Big Easy Escapade (32 page)

Al and
Adrienne called it quits after about an hour. Adrienne grabbed Al’s
head and pulled it down to her eyes. “Oh my god! Is this
another
gray hair I
see?” She kissed the top of his head. “You’re gettin’ old, old man!
Time to put you to bed.”

He wrapped his burly arms around her. “I’m
not old. I just need some post-excitement excitement.”

They said their goodbyes and left the bar,
arm in arm.

The girls, Antonio, the band and others
danced, drank, sang, laughed and enjoyed the night, knowing
tomorrow would be a special day — a new beginning for Daisy and
Jason.

Around 3:30 in the morning, Kate turned to
Vivian. “I’m about to fall over.”

“Too many syringes?”

“Maybe. Or exhaustion. This has been a crazy
day.”

“Okay, let’s hit it.”

The girls, Antonio and Jonathon said goodbye
to the band, Gary and Lea. “Perhaps we’ll see you at the wedding
later today,” Thomas said.

“Hope so,” Vivian responded. “If it works out
with our flights, we’ll be there.”

As they headed out on Bourbon toward their
hotel, Antonio wrapped his arm around Vivian’s waist.

Holy hellbuckets! I can’t believe
this!
She tried to contain
her excitement as they neared Hotel De Lis.

Jonathon held Lucy’s hand as they walked.
He’d gotten his job back at the pizza place and had worked that
night, so he smelled like pepperoni.

When they reached the hotel, Wendy and Kate
went on upstairs. Lucy and Jonathon walked to the elevators, but
Vivian and Antonio stayed outside.

He pushed a blonde curl out of her face. “I
wish I’d had the opportunity to get to know you better.”

“It’s probably best that you didn’t. I live
in Fort Worth, which makes you geographically undesirable.” She put
her finger on his chest and smiled up at him. “Though I do love
this city and want to come back soon.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled
her in tight and leaned down for a long, passionate kiss. His face
was scratchy since it had probably been 24 hours since his last
shave, but she didn’t care. His lips were soft and he was an
incredible kisser. He moved her to the brick wall next to the
entrance and kissed her harder, more urgently. His hands roamed up
from her waist.

This is tempting
.

He pushed himself against her, brushed his
hand gently over her breasts and wrapped it around her neck,
playing with her hair. He smelled faintly of sweetness, aftershave
or cologne, and she moved her hands under his shirt, running her
fingernails over his back.

I’m about to give in
.

He slowly stopped kissing her and took a deep
breath. “I want you to come home with me.”

Me, too! Me, too! Me, too!

She pulled her hands out of his shirt and
looked down. “I better not. The last one-night stand I had, I
thought I was going to get eaten by a bear. I took it as a sign
that perhaps I should stop having them.”

He laughed out loud. “No bears in New
Orleans, unless we go to the Audubon Zoo.”

“Yeah, I know, but you know what I mean.”

“Actually, I have no idea what you mean, but
I understand.”

Damn bears!

V
ivian’s
phone buzzed on the nightstand. She scrambled around, found it and
looked at the display. Nine-fifteen and three messages. The first
was Rick asking what time she was picking up the kids, then two
from Adrienne wanting to know if Vivian did the naughty with her
brother. She responded to Rick first — around 9. Then she smiled as
she texted Adrienne that no, she was not that kinda girl. Ha ha
ha.

She put the phone back on the nightstand and
rolled over. Everyone was still completely out, so she drifted off
again, too.

An hour and a half later, hunger drove her to
wake up. It was already 10:45. Wendy had a cup of coffee in her
hand. Kate was in the shower.

“Sleepyhead snore monster rises,” Lucy said,
grabbing Vivian’s toes that were still covered.

Vivian pulled her foot up. “I don’t
snore.”

“Oh honey, I have hard and fast evidence
that, in fact, you do.” Lucy pulled out her phone and played a
video of Vivian sawing logs like she was building a cabin from
scratch.

“Geez, that’s pretty bad,” Vivian said and
threw the covers back.

“Uh, yes. I will be bringing earplugs on our
next trip.”

Wendy smiled as she folded her
alcohol-stained bachelorette sash and put it into her suitcase. “It
didn’t bother me, Viv.”

“You seriously need to go to a sleep study or
something.” Lucy said.

The water in the shower turned off.

“Why? I slept great!” Vivian stood up and
stretched. “Somebody woke up to be a grouchy gus this morning.
Didn’t have any pepperoni last night?”

Lucy couldn’t help but laugh. She folded a
shirt to perfection and placed it in her suitcase. “Not the good
kind. I came this close to taking a big-ass bite, though.” She left
about an inch between her thumb and pointer. “This close.”

Wendy took a sip of her coffee. “You better
hurry, Viv. Checkout’s in 10 minutes.”

“No problem,” Vivian said. “Y’all can go
check us out, I’ll grab a quick shower, throw my stuff in the
suitcase, and shazamm, I’ll be ready.”

“Isn’t that supposed to be shazammapuss?”
Kate yelled from the bathroom.

“You’re right! Shazammapuss, my ass’ll be
ready!” Vivian clapped her hands together, then reached for her
suitcase. She opened a drawer and started tossing things in. “Kate,
move it or lose it! I gotta get in there!” Her phone buzzed. It was
a message from Jason.

Wedding, 2:00, Jackson Square in front of
fountain. Reception at Flanagan’s.

Vivian told the girls. “Yay, we can make it,
our flights aren’t until 7.”

“And we have time to grab lunch!” Wendy
clapped. “Let’s do this!” She and Lucy went downstairs to check
them out of the hotel.

Vivian
switched places with Kate in the bathroom and flew through a
shower. She double-timed shaving her legs and cut herself right by
her ankle. “Ouch!” She jumped out of the shower, stuck a piece of
toilet paper on her bleeding leg, ran some mousse through her
curls, slapped on some deodorant, rubbed moisturizer on her face
and swiped on some mascara and lip gloss.
She threw on a sassy, pink, abstract-print maxi
dress, slipped on her Shoe-Be-Do shoes and put on her chandelier
earrings. “Voila.”

Kate
nodded, impressed. “Not bad.” She wore a snazzy, aubergine purple,
silk sheath tank dress and looked at the red toilet paper clinging
to Vivian’s leg. “Technical difficulties?”

“That’s the way it goes, sometimes, but you
look simply elegant as usual.”

“Thanks.” Kate did a room check to make sure
they weren’t leaving anything behind and brought Vivian her
toiletries out of the bathroom. “Don’t forget these.”

Vivian stuffed them into her suitcase, zipped
it up and pulled it off the bed.

There was a knock at the door. “Open up.
Police!”

Vivian opened the door to a giggling Lucy and
Wendy. Lucy shrugged. “We couldn’t help ourselves.”

“
Wow!”
Vivian said. “You girls look fabulous!” Lucy wore a dark gray
A-line dress with a plunging neckline and an amazing pair of Jimmy
Choos. Wendy wore an off-shoulder, champagne-colored
number.

“Love the bag,” Kate said to Wendy, referring
to her oversized purse. “It’s perfect for toting your personal
pharmacy.”

Wendy patted the coral-colored behemoth. “I
thought we might need a thing or two out of here today since we
didn’t get much sleep last night.”

The girls grabbed their bags, got to the
lobby and checked them at the bellman’s stand.

“Where should we go for lunch?” Wendy asked
as he tagged the bags.

“What are you looking for?” the bellman
asked. “Something nice? Something casual?”

“It’s our last New Orleans meal, so we need
something awesome!”

“Then go to Galatoire’s. Authentic cuisine.
Great service. One of the best.” He looked at their outfits. “No
shorts allowed, so you should be okay.”

Wendy slipped him a $5 and they left the
hotel.

It didn’t take them long to walk to the
Bourbon Street restaurant they had passed at least six times during
their visit but not really noticed. How they had missed the white
and green trim canopy, Vivian wasn’t sure.

They walked in and the delectable scent of
garlic and butter made Vivian’s mouth water. The décor made her
glad they had the Getaway Girlz Trust Fund — chandeliers, dark
wood, white bead board and green wallpaper with gold accents and
white tablecloths. Waiters in tuxedos hustled about.

“I love it here already,” Lucy said, sitting
down, smoothing the corner of the tablecloth.

Kate put her white cloth napkin in her lap.
“Check out all the mirrors.”

The girls enjoyed sharing a delicious lunch
of shrimp rémoulade, crabmeat maison, au gratin potatoes, a wedge
salad, chicken Creole, lots and lots of water and a side of
ibuprofen.

Vivian sucked down the last of her water and
the waiter smoothly grabbed the decanter on the table and refilled
the glass.

Wendy looked at her watch. “We have 25
minutes. We’d better go.”

“Do y’all mind horribly if we cab it?” Vivian
asked. “I love my shoes, but I can’t fathom walking to Jackson
Square right now.”

“Fine by me,” Lucy said, pushing back her
plate. “I’m in my FMPs and I ate too much.”

Vivian looked over the bill and used their
special account to pay for the pricey but fabulous meal. “Good
thing we didn’t have any alcohol.”

Kate folded her napkin and put it on the
table. “Where are we going on our next trip? I need something a
little less city-ee. I miss the mountains.”

“Do we want to go back to Colorado?” Vivian
asked.

“No, there are more mountains in the U.S.
than the Rockies,” Lucy said. “And since I live there, I’d like to
go somewhere else. Branch out. See the world, or at least the
U.S.”

“What about the Smoky Mountains?” Wendy said.
“They border North Carolina, and Jake says Asheville is a cool
town.”

No one bit at that.

“What about the Adirondacks?” Kate said. “In
upstate New York?”

“Oooh, that sounds interesting,” Lucy
said.

Kate nodded her head. “We can go in the fall,
see the leaves changing.”

“I would love that,” Vivian said, taking the
check from the waiter and thanking him. “We don’t get fall colors
in Texas. They go from green to brown, end of story.”

“Okay, I’ll start looking at it,” Wendy said,
getting up. “Upstate New York about six months from now in the
fall. Sounds great.”

“You sure your new husband won’t mind you
running off to the wild, burnt-orange yonder?” Vivian asked.

Wendy smiled. “Nah, I don’t think he’d
care.”

“Better run it past him, bride-to-be,” Lucy
said.

“I wouldn’t be marrying him if he was a
control freak, but I’ll have to get used to that whole
checking-with-another-person thing before I make plans.”

“I bet he’ll be fine with it,” Kate said.
“Shaun knows I need these trips.”

They grabbed a cab right outside the
restaurant and took the short ride to Jackson Square. Al and
Adrienne were already there, as were Antonio, Detective Leffall,
Gary, Lea, all of the 12 Stones, Jason’s parents, Daisy’s parents,
Al’s cousin, Gino and wife Michelle and three media trucks. Larry
and Sonya from Louie’s Flowers were there and had given all the
women a single red rose. The moms also had red rose corsages pinned
to their dresses. Hairy Harry stood near a light post, away from
the crowd. He looked sad, yet maybe a little happy, too.

Antonio walked over to Vivian and gave her a
long, tight hug. “How are you?” he asked.

“I wasn’t stalked, growled at or eaten by a
bear on my way up to my room, so I guess I made the right
decision.”

He smiled. “Let me know next time you’re in
town, okay?”

She nodded as Adrienne and Al walked up.

“Did Al do good or what?” Adrienne said.

Vivian looked around. Red rose petals floated
in the fountain and were scattered on the ground, but other than
that the park looked the same. “What’d you do?”

“Nothin’ really,” Al replied. “Made a phone
call.”

Adrienne rubbed his back, obviously proud of
him. “Whatever! It’s difficult to get a wedding booked here, but my
sweetheart has a friend in the Parks and Parkways Department. He
made it happen.”

“Way to go, Al!” Vivian gave him a high-five.
“And it couldn’t be a prettier day.” A cool breeze blew off the
river and big, white, puffy clouds floated across the sky.

Detective Leffall motioned to Antonio, who
excused himself. Vivian watched as Leffall showed him something on
his phone and Antonio smiled.

Kate moved next to her. “Think that means
Sonofabitch is going down?”

Wendy leaned over. “Hell yeah!”

Jason walked to the Square from the
cathedral, and cameras started clicking. He had on a modern-cut,
black tuxedo, white shirt, silver vest and bowtie. A silver ribbon
embraced a gorgeous white rose pinned to his lapel.

The news broadcasters had their lenses
focused on him.

He stepped up to the fountain and hugged
Daisy’s mother tightly for several moments, whispering in her ear.
She nodded and kissed him on the cheek. Then he turned to his own
mom and hugged her. He shook hands with both dads before taking his
place next to his best man, Paul, who wore a sleek, black suit and
red tie. Eric, from the band, began playing an acoustic guitar and
singing “Unchained Melody.”

Daisy appeared in the doorway of the
cathedral wearing a floor-length, form-fitting white wedding dress
that had skin showing from the lace going down both sides. The
bruises on her back weren’t visible, and a silver and white beaded
belt hugged her tiny waist. Her still-black hair was pulled into a
loose up-do. A thin, white ribbon swirled here and there in her
hair. Curled wisps gently hung around her face and fell in the
back. The last few inches transitioned from black to bright red.
She looked fantastic…and happy.