Previously Loved Treasures (Serendipity #2)(55)

Before the first drink was downed, Max had his hand on her knee and edged it upward. They drank too much, laughed too loud, and stayed until Freddie announced he had to close up. “You gonna settle up this bill?”

Max pointed his index finger at Freddie like it was a gun. “Catch you tomorrow.” He laughed, then circled his arm around Maggie’s waist and headed for the door. As they left he leaned in and whispered, “I’ve got a bottle of bourbon in my room, so how’s about a nightcap?”

Maggie Sue nodded.

They climbed into Max’s car and headed back to the boarding house.

“You allowed to have lady friends in your room?” Maggie asked.

With a considerable amount of bourbon sloshing around in his stomach, Max had a bravado that was outsized even for him. “Shit, yeah,” he answered. “I can do whatever I please. My brother’s the one who built the damn house.”

When he pulled alongside the curb Maggie Sue looked at the house, which in the shadow of moonlight seemed larger than its size. “Wow,” she said, “you own this place?”

“It ain’t been decided yet,” he said and slid his key into the lock.

Even though Maggie bumped up against the hall table on her way in, no one heard them or at least no one got out of bed and snapped a light on. Max’s room was in the back of the house on the first floor, and once they were inside with the padlock clicked shut no one would bother them.

~

After a night of what Max considered a howling good time, Maggie Sue woke wanting coffee.

“Stay here,” he said, “I’ll go get some.”

It was hours after breakfast, but Laricka and Harriet drank coffee all day long so there was sure to be a pot sitting on the back burner. Max slipped into the kitchen and pulled two mugs from the cupboard. He filled the mugs, slid two biscuits in the pocket of his robe, and started back to his room. Wilbur sat in the front parlor, and when he saw Max heading down the hall with two mugs it aroused suspicion. It was true that Wilbur had no love of Max, but neither did he go around looking for trouble from the man. That was, until now.

Ida had set down firm rules for the house. Everyone knew the rules and abided by them. Even with her gone, the rules stayed in place. It was an unwritten debt of respect that no one questioned or disregarded.

Had it not been for seeing Max with those two mugs, Wilbur would have finished the newspaper then moved on with his day. But after what he saw he remained in the parlor, waiting and watching. Two hours later, Wilbur heard the padlock click open. Moments after that Max and his friend came tiptoeing out of the room. Maggie Sue still wore the red dress, but since she’d pulled it in on in a hurry the back of the skirt was hiked up and caught in her panties.

“Good morning,” Wilbur said icily.

Maggie Sue’s lips curled into a broad smile. “Mornin’,” she answered in her most charming voice. She stopped and turned toward Wilbur. “Nice day, ain’t—”

Max grabbed hold of Maggie Sue’s arm, and before she could finish what she was saying he tugged her through the hallway and out the door.

~

After last night’s run-in with first Buddha and then a snot-nosed policeman, Max was in no mood for more grief so he avoided going back to the house for the remainder of the day. After he dropped Maggie off, he took in an afternoon movie then walked around town. As he walked he thought. And the more he thought about having to sneak in and out of a house that should have rightfully been his, the angrier he got.

When the Owl’s Nest finally opened at six-thirty, he was waiting at the door.

“Ah.” Freddie grinned. “So you’ve come to settle up that tab?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Max answered. “But first let me get a drink.”

One drink led to another, and Max didn’t make a move to leave until Freddie again said it was closing time.

Max hefted himself off the stool and lumbered toward the door.

“Hey,” Freddie called out. “Ain’t you forgetting something?”

Max turned back with a bewildered look.

“The tab,” Freddie said. “You told me you was gonna settle up what you owe.”

“Yeah. Well, I ain’t got the money right now.”

“You said…” Freddie stammered.

“I said a lotta things, but it ain’t working out right now.” Max turned and disappeared out the door.

“That’s it,” Freddie said to the empty stool. “He ain’t getting another drink ’til he’s paid what he owes.”

~

It was almost two when Max unlocked the door and started sneaking down the hallway. The house was dark, and he assumed everyone was in bed and fast asleep. He was wrong.

As soon as Wilbur heard the footsteps, he snapped on the parlor lamp.

“Damn!” Max shouted. “Scare the shit out a person, why don’t you?”

“Sorry,” Wilbur replied, “but we need to have a talk.”

“I got nothing to talk about.”

“I do,” Wilbur said. He stood and walked over to Max. “You know the rules, and it’s disrespectful—”

“Don’t you talk to me about disrespectful!” Max poked a finger at the older man’s chest. “Disrespectful is you and these other bozos helping that nobody swindle me outta what should have been mine!”