Sofie served a ham for dinner. Justin and Iris sat on opposite ends of the table, flanked by Sofie and Rose, each lifted their heads and opened their eyes at the same time as Justin finished saying grace with a brief "Amen." Justin started the table service and their was a clanking and muffled requests as they passed dishes back and forth across the long table.
"Should I get the wine?" Sofie asked Iris, eying Rose. "I mean since we have company."
"No, I don't." Iris started.
"That sounds wonderful." Rose cut her off. She smiled at Sofie.
"Alright Rose, but I won't have you running around in your underthings, with that long hair flying around, and teaching Sofie how to spit tobacco like your 'pappy' taught you." Iris said, casting her eyes across the table.
"Iris, I am not the girl I used to be, I'm a dignified lady now." Rose smiled. "I have much shorter hair now. You just can't tell because it's pinned at the moment."
Justin laughed looking at her. "You are very charming Rose." he said.
"Have I charmed you Justin?" Rose asked smiling as Sofie left the table to retrieve the wine.
"Yes. Very much so Rose." he said, looking down the table at Iris. She shot him a stern look in return.
"That's not a sin or anything is it?" Rose asked playfully. Sofie returned from the kitchen with a bottle of wine and three wine glasses. She sett one down in front of Rose, Iris, and Justin each.
"Justin doesn't drink Sofie." Iris said.
"It's alright Sofie." Justin cut in. "Since it's a special occasion, I think I'll make an exception." Justin said, "Drinking isn't exclusively forbidden, it's being a drunkard." Sofie stood by confused for a moment before looking at Justin tentatively. He nodded at her, and she returned to her chair. Justin began to pour wine into his glass.
"Iris told me today that you are allowed to date. I didn't know that was so." Rose said.
"Rose." Iris said rolling her eyes and letting out a sigh.
"It's alright Iris." Justin smiled. Justin turned to face Rose. "Yes." Justin stood up taking the bottle of wine and approaching Rose.
"So where exactly does a man such as your self, a man of the cloth, take a woman on a date?" Rose asked as Justin leaned over her pouring wine into her glass. She looked up at him and they locked eyes, and he let his eyes drop down to her breasts, and then back to her face and he smiled. She smirked slightly.
"That depends, where would you like me to take you?" Justin asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Are you asking me?" Rose said bringing her hand to her chest.
"Yes." Justin said.
"Well, I don't know what there is to do in Mintern." Rose said, batting her eyelashes.
"I suppose I could show you, say tomorrow. We could make an afternoon of it." Justin said, smiling down at her.
"That sounds wonderful." Rose said, taking a sip of her wine.
Iris let out a sigh and Justin and Rose looked over at her. She was staring down at the table pursing her lips. Justin walked over to her with the wine.
"Iris you look positively livid." Rose said, laughing.
Justin placed a hand on Iris's shoulder and kissed the top of her head before pouring wine into her glass. "Relax Iris, it's just a friendly date." He said before standing back up. Justin walked swiftly back to his chair. Iris swirled the wine in her glass briefly before bringing it to her mouth and tilting it back, drinking the entire serving down in one gulp and setting the glass down loudly on the table.
"I hope you two have a wonderful time." Iris said. "Now, let's talk about something else."
Sofie giggled into her napkin. Iris shot her a look and she stopped immediately. Sofie looked around the table.
"I ran into John several years ago in Los Angeles." Rose said to Iris.
"Who was that?" Sofie asked.
"John was a boy that used to work at the Dahlia house with me and Iris. He was the handsomest thing you've ever seen. Just beautiful really. A real work of art." Rose gushed.
"And how was John?" Iris asked. "He was always dear to me. He was much more sensitive than most boys. I think he was my closest confident before you were hired on."
"I know." Rose said, smirking. "I heard."
A chill went through Iris. She could tell that Rose had something on her. And that she was going to unleash it. Her one pet peeve about Rose was that she too thoroughly enjoyed seeing Iris uncomfortable.
"What did you hear?" Iris said, grabbing the bottle of wine Justin had left next to her on the table. She poured herself another glass.
"He told me that when you two used to get bored around the house you two would sit around and think of different ways to kiss and then practice them." Rose said giggling as she did so.
"That is not the way it happened." Iris said before drinking down her second glass of wine. "I thought I was doing the Lord's work." She said as she set her glass back down.
"Now this I have to hear." Justin said beginning to cut into his food.
"Well me and John were alone at the house together often, and we became close. One day he told me that he wasn't normal. That he didn't have feelings for girl's like other boys. He asked me if he could kiss me, to you know see if he could feel something. Then we started trying other ways to see if there was some way that would make him feel something." Iris looked around the table.
"He was slick that one." Justin said.
"Did it work?" Sofie asked. Everyone at the table looked at her.
"Apparently not, because when I ran into him he was very openly, well you know. I mean that's more commonplace in Hollywood. You don't talk about it, but everyone knows who's who." Rose said.
"Well, I tried." Iris said laughing and turning her attention to her plate.
"Yeah he said you two quit when he tried to talk you into going all the way in the back of the Dahlia's car." Rose said laughing. "He said that you told him you couldn't do that unless you were married. He told me that he always thought if he had to marry a woman he would hunt you down."
"Well I suppose thats a compliment." Iris said, looking up toward Justin. Justin smiled back at her and looked around the table at Sofie and Rose. Rose was leaning back in her chair and taking Iris in, and Sofie was watching Rose keenly.
"He says to this day whenever it rains he thinks of you. I'm not sure what that means." Rose said taking a sip of her wine.
"We had this thing about kissing in the rain. We waited around six months for rain so we could kiss that way. It was the last way we tried to kiss, before he tried to talk me into, well, you know." Iris said pouring herself another glass of wine.
"Careful Iris, you'll be drunk before desert." Justin said eying her as she toyed with the stem of her wine glass.
"I used to always wonder about that boy. He was so gorgeous and I would flirt and flirt with him and he would just stare at you doing the dishes or something and smile. Now it all makes sense." Rose said smiling.
"How was he? Was he happy?" Iris asked.
"Well a lot of wild partying had only preserved his good looks. It was unfair." Rose laughed.
"That was my Johnny Lee." Iris said wistfully. "I adored him. He was my first girlfriend."
Iris and Rose both laughed at each other, before remembering themselves, and straightening up. "Sorry Justin. I'm sure this is completely inappropriate." Rose said looking around the table.
"Not at all." Justin said, feeling a bit benevolent. "There's no scandal in being young. Besides I haven't seen my sister laugh in awhile."
Iris rolled her eyes at Justin, and brought her wine glass to her mouth, smiling at Rose.
After dinner Sofie showed Rose to her room downstairs and Justin and Iris retired to the upstairs. Iris was drunk and as she sat on the edge of her bed her head was spinning. Justin came into the room.
"Are you alright." he asked gently.
Iris opened her eyes and looked up at him. "I'm drunk." she said as if she was stating her name to a stranger.
"That's alright." Justin said stroking her hair and resting his hand on her cheek. He leaned down into her. "Why don't you lay down?" he whispered into her ear.
Iris obliged letting herself fall to the side. Justin lifted her legs onto the bed and took off each of her shoes delicately.
"Justin." she said, keeping her eyes shut.
"Yes." Justin said kneeling down on the floor next to her head.
"Please don't take Rose away from me. She's all I have." Iris said.
Justin stood up without responding.
"Justin." Iris called out again.
When Justin looked down at her again her eyes were open. She was staring up at him blankly.
"Yes." he said, exhaling loudly.
"Kiss me." she whispered.
Justin leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead, and began to rise again. Iris grabbed his shirt. "Not like that." She whispered, looking into his eyes. "A real kiss."
Justin leaned down and kissed her hard, weighing down on her, letting his tongue move into her mouth. She moaned slightly an matched his effort pulling him down on top of her. Justin got lost for a moment, himself a little light headed from the wine. He wasn't' sure how long they'd been kissing when he finally broke away from her. The first time he'd stopped a kiss between them since he could remember. There was a light knock on the door. Justin got up and answered the door. Rose was standing before him, her hair was down and fell into a blunt bob at her chin. She was in a pair of men's pajama's. She looked odd, but Justin decided, adorable. "My sister's very drunk Rose." Justin said.
"It's alright, I've seen her through it a dozen times." Rose said pushing past Justin.
"Is that Rose?" Iris called out.
"Yes dear." Rose said smiling at Justin and winking.
"Rose, I'm drunk." she said as if it was some kind of secret.
Rose looked back at Justin smiling. Justin lifted his hands as if to surrender control of the situation to Rose. "Good night Rose."
"Good night, Justin." Rose said, catching his gaze for a minute, before turning her attention to Iris.
Justin shut the door and Rose sauntered over to the bed, crawling in next to Iris.
"Rose, what the hell were you thinking accepting a date with my brother." Iris whispered.
"I was thinking that I would get to spend the day with him, and that during that whole day you would be alone with a telephone, and a car, and a road that leads to San Francisco, this place where a certain Detective lives, where no one knows you, and you can do whatever you want." Rose whispered back. "I might enjoy myself, but I was thinking of you when I accepted Iris."
"Be careful Rose." Iris said.
"Its just one date." Rose said. "I promise I won't make him fall in love too hard. It's just a little carrot and stick that's all."
"What about bait and switch?" Iris asked.
"I don't understand." Rose said cuddling into Iris.
"What if my brother makes you fall in love with him. He's the kind of guy that would make you feel like a queen Rose. And you know how you fall for that." Iris whispered. "Then we'd have a real mess on our hands."
"Just promise me you'll only go on this one date okay. This isn't a long term solution to my Jack problem. You can't date my brother for the rest of my life, that would be ridiculous." Iris said closing her eyes and beginning to drift off to sleep.
"I promise." Rose whispered into Iris's hair, kissing her on the temple. She looked around the room and back down at Iris. She crept out of the bed and folding the covers over Iris and turned out the bedside lamp and slipped into the hallway and back downstairs to the guest room.
