“Cops!” Someone squealed but most of the party ignored the outcry.
“Oh, damn,” Eve muttered. She knew the music was too loud, but honestly, didn’t Kara’s neighbors know there was a bachelorette party going on here?
“May I have your attention please?” a male voice boomed out. “I need to talk to the owner of this domicile.”
Women began to mutter.
“That’s me, officer,” Kara called out. “I’m sorry. I know we’re making too much noise.”
Liz and Eve pushed through the crowd to find two police men standing near the open front door and glowering at the assembled women.
The taller of the two men towered over Kara, practically barking in her face. “Well do you understand what a waste of our resources it is for us to have come out here over a complaint when people might be literally dying of exposure in this storm?”
Kara practically cowered before the man. “I am really sorry, officer. I’m getting married tomorrow and I guess we just got carried away with the—”
“Don’t apologize, Kara!” Liz shouted as she stepped up beside her sister. “How dare this fascist come here and shout at you in your own home?”
The cop turned the full force of his glare on Liz. “Fascist is it? Perhaps you should step outside where we can talk—”
“Where you can arrest me for public intoxication?” Liz interrupted. “I don’t think so.” She poked the cop hard in his well -developed chest.
Kara tried to get between Liz and the policeman. “Liz, stop it! What do you think you’re doing?”
“Protecting our rights! I’m a lawyer, remember?”
She pushed her sister out of the way. “Just what was this complaint anyway?”
The cop reached up to his shoulders and jerked at his uniform. Shirt and pants immediately tore free leaving him in a way-too-small black jock strap. “Insufficiently wild partying!” he shouted and started dirty dancing with Liz.
The rest of the women whooped with excitement and surged toward the other officer.
The three women were getting pretty deep into their act now. Most of the guys were hooting and hollering, watching them. Ron, the guest of honor, had been tied to a chair while the women—sans most of their clothing—danced provocatively around him. From the occasional glimpses Ken got of his friend through the crowd, it was obvious the groom-to-be was not enjoying his party.
Ken couldn’t blame him. Truth to tell he felt like a jerk for having arranged it all. Now that he stopped to think about it, the whole idea of a bachelor party seemed pretty idiotic. What man worth the name wanted to go out and look at other women on the night before his wedding?
“You sure you want to stay with water?” Nick asked as he took Ken’s glass off the bar. “You don’t look like you’re having a very good time.”
“Might as well,” Ken told him. The drink didn’t really matter, but if he was going to play chauffer later, he really ought to stay sober—especially in this weather.
Nick refilled his glass. The two were standing by themselves at the bar as far from the show as they could get. “You want to tell me what’s wrong?”
Ken shook his head. “Not really.”
The truth was he felt pretty stupid about the whole Eve thing. He’d just met the woman. He didn’t know why she’d affected him so strongly. All they’d done was talk.
Howard Miller, the groom’s father, appeared beside them and hefted his prodigious bulk up onto a bar chair. “Will you make me a Black and Tan, Nick?”
“Of course, Mr. Miller.” Nick picked up a glass and started pouring the layered drink.
Ken and Mr. Miller watched Nick work rather than try to catch glimpses of the show. When Nick finally slid the drink across the bar to him, Mr. Miller sat staring at it without moving to touch it. “Kenny,” he finally said, “how long have I known you?”
The question surprised Ken. “I don’t know, Mr. Miller. We met when your family moved across the street from my Mom and Dad. When was that?”
Ron’s father continued to stare at his drink. “Ron was three when we moved so I guess that makes it...” he paused to figure the math, “twenty-three years. You were his first real friend, you know. I watched you grow up.”
Kenny nodded, remembering with startling clarity the first time he’d seen Ron Miller toddling about in his yard. Mr. Miller had been with him, holding little Ron’s hand. His two sisters were older and hadn’t been around at the time. Kenny’s mom had led him across the street and introduced them and Ron and he had been fast friends ever since. “I guess you did at that.”
Howard Miller kept reminiscing. “You were a girl chaser from your earliest days—absolutely fascinated with women. You were the one who always got Ron in trouble with the Playboys and Penthouses. You were the first one to ask a girl out on a date; the one who pushed Ron to go to all those dances; the one who thought the reason to go to the pool was to look at girls in their bikinis rather than swim.”
Ken smiled. He had been girl-crazy, hadn’t he? An image of Eve Tanner passed before his eyes and he admitted he still was. “I like women,” he said.
Mr. Miller took a long pull on his drink, then set the glass down and ran the back of his hand over his mouth. “Then why are you sitting here at the bar with Nick when there are three pretty women dancing buck naked on the other side of the room.”
Ken didn’t answer. This was the sort of thing you talked about with your friends, not the older generation. Certainly not Mr. Miller who as far as Ken could tell hated all women. He and Ron used to tease the old man mercilessly, bringing up girls they knew in school just to see what kind of reaction they would get out of him. Would they be words of warning? A general condemnation of the whole female species? A cruel observation about the perfidy of the gender? Ken had never understood the older man’s hatred, other than the obvious—he wasn’t happy in his marriage—but it was weird to have him encouraging Ken to go stare at the three strippers.
Mr. Miller twisted about on his bar seat to face Ken. “You set all this up. I’ve been to enough of these stupid parties over the years to know you did a good job. Why are you sitting over here? Are you feeling sick?”
Ken kept his mouth shut but Nick wasn’t so circumspect. “Ken met a woman he really likes tonight.”
“A woman here for the wedding?” Mr. Miller asked.
Ken decided politeness required him to answer. “Her name is Eve Tanner.”
Mr. Miller thought about it for a few moments then shook his head. “I don’t know that name. Must be one of Kara’s friends.”
“They went to school together,” Ken confirmed.
Mr. Miller downed another quarter of his beer and once again wiped the foam from his lip with the back of his hand. “Must be pretty to have you worked up like this.”
“She’s beautiful,” Ken agreed.
“The dangerous ones usually are,” Ron’s father told him with a glimmer of his usual misogynistic personality. A little energy filled the older man’s voice. “So what’s the problem? You already afraid she’ll get mad at you if you have a little fun at Ron’s bachelor party?”
“What?” Ken asked. The question actually startled him. “No, I…she’s living with some guy. She’s already taken.”
“Are you sure about that?” Nick asked.
“Yeah, Travis told me.”
“But she’s not married to him?” Mr. Miller asked.
Ken shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Just living with—”
“Ken, you’re mistaken,” Nick told him. “After you and Travis left to help change Eve’s tire, the women started talking about her—Thea, Kara and Liz. She was living with a man for years but found out he’d been cheating on her all along. It’s a lot like what happened to Thea’s sister, Becka. All three were really pissed off about it but glad Eve kicked the bastard out on his ass.”
A surge of excitement flushed through Ken. “Are you sure about that? When?”
“She booted
him. It happened a couple of months ago. It’s the reason Liz suggested you go along with Travis. She thought a little wedding party fling would do her some good. Kara and Thea got mad at her about it.”
“Why mad about me?” Ken asked.
“Because of your reputation,” Nick said. “You’ve probably noticed Ron is spending less time with you.”
“Yeah, of course. He’s getting married and I’m…oh.”
Howard Miller laughed. “Women change you, boy.”
“Not all change is bad, Mr. Miller,” Nick said.
Ron’s father quieted as fast as he’d bubbled up with mirth. “I know. It’s not all good either, but…Kenny, I’m going to give you some advice. I’m probably the last person in the world who should talk on this subject because I’ve spent the better part of forty-one years fighting with my wife. But here it is just the same.”
He paused and squared his shoulders like he was getting ready for a fight. “I have a bad marriage. Everyone who knows Hanna and me knows it’s true. We’re trying counseling now, but…we’ve a lot to overcome.”
He looked at his drink like he definitely needed some fortification, but he didn’t touch it. “All that being said, I’d marry her again. We’ve got three fine children who are smarter and luckier than we were. Ron’s going to prove that when he marries Kara tomorrow.”
Ken looked at the older man, wondering what had happened to the blustery, woman-hating figure he’d grown up across the street from. Part of him wanted to make a joke, but he was afraid that if he did he might insult Ron’s father. Still, he had to say something, didn’t he? “Are you all right, Mr. Miller? You’re the last person I would have expected to support Ron getting married.”
Howard Miller’s shoulders slumped. “I know, but, Kara—she’s something special, and when I see Ron with her…”
He squared his shoulders again. “Kenny, I watched you grow up. Much to your mother’s disgust, I was sort of a surrogate father for you. You spent as much time in my house as in your own. I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you really like this woman, why are you still sitting here? She’s probably only in town for the wedding. You don’t have that much time to figure out if what you feel is real.”
Stunned, Ken turned to Nick who spread his hands helplessly. “Much as it surprises me to say it, I think Mr. Miller is making sense, although breaking up a bachelorette party might not be the best…”
If Nick was still talking, Ken couldn’t hear him. He was too busy pulling on his coat as he ran for the door.
Chapter Six
Eve watched as different women pushed their way through the crowd for their turn dancing with the two muscular strippers. Both men wore nothing but a tight black jock strap that left very little to the imagination. Both men’s bodies gleamed in the light of the room. They were very handsome and if she’d been in a better mood, she could have really enjoyed this party. Still guys that didn’t differentiate between their partners, whether they be lithe young eighteen year olds or retirement age adults, really couldn’t give Eve the ego boost she needed right now.
“Having a good time?” Kara asked her as she slipped up beside her. Eve’s college roommate looked a little more sober now than she had when Eve arrived.
“Sure, it’s great,” Eve lied. She needed to refill her wine glass but didn’t want to be rude and walk away from Kara.
Then why aren’t you dancing like everyone else?” Kara asked.
Why indeed? It was an excellent question. Charlie was gone. What was holding Eve back? To buy herself time to think, she turned the question on Kara. “Why aren’t you? It’s your party.”
“Because I’m getting married tomorrow,” Kara told her. “Parties like this aren’t for the bride and groom. They’re for all our friends and relatives.”
Eve wondered if that was true. If she and Charlie had gotten married, she had no doubt he’d be out enjoying his bachelor party to the max. Maybe it was a good thing she’d found out about him before they got to that stage.
One of the older women was getting quite daring with one of the strippers. She was a white woman with light brown hair and a dress and jewelry that would have made her look elegant if she weren’t grinding her crotch against a man a third her age. She used the spectacle to change the subject. “Who is that woman?”
Kara glanced over and frowned. “That’s Ron’s mother. The things I could tell you about her.”
“Why don’t you? We used to talk for hours on the phone before you moved in with Ron.”
Kara kept frowning. “Was that when we started drifting? It’s been such a busy couple of years. I go out a lot more than I used to and when I stay in, I’m usually doing something with Ron.”
“I wonder if that was what went wrong with Charlie and me,” Eve mused. “Even in the beginning we could stay home together without ever interacting all that much.”
Kara put her hand on Eve’s shoulder. “What went wrong with you and Charlie was Charlie. We just have to find you a nice—”
She broke off when the front door opened and a tall blonde man entered the house.
“What is Ken doing here?” Kara asked.
Ken scanned the room over the heads of the dancing women, immediately relieved that Eve wasn’t dancing with one of the male strippers like Ron’s mother— Ron’s mother?— was. He pulled his eyes away from that and went back to looking for Eve. There were lots of attractive women here but he couldn’t find the only one he cared to see.
“Hey, Kenny,” Ron’s sister Kitten called out. “You bad boy, you’re not supposed to be here. But since you are…”
Kitten started dancing up against him. He’d known her his whole life and it unnerved him just a little to have her coming on to him like this.
Ken carefully moved her to the side. “Kitten, have you seen Eve?”
“Who?” Kitten asked him.
“Beautiful black woman—short hair, great eyes.” He could tell that his friend’s drunken sister had no idea who he was talking about. “Oh, never mind.”
He struck out across the room, pretty much ignoring everyone until he caught sight of Liz who looked as if she were trying to get her sister Ruth to go up and dance with one of the mostly naked men. He pressed through the crowd until he reached her side. “Hey, Liz, have you seen Eve?”
Liz had clearly been drinking. “Ken, just the man we need to loosen my uptight sister up a little. I need you to dance with her.” Liz pulled at his shirt. “After you take some clothes off first. The only men allowed in here are strippers.”
Normally that sort of invitation would have appealed to Ken, but now he grabbed Liz by the shoulders so she would pay attention to him. “Have you seen Eve?”
“She’s over talking to Kara,” Ruth told him. She was Kara’s older sister—stable, married and with two kids. Ken had only met her a couple of times. “Is Al behaving himself at that bachelor party?”
Ken was pretty certain that Al had been close beside Ron enjoying the show but bachelor parties were like Vegas so he lied about it. “He spent the whole time talking with Nick and Mr. Miller at the bar.”
As he spoke, his eyes followed her pointing finger until he spotted Kara and Eve watching him along with maybe a dozen other women. He immediately started toward her—then felt a terrible crippling wave of doubt.
He turned back to Ruth. “Is it true she broke up with that guy who was living with her?”
Ruth nodded the faintest of smiles on her lips. “Threw him out on his ass. That’s not a woman you can mess around on, Ken.”
Even more nervous now, Ken licked his lips. “If I had her, I’d never wanted to look elsewhere again.”
Liz finally got with the program, prodding him in the chest. “So what are you waiting for? She’s over there, you lunk.”
Ken turned back to face Eve. She was only ten feet away, but the distance seemed to stretch out between them looming longer than a football field. She was so awesome—mature, sophisticated, beautiful. W
hat was he? An idiot who’d never finished growing up after college?
“She’s waiting,” Ruth told him.
“That’s right, Ken,” Liz added. “What are you going to do?”
As frightened as if he was stepping down the aisle, Ken started toward the woman of his dreams.
Eve watched in confusion as Ken made his way aimlessly through the crowd, then suddenly bee-lined toward Kara’s sisters Liz and Ruth. “What is he doing here?” she asked Kara.
Kara sounded equally confused to her. “I don’t know. He set up Ron’s bachelor party. I thought he’d be enjoying it, start to finish.”
Ruth suddenly pointed toward the two of them and Kara tensed up beside Eve. “You don’t think anything’s wrong, do you?”
“I don’t know,” Eve told her. Something was up. Guys just didn’t come to women’s bachelorette parties.
Ken started toward them, then stopped and turned back to Liz and Ruth. Eve wished she could hear what they were saying.
“Do you think Ron got hurt?” Kara asked. “He looks terrified.”
Ken turned back to face them again then slowly started forward through the crowd. As more and more women figured out something was up, the dancing began to die around the room. Ken was taking forever to cross the few feet toward them. He was white as a sheet. What was going on?
Sudden silence jarred her as someone turned the music off.
Ken’s voice sounded tentative and uncertain as it abruptly became evident that he was approaching Eve and not Kara. “Travis told me you were living with some guy.”
Eve’s mouth when dry. “N-no, I—I broke up with Charlie a couple of months ago.” She couldn’t add that he’d cheated on her, but then maybe it wasn’t necessary.
“I know that now. I wish I’d known during dinner. Then I wouldn’t have felt so guilty trying to keep you to myself…”
Eve’s hands started trembling. “You were?”
“I can’t stop thinking about you,” Ken whispered. “No one’s ever affected me like this.”
Eve was finding it increasingly difficult to form coherent sentences. “I… feel… it…too…”
Snowbound Bachelorette Party Page 5