Saturday came along.
Brenda need coffee. She had a little too much the night before.
"Add some Baileys," Bobby muttered. "It will cure you."
Brenda thought that might be a bad idea. Then, she remembered Andrea was picking her up. She poured some in her mug and put it back. What Fritzi didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Brenda started to sip. Aww, that felt good.
Bobby went with a Bloody Mary. He was in England when he learned that a stiff drink made a hangover go away. "I hope I didn't get you in trouble at work."
"I don't work for LAPD anymore. Not my problem."
"Maybe that's for the best. That FID guy is a total dick."
"I bet they all want Darth Raydor back."
"Who? That's what they called the Captain behind her back. She was a hardass, but at least she's a human underneath it all."
"All of what."
"The rule-enforcing, the second guessing, it goes with the job. No one becomes FID to make friends."
"You can say that again." They finished their drinks. Bobby started making breakfast.
"Can I help?"
"Can you whisk some eggs?"
Brenda got the eggs ready and Bobby got out the bread, butter, sausage and fruit. Bobby made a mixed fruit medley. He took the eggs from Brenda and added milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, a little vanilla, and some crushed pistachios.
"Where did you learn to cook all of this?"
"I shadowed Mom. I dated a girl in culinary school in college. I guess practice."
Brenda was jealous. Andrea keeps saying I should join her class.
"You should. Cooking isn't scary once you learn to trust yourself." Bobby heated up the skillet. Can you handle the sausage.
"Uh"
"Just turn it so it doesn't burn." He handed her a spatula.
"Okay." Brenda watched the sausage like a hawk.
Bobby soaked the bread into the egg mixture, coated them in pistachio crumbles and and started to sear the bread. He plated the French toast and added some fruit to the side of the plate. Brenda added the sausage. I'll get Fritzi.
"Baby, Breakfast is ready."
Fritz put on some sweatpants and a white t-shirt and made his way into the kitchen. He washed his hands and sat down. "What's on the menu?"
"We have a pistachio-encrusted French toast, with a tropical fruit medley and sausage. Bon Appetit."
Fritz took a bite. It was excellent. He didn't understand how Bobby could be a partying drunkard at night and a culinary genius during the day. He began to chow down.
"This is great Bobby." Brenda loved the toast. It was syrupy and crunchy at the same time. Who knew pistachio's could be so good.
"I had you're help."
Fritz almost spit out his food. Brenda helped with this.
Hunter came out. She watched the meal, longingly. Joel was asleep, even the smell of sausage couldn't wake him.
The doorbell rang. "Oh that must be Andrea."
"Hi. Come in. We were just finishing breakfast."
"Would you like something for the road?" Bobby offered.
"The French toast is excellent," Fritz recommended it, although he'd rather eat it himself.
"I don't know how portable French toast is." Andrea did love the smell though.
"I got it." Bobby put the sausage on a wooden skewer, added some syrup to it, and wrapped the French toast around it. He took a toothpick to hold the toast to the sausage and wrapped the skewer with a napkin.
"Southern Style breakfast on a stick."
"Why thank you." She and Brenda headed for the spa.
Andrea ate her breakfast on the way to the car. She didn't want syrup in her car. It was delicious, crunchy, salty, sweet, meaty. "Your brother can cook. It must not be the generic."
"Hey. I made that sausage."
"Really?"
"I think he's trying to teach me."
"He's a brave soul."
"So how was your night."
"Same old."
"You didn't spend it with your Lieutenant." Brenda smirked. Andy wasn't bad looking, not at all, but he had too much attitude for her. Brenda liked being the attitude in the bedroom.
"He spent Friday volunteering with a Food Bank."
"Really?"
"His daughter wanted him to go. He was so glad she was speaking to him, that he went."
"That's nice."
They pulled up in the parking lot. Raydor met them there.
They exchanged hellos and went inside. Brenda said her name. We have a reservation for 10. I don't see it, the host said with a snotty voice. Brenda showed them her appointment card, and they were taken right away. She always got a handwritten card. The host was a dick who would like to give his friends other people's slots if he could get away with it. Brenda could go elsewhere, but they had the best masseuses in town. Three Swedish triplets came out. They were all gorgeous. Blond hair, blue eyes, big muscles.
Sharon was stunned. Leave it to Brenda to find the three hunkiest masseuses in LA. The girls went to a dressing room to disrobe. Brenda was prancing about naked. Andrea hit her butt with a towel."
"Hey!" Brenda retaliated with a squirt bottle.
Sharon ducked out of the line of fire. "Let's go already."
"Someone wants to get a Swede on her," Andrea remarked.
"Or a Swede in her," Brenda retorted. She and Andrea laughed at that and Raydor turned bright red. It had been a while since she had a man. So what!
The girls went on to their massages. Each brother had been trained in Sweden and came to the US to show off their talents. They did everything together, the same school, they all had apartments in the same neighborhood. They had even been known to share the same girlfriends.
"Awwww yeah," Brenda was purring. Her masseuse found her sweet spot on her back, and she was loving it.
Andrea was quietly enjoying herself. She had a knot in her back that wouldn't come out. It might have been from the tumble she took when she was running the week before.
Sharon was a little tense. It was an intimate thing to be naked and rubbed by a man. "Relax," he told her. He poured some warm oil on her back and she sighed. He lightened his touch, trying to calm her down. He knew the type, anxious, stressed, needs a massage but is too wrapped up in her own headspace to enjoy herself. It could be worse. She could be one of the bossy types who is always complaining or one of the Blanche Devereauxs. She actually looked pretty good, not that she would ever relax long enough to find a man. "Maybe you should take up boxing or something. You really need to deal with all of this stress."
Sharon sighed. She needed to find some type of release.
"Try thinking of a happy place," Brenda suggested between her purrs and mutters.
Sharon closed her eyes and imagined being on the beach, drinking a mango daiquiri and watching the waves crash. She imagined going for a swim, the cold water and the warm sun battling for position on her skin. Eventually, her mind left the massage room all together, and she was in her own world. She finally gave up control of her body, and let her masseuse do his work. She growled and grumbled as he found the knows in her back and legs and pushed them out.
Their hour ended too soon, and it was time to go. Sharon was asleep.
"Uh," her masseuse didn't know what to do. Brenda covered her lips with her finger and snuck up behind her. Brenda grabbed a towel and whipped Sharon's back with hit.
"AHHH" She yelled. Brenda bust out laughing. Time to go sleepy head. The girls put their clothes on, tipped the masseuses, paid their bill and went on to get their hair and nails done. 2PM rolled around, and they were relaxed and looking great.
"I could eat," Brenda said as they got out of the nail salon.
"Me too," said Andrea.
"Late Lunch." They found a sandwich shop and got some food.
"How was your night?" Andrea asked.
"I read. Rusty went out with his new friends."
"You read." Brenda rolled her eyes. This woman needed a man.
"What did you have an affair to remember."
"Well," Brenda recounted her night, the drinking, the dancing, the arguing and the fight.
"FID and Traffic got into a brawl at the bar!" Sharon was stunned, and not sad to have left FID at this point.
"Branson started it. He just started getting really nasty, and his thug attacked Bobby without warning."
"They started it?"
"Yeah. It was totally nuts. It was like opposite world."
Andrea was sad she missed such a spectacle.
Brenda's phone rang. "Hello. Hey Bobby. You locked yourself out. Where's Fritz? He took Hunter to the park." Brenda gave Bobby the address, so he could meet them.
"I have go give Bobby my keys because he locked his in the house." Brenda rolled her eyes. "He's so scatterbrained sometimes. He focuses on one thing and forgets all else."
Andrea and Sharon gave each other a look. They both tried not to laugh. The Johnson genes ran strong it seemed.
Bobby appeared. His brown hair shone in the sun. His big brown eyes caught Sharon's attention. He had quite a build. "Hey Bren." He kissed her on the forehead.
She handed him her keys. He sat down and ordered a burger. "I could eat a whole cow."
Bobby sat down with the girls. They all looked good today. Sharon's green eyes caught his attention.
"I heard you got into a rumble last night."
"Branson started it. He's a bitch."
Brenda snickered. That was the truth.
"Do you always hit bitches?" Sharon was trying to figure him out.
"Only when they grab you from behind. If you're gonna hit a dude, hit him from the front. Sneak attacks, that's for bitches." Bobby bit into his burger, meaty and cheesy, awesome. "You know the guy. Tell me he's not an ass."
Sharon laughed. Branson was not well liked, by anyone, except maybe the goons he took with him when Taylor gave him FID. "So what do you do when you're not fighting."
"BBQ. I'm going to get a smoker, and you will all see the magic of a real southern BBQ."
"Really?" Brenda's eyes lit up.
"Oh yeah! Pulled Pork, Ribs, Smothered, Chicken, coleslaw. You're in for quite a treat."
"Bobby's a great cook. I love his French toast." Andrea was a fan. He might be a hillbilly, but he's a fine-tuned one.
"What are you doing tonight?" Brenda asked him.
"I was going to take Hunter to the beach for a run. It's nice and cool. The people are mostly gone, just open salty air and sand."
That sounded nice, Sharon muttered.
Brenda saw them eyeing each other. They both were in marriages going no where. Why not?
"You love the beach." Brenda told Sharon as if she didn't know. "And you run."
Brenda is not setting me up with her brother. No way could I handle another Johnson.
Brenda tapped Bobby's food. What? He thought. Oh! "You're welcome to come with me."
Sharon blushed. She had no plans of her own.
"Sharon and Bobby sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Brenda loved teasing him.
"Oh you hush/Shut up" They both said at the same time.
"Well if you're up for going out, I'll be on Redondo Beach." Bobby smiled and headed home.
"Brenda are you nuts?" Sharon seethed when Bobby was out of earshot.
"What? You were looking at him like he was meat on a skewer."
Andrea chuckled. She was so glad Brenda wasn't there when she had her first night out with Flynn. She could just see it now.
"I was not!" Sharon was defensive. Maybe she was, so what. She can look at whomever she wants.
"You should go. He's a good guy." Brenda thought highly of her brother, even though he could be a tad immature at time.
"We should get to the mall," Andrea said. "I need to pick up somethings before tonight."
"Ooooh! Hot date." Brenda smiled. She kept her promise not to say his name.
Andrea blushed. "You bitch."
Sharon could tell Andrea wanted to keep her lover a secret, so she didn't pry.
"To the mall!"
They got to the shops. Andrea needed to get a new dress and Brenda was more concerned with lingerie. Sharon didn't know what to get if anything.
They found Andrea a pretty pink dress that showed off her legs. "Is this too short?" Andrea was a little nervous.
"He's a legs guy," Brenda whispered into her ear.
How did Brenda know that? She wondered. She got the dress and they left.
"Next stop, lingerie." Brenda wanted something bold. She got the blue lingerie and the honey dust.
Andrea browsed. She wondered if it was too soon be getting something like this. Brenda saw a teddy that she thought would suit Andrea nicely. "You should get this."
Andrea didn't know about that. It was a little see through, well more than a little see through.
Sharon wasn't getting anything here. She hadn't worn lingerie in who knows how long and for whom would she wear it?
Brenda grabbed a teddy and threw it at Raydor. "Do you think you could run in this?" Brenda ran away as Raydor swatted at her. Brenda chuckled the whole time.
They left the store and passed the Nike shop on the way out. "Do you need running clothes?"
"I'm not going, Brenda."
"You'd rather date your right hand. You're quite the recluse."
Sharon couldn't believe this woman. How inappropriate! "I have plenty of running clothes." Sharon chose to ignore Brenda's other comment.
"Then, what's the problem. You like the beach. He likes the beach. You both run."
"There's more to it than that."
"It's not like he's proposing to you. So you go out with someone new for a couple of hours. Maybe you hit it off, and maybe you get bored of each other. You will never find anyone going home every weekend and staying there. Someday, Rusty will be going to college and where does that leave you?"
"I can take care of me, just fine, Brenda."
"Maybe it's been too long. You don't know how to date anymore, so you shut down."
"Are you suggesting I'm too old to date?"
"Well, I wasn't going to put it that way, but now that you said it."
"Humph!" Sharon was insulted by that. "I'll show you, Brenda."
Brenda smiled. Her devious plan worked. Sharon got a running jacket, she usually didn't run at night.
After Sharon left, Andrea and Brenda got into the car. "You're evil," Andrea told her.
"Genius. It's evil genius." Brenda corrected her.
"Bating Sharon into going on a date with your brother."
"What? Who knows the last time she dated? She needs to get back on the horse."
"And what about your brother? His marriage just failed."
"And he needs to have some fun. Get out there. Talk to people. Maybe this will be good for them." Brenda was optimistic. She didn't see them lasting too long. Sharon was too serious for him, but she needed to have some fun, and Bobby was nothing if not fun.