Thank you to all who have read, favourited and/or reviewed the story! And the characters belong to Janet Evanovich. I'm just playing with them.
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Chapter 13. Celebrating
Steph and Mary Lou had already planned their outing on Saturday, and Mary Lou had hinted at having a lot of gossip. They started with a Margarita each, before ordering their food. They had shared a cab to the restaurant well away from the Burg. Steph told Mary Lou about her mother calling her as soon as she was home from Shorty's, some busybody telling her that Steph had been eating out 'with a lot of men'.
"Probably someone jealous of your entourage" Mary Lou giggled. Steph looked at her lovingly, they were both cheap drunks, but at least they usually were affectionate drunks. They had ordered cheesy garlic bread, and sat munching on it, hoping that it would at least delay some of the effect of the alcohol.
They ate Ziti al Forno, split a bottle of wine, and then had Tiramisu for dessert. During the dinner they talked about a lot of things. Mary Lou revealed that Vinnie Plum was in trouble with his father-in-law Harry the Hammer. Harry was not happy with how the bond's office had changed from a stable little business, good for laundering money, to bleeding money. Considering that Vinnie was working closely with Joyce Barnyard and neglecting his wife, Harry's little princess Lucille, Vinnie was in deep shit. Rumours had it that Vinnie was given one month to manage the problems, apparently including getting rid of Joyce. If he didn't succeed, the Burg gossips were divided - one half believing that Lucille would be a widow soon, and one half believing that Vinnie would be working closely with Harry, as close as in a very short lease. Connie and Lula was also very close to losing their jobs. Apparently Connie was meant to report to Harry, and had neglected telling him about quite a lot of things.
"Are they talking about me as well?" Stephanie asked, fearing the answer.
"As far as I've heard, if they talk about you at all, it's just to mention that you were smart to change to Sebring's. I saw Connie at Giovicinni's, but she pretended not to see me, and slunk out of there without buying anything."
Then Mary Lou changed to talk about Mooch Morelli, who was caught cheating on his wife, again, but this time it would cost him. He had cheated with a married woman, and when her husband thought that their newborn didn't look at all like the parents or grandparents, he demanded a DNA test. When it showed that he definitely wasn't the father, and his, soon to be ex wife, confessed of having an affair with Mooch, the shit hit the fan.
"Oh," Steph said. "Maybe even my mother will get why I don't want a Morelli."
"Don't count on it," Mary Lou said. "She seems really fond of Joe."
She took another bite of her Tiramisu.
"I believe my mum a long time ago talked about Helen being sweet on Joseph Morelli Sr., before he married Angela after knocking her up, and Helen marrying your dad. Maybe that's why she likes Joe so much? I don't really remember Morelli Sr., but all the old people say that Joe looks a lot like his dad, when he was younger."
Steph scraped the last remnants of Tiramisu from her dessert plate.
"Hmm, maybe that's why," she said. "I could make her believe she caught the one that got away. Too bad that's her dream, not mine."
After dessert they had another Margarita each, and then Steph paid the whole bill in spite of Mary Lou's protests.
"You can pay for the cab," Steph said. "And for once, let's celebrate that I have the money to treat us."
They took a cab home, Steph's place being closer, she left Mary Lou in the cab and gratefully went inside. After a perfunctory night time routine of makeup removing and brushing her teeth she fell in bed. Or, as she giggled to herself, sloshed into bed.
The next morning she wasn't giggling. Evil little monkeys had a party inside her head, a very noisy party. And the little buggers hadn't even asked permission! She stayed in bed until she was so desperate for a toilet she braved getting vertical. Thankfully she didn't get sick, and after finishing her business she checked out her fridge. She had remembered to buy Coke. Unfortunately the French fries with ketchup that would have made up the second half of the Cure, didn't magically appear in her kitchen. Since she wasn't sure that they would have stayed down, she drank some more Coke, took two Advil's and returned to bed. A couple of hours later when she woke again she was feeling much better. The monkeys kept the sound down to a dull roar, and she managed to eat some toast. And a glance at the clock said that she still had some hours before today's dinner at her parents' house. She set the alarm on her phone, and went back to bed.
This time when she awoke she was almost back to normal. A long shower, or as long as the hot water tank allowed, made her feel human again. Her hair behaved for once, and after putting on some light makeup she dressed in black slacks and a cute jacket, with a dark blue top under. Hopefully her mother wouldn't think this too colourful for mourning, she thought.
Being Sunday, Valerie and her brood had been there for Sunday dinner earlier in the day, and now it was just the three of them. Helen served Steak sandwiches, with horseradish sauce and Steph realised she was ravenous. Between bites they talked about the neighbours - Helen told her that Mrs. Polanski's granddaughter had married a doctor, and moved to Ohio, Mr. Roman two houses over, had a granddaughter in Philadelphia who had twins last week, and…
Finally Frank opened his mouth.
"How is work, Pumpkin? Do you still think it suits you?"
Steph looked at him gratefully, happy to have a break in the not so subtle litany of weddings and births.
"Yes, dad. I'm still happy with work. In fact, I'll probably be writing bonds some weekends, so that Les Sebring can have some time off. And I helped locate a repeat offender this week. I really feel like I'm contributing."
"I talked with your uncle Dean, and he said he'd have a talk with Vinnie about the value of family. He said to give you his love, and he hoped Sebring would value you and your work."
"Oh. Please give him my love when you talk next. And rumour has it that Harry the Hammer will have a talk with Vinnie. Or maybe already has."
Helen didn't say anything, and Steph noticed that she had a glass of her 'ice tea' at the table.
"I've talked to Ben. He's the one with the pickup truck. Would Tuesday night be good time for delivering your rocking chair?"
"After six o'clock would be perfect."
After the sandwiches they had coffee and cake, and Steph got some leftovers from Helen, and she drove home having had a surprisingly pleasant evening.
Her dad and his friend Ben delivered the rocking chair Tuesday night, and Frank even commented that he thought that the new couch looked good. Considering that he seldom seemed to notice his surroundings, Steph was impressed. She tried to thank Ben with a six pack beer, but Frank declared that he 'had it covered'. Since Ben hadn't said anything beyond 'Hi', and 'Ben' when Frank introduced them, Steph decided that Frank probably had it covered.