Chapter 12
Why did the ketchup blush? Because he saw the salad dressing. ~ Text from Hailey to Pops
“Do you think she’ll show?” Suzie asks with her eyes trained on the front door of McGraw’s Pub.
“It’s not like you gave her a choice.”
Suzie spent the day prancing around like a chicken whenever Phoebe gave the slightest indication she wasn’t planning on coming to girls’ night out with us. Frankly, I can’t blame her for being apprehensive. Suzie can be a bit much to take at times.
“Hey, Suze,” Pops greets as he walks toward us.
He doesn’t bother asking her what she wants to drink. Why would he? Suzie spends nearly as much time here as I do. He pours her a Guinness and sets it in front of her. She sips it and swirls the liquid in her mouth as if she’s taste testing it. As if she hasn’t drunk a gazillion gallons of the Irish stout by now.
“Suzie!” Sid shouts as he enters the bar and walks our way. “When are you going to make an honest man of me?” He places his hand over his heart and bats his eyelashes.
Suzie giggles. “You couldn’t handle me if you tried.”
Wally grunts. “And the insurance premiums would kill him.”
“Hey!” She takes a swipe at him but almost falls off her bar stool. He grabs her shoulders to right her while shaking his head.
“How is sex like air?” Barney asks as he joins our group.
“They’re both free,” Suzie guesses.
Sid grunts. “Sex is never free.”
Barney looks around but no one ventures another guess. “Neither one is a big deal unless you aren’t getting any.” He laughs at his own joke and I reach over to high-five him.
“What are you two doing here tonight?” Lenny asks. “You haven’t had any more trouble, have you?”
I roll my eyes. “No.”
“Has the detective made any discoveries?” Wally asks.
“Yeah, Hails. Has the detective discovered anything?” Suzie mimics. “You spent enough time with him behind closed doors today.”
I glare at her. As if she hasn’t caused enough problems by reminding Aiden of my crush. I was a bumbling mess as we went through the files. For once, Aiden didn’t use my embarrassment against me. He pretended like everything was perfectly normal. And him being sweet didn’t make my heart go pitter-patter. Nope.
“I thought you were out of the country,” I address Wally and ignore Ms. Big Mouth. Wally often travels to unknown places for his work.
“Nope. I’m not taking any assignments until your situation is settled.”
“You can’t do that. I don’t want my little problem to affect your work.”
Wally grunts. “It’s done. No reason to talk about it further.”
He hates talking about his work, which only serves to make me curious as all get out. The man is a vault, though. He doesn’t give a single thing away. I only know he travels out of the country because he brought me a birthday present from Paris once. He claimed to have bought it in New York City, but I know how to Google. I know that particular Louis Vuittonbag is not sold in stores in the U.S.
“Um.” Phoebe clears her throat. “Suzie? Hailey?”
As one, the group of men turn to study Phoebe, whose eyes widen as she takes them in. Her hands tremble as she clasps them together before taking a cautious step back.
“You’re here!” Suzie jumps off her chair, lurches forward, and pulls Phoebe into a hug. “You came!”
I sigh as I stand. Poor Phoebe looks like she’s about to pass out. I pull Suzie away from her. “Let the woman breathe.” I take her hand. “This is my family.” I point to each of my uncles in turn. “Lenny. Barney. Wally. Sid.” Their eyes narrow as they study her. Oh boy, here we go.
“Last name,” Wally demands.