low enough that we’re all not stunned into silence. “Jemima? Did you leave a daughter in Branson?”
Her sister blinks rapidly, shaking her head. “Yes, but you don’t understand. It’s more complicated than that.”
“It’s not complicated.” Impatience enters Cass’s tone, and I know being left by their mother is a sore spot with her. “You either have a daughter or you don’t.”
“You don’t know the whole story, Cassidy!” Jemima grabs Monay’s arm and starts for the door. “We’ve got to talk.”
The two of them exit the restaurant, leaving the rest of us looking at each other, not knowing what to think.
“You heard her.” Martha’s no-nonsense voice cuts through the collective confusion. “We don’t know the whole story. We’ll let her explain it when she’s ready.”
“She’s going to explain it to me now.” Cass storms out of the restaurant after her sister.
Alex gives us a wave and takes off after his wife, and I notice Raif leaving cash on the high-top and shoving his hands in his pockets.
He walks over to our group. “Hi, Ms. Martha. Glad to see you’re okay.”
“Thank you, Raif.” Martha doesn’t smile. “You’ll be around to help me next week?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nods before ambling to the exit as well. “’Night.”
“What am I always saying?” Piper turns to me, shaking her head. “It’s never a dull moment in Eureka.”