Ruby kept the music low so as not to attract attention from her neighbors. Her house was a lovely shotgun not far from the club on Magazine Street. Beads hung from the trees outside her front door. The porch was small but perfect for morning coffee for two. The inside was clean, warm, and awash in the cool blues and greens of a beach retreat.
Joey had been waiting outside. When we pulled up in Crystal’s car, Billie jumped out before she’d even fully stopped, making a beeline for Joey’s giant arms. He held her for such a long time that Neeta, Crystal, and I gave up waiting for her.
Now, Billie strolled past us down the hall, hand in hand with her tall, handsome bartender.
Ruby had informed us there was a pool in the back, so that’s where we headed. I wanted to walk straight into a soft bed, but Neeta wouldn’t hear of it.
“Let’s have one last night with the people we love,” she’d said in the car.
Crystal had now been brought up to speed, and although terrified for the three of us, she supported our decision to find a new place to call home for the foreseeable future. It helped that she had added to the money given to us by Ruby with her own fat stack of cash, plus the keys to her gray SUV.
I lingered, alone in Ruby’s hallway, gazing at paintings of ocean waves that looked original. Maybe we should head to a beautiful beach somewhere. There were no ocean beaches in Colorado, our true destination.
Billie whooped, Neeta shrieked, followed by a loud splash. Someone had gone in the pool whether they wanted to or not. I turned the corner and was mowed over by the sight. Billie stood with a red plastic cup gripped in one hand, the other pointing into the water while she almost doubled over from laughter. Her ability to forget the present had me mystified. I imagined that the only way to get through sleeping with all those men was to forget it as soon as it was over. It was a coping mechanism I envied.
“Not funny, Wilhelmina.” Neeta was treading water, wiping droplets away from her eyes.
“I told you never to call me that, Neeta. Now you’ve done it.” Billie stood over her, one hand on an exposed hip. She had dressed in a turquoise blue bikini top over a pair of daisy dukes, her butterfly tattoo on full display.
“Wait, Billie, is that your name?” I walked toward them. I’d never thought about what Billie could be short for. Now it made sense. “I wish I had known sooner.”
“We never talk about the name,” Billie deadpanned. Her demeanor switched with the wink of one dark brown eye. She gestured around her. “Welcome to the party.”
The pool area was much nicer than I had anticipated. The bright, azure blue of the pool tiles glinted in the patio lights reflecting off the surface of the water. Everything looked brand new. There were plenty of white lounge chairs, not plastic but fabric, dotted around the edge of the water. The evening was just the perfect temperature for swimming. It was hot but not sweltering.
Crystal waved from one of the loungers as she relaxed on the opposite side of the pool, a drink in her hand. She wore a short yellow sundress, her bare feet hanging over the end of the chair.
I waved back. Everyone had made themselves at home.
There was a table behind Crystal with a green plastic cover. The top was littered with red cups and liquor bottles. Something in a box, presumably a cake, sat in the center. Two balloons tied to a table leg fought each other in the night sky. One was a giant butterfly, the other said, “Get well soon.”
I just shook my head. “How did Ruby have time for this, and where is she?” I looked around me in awe.
“She ran upstairs to change.” Neeta doggy paddled in the pool.
I glanced at Billie, my gaze moving over her and toward Neeta who was now pulling herself out of the pool. These were two of three people I wished would remain in my life forever.
Neeta pulled off her soaking wet t-shirt. Her silver nipple ring, sliding out from beneath her bra cup, glinted in the artificial light, and I thought about how shocked I was when I first saw it and how silly that had been. “The second you set down that cup, your ass is going in.” She threw the shirt at Billie.
“Yuck.” She squealed, hopping back two steps as the wet shirt slapped her feet.
Neeta went to pull the cup out of Billie’s hands.
She flinched back. “Oh, no you don’t. This cup isn’t leaving my grasp all night. I don’t care if I have to glue it to my palm.” She took a drink.
“It was nice of Joey to come. I bet you’re going to miss him.” I meant it, although the sentiment didn’t quite make it to my voice. I was thinking of Ash and how badly I wanted to see her one last time.
Behind me there was a clack of heels smacking over pavement. Neeta threw up her arms. “Now it’s a party.”
Ruby, Penelope, and Sharon Leigh were rounding the corner. Ruby, in a red swimsuit to die for with a sarong wrapped around her waist, held a paper grocery bag, a bag of chips poking out from the top. Penelope and Sharon each clutched a different bottle of alcoholic something.
“The girls brought more provisions,” Ruby said as she set down the bag.
Billie nudged me. “There’s lemonade and Coke, too. I got you.”
“Did anyone hear from Ash?” I knew the question was stupid the second I asked it, but I had to know.
Billie shook her head.
I tried smiling as I moved past her to pour some lemonade. There wasn’t anything to do but shrug off my mistakes. My friends and I were here now, and I’d be damned if I would let this moment pass me by without appreciating it.
It wasn’t long before the party was in full swing. The adults helped themselves to drink after drink. Billie finally released her cup at Joey’s behest, and they were now frolicking in the water, his strong arms swinging her around while she squealed. I sat at the edge watching and laughing, my legs dangling in the water.
An inebriated Neeta jumped in. “Okay, ya’ll,” she announced. “It’s time for some games. Everyone in for Marco Polo.” She splashed me in the face. “Okay, I have to know something. Why did Trapper always call you Manners?”
“Because I’m polite.”
“I’m polite. Why did he never give me a nickname? Billie, did you have a nickname?” Neeta twisted in the water.
“Not one that I want to know about.”
The group roared with laughter.
Neeta faced me. “Whatever. You’re it. Close your eyes. We use the honor system here.”
More laughter, but I did as I was told. I squeezed my eyes shut as I waded through the water. “Marco!” I called.
“Polo!” The word was shouted all around me. I reached out, hitting nothing but air. I could hear the bodies moving and twisting in the water, waves crashing against my arms as I flung them out. Billie’s giggle erupted to my left, Neeta shushed her to my right. I reached toward her—again touching nothing.
“Marco!” I shouted, again.
Silence.
“You guys are supposed to yell Polo.” I opened my eyes, half expecting the pool to be empty, everyone pranking me by disappearing. Neeta, Ruby, and Billie were all in front of me. They stared at something behind me. My body went rigid. I knew who it was.
Billie pulled on Neeta’s arm.
“Don’t leave,” I mouthed at her. She nodded at me before I turned around to face Ash, who stood with one hand against the back of a vacant lounge chair. I waded over to the side, the others deathly quiet as I did so.
Ruby seemed to be the only one who didn’t understand what was going on. Behind me, I heard her ask someone, “What do I not know?” Only to be shushed by whoever she asked.
I got out and snatched the nearest towel, hugging it to me, grabbing up a corner to wipe my face.
Ash looked dressed for a party, just not this kind. She wore freshly pressed black slacks with a crisp, button-down white shirt, a black tie, untied and hanging around her neck—delectable. Her short, dark hair was pomaded back from her face, a face I wanted to take in my hands and kiss. I didn’t. Instead, I stood opposite her, dripping water onto the concrete. “Hey, I’m so glad you came.”
Ash looked at me with her devastatingly warm eyes. She blinked, a slight curve playing at the corners of her mouth. “I realized that I’d probably really regret it if I just let you leave. It didn’t even take much convincing.” She tilted her head to side, inclining it to someone in the pool.
“Which of the two?” I asked.
“Both.” She laughed. Her throaty chuckle inspiring me to join her.
“What would I do without them?” I turned and stuck out my tongue in the general direction of Billie and Neeta who bobbed up and down in the pool side by side.
“You’re welcome, babe,” Neeta called.
I turned my attention back to Ash. “Look, I’m out of apologies. I want you to know that this wasn’t just something I was trying on.” I made a face. “Okay, maybe it was at first, but what I feel for you is real. I love you, like really love you, and I hope that we can find a way to keep in touch. I can’t stand the thought of never seeing or talking to you again.”
“I love you, too, Miranda. That’s why this sucks so bad.” Ash took a deep breath. “And there’s no way you’ll get rid of me so easily. Just because you’re on the run, which is kind of sexy, like Billy the Kid or something, means nothing. You never know what will happen in the future. Maybe I’ll end up wherever you are someday, or you’ll wind up back here.”
I took a step forward. Through a strangled breath, I said, “Come here.”
Ash stepped right up to me, her hands clasping each side of my face, my hair dripping onto her hands.
I moved my hand up between our bodies to trace the line of her strong jaw. I ached. I trailed my hand from her face, down her neck, across her chest, and encircled her waist, pulling our bodies more tightly together.
Ash nipped at my nose, and I swear my knees melted. It was a good thing she held my face so firmly. Our lips met. My eyes closed. I felt the sparks move through my body like little starbursts, my wet body pressed against her dry one.
Behind me applause erupted, followed by Billie’s signature, “Whoop!”
“Why does no one ever tell me anything,” Ruby whined.
Ash laughed against my lips, pulling back to look me in the eye. “I’m not swimming, but Ruby did invite me to the sleepover. Looks like it’s going to be a full house, but consider me in.”
We spent the next two hours laughing with our friends. Slowly, Penelope and Sharon made their exit. They encircled Billie, Neeta, and I in their arms in one huge bear hug, then disappeared into the night. I was not likely to see them again.
Joey left next, offering me a high five, and a “Good luck, kid.” He pulled Billie into an embrace, kissing her so passionately, Neeta rolled her eyes, and yelled, “Get a room for the love of my eyes.” He had to open the bar early so he couldn’t stay. When Billie stepped out of his arms, her small frame trembling, she kept her back to us for some time.
Crystal was the last to go. Never having been in the water, she was as fresh as the moment she arrived in her pretty summer dress as bright as a sunflower. She threw her arms around me, then Billie, then her daughter, her eyes red and dripping tears. She pulled a container of chocolate chip cookies from her ottoman sized handbag. “For the road.” She pulled Neeta into another hug so fierce I thought she may break her bones. There weren’t many dry eyes at that point. She kissed me on the cheek, planted the Tupperware in my waiting hands, and left us to get in her cab.
Billie started cleaning up and promptly fell over. She tumbled over a lounge chair, landing hard on the concrete. “Ouch.” She rubbed her leg as she struggled to stand.
Ruby shook her head. “Time for bed, girls. I’m a late sleeper so I’m going to say goodbye now.” She pulled up Billie, holding her tight, then passed her to me with a kiss on the cheek. “You girls, you take care of each other.”
Billie cackled a laugh as Neeta swung her over her shoulder.
“My knight in shining armor,” she shrieked as Neeta grunted.
Ash started flinging empty bottles in the trash can. “Your friends can really put ‘em back. Billie is going to have a hell of a headache tomorrow.”
“Not unusual for her. There’s only one unopened bottle.” I held up the bottle of champagne. “Ruby must have meant us to all drink this as an ending toast.”
“Instead, Billie’s toast,” Ash quipped, and I laughed.
“How is tonight going to work? Billie wanted us all to sleep in the same room, but she’ll probably be passed out when we get up there.”
Ash looked at me, her eyebrows raised. “I’d say it can work however we want. Ruby said to take any open room we wanted. Let’s go to their room, see if they’re even still conscious. If not, I’m all for one last night just the two of us.”
I could have sworn my ankles quaked. “I like the sound of that.”
By the time everyone left, and we finished cleaning up, the house was silent. We made our way upstairs, tiptoeing so as not to disturb anyone. It was clear there would be no sleepover.
We peeked into a bedroom to find both Billie and Neeta passed out, each in a different single bed just like a 1950s sitcom.
“This has been the most perfect goodbye. Everyone had fun.” I dropped a kiss onto each of their foreheads before I left. They didn’t move a muscle.
****
Ash and I spent one last magical night together. To describe the night as the best of my life would be trite, but up until that moment, it was true, nonetheless.
Morning came too soon. I showered while Ash waited for me, then dressed in a comfortable sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers for the long drive. This was not the time for vintage dresses and high heeled shoes. Those things were long gone.
Crystal’s SUV was packed the night before and we left the rooms spotless except for the unmade beds. Neeta was going to drive the first leg, while Billie slept in the backseat.
I stood in front of Ash on the gardenia-scented sidewalk, my hands fidgeting at my sides like I didn’t know what to do with them.
Ash ran her palms down my arms until our hands met. I trembled under her touch. She brought my hands up to her mouth and kissed one then the other. “Drive carefully. Call me the second you can. If you get sleepy, pull over.”
I couldn’t speak. All I could do was nod.
“Don’t watch us drive away, okay?” I croaked through bleary eyes.
Before she could respond, I slipped in the passenger seat. I didn’t look back. I collapsed against the window. Neeta reached over a hand and patted my leg. I turned, tears blurring my vision and ran my hand over the glass. I wanted to take in everything as we left.
We pulled away from Ruby’s house before the sun had fully risen. I had taken a leap. I was leaving armed with a new sense of myself and a stronger idea of what I wanted my future to be. It was my hope, and my belief, that we would master our powers, learn to control it, direct it in a productive way, and people the world over would come to a more fulfilling understanding of what we were. Instead of shunning us, they would embrace us. Maybe. And as for New Orleans, I wasn’t done with her yet.
The End