Page 29 of Love Bank
“I do not spew profanities. I enunciate them clearly like a fucking lady?”
“Amelia!” Lenora chastised her.
I laid my hand on Lenora’s. “No, it’s okay. She’s just reiterating my needlepoint phrase.” I shrugged. “Being a lady and cursing is not mutually exclusive.”
“I have to agree. You gotta teach me how to do that. I’d love to make some clever needlepoints like that and put them up at the hotel.”
The knot in my stomach eased and warmed. “You bet. It’s really easy actually if you have a pattern.” I furrowed my brow. “Are you talking about Hell Hotel?” It was actually Hill Hotel, but the font used on the big sign out front make it look like Hell with an E and the nickname stuck.
“Yep, Amelia is the manager of Hell Hotel. One of these days she’ll open up her own B&B and watch out, world!” Hazel proudly explained Amelia’s profession and I could see the love these three had for each other.
I thought back to the other day when I drove into town to Coffee. “Wait. Are you responsible for the sign in the parking lot of the hotel?”
That glint in her eye increased in wattage. “Why, yes, I am.”
I burst into laughter. “I fucking love reading that sign!”
Amelia smiled full out, those red lips of hers daring you not to smile in return. She bent at the waist and bowed.
“At your service.”
Last week it was something about meth heads and tiny dogs in purses not being welcome. This week it was “Imaginary friends stay free.” I couldn’t wait to see what she put up next.
When our laughter died down, Lenora looked around the room and squeezed my arm. “You have a lovely house, Lucille. Are you renting?”
“Oh, no. I own this house now. I mostly grew up here, actually, but my mom put the house in my name a while back.”
The place I called home was a single-level house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms and a postage stamp backyard. Standard, but functional. I was slowly putting touches of my personality around the place, making it more mine than my mom’s. I’d grown up here, but I was a full-fledged adult now, which meant I needed to feel like I’d moved into the place. Taking over the master bedroom had been a huge leap, one that only happened after she came back to town sometime last year in between trips and physically moved my stuff into the larger bedroom. The place needed renovating, but I’d get to that once my clinic was well established.
“Wow, that’s sure nice! I wish my grandma would do that.” Hazel pouted.
I shrugged. “Sure, it’s nice to own, but I still have to do a ton of maintenance on it and my mom’s not around Auburn Hill much anymore. She travels extensively. I mean, I’m happy for her, but sometimes I wish she were around more, you know?”
“Yeah, who wouldn’t want their mom in Hell with them?” Amelia smirked. “I’m a twenty-eight-year-old woman and I can’t get my mom to quit checking in on me every day. Thank God I live at the hotel or she’d be even nosier. I love my mom, but damn, give me some space. Don’t even get me started on my dad.” She rolled her eyes and I frowned.
Hazel nodded. “I swear your dad has eyes in the back of his head.”
“Who’s your dad?” I’d have to keep my own eye out for this astute father. I’d been acting erratically lately and there was no telling what I could get up to around the wrong people now that my filter was gone.
Amelia lifted one perfectly sculpted dark eyebrow and my own cried in envy. “My last name is Waldo.”
My jaw dropped open. “Your dad is Chief Waldo?”
“Ding, ding. We have a winner.”
“Ohhh, you’re a legend around here.” And I meant it. I’d heard about the chief’s daughter for years even though she was significantly younger than me and we hadn’t run in the same circles. Rumor said she was quite the handful. And the rumor mill in Hell was never wrong. Maybe exaggerated a bit for good storytelling, but never wrong.
Lenora stood up and clapped her hands. “We can talk all about this stuff later. First, we need to get Lucille to the bathroom where we will assess hair and makeup. After that, clothes shopping!”
The girls dragged me into the bathroom after asking politely which way it was. I directed them down the hallway and shook off their hands, leading my own damn self to what was surely to be a frenzy of pulling, tugging, spackling, and revealing. I still couldn’t decide if the butterflies in my stomach were there because I didn’t want to get made over or if they were there because I did and couldn’t wait to see the final outcome.
After we all filed into the small bathroom, I had a seat on the closed toilet lid and let them stare at me, hands on hips, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed. I felt like a spermatozoa under a microscope. Thankfully I kept a clean house and didn’t worry about their level of scrutiny expanding to my decor or level of cleanliness. Although right about now, when Lenora picked up a lock of my hair and got a frown on her face, I was wishing for some distraction.
“I think we need to lighten this up. It’s spring already and this light brown color just isn’t doing much for your skin tone.”
“Agreed,” Amelia said firmly.
Hazel nodded and I guessed that was that.
