Page 24 of Justice for Aleta

Jack and Matt talked about the ballgame that had been on the night before while Tiki and Aleta talked about god only knew what. Girl stuff. Jack didn’t know what that was, and he didn’t care. When Aleta excused herself to go to the restroom, Tiki leaned over, whispered something to Matt, and then said, “I’ll go with you. It’s over that way. Come on.”

They were barely out of sight when Matt leaned over to Jack. “You know how much Tiki loved Heather.” It was true?Jack’s fiancée and Tiki had been good friends, and he nodded. “She says she really likes Aleta. I didn’t know the two of you were seeing each other.”

“First date.” Jack really didn’t want to elaborate.

“Uh-huh. Does she know about…”

“Yeah. And I know more now. Haven’t gotten a chance to tell you. Complicated.” A quick glance told him the girls were on their way back. “Talk about it later. Hey, beautiful!” he said as Aleta stepped up beside him. “Ready for a beer?”

“Yeah! Order me something.”

He looked to Matt. “Smooth. Not hoppy.”

“I’d recommend the Irish red and that Scottish ale they have. Both are really good.”

Jack opened a tab at the bar and got one of each beer, then went back to the table to find Aleta, Tiki, and Matt laughing about something Aleta had seen on TV. “Oh! This is pretty!” she said as he set the glasses down on the table. “Which one’s which?”

“This is the red, and this is the ale. You try them both and the one you like the best is yours.”

Aleta took a sip of the red and looked like a baby who’d just tried its first lemon. “Ooooo. Uh, wow. Let me try this one.” She picked up the ale and took a sip of it with the same result. “Aagghhhh. Um, I dunno…”

“You don’t like either, right?” Jack asked, his face apologetic.

“Iwantto like one of them. I think I liked… I think the first one wasn’t so… I’ll take the first one,” she said, and he knew she was fumbling for something positive to say.

“Okay. Irish red it is. Just sip it. If it gets warm, you don’t have to drink it.”

“But you paid for…”

“If it gets warm, you don’t have to drink it,” he repeated sternly.

“Okay.” She sat back on her stool and took another sip. “Takes a little getting used to.”

“It does,” Tiki said, agreeing. “But once you do, you’ll like it, and the brewery scene will be fun. Have you been to any of the distilleries?” Aleta had lifted her glass, and she shook her head slightly. “You’ll have to get Jack to take you to a few. That’s loads of fun.”

“There’s a winery near the town where I grew up, Willisburg. I used to love going out there. It was a great time. Of course, I didn’t drink any wine.”

Tiki’s confusion was obvious. “You didn’t drink wine?”

“My late husband was a minister. We didn’t believe in drinking wine, but we’d go out there and sit in the swing by the vineyard, and eat cheese and crackers, and drink non-alcoholic wine. It was fun.”

“Ah. So you’ve never had beer before?” Tiki asked, her brows hiked up.

“No. This is new to me, but I have a new life. Jack’s helping me with that,” Aleta said, then took another sip of beer. “This stuff grows on you.”

“Like a fungus,” Matt said.

Jack laughed. “Kinda like me!”

“Yeah,justlike you!” Matt answered, laughing.

They sat and talked, ate popcorn, and drank beer for two hours. At some point, Aleta let one of her shoes slide off and hit the floor, and Jack had to retrieve it and help her put it back on. It wasn’t long after that when she got down off the stool to go to the restroom again and wobbled. That was the moment when Jack decided they’d have to go when she came back.

Sure enough, when she and Tiki sashayed back across the room, Aleta had a sappy smile on her face. “Hey, babe, look at me! I look cute, huh?” Her head bobbled just a bit and she was grinning like an idiot.

“Yeah. Real cute. Time to go. I need to take you home.”

“Oh, spoil sport! I’m having a good time! I want to stay a bit longer. Can’t we?” she whined like a seven year old.

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