Getting Schooled (The Wright Brothers #1)(23)

Sammy, the namesake and owner, was standing at a table just beyond the entrance, laughing with a group of guys playing poker. I spoke to a couple of people I knew, but hadn’t seen in a while, as I approached, and then tapped him on the shoulder. He turned with a pleasant grin, probably thinking I was a just a regular patron with a question or something. As soon as recognition dawned on him, that grin turned into a big smile, and he pulled me into a hug.

“Jay Wright! If I ain’t know better I’d think I’d seen a ghost. Where the hell you been?”

I stepped back, shaking his hand as he clapped me on the shoulder. “I been in the army, dude. I’ve been all over.”

“Well I know that. I’m talking about since you been back. Your daddy told me two months ago you were coming home, but you shole ain’t brought your ass down here to eat, catch up, nothing!”

I shook my head. “My bad, Sammy. Just been getting acclimated to a different lifestyle.”

Sammy rolled his eyes. “Acclimated? Now see, that’s the little fancy ass college coming out in you.”

He and the whole table of poker players laughed at that, and I couldn’t really do anything but laugh too. I knew it was nothing but love – Sammy drove my mother to the hospital to deliver me, with my brothers in tow. That was back before the dealership was a thing, when my father was working late shifts, overnight to make sure we ate. Sammy was my father’s friend, and damn near like an uncle to us. I would accept the little lightweight clowning with a good attitude – I should have come to see him sooner.

I stood there talking for a little bit longer, before a flash of something pink in my peripheral caught my attention. My eyes went a little wider, and I excused myself from Sammy to go investigate.

I was just about to walk away when Sammy caught my arm, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “Proceed with caution, young buck. That one’s a spitfire.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “I know.”

She was sitting at the bar, nursing a glass of something dark. Her focus was so intense on the ice in her glass that she didn’t even look up as I sat down. She knocked the rest of the drink back, and then motioned at the bartender for another.

“You’ve had enough,” Lana told her, gently placing a glass of ice water on the worn, but well-polished bar. “How you doing baby?” she said to me, smiling. Lana was Sammy’s wife, and one of the first crushes I’ve ever had.

“I’m doing alright. Water for me too please.”

She nodded. “Coming right up.”

I turned to where Reese was sitting, and looked her over. Sammy’s wasn’t a dump by any means, but it was comfortable. It was worn, well broken-in. They made their business on people who stopped in to take out food, but the inside was for the neighborhood folks, honestly. It was the type of bar old heads came to play poker and smoke cigars. Reese was out of place.

“Nice boots,” I said, leaning forward to see her face, partially obscured by her braids.

She turned toward me, just a little, enough to see that her eyes were red. “Thanks.”

“Let me guess, trouble in paradise? Surprised to see you slumming on this end of town.”

“Okay,” she said – slurred – and then climbed off her barstool on obviously wobbly legs. “I’m not about to sit here and take shit from you, ‘kay?”

“Yeah, I hear you princess,” I said, standing up to catch her around the waist as she stumbled a little.

“Get your goddamn hands off me.”

I shook my head. “I will, after I sit you back down. You’re not clearheaded enough to be out in this neighborhood at night by yourself.”

She sucked her teeth. “I’m not stupid, Jason. I wasn’t leavin’, I was goin’ to the otha end of the bar to get away from you, stupid.”

“You know each other Jay?” Lana asked from across the bar. “I was trying to monitor how much she had, and thought I cut her off at the right time… until she opened her mouth just now.”

I chuckled. Reese sounded like she’d taken a muscle relaxer or something, and was having trouble moving her mouth.

“Yeah, I know her. Unfortunately.” Reese mumbled something that sounded like fuck you, and I shook my head again. “I’m gonna take her to sit down. Can you send two catfish baskets over to the table please?”

Lana smiled. “Sure will.”

She cursed me out the whole way there, but I managed to wrangle Reese into a booth-style table. A waitress came by and I ordered more water, urging her to drink it, which she thankfully did. A couple minutes later, our food was dropped off.

“You eat catfish, right?” I asked, then popped a French fry into my mouth. “I know it’s salmon, or sushi, but this is how we do it around here.”

She looked up at me with a sneer, but otherwise didn’t respond. Instead, she grabbed the bottle of Louisiana hot sauce from the table, opened it, and loaded her food down before she began going in.

Guess that was my answer.

We ate in silence for several long minutes, and then finally, she spoke up. “You know I’m not that drunk, right?”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Could’ve fooled me.”

She gave me a look, and then bit into a hushpuppy. “I’d barely eaten anything today. I’m definitely a little tipsy, but more than that… just hungry.”