Page 5 of Whiskey and Whispers
“The florist is so creative,” Rachel gushed. “I feel like I’m in an English garden.”
The happy couple had always been eye-catching, both far above average in looks, and tonight was no exception. With their blond hair and gold tans from a recent vacation to the Caribbean, they could have been Malibu Ken and Barbie.
Even in high school, they’d been the dream couple. Homecoming king and queen, prom king and queen, footballplayer and cheerleader. And they’d had the bonus of being genuinely nice people, too. There had never been any of that snobby bullshit or mean girl stuff. They’d been true friends. The kind you call in the middle of the night for shovels to bury a body.
The only sad thing in their life was their inability to have children. They’d always wanted two or three, but fate had gone in another direction. The couple had rallied by adopting several down-on-their-luck canines who were spoiled and adored.
“Where are the pooches?” Tate asked.
“At a doggy hotel for the night. Don’t worry about them. They’re getting baths and a doggy massage, and they even have a king-sized bed and a big-screen television in their room. They’re living the life, man,” Josh laughed. “We should all be so lucky.”
Josh’s cheeks were slightly pink, and Tate didn’t know if it was from the chilly weather on the back patio or the double whiskey in the highball glass that was currently in Josh’s hand. Josh was a known partier, but he always kept it in control.
“Listen,” Josh said, leaning closer to Tate so his voice couldn’t be overheard. “Your old man called and said that he and Kim wouldn’t make it tonight, butshe’shere.”
It was a relief that Joel had decided to be a no-show. There would be no angry confrontations about private investigators or ungrateful children.
“It’s fine,” Tate assured his friend. “It’s not a big deal, and I don’t want to make it one. It’s been over a decade at this point since she left. We’ve all moved on.”
“We just wanted to make sure,” Josh replied. “We didn’t want to make this awkward, and there really wasn’t a way to tell her she wasn’t invited.”
“No reason to. I have no doubt we can be in the same room and be fine about it.”
Josh looked like he wanted to say more, but his business partner, Leo, had appeared, looking none too happy. Tate stepped back, not wanting to be in the way if they needed to talk. Josh and Leo owned two local restaurants, along with a few other small businesses in the county, and were an extremely successful team. Josh always said that Leo had the head for numbers and that he had the head for sales.
Glen Whitaker, another old friend from high school, sidled up next to Tate, who had retreated several feet from Josh and Leo.
“You need a drink.”
Glen was now an emergency room nurse at the hospital. His wife, Winnie, was also in real estate with Rachel.
“I do need a drink,” Tate agreed. “I think we need to leave them alone.”
In only a few seconds, Leo and Josh appeared to be going at each other pretty good. Leo was waving his finger in Josh’s angry red face, while Leo’s wife, Shelly, had also started berating Rachel.
It wasn’t clear what the beef was between them. Tate heard a few words here and there, such as “underhanded” and “liar,” but there wasn’t enough to put together a complete argument. At one point, Leo told Josh that he would be sorry, but he didn’t say what it would be about. It was clear, however, that the two couples weren’t happy with one another. Rachel also looked puzzled, as if she didn’t know what was going on either.
Accepting a whiskey from Glen, Tate tried to tune out the discord around him. It wasn’t the first time Leo and Josh had disagreed about something, although usually Shelly didn’t join in.
“He deserves it, you know,” Diane said, another friend from high school. She and her husband, Larry, ran a popular daycare that always had a long waiting list. “It was far past due.”
Diane was sipping at a martini, her gaze on Josh and Leo. Larry walked up next to her and placed an arm around her shoulders.
“You don’t know that for sure,” Larry said to his wife, taking a sip from his beer bottle. “Besides, Leo and Josh work better together when there is some friction. They make better decisions.”
“Says Josh,” Diane shot back. “Has anyone asked Leo about that?”
“Leo is Leo,” Winnie sighed. “He’ll never change. You know how he gets. He takes everything so personally.”
“Maybe it is personal,” Diane argued. “And we all know how Josh is. He’s perfected the art of procrastination. He’ll put off the tiniest, easiest, and most mundane task, hoping someone else will take care of it.”
That did sound like Josh. They’d kidded him in the past that he was going to become a procrastinator, but that he’d put it off for a while. Somehow, he still managed to get things done. Usually, when it couldn’t be delayed another second longer.
“Leo told me that Josh isn’t pulling his weight at the business,” Diane explained. “He’s been flaking out on Leo all the time.”
“Then what’s he doing?” Winnie asked. “Rachel says that Josh works almost constantly. She has to convince him to take any time off.”
“I don’t know what Josh is doing, but he needs to pull it together. As for Rachel, this isn’t the first time she hasn’t had a clue what’s going on with him. Remember the appendicitis incident?”
