“Oh yeah, they’re great,” Honey agreed. “I always call them my lesbian grandmas.” Honey grabbed more beers for the four of them. “So,” she said, fishing a tin cookie box out of a kitchen drawer,
“now that the grannies are gone, anybody want some weed?”
“You know I do,” Mick said.
“And you know I don’t,” Jack said just as decisively. “Can’t get myself too muzzy-headed. I could get a farm call in five hours.”
Honey laughed. “Well, you could never smoke no how. The one time I did manage to get you stoned, you kept getting up to look out the window, to see if there was cops outside.”
Jack laughed along with her. “Dyke or not, I guess I’m pretty much a law-abiding citizen.”
Honey took out a packet of rainbow-striped rolling papers. “These are so cool. Mick found ’em up in Chattanooga.” She folded a tissue-thin paper in half and began distributing pinches of green flakes across its length. “How ’bout you, Lily? Can I offer you some homegrown hospitality?”
“Not tonight, thanks. I think I’ll just stick to beer.” Lily had liked pot back in college; it was arguable that she had liked it too much. And now, when Honey offered it, she felt a tug of temptation to surrender to the weed’s friendly, familiar oblivion. But with the trial coming up, there was no way she was going to have the dregs of an illegal drug floating around in her system. What if the Maycombs’
deranged right-wing lawyer ordered her to take a drug test as evidence of her debauched lifestyle? Any risk that might cost her Mimi was a risk not worth taking.
Getting stoned, as Lily remembered it at least, wasn’t boring. But watching other people get stoned sure was. Mick was already the silent type, but under the influence of marijuana, she was practically a mute. The only phrase she uttered for thirty minutes after smoking the joint was, “Honey, we got any of them Chee-tos left?”
Apparently sensing that the evening was slowing down, Jack said, “Well, I reckon I’ve sobered up enough to drive.”
“Yeah, I guess I ought to be heading home, too.” Watching Mick and Honey laughing and feeding each other Chee-tos, Lily surmised that they would like to be alone together — that as soon as the company left, they’d be making a beeline for the chenille peacock-covered bed.
Honey switched back to hostess mode. “Well, Jack, I know we’ll be seeing you soon, but Lily, I hope you’ll be coming back, too. I’m sure this is pretty boring compared to what you’re used to in the city
—”
“Not at all. Actually, this is one of the most pleasant evenings I’ve spent in a while,” Lily said, meaning it.
In the tattoo shop’s gravel parking lot, Lily suddenly shouted, “Goddamn it!”
“What is it?” Jack asked. “You too drunk to drive?”
“No, I had my last beer over an hour ago. It’s just that it dawned on me...I can’t go home tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m supposed to be out of town ... on a romantic overnight trip with Ben.” She had to stop to laugh. “I know it sounds crazy, but what if I went back to the house and one of my nosy sisters-in-law drove by and saw the lights on? They’d know something was up.”
“Hmm,” Jack said. “You lead a complicated life, don’t you, lady?”
“Far too complicated.” Lily felt as though she might cry again.
“I’ll tell you what. Spend the night at my place tonight. I’ve got an extra bedroom.”
“I told Ben to call me here if he needed me.”
“Hang on a second. I’ll take care of that.” Jack disappeared behind the shop, and Lily heard her holler, “If anybody calls here for Lily, give ‘em my number. She’s going home with me.” There was a pause, and then Jack hollered, “Not that way, you hussies!”
CHAPTER 14
Jack lived in an old white saltbox with a tin roof. Even in the darkness, Lily could tell that the land around it was rolling and beautiful. The sky above the farmland was sprinkled with stars.
“It’s beautiful out here,” Lily said, as they stood on the porch.
“Oh, yeah.” Jack unlocked the front door. “There’s the stars on a clear night, and on a cloudy night, there’s nothin’ like the sound of the rain on the roof.” The house seemed to be furnished with the same pieces Jack had grown up with. The flowered up-holstery on the arms and seat of the overstuffed sofa in the living room was shiny from years of sitting, but the worn appearance of the furniture only made it more inviting.
“Your room’s upstairs,” Jack said, her boots clomping on the hardwood floor. “Sorry for going right off to bed, but if I get a farm call, I’ll have to roll out in four hours or so.”
“That’s fine. I’m pretty tired.” Lily followed Jack up the stairs, noting in a purely clinical fashion that Jack filled out her Levi’s attractively.
Jack flipped on the light in the room at the head of the stairs — a small bedroom with floral wallpaper and an iron bed covered in a handmade quilt. A black-and-white cat who was curled up on the bed lifted his head and squinted at them irritably. “That’s Hank,” Jack explained. “This is kinda his bed, so he may want to share it with you. I’ve got two house cats, Hank here and Patsy, who sleeps with me.” She smiled, a little shyly, Lily thought. “Well, you make yourself comfortable. The bathroom’s next door, and there’s towels in the hall closet if you need ’em.”
“Thanks.”
Jack studied the floor sheepishly. “If I have to get up for a farm call in the mornin’, I’ll just let you sleep. Feel free to let yourself out if you wake up before I get back. If I don’t get called to work, though, maybe we can have breakfast, and I can show you around the place, introduce you to the animals. Sandy used to call this the Island of Misfit Critters.”