Page 60 of Surviving in Everton

“Well, I wouldn’t want you to drink it if he didn’t make it to your standards.”

She preens at my comment and I have to force myself not to sneer.

“Speaking of drinks. What are you drinking tonight? I’ll go say hi to Nate and get our first round.”

“Oh, thank you, Hudson. That’s so sweet! I’ll have a White Cosmopolitan. With top-shelf citrus vodka, Cointreau orange liqueur, and a splash ofwhitecranberry juice. Make sure he shakes it and double strains it. Oh, and don’t forget the orange twist.”

Oh, Jesus. This potion better work fast, because I don’t know how much of this shit I can take.

“Sure thing.” I smile at her as I get up and walk over to the bar.

“Lovely company you have tonight,” Nate sneers loud enough that Britney is sure to hear him.

“Shut up, Nate. It’s just a couple friends getting a drink,” I retort loudly.

“I need a glass of Glenlivet, and don’t measure. Britney will take aWhiteCosmo. Shaken, not stirred, with an orange twist.”

He rolls his eyes as I instruct him how to make a drink he’s perfectly capable of making, then turns around to mix it, with an extra special ingredient added. When the job is done, he hands me the two ice cold glasses. I take a gulp of my scotch to give me the boost of willpower I need to return to that table. I’m doing this for Rowen. I repeat the mantra all the way back to Britney.

“Here you go. Shaken not stirred,” I wink at her then sit back down.

She giggles at my James Bond impression then delicately, takes a sip. “Mmmm. This is really good! I’m surprised Nate can make these. I’m sure he’s more used to pouring shots and popping tops off of beers.” She shivers in disgust.

“Well, I’m a fan of an easy drink.” I hold up my glass and take another sip.

“Yes, but that’s aman’sdrink. Just like this,” she holds up her glass. “Is awoman’sdrink.” She takes another sip before she puts it back down.

Ugh. Will you just drink the damn thing! I smile at her and take another drink of my Glenlivet, hoping her seeing me drinking will get her to drink more. Thank fuck it works and she starts drinking again.

“So how was your day?” I attempt to make small talk.

“Oh, it was great! I love it when Emma has school. She’s such a pain in the ass. It’s so nice to get a break from her every day.”

Wow. I can’t believe she just fucking said that to me. And she’s acting like that was perfectly okay and normal. The potion must be working. I decide to ease into my questions just to be sure. Thank god, West hooked me up with this button camera. I don’t know what he did, or is doing to it, but he said it would start recording when I walked into the bar.

“Where’s your husband at? Doesn’t he help you with Emma?”

“Oh, no. He died months ago.” She waves her hand dismissively.

What the fuck! “He died? I didn’t know about that. Did I miss the funeral?”

“No! There was no funeral.” She giggles drunkenly. “No one even knows. He’s in my basement. I put a spell on his body so it doesn’t decompose and stink up my house.”

“Wow. How’d he die?”

“Who?”

“How’d Jim die?”

“Oh, that idiot just outlived his usefulness, I suppose. I don’t honestly know what happened to him. Something to do with magic, I’m sure. But you know I’ve never been particularly good with that.”

“Magic killed him?” I tilt my head as I hand her more rope to hang herself with.

“Who’d magic kill?”

Oh god this memory spell is getting annoying. “You said magic killed Jim. How?”

“Oh, yeah. I mean, I used his magic to make this spell for this potion, and I guess it kinda backfired. Like it was supposed to just take a little bit of his magic… but I guess it didn’t really stop? So eventually he just lost all of his magic and died.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal she just admitted she killed her husband by slowly sucking his magic from him.

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