She gasped. “You said that to me? Really?”
This was turning into an exhausting conversation. Damn Dory. “I’m saying that to you. I’m saying I want us to be together again.”
Her eyes narrowed “Together again?”
“Yes, because I dig you, Fern.” Oh shit. I froze as her eyes got misty. Then my eyes searched for Dave. I was happy he was still playing beer pong. I took a napkin from the bar and dabbed her eyes. “Please, please don’t cry. If Dave thinks I made you cry this whole thing will unravel, and I’ll be dead or at least seriously injured.”
Fern nodded. “But I don’t know if he’d actually kill you. He’s not an animal.”
“When it comes to you, I guarantee he’d put me in his trunk and then help everyone look for me while I froze to death.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Her shoulders shrugged dramatically.
The shirtless booze wizard reappeared and put a drink in front of me I didn’t recall ordering. “This isn’t mine.”
“It’s on the house.”
The smart thing would be to refuse so I slammed it. One more wouldn’t hurt. Right? I turned back to Dory. “So what do you think?”
“About you digging me?”
I nodded.
“I think you can’t get enough of me,” she whispered.
Bingo. I stared into her eyes through my liquor haze and had never been more content. “Maybe so.” I scoped out the room, and we were still in the clear. “So what do you think?”
“About what?”
“About us having another weekend?”
She laughed and slapped my hand. “That’s right. I tell you what, I don’t remember ten minutes ago so the odds of me remembering this conversation tomorrow are slim to none.”
“So we just need something to remind you of this promise. Correct?”
“What?” She giggled. “What promise?”
“Oh, good Lord, Fern Ethel Novotny, what am I going to do with you?”
She slugged my arm. “Just find a way to make me remember this tomorrow. Duh.”
“How to make you remember? How to make you remember?” I looked at the woman to my left, and it hit me so I tapped her on the shoulder. “Excuse me.” I looked hard and could see her fingers.
She was in her twenties and blonde. “Yes?”
“Hello, I see you have rings on your fingers. I’ll pay you five hundred dollars for one of them.”
“Excuse me?” She looked as surprised at the question as I was.
“I want to buy any one of your rings for five hundred dollars.”
She waved her hand in the air. “Uh, this is costume jewelry. Worth nothing really?—”
“Five hundred twenty-five!” I looked over at Fern who had confusion written across her forehead.
The blonde lady laughed with the girl next to her before leaning closer. “What I mean is my jewelry isn’t real jewels or anything, it’s just cheap?—”
“Five hundred-fifty!”
