Page 52 of In Her Own Way
Mistress Shasti patted Jessica’s arm, smiled, and then headed out of the kitchen, her arms laden with warm bread and cold butter.
“Madison can be a lot,” Shanice whispered once Mistress Shasti was out of earshot.
“She was fine,” Jessica said. “You’re all wonderful. And where isyourlady knight? Or is she your lady wolf in this scenario?” She gestured to the red riding hood cloak.
“She’s the wolf, of course. She, Miss Jaleesa, Miss Riri, and Deshawn are down in the dungeon fixing something in the haunted house. Miss Lydia and Pammy are down there, too, helping.”
“Ahh, I guess we’ll see Miss Marta when we get down there then.”
“Yes,” Shanice said. “Miss Bernadette is going to wheel me there when it opens in a little while. We’re getting first dibs. Miss Riri said we should come down at exactly five o’clock. That’s only a few minutes from now. Yay.” She wiggled happily. “Have you met Miss Riri’s wife, Miss Bernadette?”
“Yes, at Dominique’s that night I met you.”
“Let’s go say hi, okay?”
Jessica let herself be led to the coffee shop owner’s wife. They said polite hellos, and Jessica simply could not get over the woman’s blue eyes. They were piercing. Kari thoughtshehad nice eyes, but wow. Bernadette donned two oven mitts and pulled an aluminum tray out of the oven.
“Bye, Miss Bernadette,” Shanice said with a giggle. And with that, she walked back to her veggie station on the other side of the kitchen.
“Bye,” Bernadette called after her. She laughed and said to Jessica, “Was it something I said?”
Jessica laughed. “Your black cat costume is incredible.” She noted the professional-looking makeup, furry ears, and painted-on paws. Bernadette even had a tail. The thin black collar around her neck had the tiniest bell on it, just like a cat collar. A lot of people were wearing collars at the party, and she’d seen more than one leash, too.
“Thank you,” Bernadette said. “Rikki hired Miss Harriet to create our costumes.” She pointed to one of the three flapper girls putting food together.
“Ahh, I remember Miss Harriet,” Jessica said. “Their flapper costumes are so cute. Different colors but similar styles.”
“Miss Harriet and Tina created them.” Bernadette pointed to Tina, who was clearly the boss of the kitchen at the moment.
“Shanice is positively smitten with you,” Bernadette said.
“You wouldn’t think so.”
“She’s had a rough start in life, and I think she’s either more enlightened than most of us or incredibly naïve. I rather think it’s the former, though. She’s very spiritual since her accident, and she seems to understand that what you and Miss Marta shared wasn’t something to be jealous of. She said it was part of Miss Marta’s soul growth to be with you for the time you shared together.”
“Whoa, that’s very generous.” Jessica was floored. “Thatisenlightened. I don’t know if I ever would have thought about it that way.”
“She’s a treasure,” Bernadette said. “She was one of the flower girls in my wedding.”
“Aww,” Jessica gushed. She could picture it. She grabbed a clean, wet rag when some of the baked ziti spilled on the counter as Bernadette stirred it.
“No, no, no,” Bernadette scolded gently. “You’re a guest here. Miss Rowena would not be pleased if we let you work.”
Jessica rinsed the dishrag in the sink and laid it methodically over the high-end rack. She grinned as she backed away slowly. Bernadette smiled and then winked at her playfully. Wow, everything in this kitchen was high-end. As she was gawking at the obvious wealth of her host’s home, Bernadette interrupted her thoughts by introducing her to Tina, Dana, and Harriet. Jessica remembered them from the coffee shop that day, and her heart filled with warmth when they welcomed her.
Tina touched Jessica on the arm and said, “We’re all service subs in one fashion or another.” Her platinum blonde, asymmetrical hairstyle suited her face perfectly. Jessica made a mental note to find out who did Tina’s hair.
“Miss Jaleesa knows that it fills our hearts to help,” the older woman named Harriet said.
“Will you go to the haunted house, Jessica?” the cute young woman with the shortest afro she’d ever seen asked her. Shoot, what was her name again? She’d just had it. Dana, that was it.
“I’m planning on it, Dana,” Jessica said, using a time-tested teacher trick of saying the name out loud to reinforce it. “And you?”
“Oh, yeah. We’re supposed to stagger our times going down there or something. I’ll just go when Tina tells me.”
Bernadette appeared at Jessica’s elbow, the tray of baked ziti in her hands. “You’ll be my lead in, okay? Clear a path for me to the food tables?”
“Will do.” Hooray, some way to help. Perfect. Jessica excused herself from the women still working in the kitchen and blazed a steady trail to the tables. Calls of “Coming through” and “Hot plate” helped her part the throng of partygoers.
