Lucy's Launderette (28 page)
Read Lucy's Launderette Online
Authors: Betsy Burke
“Oh God. Black lace⦠Do you know what black lace can do to a guy? Are you trying to drive me crazy, Lucy?”
“Maybe.”
“Definitely.”
“I wore it because I want to ask a little favor of you.”
“Anything for a woman in black lace.”
“It's a little unusual.”
“I try not to limit myselfâ¦in any activity.”
“That's aâ¦ahhhâ¦oh wowâ¦that's an amazingâ¦ahhhâ¦a FANTASTIC thing you'reâ¦ahhhhâ¦doing with yourâ¦ooooâ¦handsâ¦ahhhâ¦I just want to ask you toâ¦no, no don't stop doing itâ¦ahâ¦I just want to knowâ¦while you're doing thatâ¦could you sing?”
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That was a couple of months ago. Lucy's Launderette is a going concern these days and the artwork is actually selling.
We've had a couple of write-ups in some small but important art journals and a gallery owner from Seattle sent me an e-mail last week asking me if I wanted to have a show there.
Sky and Max are planning a trip to Europe together. I'm absolutely green with envy. Neither of them want to live together. They've decided their relationship works better with clandestine overtones so they're maintaining the status quo.
Jacques has been hanging around our house a lot. He and Connie seem to be getting along pretty well. They can be together for hours without saying anything or exchanging a word and each seems to know what the other person is thinking. It's positively creepy. Oh, and Jacques is teaching Little Jeremy to wiggle his eyebrows up and down like Groucho Marx. He says it's an indispensable life skill.
My father has gone home to my mother, although sometimes he disappears mysteriously for a few days at a time. We figure he's out there on his Harley trying to bring God to the underbelly of Vancouver.
Sam has handed Dirk's case over to Francesca. He doesn't want to mix business with pleasure or have any conflicts of interest. And Francesca does seem very taken with Dirk's case, though not in an entirely professional way. Dirk isn't too bad-looking when he isn't rapid-cycling. But it still makes me giggle. Maybe we really do get what we deserve.
Although that's not the scariest part in all of this. Do you want to know what the really scary thing is? It's Sam's biggest defect, that is, his determination to make everyone get along. It's me and Sam, my mother and my father, Dirk and Francesca St. Claire de la Roche, all down at the FOBIA social doing the butterfly waltz. Now THAT is a scary sight.
LUCY'S LAUNDERETTE
A Red Dress Ink novel
ISBN: 978-1-4592-4862-5
© 2003 by Elizabeth Burke.
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. ® and TM are trademarks. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and/or other countries.
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