Page 20 of My Casanova

She giggled and poked me in the chest. “I don’t get hangovers.”

I smirked. “Famous last words.”

Yarder clapped me on the back. “I’ll take care of the girls. You got Dani and Stan?”

“Yeah, I got her.”

Yarder grinned. “Good luck, brother.”

The girls finally started heading toward the door, arms loaded with bags and bottles, while laughing and stumbling over each other.

Dani watched them go with a dreamy smile. “We should do this more often,” she called.

“I slipped some money in the till. Let me know if we owe you any more,” Yarder called to Dani.

She waved her hand in the air. “It’s all on the house.”

Yeah, all the shit the girls were carrying out was not on the house. “I’ll remind her tomorrow.”

Yarder smirked. “Sounds good. Be careful.”

I nodded as Yarder turned his attention to the group of women who were still laughing and chatting and completely oblivious to the world outside their little cheese-and-wine-fueled bubble. Yarder herded Poppy, Sloane, Dove, Olive, Adalee, and Fallon out of the shop, which was like wrangling a pack of wild puppies. They moved in different directions, stopped to giggle about something, or grabbed another jar ofolives. Yarder guided them with the patience of a saint and steered them toward the door with a call over his shoulder to add a jar of olives to his tab. Fallon tried to slip back in to grab a bottle of wine by the door, but Yarder caught her by the elbow and dragged her out.

“You’re not going with them?” Dani asked as she leaned against the register and twirled a strand of her hair between her fingers.

I shook my head. “I’ve got my hands full here.”

Stan was half-lying on the cheese case while munching on a piece of cheese like he didn’t have a care in the world. Yeah, I definitely had my hands full.

“You guys need to do anything before we lock up?” I asked.

Dani quirked her lips. “I mean, I don’t think so.” She turned to Stan. “Close the cheese door.”

Stan blinked. “We have a cheese door?”

Dani rolled her eyes. “The door your foot is in right now.”

Stan looked down at his foot, which was indeed propped inside the cheese case. “Oh, the cheese door.” He slid his feet off and shut it with a flourish. “You should have said the cheese door.”

Dani looked at me, exasperated. “Didn’t I say cheese door?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “The drunk talking to the drunk is always amusing. Anything else we need to do, or can the rest wait until tomorrow?”

“Just turn off the lights,” Dani said and pushed her hair out of her face. “I just want you to know this is not normal.”

I chuckled and headed to the back room to turn off the lights. “Oh, trust me. I know this isn’t normal. This is the ol’ lady effect. Those six go somewhere together, and all hell breaks loose.”

Stan moved away from the cheese case and smoothed his hand down his chest. “I think I might need to walk home.”

I shook my head. “You’re not walking. I’ll take both of you home. We’ll figure out your car tomorrow.”

Dani grabbed her purse from under the counter and slung it over her shoulder.

Stan patted his chest. “I don’t have a purse.”

Dani and Stan fell into a fit of laughter.

“You have a wallet,” she wheezed.

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