Page 4 of In the Line of Ire

"This isa beautiful moment," agreed Lily. "Let's go inside. I think I oweyou a drink."

Solomoncollected me from the bar an hour later. By then, the beer costumewas long gone, replaced with black jeans and a sky blue t-shirt. Mydamp hair was swept into a neat ponytail and I was on my secondmartini. Lily was behind the bar of course, opposite me, surveyingthe steady trickle of customers.

"Hi,"said Solomon. He lifted my left hand and kissed the two rings on myfinger.

"Aww,"said Lily.

"Did youtwo have a good afternoon?" he asked.

"Meh," Isaid, lifting one shoulder and dropping it. There was no way Iwould admit to spending my afternoon dressed up like a glass ofbeer.

Solomonpulled up a bar stool near me and sat down before reaching into hispocket for his cellphone. "I saw a funny video earlier. I think itmight have been filmed right outside your bar," he told Lily. "Twopeople were dressed up as giant alcohol vessels. Did you hiresomeone to do that?"

"Oh,yeah," said Lily, winking at me.

"You sawa video?" I asked. "Where?"

"YouTube. Seventeen thousand views." Solomon turned hiscellphone screen towards us and I watched myself floundering on theground while Lily tried to pull me up. It didn't seem that longwhen I was down there but now that I saw the video, it turned outto be a full three minutes in duration.

"Seventeen thousand views?" I gulped.

"Twenty-four thousand now," said Solomon. "Lily, your bar isgoing viral."

"That'samazing!" Lily beamed.

"Canyou, um, see who the two people are?" I asked, transfixed by thehorror I was glimpsing on the small screen.

"No, butI figure that's a good thing. You might want to hire them again,"said Solomon. "It's pretty funny. Do you still have thosecostumes?"

"Oh,yes," said Lily, turning to me, her eyes widening.

"Time togo home," I said. There was no way I would go back out in that rigagain. I handed Solomon his phone and hopped off the stool beforehugging Lily quickly over the bar. Then I grabbed Solomon's handand tugged him after me. Nobody could talk me into putting thatcostume on ever again.

"You'reawfully eager to leave," said Solomon.

"I needto get you home immediately."

Solomonraised his eyebrows. "I'll drive very fast," he said.

"No,it’s not like..." I paused. What was I thinking? "Okay, maybe likethat," I said. "I missed you. Two weeks on our honeymoon and havingyou all to myself is over; now it's back to the real worldagain."

"Do youwant to take more time off?" he asked. "I thought you were lookingforward to going back to work."

"I am,"I told him, squeezing his hand as we walked towards his car. "ButI'm also looking forward to spending a quiet evening withyou."

"I'mhappy to hear that. I got you a gift," he added.

"Agift?"

"Something I thought you’d like. It's at home. Speaking ofhomes..."

"We needto make a decision," I finished for him. Solomon had a lovely,large, brick house in Chilton and I had a smaller, but verydelightful, yellow bungalow. Currently, we were living in thesmaller home and hadn’t decided which home would become ourpermanent residence. There was no point in having one house sittingempty.

"No, wejust need to talk about it. We don't have to make any decisionyet."

"Oh.Okay." The thumping that started in my chest instantly faded. Wegot into the car and Solomon drove home, pulling up at the curb. Iunlocked the door and Solomon followed me in. Waiting on theconsole was a bag from a high-end department store. I opened iteagerly and pulled out a gift box wrapped in silk ribbon. "This isso unexpected," I said, utterly thrilled.

Frombehind me, Solomon tucked his arms around me and rested his chin onmy shoulder. "Open it up," he said.

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