Carpe Bead'em (18 page)

A twinge of jealousy pings my gut. I
can’t believe I am actually envious of her relationship with Wilson. It’s taken
me this long to find a passion in life and a possible love interest.

Not Prudence. She’s got life by the
balls. She was born wealthy. I grew up poor. She lost her mom. I lost my mom
and dad. She loves being a lawyer, I love Gucci.

Okay, maybe not a good comparison. She’s
always loved being a lawyer. And now I’m questioning my loyalty to Gucci. She
blinks and can get a guy to fall in love with her while I have to join a gym
and stalk the running group in order to get a chance to run behind a guy I want
to notice me.

“Guess who else is here?” I question
Prudence.

It will be like a girls’ night in all
over.

“Georgia.” Prudence squeezes my hand.”She
told me she was coming.”

“I must’ve been the last to know about
you and Wilson.” Just because I don’t live in Chicago doesn’t mean they have to
shelter me from life there. I follow her out the room, through the house and
down to Wilson’s apartment.

Wilson is pouring three glasses of wine.

I have to say it’s nice to see Prudence
genuinely happy. I love the way Wilson makes sure she gets her wine first, the
way his hands lays on the small of her back, and how his eyes gaze at her.

“I haven’t seen Lucy since she’s lived here.
Her stuff lives here, but she doesn’t.” The wine tastes sweet and goes down
smooth. “I have to show you something,”

I grab Prudence by the hand and drag her
up to Lucy’s room. She’s going to die when she sees the exquisite bracelets,
earrings and watch designs.

“I must have this.” She picks up the new
Gucci hobo in burnt orange.

“Fine.” I take the bag and put it back
in the brown dust bag before handing it to her. “Look at my designs. A local
news anchor ordered bracelets from me.”

I clue her in on all the happenings
going on with the beads, my plan, and Bo.

“That’s great, Hallie.” She embraces me.
“You deserve to be happy and you’re glowing.”

I’m ashamed of the way I reacted to her
news about her and Wilson. She completely accepted my decisions with Beadnicks
and my relationship with Bo.

“I only want you to be happy, just like
you only want me to be happy.” She walks towards the door and turns around.
“Maybe being transferred home is what you did need in your life.”

Listening to Prudence’s words only
confirm what I’ve been feeling in my heart. Until now, I hadn’t been able to
put it into words.

I sit for a moment listening to Prudence
and Wilson interacting in my family room. There is definitely something between
that I haven’t seen in any of her other relationships.

“Georgia!” Prudence yells.

I jump off the bed and see Georgia
waddling up the cobblestone sidewalk. I run down the stairs, and open the door.

“Look at you.” I rub her belly. I can’t
believe how hard her stomach is.

“Does my belly have an unwritten sign
that says ‘strangers, please rub me’?” She looks down at my hand. “Do you know
how weird it is when strangers walk up and rub my stomach and ask me when I’m
due?”

“I’m not some stranger.” I protest at
the similarities she’s placing between the two.

“No you’re not.” She put her hand on
mine still resting on her stomach. “You’re the godmother.”

My mouth flings open along with my eyes
that fills with tears, “Me?” I cross my hands on my chest in disbelief. The
honor I’m feeling is incredible.

“Don’t worry. Lucy and Prudence can give
strength where you lack it, and vice versa. God mothers, as in three.” She
clarifies.

“Now I’m mad I have to share.” I tease
and point to Prudence, who begins to drip off of Wilson. “I’m really only
one-third a god-mommy?” I rub my chin. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. I can
do that.”

Chapter
Thirty-Three

Luckily everyone agrees to come along
and be nice to Aunt Grace and Uncle Jimmy on our little excursion to River
Downs. River Downs is a racetrack on the east side of Cincinnati and is
celebrating its 85
^th
anniversary. It’s extremely crowded.

“I love the smell of good manure.” Uncle
Jimmy’s nose is sticking out the window on our way into the parking lot. “Gonna
be a good day, Gracie. Good day!”

Prudence and Wilson laughing at Georgia,
who’s practically holding her nose. Does he smell the horseshit, or the shit
smell coming from him?

Aunt Grace is wearing her Sunday finest,
looking like a flapper in her beaded black strap dress with fringe hanging off
the bottom, and lots of black beads around her neck. Her short hair, in waves
around the crown, is pinned back.

I can tell by the expression on her face
she hasn’t been out in a long time. She acts like a child, sitting in the front
seat with her hands carefully crossed and trying to be on her best behavior.

Uncle Jimmy is a different story. He’s
wearing the same dirty jeans and ratty sweatshirt he’s worn every day I’ve
known him. 

“Jimmy, you got any good tips?” Wilson
asks, half in amusement and half-serious.

“Yeah, don’t step in dog crap.” When he
laughs, his mouth opens so wide you can see his rotted teeth.

“What are you laughing at?” I watch
Georgia giggle with her hands around her belly to keep it steady.

“I didn’t realize I’m laughing out
loud.” She rolls her eyes in disgust, leans forward and whispers to me. “Don’t
you ever and I mean
ever
, let Aunt Grace and Uncle Jimmy watch my baby.”

“Queen City Oaks Day.” Uncle Jimmy looks
at Wilson. “My tip, bet on the Queen City Oaks $100,000 stakes race.”

Jimmy hops out of the car before I can
get it in park. “Hallie, you need a new car.”

“Uncle Jimmy, this isn’t my car. You’ve
seen my Solara.”

“It’s my SUV.” Wilson confirms. He let
us use his car because all of us couldn’t fit in mine.

“I don’t know what SUV is, but
you
need a new car.” Jimmy pokes Wilson’s chest with his index finger.

I give Wilson the wonky eye. Uncle Jimmy
is already on Wilson’s nerves. He doesn’t know when to stop.

“Listen here, old man,” Wilson calmly
bends over in Uncle Jimmy’s face, “don’t go around poking people.” Wilson pokes
him back, causing Uncle Jimmy to curl his shoulders. “Especially people who are
bigger than you.”

Uncle Jimmy steps back and walks around
Wilson towards the track. “You need better friends,” Jimmy says to me. “Didn’t
you learn anything from me and your aunt?” If I remember correctly, he was
never around when Aunt Grace was raising me. He only showed up when he needed
money for a drinking binge.

But I say nothing, and I place my hand
on Wilson’s chest to stop him from confronting Uncle Jimmy.

“He’s crazy.” I beg, “Please let it
slide.”

I’m so embarrassed. All my friends hear
all my stories about Aunt Grace and Uncle Jimmy, but have never experienced
them firsthand. Except Lucy, and she’s not even here to help me out.

“Yeah, no big deal.” Prudence tippy-toes
up and kisses Wilson on his clinched jaw, which makes his anger go away.

Once we get through the crowd, and stand
near the rail, we all look at each other. We have no clue what we are doing.
Everyone scans the day’s racing program speculating what all the numbers mean.

Uncle Jimmy is spotting off different
theories, and in a small way, I really do believe he knows what he is doing.

The stake race is next and that’s what
everyone seems to be here for—including Uncle Jimmy. Aunt Grace is enjoying a
mint julep on a near bench and twirling her beads as if there is nothing more
she’d rather be doing.

“I’ve got my horse.” Georgia pats her
belly. “Baby jumped when I read the name. So I know it’s going to win.” She
points to a horse named Paddington Kiss and Tell.

“He’s 20-to-1 odds, Georgia.” Wilson
points out.

“And?” Georgia points to the belly, and
does her best Patrick Swayze voice
Dirty Dancing.
“What baby wants, baby
gets.”

“Okay, Paddington Kiss and Tell it is.”
Wilson takes his money out of his wallet. We decide to put all our money on one
bet, for a total of one hundred dollars.

“Big race.”Uncle Jimmy watches Wilson
collect our money. “Who ya bettin’ on?”

“We’re going to combine and bet on
Paddington Kiss and Tell.” I show the name to him, knowing he can’t read.

“20-to-1?” He scoffs. “You gonna lose.
Let me go place it for you.”.

“Sure. The last thing I want to do is
stand in that line.” Wilson hands the money to Uncle Jimmy.

My stomach did a turn that I can’t
explain.

With a giddy-up in his step, Uncle Jimmy
is in his element. He’s going to put our money to win on Paddington and his
money on First Class Conception, the favorite.

“Maybe you should go with him.” I
suggest to Wilson.

“Crazy old man will be fine.”

Uncle Jimmy skips all the way to the
window, there’s a tug of regret in my soul. He turns around once he places the
bet and shakes the ticket towards me.

Thank God he did it.

Excitement builds in the air. Even
Georgia said the baby is kicking and moving around with all the energy.

I bend down and talk to Georgia’s belly.
“Listen, baby, win this bet and we’ll get along just fine.”

Everyone hangs on the rail to root on
their horses. Paddington isn’t anywhere to be seen on the tote board. Of
course, First Class Conception is first.

“OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!” Prudence jumps
up and down pointing to the board. “Paddington Kiss and Tell is coming up!” She
screams pumping both fists in the air.

Paddington’s name is in third just
behind First Class. It’s like a screaming competition.

Uncle Jimmy is screaming, “Run First
Class.”

We’re screaming, “Go Paddington!”

They’re neck and neck running down the
straightaway, ending in a photo finish. The tote board reads: “Win-Paddington
Kiss and Tell.” That’s all we see. Taking each other’s hand, we begin to
celebrate after realizing the amount of money we just won.

“Forty-two hundred dollars!” I scream.

Lady luck has definitely been on my side
since coming back to Cincinnati. My life seems to be turning for the better.
About time.

“Dinner’s on me!” Wilson picks up
Prudence and swings her around. “The Precinct. Only the fanciest restaurant in
Cincinnati.”

“Ya hear that, Gracie?” Uncle Jimmy is
practically screaming at Aunt Grace. He points over to Wilson. “Dinner on him
tonight.”

Aunt Grace smiles and nods. She has no
idea what he said, the crowd is loud and still cheering from the big upset.

“Well,” says Wilson, who clearly didn’t
mean to include Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Grace. “I guess you can come if you don’t
poke anyone.”

“Where’s our ticket, Uncle Jimmy?” I put
my hand out. I can feel the money already in my palm.

“What ticket?” He questions me like I’m
the stupid one.

“Our winning ticket.” I start to panic
and lay out my empty hand in front of him.

“I didn’t like your bet, so I put my
money with yours on First Class.” He pulls his hands out of his pockets, letting
the lining hang out and lint fall off. “See. Nothing.”

I grab Prudence before she launches a
fist toward Uncle Jimmy. I know I can’t change what happened, but I can save
Uncle Jimmy even though I don’t want to.

Wilson remains on the ground, with his face
buried in his hands. If I didn’t know better, he looks like he is crying. Aunt
Grace sits on the bench, smiling like everything is okay. Something tells me to
forgive Jimmy and get out of here.

Georgia goes to the bathroom either to
pee or throw up. I’m trying to calm Prudence down with little help from Wilson
who continues to sulk.

“Do you know what you could’ve done with
the money we just lost? Your business.” Prudence pleads with me to yell at
Uncle Jimmy.

“There’s nothing we can do now. We have
to,” I say, but stop to see what all the commotion is about.

The ohh’s and ahh’s of the crowd are for
Uncle Jimmy who’s shimming up the flag pole and planting the longest kiss on
the bald eagle’s nose.

“See Wilson!” He hangs off the top like
a proud monkey. “I told you I could kiss that eagle’s nose.”

I turn to Wilson. “What’s going on?” And
then back to Uncle Jimmy, who swinging around the top putting on a full show.
There is no forgiving now.

 “Told you I could kiss the eagle on the
nose.” Jimmy shouts and puckers up. “You owe me ten dollars.”

“Crazy fool.” Wilson says, but he looks
like he’s getting some pleasure from Uncle Jimmy creating a bigger fool of
himself.