“Not quite four-star,”
Marcia said in amusement as Casey parked in the lot behind the restaurant.
“No, but the food is
actually edible.” He waited until she got out and then took her hand as they
walked around to the front door. “A bit noisy,” he observed as the sound of
several televisions showing a football game hit them when they stepped inside.
“Your sister likes sports?”
Marcia asked in surprise.
“Nope, but she likes men and
other than clubs this is one place to meet them.”
Marcia looked around and had
to agree as the majority of the unaccompanied diners were males in their
mid-twenties to mid-thirties. “Major meat market,” she commented with a laugh.
“Makes me feel very out of
place,” he replied with a small chuckle as they found a vacant table.
“Especially since I’m not big on sports.”
“You fit in otherwise
though. I bet when you come here alone you get more than your fair share of the
looks from the single women.”
“I haven’t been here since
Kathy and I split up so I wouldn’t know.”
“Well take it from a woman, for
a female on the hunt this is one place to go shopping. And you would be very
popular.”
Feeling slightly
embarrassed, Casey was very glad when the waitress appeared to take their drink
orders. When she left he quickly picked up the menu to see what looked good.
Marcia smiled and did the same. They discussed the options, finally deciding on
beef tenderloin for him and chicken with almonds and cheese for her. The
waitress returned with their drinks by then and took their dinner orders.
“To a successful conclusion
to our problem,” Marcia said, lifting her wine glass.
Casey smiled, tapping his
glass to hers with a nod, wondering as he did if ‘our problem’ was keeping him
alive or if there was a deeper meaning behind her words.
They were half way through
dinner when someone wrapped their arms around him from behind. He turned his
head to look up at Darla who was studying Marcia with interest.
“What brings you to my neck
of the woods?” Darla asked finally.
“Just taking my lady to
dinner,” Casey replied as his sister released him and sat down.
“So you’re the infamous,
what was your name? Mary, Mabel, no Marcia, right?”
“Yes Darla, this is Marcia. And
Marcia, in case you haven’t figured it out this is my sister Darla,” Casey said
by way of introductions.
“Alma told me about her.”
Darla laughed. “Not too flatteringly I’m afraid but that’s Alma.”
Marcia chuckled at that.
“Yes, she seemed to think I was not up to his usual choice in women.”
“Meaning Kathy.” Darla
rolled her eyes. “My sister is a bit of a social climber, right Casey.” She
looked at him for confirmation and he nodded. “Now me, I go for the kind of man
who’s interesting, not stuffy. Oh, you’re going to just love Dirty.”
Casey snorted out a laugh.
“You go from Skull to Dirty. Not so sure that’s an improvement, Darla.”
“Well his real name is Ringo
but that was taken.”
“If you tell me his last
name is Starr I’ll know you’re pulling my leg.”
“No, silly, it’s Winn. He’s
not that old.” She turned to Marcia
again. “So tell me all about yourself. How did you meet Casey, was it love at
first sight, have you two done the deed yet?”
Marcia laughed at the look
on Casey’s face before settling down to give Darla all the details, spinning
the tale out of a whole cloth with quick looks at Casey to see how he was
taking it. “And that,” she said to Darla in conclusion, “is exactly how it
happened.”
Darla seemed about to reply
when someone caught her eye. She was up immediately, planting a kiss on Casey’s
cheek. “I’ll see you both on,” she frowned for a second, “Wednesday night,
right?”
“Yes Darla,” Casey replied
with a chuckle.
“Oh,” she held out her hand.
“I don’t suppose you could, umm—“
Shaking his head, Casey took
out his wallet and handed her a couple of bills. She looked at them, sighed in
disappointment that there weren’t more, then thanked him and hurried across the
room towards her intended target.
“What do you want to bet she
shows up at the barbeque with someone named Knute or Shaq, instead of Dirty,”
he muttered.
“Might be an improvement,
but who knows. She seems sweet, if a bit ditzy.”
“Don’t let that fool you.
Underneath the ditz is a smart if very spoiled young woman.”
“So you’re not ruling her out,”
Marcia said, turning serious.
“No,” he replied with equal
seriousness, “I’m not ruling any of them out, unfortunately.”
No comments:
Post a Comment