Something tentatively good just got better. I’d chipped in to help file at Lee’s office once. It wasn’t a fun activity.
We made it to the center aisle when I heard Tex boom, “Ally!”
This was not his usual, “Ally, quit f**king around and help with coffee” Ally.
This was an Ally that made the skin at the back of my neck prickle.
I looked down at Daisy, she looked up at me and we hustled out of the books.
I had no idea what I would find, but someone standing there wearing a bomb vest was a possibility.
But it was Annette, Roxie’s best friend; a Rock Chick by association (thus not getting laid by a Hot Bunch guy; she was getting laid by a guy name Jason who was a vegetarian). She was also the owner of the head shop across the street. And last, she was standing amongst the tables and chairs at the front with five women who were gazing around, faces filled with wonder, lips parted.
As the nuts the Rock Chicks collected go, Annette occupied the upper echelon. Then again, she had a lot of company.
“Get her and those women outta here!” Tex boomed, and I looked in confusion at him then I looked back at Annette and saw that the women with her now had cameras to their faces and they were taking pictures of Tex.
What the f**k?
I moved toward Annette as she called encouragingly to Tex, “Sock it to us, big man! Give them the Rock Chick Experience!”
Again.
What the f**k?
I approached her from the back. “Annette?”
She turned to me, took in both Daisy and me, and cried, “Fuckin’ phat!” She motioned to us and looked at the women with her. “Sistahs, this is Ally Nightingale and Daisy Sloan.”
“Ally,” one of them breathed.
The rest of them took pictures, the flashes exploding in my face one after the other.
I had no choice but to look away and when I was able to focus, I saw Daisy had not missed a beat and was standing beside me striking a pose and giving them a face set in “smolder.”
Jeez.
I looked back at the women. “Stop taking pictures.”
Immediately, five cameras dropped.
My eyes went to Annette. “What gives?” I asked.
“Rock Chick Tour,” she answered.
“Oh my God, sugar, that is such a good idea!” Daisy squealed.
But I stared.
Then I repeated, “Rock Chick Tour?”
“Yeah,” Annette replied. “We start here at Fortnum’s for coffee. Then we go to Sissy and Dom’s house, where Ava and Luke got caught in a drive-by. Then we go to the alley where Jules kicked those drug dealers’ asses. Then we go to that bar where Jet got shot at the poker game. Then we go to the mansion where Stella’s apartment exploded. Then we go to Sadie’s art gallery because it’s all okay now, but it wasn’t okay when it was torched. Blah, blah, blah,” she rolled her hand in front of her and finished, “We eat lunch at Lincoln’s and end with cocktails at Smithie’s.”
I kept staring at her.
“You need to take them to Thornton to the haunted house thing where Billy caught up with Roxie,” Daisy advised. “The haunted house ain’t runnin’, but they still got all the buildings there.”
“Phat!” Annette shouted. “I’ll add that to our itinerary.”
“I’m not part of no tour!” Tex boomed, and the five women again turned to him, lifted their cameras and started taking photos. “Put down those f**kin’ cameras!” Tex roared on a ferocious scowl.
The women dropped their cameras again, but they weren’t offended or frightened. They were all smiling, giving each other happy looks, and two of them were even giggling.
I remained focused.
“Annette, you can’t do Rock Chick Tours,” I told her.
“Bitch, I so can,” she told me. “I got the idea when the articles came out. I set it up, then Roxie told me about the book yesterday so now I have to do it.”
“I’ve read the book, like, five times,” one woman said.
“I’ve read it three,” another woman put in.
“You’re my favorite character, Ally,” a third told me.
I was her favorite character?
“I read it last night,” Daisy said, moving into their huddle. “Stayed up all night. My favorite part was when Lee caught Indy and Tex during their B&E. Laughed myself sick, and when I did I woke Marcus. He was not happy.”
The women closed ranks on the huddle and one remarked, “My favorite is the living room tussle.”
“Mm-hmm, that one’s good too,” Daisy agreed.
“The Head Olympics discussion and the ensuing wrestling match,” another one said, and Daisy emitted her tinkly bell laugh.
“Oo, sugar, that one’s way good,” Daisy again agreed.
“Ohmigod,” the woman breathed to the one at her side, “Daisy called me ‘sugar’.”
“Sure I called you sugar, sugar,” Daisy said on a huge bright smile.
The woman lifted her shoulders up to her ears and her eyes went dreamy, not like Daisy was calling her sugar, but like Channing Tatum had just kissed her cheek.
I looked to the ceiling.
Then I looked to Annette.
“Does Roxie know about this?” I asked.
“No,” she answered.
“Indy?” I went on.
“No,” she said.
“Anyone but Daisy, Tex, Jet and me?” I pressed.
“No,” she repeated.
“Do you see how this might not be taken positively?” I kept going.
“No,” Annette replied.
I drew in breath.
One of the women moved to the coffee counter and declared, “I need a Tex coffee.”
“Me too,” another one said as she followed.
“Totally!” a third one cried.
“Tex, will you be in a picture with me holding one of your coffees?” the fourth one put her life in her hands to ask as she approached.
Tex’s angry glower shifted to me and he boomed, “Do something!”
All the women looked to me.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
The women looked to Tex.
“Something!” he shouted.
The women looked to me.
“Tex, they’re buying coffees. And it’s likely they’re gonna tip. That’s more cat treats for the kitties,” I pointed out.
The women looked to Tex.
“The cats got enough treats.”
The women looked back to me.
“You do realize that you’re giving them the show they came for and if you just shut your trap and made them coffees, it would probably be over a lot faster.”