House of Phoenyx: House of Phoenyx book 1

by T. John Greene

  Chapter 2

  Lucas

  It had been a long flight from Japan to New York to Connecticut. The only thing that kept Lucas moving was the thought of telling Percaline his big news. They had been best friends forever and Percaline and Savannah were the closest thing he had to family. Sure, he had a mother and a father but he would hardly call them family. They were merely an egg and sperm donor. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to them but he also had no desire to ever see them again. Their desire to travel the world, never checking in, suited him just fine.

  His Nana Lola had raised him from a young boy. She had never met Percaline. Lucas always thought that Lola would have adored Percaline. They probably would have sat on the old porch of Lola’s brick two bedroom bungalow in Washington Park while Percaline ate homemade cookies and Lola sipped her tea. Lucas knew that Percaline sometimes daydreamed of life with a storybook grandmother, but like everything else in her life, her mother’s stepmother was not someone out of a Thomas Kinkaid picture.

  Percaline’s biological grandmother died of MS before Percaline was born and on the day of the funeral the evil step-bitch moved in with her grandfather. Percaline’s mom disowned her father after the evil step-bitch made a comment about Percaline being a bastard born out of wedlock. Rumor had it that Percaline’s grandfather had died some years back and that the evil step-bitch had spent their inheritance on frivolous crap and now wasted away, alone and riddled with some disease that wouldn’t kill her but would make her wish she was dead. “Karma,” as Percaline would say.

  Lola had died a week before second grade started and that was what Lucas had been crying about when Jimmy Warren started calling him names. It was Percaline who had punched Jimmy Warren in the nose, made him cry, and asked him how he would feel if she started to call him a sissy pants. Lucas liked to think that Jimmy Warren’s life had also been changed that day. Maybe instead of growing up and continuing to put others down so he could feel good about himself, he had an epiphany and started to abide by the golden rule.

  Lucas could still remember how Percaline looked that day. Her red hair was in pigtails and she was wearing purple tights, a purple skirt, and a purple shirt with white tennis shoes. Lucas loved the purple outfit. He also loved her strength, her quick wit, and her sense of right and wrong. These were things he still admired about her. Lucas thought Percaline was the crème de la crème and what every other girl should aspire to be morally, emotionally, and physically. Hopefully he could voice that tonight. It was difficult for any other girl to ever measure up to her.

  The last couple of weeks had been a whirlwind and he was happy to be in Connecticut with his family. Lucas used the key he kept around his neck and opened the front door. He had been to this house twice before and was all too familiar with the kitchen wall, which was the background for their web cam sessions. Percaline loved the kitchen because no one she knew had ever died in one and it also reminded her of her mom. Lucas was sure that there would be many more four a.m. conversations there; it was where she did her best thinking.

  The house that Percaline had bought was just like one of those houses you see on a North Carolina beach. It was white with blue shutters and a picket fence that went around the front of it and corralled the yard and garden. When you walked into the house you were in the dining room. On the right was an open living room and in front of you was the stairs. Beyond the living room was the kitchen and through the kitchen was a deck and the backyard. To the left of the kitchen was a hallway which had Savannah’s bedroom and a bathroom on one side of it and another entry to the kitchen and the space under the stairs on the other side of it. Upstairs there were two bedrooms, Lucas’s and Percaline’s, a master bathroom, and a study.

  He went upstairs to his room and set his bag down on the bed and unpacked. It took all of five minutes. He looked around his bedroom to see what the girls had bought for him—underwear, socks, a new comforter—before he headed downstairs to check out the rest of the house. Although the girls had been raised by a carpenter, there was always a pipe that needed to be tightened or drain that needed to be snaked. Lucas liked fixing things. It reminded him of Jon and he knew that the girls were busy with school and would appreciate it.

  The toolbox and Makita drill were underneath the stairs where they always were and the rest of the tools were in the garage where they always were. Percaline hated sheds, so everything went into the garage or underneath the stairs. After an intense search of what needed to be done around the house, Lucas settled on mowing the yard.

  His phone rang before he started the lawn mower. He picked it up and listened without saying anything for a while. Then he said, “Okay,” and disconnected. He had an hour before he had to pick up a very special girl.

  Percaline

  Don ended class at three-fifty.

  “So what did you think?” Josephine asked.

  “I think that Huffy up there peaked in high school,” Percaline said as Josephine smiled.

  “Yeah, I think you’re right. What about the class? Did you like it?” Josephine stood from her seat, recorder safely in her pocket and hand securely on Landon’s metal guide. Percaline left with her, noticing that as they entered the hall and dozens of people raced by, Josephine seemed to anticipate and avoid them. She did better than Percaline did and Percaline had two fully operational eyes.

  “Actually, I really enjoyed it. I’m not a religious person and I like how he was saying that having faith in something is as easy as believing that the sun would come up tomorrow. You don’t need to believe in the Sun God Ra to watch the sunrise,” Percaline said. They headed outside and Percaline watched as Josephine navigated the stairs. “What about you? What did you think?”

  Josephine paused. “Confession time. I actually took this class because I have heard so many great things about Professor Leven. He’s why I transferred to Yale.” Josephine and Percaline walked down a path towards the street and Percaline didn’t see any sign of her yellow Xterra.

  “Uh oh. You’re silent. I’ve officially repelled my only friend with confirmation of my nerdiness, haven’t I?” Josephine asked, picking up the lull in the conversation.

  “No, of course not. I like nerds. I am a nerd,” Percaline said, genuinely embarrassed by her unintentional snobbery. She looked at Josephine and could tell she didn’t believe her.

  “Serious. I’m going to Yale on a full academic ride. I don’t think it gets nerdier than that,” Percaline continued.

  “Oh it does. You could wear a pocket protector and attend Star Trek conventions,” Josephine said.

  “Don’t knock Star Trek conventions,” Percaline laughed.

  Josephine smiled. “Can I give you a ride somewhere?”

  “May I just point out the obvious?” Percaline asked.

  Josephine cut her off with a bigger smile. “I wouldn’t be driving. I have a hired town car.” She pointed to the black Lincoln town car parked in the spot where Lucas and the Xterra should have been.

  “No, but thank you. I’m actually waiting for my friend, who should have been here by now,” Percaline said with irritation in her voice.

  “Okay, well I’m going to be here for a couple of minutes so if you change your mind, you know where I’ll be. It was nice meeting you, and if I don’t see you in the next five minutes hopefully I’ll see you in class on Wednesday.” Josephine waved goodbye and started toward the town car.

  Percaline laughed out loud this time. “See, there you go again using sight verbs.”

  “I know. Damn!” Josephine chuckled.

  Percaline’s phone started to ring as she watched Josephine and Landon get into the car. She looked at the caller ID. It was Savannah.

  “Is everything okay?” Percaline asked, because Savannah calling her in the middle of the afternoon was not the norm. Calling at all was not the norm. She usually communicated through text.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine,” Savannah whispered.

  “Then what’s up?
Why are you whispering? Use our safe word if you’re being held captive.” Percaline, Savannah, and Lucas all had the same safe word. It wasn’t so much a word as it was a name. If any of them said it, it could mean anything from ‘get this guy away from me because he’s a creeper’ to’ I’ve been kidnapped.’ Luckily, they had never needed to use it in the latter context. Percaline asked Savannah about the safe word, but of course she was kidding.

  “I’m whispering because I’m trying to give you a heads up about something and I don’t want Lucas to hear our entire conversation,” Savannah continued.

  Okay, so she hadn’t screamed Scott Baio, Percaline thought.

  “Lucas is still at the house?” she said, fully irritated. Why had she left him the Xterra if he wasn’t going to use it? Something was off. He always picked her up from school, or from work, or from wherever she happened to be on the day he came into town.

  “That’s what I was calling to tell you. He’s here and he’s not alone,” Savannah whispered urgently.

  “What do you mean not alone?” Percaline asked. Now she was praying that if they were really in trouble Savannah would be calling the police instead of her.

  “He’s with a girl.” Savannah paused. “Percaline, I think it’s serious.”

  For years Uncle Jon had lived in Santa Barbara behind a candy/gift shop called Santa Claus Lane. His back door led out to a private beach with good waves for light surfing and boogie-boarding. It was here that days after his death Percaline, Savannah, and Lucas spread his ashes with some of Selena’s. They would want to be together.

  Together they walked up to the tide line, Savannah carrying Uncle Jon’s ashes in a Makita bag because it suited him more than a pot. Lucas unzipped the bag and Percaline threw the ashes into the breeze. Afterwards they stood there holding hands and watched the sun set.

  It was Lucas who spoke first. “Remember when Jon shaved his head but he had dislocated his arm so he couldn’t get to the patch on the back of his head?” Everyone laughed and the mood was instantly better. Mom’s hair had started to fall out and Uncle Jon didn’t want her to be alone, he never wanted any of them to be alone, so he had shaved his head and his beard which made him look naked.

  “I want us to have that closeness,” Lucas said. “I want all of us to be linked.”

  “What do you propose then? And please don’t bring up marriage again,” Percaline said in a kind but exhausted breath as she held his hand more tightly.

  “I propose a blood-bond,” was Lucas’s reply.

  “A blood-bond? What about disease?” Savannah protested. She hated the sight of blood. Actually, all of them hated the sight of blood but Savannah was the only one who would pass out at the sight of a paper cut.

  “You’re eleven years old, Savannah. What contagious diseases do you have?” Lucas laughed. “I was just given a full medical panel by the Navy and Percaline had her yearly check up last week. Unless Percaline slept with someone I’m unaware of in the last week?” Lucas playfully bumped Percaline’s shoulder with his.

  “Nope,” Percaline said as she stared out into the ocean, unfazed by the question. “I’ve had a bit of a dry spell lately.”

  All three of them laughed, and Lucas added, “Me too.”

  Percaline responded first. “I’m in!”

  Savannah looked between the two of them, sighed and said, “I’m in too.” Lucas demanded more enthusiasm from Savannah. “I’m in!” she screamed with a smile on her face.

  They stood in a circle holding barely bloodied hands and reciting that they were from now on bound by blood.

  “Percaline, are you still there? Did you hear me?” Savannah was still on the phone.

  “I’ll be home in a little while. I have a couple of things I need to do first.” Percaline’s voice had gone quiet again like it had that day on the beach. Sometimes she had to remind herself to act human.

  “Okay, but how bad is this?” Savannah asked. “Are you code red?” Percaline just hung up the phone. She walked towards Josephine’s town car and knocked on the window. The window rolled down.

  “On second thought, would you like to go get a beer?”

  Yale had a tavern called Not My Dog’s Brewery. It was the smaller brand of a brewery based out of Colorado. Not My Dog’s Brewery had some great trademark beers, but most importantly they also served other Colorado beers. Percaline ordered herself a Black Bottle ‘Social Insecurity’ and Josephine ordered an iced tea.

  “Really? Tea?” Percaline accused.

  “Yeah, I’m not a big drinker.” Josephine said.

  “Yeah, I’m not either. I usually stop at one.” They were sitting at an outdoor table so that Landon could watch people as they went by.

  “When did you lose your sight?” Percaline asked as she scratched Landon behind his ears.

  “When I was twenty years old I was at my sister’s house for Sunday dinner and I had a seizure. My dad says I was talking gibberish when my eyes rolled back into my head and he tried to catch me before I collapsed. I don’t remember any of it. When I woke up my sight was gone.” Josephine shrugged.

  “Are you close to your family?” Percaline questioned.

  “I’m close to my mother, father, and three of my sisters,” Josephine replied.

  “Three of your sisters? How many sisters do you have?” Percaline was interested in people who had large families. She always envied those who surrounded themselves with friends and family during Sunday night dinner. It was one of those grown-up dreams she aspired to live.

  “I have nine sisters and they’re all older than me. I’m the baby of the family,” Josephine shared.

  “Seriously? Wow. Do you have any brothers?” Percaline asked.

  “No, just sisters and the oldest is twenty years older than me. Apparently my dad had girl sperm.” Josephine shrugged. “But I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about you. Tell me about your boy problems?”

  The server came back out with their drinks in his hand. He even brought a cup of water for Landon. “If you ladies are interested,” he began as he set down the glasses. “My Alpha Delta Phi brothers and I are having a masquerade party on Thursday. You two should come.” He pulled a flier from under his arm and sat it down on the table. He looked at Josephine, studied her for a moment, and then returned inside.

  “I think he likes you,” Percaline said, folding the flier and putting it in her purse. Josephine was gorgeous. She was the African-American version of Reese Witherspoon. She looked just like Reese and she had the body to match. She wore sunglasses so Percaline hadn’t seen her eyes yet but she was sure they would be beautiful too.

  Whenever Percaline met attractive women she always thought of her high school friend Jamie, who had told her that it was a unique quality for an attractive woman to befriend another attractive woman. At the time she thought it was a strange statement but over the years she thought back to it often.

  Josephine moved her drink and leaned in closer. Then she demanded, “Uh-huh. Stop stalling and get to the dirt!”

  Percaline told Josephine about Lucas, Savannah, Selena, and Uncle Jon. She even told her about the blood-bond on the beach. She wouldn’t have normally shared this much but there was a lot of relevant history between her and Lucas and there was something really comforting about Josephine. Even though they had just met she felt like she’d known Josephine for years. Today was a day of firsts. The first day of junior year, the first time Lucas had not picked her up, the first time Lucas had brought home another girl, and maybe the most profound, the first time Percaline had made a true girl friend.

  Percaline had much more of a guy’s personality so she always thought that was the reason she got along with guys so much better than she did girls. But maybe Jamie’s high school wisdom was true and it was merely the comfort level girls displayed in front of other girls. Either way, Percaline felt like she could share anything with Josephine and Josephine wouldn’t judge her. She felt so comfortable in fact, that by the
time she had finished the history of her and Lucas, she ordered another beer.

  “So Savannah called and said that Lucas is at the house with another girl,” Percaline said, finishing up the story.

  “But that doesn’t make any sense,” Josephine said passionately.

  “But it does.” Percaline paused. “That was the big news he wanted to share with us. I’m so stupid! I thought he was coming home to tell me he wanted to be with me and what he was really doing was coming home to tell me that he had met someone.”

  “But I thought you didn’t want to be with him?” Josephine crinkled her forehead in question.

  “That’s the problem. I don’t know what I want.” Percaline took a sip of her beer. “I know that I want Lucas to want me and I know that when I look to the future we’re together.”

  Josephine sighed. “Well, I think you just said it. You need to go home, think about everything, and really ask yourself what you want. Do you want to be with Lucas as a friend or as more?”

  “You’re right. I need to get my life together and figure out what it is I want.” Percaline’s mind was already circling around everything, trying to break the riddle.

  Josephine added, “And really think about it. It wouldn’t be fair to Lucas if you decided that you wanted to be with him only because you’re jealous that he is replacing you with another girl. But having said that, it also wouldn’t be fair to him to let him continue on with this other girl if you know that you two are supposed to be together.”

  “You are really good at this. Maybe you should start charging me for therapy.” Percaline smiled. She had been to a therapist only once before and in that hour session she had received less guidance than she had from Josephine in the last five minutes. “Josephine, what do I do if I decide that I want to be with him but he doesn’t feel the same way?”

  “If he was ever really in love with you, and I think he was, he will still feel the same way. You just may need to remind him,” Josephine said like a Chinese proverb.

  “Remind him?” Percaline asked.

  “Yeah. Break out the dirty girl chess moves.” Both girls laughed at that.

  It was time to get back to the house. Percaline never liked putting things off. She thought it was easier to just rip the Band-Aid off. She reached into her book bag to pull out her phone and check for messages.

  “I have sixteen text messages from Savannah,” Percaline said as she pulled down the messages screen.

  “That seems a little excessive,” Josephine commented.

  “She mostly just wants to know how I’m doing.” Percaline paused as she read through the messages, then she laughed. “Listen to this one: ‘if you want me to I can accidentally pie her in the face, then kick her in her bean, and when she asks me why I can say ‘you know why!’”

  They laughed until they cried at that one. Percaline messaged Savannah back and told her that she was on her way home.

  Percaline and Josephine exchanged phone numbers and Percaline started to walk home. Although Josephine had offered to give her a ride, Not My Dog’s Brewery was only a couple of blocks from her house and she needed the time to think about how she was going to act when she got there.

  By the time she got to the front gate she had talked herself into being friendly and accommodating towards Lucas’s new girl. She needed time to think about how she felt about Lucas, so there was no sense in being a bitch until she had to. Happy. She needed to act happy.

  Percaline took a deep breath and opened the front door. You know when you play something out in your head and then what actually happens goes nothing like that? This was one of those times. What she expected was that she would open the door and everybody would be there standing around waiting for her, but that was not the case. She opened the door and nobody was there.

  Percaline made her way to the kitchen where she poured herself a glass of water while she looked out the window above the sink into the backyard. She was startled to see that Savannah, Lucas, and Lucas’s new girl were outside. They were drinking Coronas. Percaline didn’t care if Savannah drank as long as she was at home and as long as she didn’t have any plans of driving anywhere.

  Lucas was grilling and Savannah was sitting at the patio table. Lucas’s new girl was beside him telling Savannah what was apparently a funny story because Savannah was laughing. Shit, Lucas’s new girl was pretty. She was a tall, lean Japanese woman who was wearing what looked like six inch heels. If that was the kind of girl Lucas was into she would never stand a chance, because walking in three inch heels was sometimes a challenge for her and only occurred on very special occasions. Percaline popped some gum in her mouth, looked down at her outfit, shrugged, and made for the back door. Here goes nothing, she thought.

  “What are you guys doing back here?” Percaline asked as she entered the backyard.

  “Percaline!” Lucas shouted as he ran up to hug her. When he hugged her he always picked her up off the ground so as she hung airborne for a moment she got to watch Savannah analyze her. Man, she hated being the center of attention. “Hey Luke, how have you been?”

  Lucas hugged her more tightly. “I’ve been good but I’ve missed you guys,” he said as he put her down. “Come here, I want you to meet someone.” Lucas grabbed her hand and pulled her towards his new girl. “Percaline, this is Mischelle. Mischelle, this is my BFF Percaline.” Percaline dropped his hand to shake Mischelle’s. She always thought it was so middle school that Lucas referred to her as “BFF” but it was also cute.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mischelle,” she said as she extended her hand. You could always tell what kind of person someone was by their handshake. Percaline was hoping that Mischelle had a wet fish handshake, but she didn’t. Instead she had a nice firm handshake, much like Percaline’s. Was she ever going to catch a break?

  “It’s nice to meet you too. My Lucas has told me so much about you.” Percaline thought, Really? Because he’s told me nothing about you. Wait, did Mischelle just say “my Lucas?” Lucas wouldn’t like that. He didn’t like it when people he barely knew referred to him as a possession. Percaline looked at him. He hugged Mischelle and kissed her head. She fit perfectly into the nook of his arm, as Percaline did, the top of her head coming to Lucas’s chin. “Isn’t she great, Percaline?”

  Percaline was about to drop Mischelle’s hand when she saw the ring on her finger. She manipulated Mischelle’s hand so it was directly in front of Lucas. “Lucas, is there something you want to tell me?”

  Lucas either didn’t hear or didn’t care that Percaline’s tone was anything but friendly. “Mischelle and I are engaged! Isn’t that great?”

  “What?” It was very rare that anyone every got a genuine emotional response from Percaline. Actually, now that Percaline thought about it, Lucas was the only one who could do that to her. What was wrong with Lucas? It was like he had been brain-washed. Percaline had only heard about something like this once before in her life and it was with her grandfather and evil stepbitch.

  Percaline looked at Mischelle, really looked at her. Then she looked at Savannah. Savannah had gone from white to red. Yes, this was a code red situation. Percaline composed herself. She needed to think. She shook her head trying to clear it.

  “Congratulations,” she said. Savannah was speechless. She had been poised for fight. Percaline saw her settle down. Not completely, but enough. Savannah was now staring at Lucas with a ‘how could you’ look on her face.

  Percaline grabbed a Corona for herself and another for Savannah. Lucas and Mischelle were now talking about something but neither Savannah or Percaline were listening. Savannah was texting and Percaline was trying to concentrate on not falling over.

  Percaline’s phone vibrated. She looked at Savannah and Savannah motioned her to check it. It was from her. “Seriously? WTF???”

  Percaline wrote back, “IDK but this is crazy right? Does he seem to be acting normal?”

  “No. Invasion of the body snatchers?” Savannah responded.


  “Maybe PTSD?” Percaline countered.

  Percaline and Savannah continued to text throughout dinner while both continued to concentrate on what Lucas and Mischelle said. They had met two weeks ago in Tokyo where Mischelle was studying to become a Microbiologist. Mischelle was a United States citizen, so this wasn’t a green card situation. Savannah made sure to ask that. Savannah asked Mischelle if she was a mail order bride, a gold digger, or a man. Mischelle wasn’t any of those and somehow managed to answer Savannah’s questions without hitting her in the face. Lucas sat there the entire time smiling like he didn’t have a brain in his head.

  “So if you guys traveled together from Japan, then why did Lucas have to go pick you up this afternoon?” Savannah asked. This was the first time Percaline had heard about this and this was perhaps the most hurtful of all the news. Lucas had picked up Mischelle instead of her, using her car.

  Mischelle answered for Lucas. She was doing a lot of that. “I have some friends here in New Haven that I wanted to visit.” Lucas was staring at Mischelle and Mischelle patted his hand which was on her leg. “I didn’t want to subject Lucas to them because they’re dull at best, so we decided that it would be easier if I went by myself while Lucas came and settled in here.”

  Savannah texted Percaline. “There’s the kink in the armor. She has a husband.”

  Percaline texted back. “You don’t know that. She could have legitimately visited some friends.”

  Savannah responded. “Yeah right!”

  Savannah responded out loud to Mischelle. “That was very considerate of you.”

  For the first time in a while Lucas spoke. “She is always so considerate of me.” He leaned in and kissed Mischelle’s cheek.

  By now this was getting ridiculous. Lucas was only looking at Mischelle although Percaline was trying desperately to catch his eye. It was no use. She thought she’d try to shock a response out of him. “So you guys have only known each other for two weeks and already want to get married?” Yep, that got Mischelle to give Percaline the drop-dead look.

  Lucas finally looked at Percaline and said, “Yes.”

  Savannah said flatly, “I’m going to bed.” Apparently she was done with this conversation.

  That was that. They cleaned and went to bed. Percaline in her room, Savannah in her room, and Lucas and Mischelle in Lucas’s room. Thank God Percaline and Lucas’s rooms were separated by a bathroom because she didn’t think she could handle the sounds that might come out of his room. Apparently Savannah was also worried about this, so she slept with her TV blaring.

  As Percaline lay in bed, she thought over all of the night’s events. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do. There was definitely something wrong with Lucas and she couldn’t help but shake the feeling that it had something to do with Mischelle. Like her mother, Percaline had learned to trust her gut instincts and they were never wrong. She didn’t have any evidence to support her gut, but she didn’t need it. Her mind kept racing back to what Josephine had said. She needed to separate her feelings of jealousy from her actual feelings. That was going to be difficult. She needed to go somewhere and think, but she couldn’t because she didn’t want to leave Savannah alone in the house with a mutant Lucas and a brain-sucking Mischelle. It was two a.m.

  Percaline’s phone vibrated. It was Savannah. “Can’t sleep. Lighthouse?” This was Savannah’s coded way of asking Percaline if she needed to escape.

  The lighthouse was where Savannah and Percaline shared memories of their mother. Before Selena was diagnosed with breast cancer she had surprised Percaline with a trip to New Haven. She wanted Percaline to see Yale because she knew that Percaline would attend Yale one day. They spent a long weekend in New Haven and on their last night they came to the lighthouse. Selena loved it. On the anniversary of Selena’s death, after Percaline and Savannah had moved to New Haven, they poured some of her ashes into the sea there.

  “I think it’s prettier in the dark,” Savannah said when they arrived. Percaline agreed. They made their way up the stairs to the top. They stood leaning on a rail that overlooked the water.

  Savannah bumped Percaline’s shoulder with hers. “What’s going on in that big brain of yours?”

  “I’m trying to figure out how I feel about Lucas,” Percaline said.

  “And how do you feel about him?” Savannah asked, giving Percaline her full attention.

  “I don’t know. I’m still trying to separate my feelings.” Percaline slouched.

  Savannah mirrored her slouching and said, “Well, regardless of how you feel about him I think we can both agree that Mischelle isn’t the one for him.”

  “But he says he loves her,” Percaline countered.

  “If you were paying attention like I was, maybe you would have picked up on the fact that he never said he was in love with her,” Savannah pointed out.

  Percaline thought about that for a minute and realized Savannah was correct. He hadn’t. “That’s significant.”

  “Heck yeah it’s significant.” Savannah paused. “He didn’t say it because he’s not in love with her. If anything he’s in lust with her.”

  Percaline turned her back to the bar. “You think so?”

  “I do. He wouldn’t stop staring at her. Like she was the most fascinating person in the room and we all know that that’s not true because I was there. Plus, Lucas has always been in love with you,” Savannah said flatly.

  “I think I messed up.” Percaline’s voice broke.

  “You didn’t mess up. At least not for good. But you do need to realize that you’re in love with Lucas too. You two are meant to be together. I know it and so did Mom,” Savannah said in a soothing tone.

  “But what if it’s too late?” Percaline asked.

  “Until the wedding day it’s not too late.” Savannah hugged Percaline. “Come on Percaline, make the leap. You know I’m right. You’re in love with Lucas.”

  Percaline started to cry. It had been three years since she last cried. She didn’t like crying. It made her vulnerable and she hated to be vulnerable. She cried for a couple of minutes, then got her shit together and thought of a plan.

  Savannah asked, “What are you going to do?”

  “Dirty girl chess,” Percaline responded with a chuckle, wiping the tears from her eyes. It was called dirty girl chess because you played dirty, usually invoking your feminine wiles, to get the guy you were after to make the move you wanted him to make.

  Savannah gave Percaline a high five.