Page 5 of Arse Over Irish Teacup
“Nah. He was trying to get Beth’s attention. Only puny yuppies would eat that rabbit food. And no puny yuppy would get the time of day from our girl.”
“Thank the Lord for that.”
“Lauren, my throat is as dry as a jockey’s crotch.”
In other words, Gram wanted a refill of whiskey. Lauren grinned and poured her another. Then nearly dropped the bottle when Gram made her play. “Pocket rockets, Gram? Seriously?” She slid Gram’s glass across the table, then Lauren looked over her cards.
Gram took a sip of whiskey and another. “Are you going to play anytime soon? I am dying, you know.”
“Keep your hair on, old woman.”
“Don’t lose hope. Bethany’s life is about to change. I can feel it.”
“It’s not like you to be so mystical, Gram.”
“I’m old and with age comes wisdom. I don’t need your tarot cards to know that our Bethany will find love.” Gram took another drink. “Now are you going to play or should I take a nap?”
ChapterThree
Beth arrivedhome to find Lauren watching the end ofAn Officer and a Gentlemanby herself. Beth flopped beside her, swinging her feet over Lauren’s lap.
Lauren unbuckled Beth’s shoes and slipped them off her feet. “Do you need an ice pack?”
“No.”
“You didn’t trip? I’m impressed! My Beth is all grown up.”
“Not quite. I did trip, but I fell into the waiter.”
Familiar with what was coming next, Lauren cringed.
“I sort of made him drop his tray of clams.” Beth sailed her hand through the air. “One landed in Danny’s wine,” Beth said with a laughing snort.
Just another night out with Beth. “So how was it?”
“I don’t think he’s going to call again which I won’t mind. He was kind of a jerk. But something tells me you already knew that.”
If Beth said he was “kind of a jerk” that meant he was a total schmuck. One of Beth’s qualities, that was also her downfall, was that she believed the best in everyone. She wasn’t naïve per se. She was trusting and focused on the good in people. It hadn’t yet occurred to Beth that people were often jerks and didn’t deserve her benefit of the doubt.
“I might have guessed but let’s ask the cards.”
Beth didn’t believe in “asking the cards” but in the years of their friendship she had learned that when it came to Lauren’s quirks it was better to just go with it.
Lauren returned with a new deck of tarot cards in her hand and sat down on the carpet on the opposite side of the coffee table. “I bought these in a moment of madness the other day.”
Tarot cards with Disney characters on them. A moment of madness was right! Beth laughed as she shuffled and glanced at a few cards. Ursula, Captain Hook, Maleficent. Every villain Disney had all drawn in a dark, artistic fashion. Beth decided they were quite pretty, but she much preferred the look of Lauren’s fairy-themed deck.
Lauren gave the cards a quick shuffle, then asked if Danny Scott was going to call again and flipped up a card. The Fool. Lauren knew he was definitely a fool. Most times the card would mean something like taking a leap of faith but she was going to take the card literally. No more cards needed to be flipped.
Beth chuckled. “Danny did all the talking. He’s an estate ravager.”
“A what?”
“He reads the obituaries and swoops in to buy up the estate of anything valuable.”
“That would explain how he got the sports car. He probably snatched it from an old man living out his second childhood.”
“Danny paid me a nice compliment just before insulting me. He said I smelled sweet, and that I had the most beautiful face, but wondered if I had ever considered losing a few pounds.”
