Born To Be Wild

FORTY-ONE

Lou Lou caught up with her as she walked toward the front door of the studio. “Your father here yet?”

“Which father?” Mary Lisa grinned. “Everyone’s talking about how much Norman and I look alike. My real father-I hope I talked him out of coming. I heard Jack promise he’d call Dad if they needed him. Then he backed me up and lied, said everything was under control.”

Lou Lou began humming.

“Spit it out, Lou Lou.”

“I just wondered when you were going to tell me what’s happening between you and Jack.”

“Of course, Lou Lou, what are lunches for? But if you have another steak sandwich the size of Chicago in that lunch bag of yours I’m going to hit you with my sneaker.”

“Nah, it’s fish and chips today. They’re probably a little limp, but nothing that mayo relish won’t perk up. Come on, let’s sit down.”

Lou Lou had at least a pound of fish and chips, along with her favorite sweet-and-sour green relish for the chips.

Mary Lisa looked down at her own lunch, two small tubs of strawberry yogurt, with real strawberries mixed in. They were nice and cold. She’d sprinkled some pecans on top. Mary Lisa dug in, determined not to whine.

“Jack Wolf,” Lou Lou said, waving a French fry at her. “That was some show you guys put on last night until I managed to get everyone back inside.”

“Thank you.” Mary Lisa savored the yogurt. It was hard, but she did it. It was cold, wasn’t it, and that was nice. “I had an orgasm,” she said.

“What?”

“You saw me lying on top of him, you must have seen his hands on my butt. Well, he did all the right things and I’ll tell you, Lou Lou, I zoomed right into outer space. I’ve never felt like that before in my life. And it was unstoppable; it was on me and I flew out of control.” She grinned. “He’s something else.”

“Yeah, he is, as a matter of fact. I’ve felt the tension between the two of you, but I didn’t think-well, never mind that.”

“You didn’t think it was mutual? That we wanted to jump each other? Fact is, I didn’t realize it either. That, or it was simmering inside me and it all burst out last night. You know something else, Lou Lou? I really like him. He makes me laugh as much as he makes me want to punch him out.” She paused, grinning off at nothing at all. “Fact is, I can’t wait to do it again, only this time I’ll get him out of his jeans and-”

It was then she saw a black Italian boot appear on the bench beside her. She heard Lou Lou snicker as she followed that lovely boot upward and into Jack Wolf’s face. He was grinning at her and it was clear what he was thinking. The curse of all redheads-she turned as red as the strawberries in her yogurt.

“Hi, Goon Leader. Where’s Pitty Pat?”

“He’s parking the car. He’ll be here in a minute.” He paused a moment, and Mary Lisa knew, she just knew, he was going to innuendo her into the ground, but what he said was, “What in the name of heaven are you eating?”

“Yogurt. Strawberry. Pecan halves. Umm umm good.”

Jack looked revolted and picked up a French fry from Lou Lou’s pile, frowned at the relish, but dipped and ate it. As he chewed he closed his eyes in bliss.

Mary Lisa eyed him, waiting for him to say something sweet perhaps, or maybe finally dredge out some sly innuendo, but he kept on chewing, happy as a clam. “You want to try my yogurt?”

He gave her a slow smile. “Not in this lifetime.”

“Nice boots, Jack.” Lou Lou offered him a chunk of fried whitefish. “Good shine. We were all glad Mary Lisa didn’t toss them into the Pacific last night.”

“If she had, there would have been hell to pay.”

“Hell to pay,” Mary Lisa repeated slowly. “I wonder where that phrase comes from.”

He looked momentarily flummoxed. “Well, I could have thrown you in jail again.”

Mary Lisa nodded to Lou Lou. “See, he’s careful to make a believable threat since he’s already plunked me down in jail once, no reason to believe he wouldn’t do it again.”

“Are you ever going to tell us what Mary Lisa did in Goddard Bay, Jack? Graffiti the gas station? Steal a wrench from Goose’s Hardware?”

“How do you know about Goose’s Hardware?” John asked as he walked up.

“Mary Lisa’s a great storyteller, when she wants to be. I thought I knew all about Goddard Bay, but she never told us about the jail part, until Jack showed up.”

“I’ll tell you what, John. I’ll tell Lou Lou all about my night in jail if you tell me where Pitty Pat comes from.”

John grinned. “Actually, I’ll get that out of Jack sooner or later. Given what a straight arrow he is, Lou Lou, I’m sure you know she deserved it. You got a juvie record now, Mary Lisa?”

“No thanks to him that I don’t.”

John snagged a French fry from Lou Lou’s dwindling pile and ate it. “Thanks, Lou Lou. Great relish.”

“Yeah, I finally taught the guy down at the fish ’n’ chips place how to do it right.” She laughed. “He’s got a great place, old and decrepit. It’s called Vinegar by the Sea. On Moravia Street.”

“It’s delicious. We knew you’d be out here, and didn’t want to miss mooching some lunch. And Daniel wants to see you, bring you up to date about Jamie Ramos’s van. Turns out Elizabeth called him.”

Mary Lisa jumped to her feet. “I told you people would respond to Elizabeth’s appeal last night on the news. Let’s go see now-rats, I’ve got another couple hours’ shooting. Hey, I can call Elizabeth, she’ll tell me since the calls went to the station.”

“Don’t bother. Daniel said they haven’t found anything yet, but they’re following up leads. Why don’t all of us come by your house after work?”

“That’d be great, John. Elizabeth too.”

John took one last French fry. “Hey, Jack, you think we can find this vinegar place on Moravia?”

“It might be fun to try.”

“Your local tax dollar in action,” Mary Lisa said. Before Jack walked away, he leaned down next to Mary Lisa’s ear. “I make you laugh, huh?”

She couldn’t help it. She turned and said, not an inch from his mouth, “Since I’m thinking about other things right now, I’m not really thinking about laughing.”

Mary Lisa thought he was going to grab her, but he didn’t. He straightened like a shot. “I’ll see you later.”

She and Lou Lou watched Jack and John walk away, their heads together.

Lou Lou said thoughtfully, “At least John doesn’t act like his heart’s broken.”

“No,” Mary Lisa said, “he doesn’t. It would have been nice of him to appear a little hurt though, don’t you think?”

Lou Lou laughed and ate her final French fry.

“I hate yogurt,” Mary Lisa said.

She felt Lou Lou’s hand on her arm. “Laughter is good. It holds the crap at bay. And I know you use it to keep people from seeing that you’re scared. Talk to me, Mary Lisa. How are you holding up, sweetie?”

Mary Lisa came crashing back to earth. She swallowed. “I’m holding up. Don’t worry, Lou Lou, I’m dealing with it.”

“I know you are. You also know I’ll worry. You want to talk about this Jamie Ramos guy?”

Mary Lisa’s voice shook only a little bit. “I really don’t like to talk about him, it’s just too scary. But I know he’s out there, Lou Lou. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. No way did he leave, Jack’s right about that.”