Page 25 of Love Unforgettable
“She’s got gumption that’s for sure, Miss Mavis,” I say with a smile. Realizing I like it when Lexie gets her hackles up.
“Oh my, Cole,” Mavis says. “It is true, yes. Oh, Ikvell. Mybubala, so beautiful, but also so smart and successful too.”
“My hat’s off to you, Miss Mavis,” I say.
“Okay, can we talk about something else, please?” Lexie asks, her voice clipped. “Tell me how you two met?” Mavis reaches for her martini and takes a drink, watching us, leaving me to answer. Before I can, the server comes to take our order. Mavis puts hers in, obviously having already decided. But Lexie seems indecisive, flipping back and forth between two pages in the menu.
I look at the server and try to buy a little time. “I’ll tell you, ma’am. I'm so hungry I could eat the north end of a south-bound bull. So, I’m hoping maybe you’ve got something delicious in your specials to fill up abigguy like me?” I emphasize the word big, just for Lexie, then wink at the server and smile. She smiles back.
“Pfft.” Lexie makes a noise that is somewhere between a snort and a cough.
“You okay there, darlin’?” I ask her. “That chest tickle coming back from earlier?” Her grip on the menu tightens, and her knuckles start to whiten.
“You got any hot tea with lemon back there you could bring out here, ma’am? Maybe a little shot of Jack to go with it?” I ask our server. Then turn back to Lexie to let her know, “My pappy always said that’s the best thing for a frog in your throat.”
I feel Lexie’s glare before I see it. “I don’t have a frog or a ribbit or a tickle in my throat and I don’t need any tea. Thank you.” She puts her menu down and faces off with the server. “Can we just hear the specials, please?”
As it ends up, Lexie and I both order from the specials’ menu. Her the grilled halibut with some kind of fancy sounding white wine, and me the surf and turf for two with a Jack and Coke.
“Oy vey, so long you take to order. A woman grows old waiting. You turn me to askeyne, bubala,” Mavis says.
“Well, if this one hadn’t been interrupting everything with ridiculous requests for tea.” Lexie gestures at me with her thumb. “It would have gone much faster.”
I hold my hands up. “I was just tryin’ to help, darlin’.”
“Bubala, such the rude words from your mouth,” Mavis scolds.
Lexie looks sharply at Mavis, and then down at her glass of wine, twirling the liquid slightly. “I’m sorry,bubbe. I don’t mean to be rude.”
She looks to me, then puts her hand on my shoulder. A touch that I feel clear down to my dick. “I’m sorry, Cole. That was not a nice thing to say.”
I clear my throat, then say, “Don’t you fret none, darlin’, it’s already forgotten.”
“Please don’t call me darling,” she grits out.
“You got it, sweetness,” I say, laying the southern charm on thick.
She glares at me. Again.
I wink in return.
Mavis stops a passing server and orders us another round of drinks. I’ve hardly had a swig of my first. Not like Jack and Coke is hard to drink multiples of. Besides, one barely wets the whistle, let me get to my fourth and we’ll talk.
“You were going to tell me how you and my grandmother met,” Lexie reminds me.
“That I was. Well, Miss Mavis here is a friend of my grandmother’s, Miss Barbara Barnett. Babs for short.”
“I thought you said your last name was Mason?” Lexie asks.
“It is. Mason is my mother’s married name.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Lexie says. “Bubbe, didn’t the Barnett’s used to have property near the vineyards?”
“Still do,” I say answering for Mavis. “This is if you are talkin’ ‘bout the property I think you are. That’s actually why I’m here. I’m getting Babs and Pappy’s ranch back up and running, since Pappy passed.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Lexie says.
“’Preciate that. It’s been a good bout of time, but he’s still sorely missed.”
