“I feel bad about it, all of it. Anyway.” He put those ham-hock hands in his pockets, gazed out at nothing special. “You don’t know where she is, do you?”
“Naomi?”
“No, not her, not Naomi. Marla.”
“Sorry, no.”
“She’s not at her place, the place she has now, and doesn’t answer the phone. Patti said she got mad at her last night, because Patti said she was embarrassed and all. She just took offand she’d been drinking.”
“Was she driving?”
“Seems Patti was, but it’s not a far walk back to the place she has now. She didn’t go to work today at the market either. They’re that pissed at her now.”
Hungover, mortified, mad, probably in bed with the covers over her head.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“If you see her, maybe you can give me a call, so I know she’s okay and just in one of her moods.”
“I can do that.”
“I’ll let you go. Maybe if you see the ladyNaomi . . . If you see her, you could tell her I’m sorry about the trouble.”
“I’ll do that. You take it easy.”
“It’s the best way to take it.” Chip smiled a little, then climbed into his truck.
Since it was close, and he was running a bit late now, Xander got into his own truck and drove to Rinaldo’s.
She was already there, sitting in a booth, looking over the menu. He slid in across from her. “Sorry. I got into a thing just as I was leaving.”
“That’s all right. I was just trying to decide if I’d have room for this calamari starter.”
“I’ll split it with you, then you would.”
“Then I would.” She set the menu aside. “Busy place on Saturday night.”
“Always has been. You look good.”
“Better than I did a few hours ago?”
“You always look good. Hi, Maxie.”
The waitress, young and fresh with doe eyes and sunny blonde hair streaked with a pretty shade of lavender, pulled out a pad. “Hi, Xander. Hi,” she said to Naomi. “Can I get you some drinks?”
“A glass of chianti, thanks, and some ice water on the side.”
“You got it. Xan?”
“Yuengling. How’s that hatchback running?”
“It gets me where I’m going and back, thanks to you. I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
“I guess you get a lot of people where they’re going and back.”
“It’s what I do. Listen, if a big, lumbering sort of guy comes up to your place”
“What? What guy?”
Xander waved a hand. “Harmless guy. Chip. He’s Marla’s ex. He came by just as I was leaving.”
As she straightened, Naomi’s shoulder blades went to iron. “If he’s mad about last night, he should be mad at who started it.”
“It’s not that. He’s a nice guytoo nice most of the time. He wanted to apologize for her. He said he wanted to apologize to you, too, but he was afraid he’d scare you if he just showed up.”
“Oh. It’s not his fault. What’s a nice guy who’d apologize for something that’s not his fault doing with someone like her?”
“It’s impossible to love and be wise.”
“Who said that?”
“Francis Bacon. Anyway, I told him I’d tell you he was sorry.”
Maxie brought their drinks and took their order.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad, coming out, Naomi thought. The place was noisy, but in a good, happy way. And the calamari would’ve met with Harry’s approval.
“I hear you met Loo.”
“I did?”
“At the bar last night. The bartender.”
“Is that Loo?” Sharp-looking brunette with sexy magenta streaks. “I expected her to be older, sort of businesslike, sitting in some back office with ledgers.”
“Loo likes to keep her hand in. She liked you.”
She caught a bright peal of laughter, noted that the comfortably built brunette behind the counter let out another as she rang up an order.
“That’s flattering, since we talked over the bar for about two minutes.”
“She knows what she knows, as she likes to say.”
“She mentioned her ex-husband used to be the groundskeeper when my house was a B-and-B.”
“Right, the stoner. He’s long gone. But it reminds me I could give you a hand with some of the heavy yard work. Kevin said you didn’t want to hire a landscaper, at least not yet, but if you decide otherwise, you might talk to Lelo.”
“From the band?”
“His family runs the local nursery. He’s actually pretty good at the whole lawn-and-garden thing.”