Scorched(20)
“That’s probably my fault,” Mannie revealed with an empty laugh, shifting the bottle of Crown from hand to hand. “After I called him, ten minutes later, the phone started blowing up. Text, calls, more texts, more calls. I was forced to take drastic measures.”
“What drastic measures, Mannie?”
Batting his long, sooty eyelashes, Manny bit his lip before answering. “I might have relocated my phone to the blender…. And turned it on puree. For being so expensive, those iPhones really can’t take a beating AT ALL.”
“Oh, sweet Lord,” Molly moaned, staring at a man that just might be nuttier than her own husband. “You didn’t think maybe the better idea was to just turn the phone…I don’t know… off?”
“I was in the moment,” Mannie replied blandly, lifting the liquor to his lips. “God,” he bit out. “You know what this means? I’m facing thirty and single again. How fucked up is that?” Looking at Sami, he asked, “You wanna go halfsies on our room at the old folks’ home? We could be roomies!”
“Okay, what about me?” Vivian injected, smiling faintly at their mutual pal.
“Oh, you’ll eventually meet The One, Vivian. You’re too sweet not to find him. But me? I had my One and then found out that he was a big, fat, deceitful liar. As for our Samantha? Let’s just say that I haven’t met the boy with balls big enough for her not to bust. I don’t think he exists,” Mannie replied, slowly ambling back toward his seat on the sofa.
“You never know… I might not find anybody either,” Vivian returned easily. “You could just be stuck with me.”
“Or, I could finally kill Devil and need a place to live, too,” Molly inserted with a genuine laugh.
“Then we’d have a Three’s Company sitch on the horizon. Ohhhhh, that’d be fuuuuuunnnn. I loved, loved, loved that show. John Ritter was a comedic genius. You just know that white boy is cracking up the angelic choir up there. ‘Come and knock on my door…’” Manny sang, closing his eyes and bouncing his head to a beat only he seemed to hear.
“We’ll be waiting for youuuuu,” the girls returned together, each of them relieved to see Mannie’s mega-watt smile for a scant moment. It was better than nothing.
Leaning his head back against the cushions, Manny murmured, “I think I might be drunk a little.”
“You think?” Devil snorted from his chair in the corner, eyeing the glass bottle wedged between their Mexican friend’s legs. Nobody could blame him. One thing every single person in the room could agree on was that Mannie had lived through one hell of a night. “You drank a half bottle of booze in less than an hour. I’m surprised you’re still conscious, amigo.”
Molly laughed out loud when Armando answered with a long snore. “Well, I’d say that puts a period on the evening,” she said softly to no one and everyone.
Not to be dissuaded, Vivian turned around and narrowed her eyes on Devil. “Did you know about any of this tonight? And please remember that I’m an attorney….”
“…and I’m your wife,” Molly interjected with a glare of her own.
“…and both of us can spot a lie from less than five paces,” Vivian concluded, her face an impassive mask.
When Devil merely stared into space, Molly felt her irritation skyrocket. “Devil, I suggest you answer Vivian’s questions. What did you know about this? And don’t bother trying to lie or mislead me because I’ve already figured out by your reactions tonight that you knew more about this than any of us including poor Armando!”
“I knew everything. Nick and I discussed it before he left for Miami. You know, the day after you read him the riot act for not giving you a complete guest list so that you could finish mailing out invitations. The poor guy was freaked the hell out. Evidently, you’re scary when you’re working against the clock.”
“I was perfectly polite to your little lackey. It’s not my fault if he wears his heart on his sleeve and can’t handle a few simple requests,” Molly objected huffily, her eyebrows furrowing. Was it her fault that Nick had procrastinated to the point where she was going to have to pay the printers a substantial extra fee to have their invitations done on time? Damn it, they were down to single digits here. In less than eight days, those boys would be committing to each other for the rest of their lives… at least, she hoped they would be. Based on Mannie’s statements before he passed out, however, the likelihood of it was looking iffy. And she couldn’t even blame him. She completely saw where he was coming from on the issue. “And honestly, I could care less if Nick got his feelings hurt. Right now, all I care about is that evidently you knew your friend was hiding his fiancé from his family, but also his sexuality as well.”