Page 51 of Time Served in New York
“Is this where all the cool kids hang out?”
“Most definitely,” Paula said as one of the women handed her a basket of fries. “Unlimited french fries. Yum.”
“They’ve gotthe bestseasoning,” Maylee agreed as she picked a fry from the basket beside her. “She said that she’d share her secret if we could guess one of the ingredients.”
“How long have all of you been back here?”
“We go back out for a spin around the dance floor with one of the guys and then sneak back in here to hang out. We’re still making our appearance, but a person can only take so much,” Pandora explained. “Whose turn is it, anyway?”
Paula let out a dramatic sigh. “It’s mine. The guys played rock-paper-scissors and Preacher lost. That’s cool because Hook danced with Maylee earlier.”
“I’m up after you,” Pandora said. “I think I’ve got Soda, but he was grumbling about it, so he may have traded.”
I leaned against the counter next to Maylee and sighed. “I wish I’d known all of you were back here sooner. My face hurts from having that stupid fake smile pasted on forever.”
“I don’t know how you held it together for so long,” Paula said with an exaggerated shudder. “I had almost forgotten what it was like to be a Moretti, but it all came crashing back tonight, that’s for damn sure.”
“They’re all watching me like . . . like I don’t know what.”
“Back when you lived here and saw someone from one of our families, how didyoulook at them?” Paula asked. I bit my lip, wondering how to best explain it without offending anyone. Paula laughed and then urged, “Come on, Bernadette. Don’t be a pussy. Spit it out.”
“I always tried to see the difference in us because I thought all of you were criminals and murderers who should be in prison.”
“Well, you are quite possibly right about most of them, but then again, look at who you run with now,” Maylee pointed out with a bark of laughter.
“True,” I agreed. I snagged a french fry and heard Paula growl. After I’d finished it, I reached for another and said, “Thosearegood.”
“Delicious,” Paula said before she took another bite. “Paprika?”
The woman standing at the grill nodded, and Paula and Maylee let out a whoop of delight.
The door opened, and Boss stuck his head in before he said, “Paula, we’re up.”
“Shit,” Paula hissed as she hopped off the counter and thrust her fries at me. “It’s my turn to dance. I’ll be back in five minutes.”
“I’m next,” Pandora said before she took a big bite of her burger. “Are you still hungry, Bernadette? These burgers are delicious.”
The woman at the grill looked at me with her eyebrows raised, and I smiled at her before I said, “I’d love a burger if it’s not too much trouble.”
“No trouble at all,” she said as she reached into an industrial-sized refrigerator and brought out a couple of patties. “Double with bacon and cheese?”
My stomach rumbled loudly, and I nodded. “Can you make two of those? I bet Valentine would love one.”
“Are you not enjoying yourselves either?” I asked Pandora and Maylee.
“It’s not my kind of crowd,” Pandora confessed. “I don’t know anyone, and when I smile or try to engage any of them in conversation, all they want to do is ask me questions about you, Frankie, and Paula.”
“I’m perfectly comfortable out there, but I was having that same issue,” Maylee admitted.
“What kind of questions did they ask?”
Pandora looked thoughtful for a second as she finished chewing, then said, “If we’re all involved in the family business. Or, this one killed me, if the cowboys in Texas were okay with ‘people like us’ making our home there.”
I snorted with laughter. “They’re just all over, huh? Cowboys wearing spurs, tying up their horses in front of the general store.”
“I guess,” Pandora said as she rolled her eyes. “Marler dragged me back here after he heard me tell a woman that I needed to get back home so I could check my cattle.”
Just then, Paula breezed into the kitchen and hopped back up onto the counter so she could dive back into her fries. Before she took a bite, she said, “You’re up, chica.”
