Not That Kind of Girl

  “Anyway,” Roxie said, chuckling with everyone else. “Does anyone remember my fateful words that day?”

  Everyone shook their heads.

  Roxie smiled. “Well, I sure do, because I’m eating them now. I said it was a universal law that you can’t have great sex and a great relationship with the same man, that you’re going to have to settle for one or the other.”

  Ginger chimed in. “That was right after I said I couldn’t get pregnant because I was going through menopause!”

  Roxanne had to hold her sides, she was laughing so hard. She fell on top of Josie, and she hadn’t intended to, but her cheek pressed against her friend’s belly. Almost immediately, Roxanne got kicked.

  She gasped, raising her head quickly. “He just said hi to me!”

  “It’s a she,” Bea said.

  “We don’t know that for sure,” Josie corrected her.

  “Whoever is in there just kicked me!” Roxie was awestruck. “Josie, that baby is big!”

  She sighed and rubbed her belly again. “Yeah. Right about now I wish I’d gone to more of my yoga classes.”

  “At least you’re still in your thirties,” Ginger said, massaging her bulge. “I’m the one who’s going to snap like a dried-out Thanksgiving wishbone.”

  Bea shuddered.

  “You two will deliver like champs,” Roxie assured them.

  “And you’ll do fine at the hearing tomorrow,” Josie said.

  “And Bea will ace her agility certification,” Ginger added.

  That gave Roxie an idea, but she clearly hadn’t been the only one whose thoughts had wandered in that direction. Ginger attempted to get up off the love seat. Josie hoisted herself straighter in bed.

  “I think we’re about to do one of our all-girl pile-ons,” Bea explained to a confused Rachel. “Feel like joining us?”

  Rachel lowered her chin and stared at Bea in shock.

  “Oh. Did I forget to tell you about our little ritual?”

  “Your mom joined us the last time we did it,” Ginger said, still trying to stand.

  “Excuse me?” Rachel whispered.

  “Yeah, and now it’s your turn!” Bea popped up from her chair and grabbed Rachel’s hand. Then she went over to the love seat and gave Ginger the boost she needed. They all approached Josie’s big bed.

  “Who’s going first?” Josie asked.

  “I will,” Ginger said. “The sooner I do this the sooner I can go sit down again.” She wrinkled her nose in thought, then put her manicured hand out in the middle of their circle, palm down. “I, Ginger Renee Montevez, officially promise to pretend I’m younger than I really am and deliver a beautiful, healthy baby in under one hour of labor.” She looked quite pleased with her contribution, but then added hurriedly, “With the right to demand an epidural at any time, of course.”

  “I’ll go next,” Roxie said. She placed her hand on Ginger’s. “I, Roxanne Bloom, solemnly swear to face Raymond Sandberg tomorrow in that hearing room with nothing but inner calm and a deep faith in my dog and myself.”

  “Whoa. That was good,” Josie said, putting her hand on top of Roxie’s. “I, Josephine Agnes Sheehan Rousseau—”

  “Wait! Are you hyphenated?” Roxie asked, perplexed. “I don’t think I ever knew that!”

  “Heck no.” Josie said, shaking her head. “I stacked everything together only because it sounded more formal. This is an important occasion.”

  “My feet are swelling, FYI,” Ginger said.

  “Okay. Where was I?” Josie cleared her throat. “I, Josie yadda yadda Rousseau, shall face my baby’s imminent arrival with courage and the trust that everything will be all right.”

  “Are you scared?” Roxie whispered.

  “No,” Josie answered, her eyes clear and steady as she looked at Roxie. “I don’t have the luxury of being scared.”

  All the women were quiet for a moment. Then Bea cleared her throat. “You want to go, Rachel?”

  “You first.”

  “Okay.” Bea took a breath. “I, Beatrice Latimer, promise to use my gifts to help others, and to offer my services to all those in need. Rachel?”

  Roxanne watched Rachel nod her head and smile. She was struck by what a pretty woman she was, with her chin-length silvery-blond hair and funky earrings. She was elegant and feminine. “I, Rachel Diane Needleman, will face my mother’s illness and death with grace, and will remain strong for my family.”

  Roxie’s heart dropped. She hadn’t realized Mrs. Needleman was gravely ill. She looked to Bea for an answer, but she was occupied with Rachel, who’d begun to cry softly, tucked under her arm.

  * * *

  Out on the porch, the four men sat in rockers and looked at the stars. Teeny and Lucio smoked cigars and drank port wine. Eli had a beer. Rick sipped mineral water.

  “We’ll already be in the city, Teeny,” Rick said, trying to talk his friend down from his worried frenzy. “If Josie goes into labor at the hearing then we’re only minutes from the Med Center. It’ll be all right.”

  Teeny shook his head, taking a puff of his cigar, not looking at anyone.

  “Here is the good news,” Lucio said brightly. “She might go into the labor while you are stuck in traffic—and she will need the services of your mobile birthing unit after all!”

  Teeny rolled his eyes. “I think you’re making fun of me.”

  “That is one lucky group of women up there,” Eli chimed in, hooking his thumb up toward the second story. His buddies stared at him in surprise, probably because Eli hadn’t said much since they’d done the man/woman split after dinner.

  “Think about it,” Eli continued. “Each one of them is loved. Each one of them is cared for. The pregnant ones are spoiled rotten.”

  “It is impossible to spoil a pregnant woman,” Lucio said. “It is an honor to take care of her when she is carrying your baby.”

  Teeny sighed. “I think I’m going to cry, man,” he squeaked. “I just don’t want anything to happen to my Josie Girl.”

  Rick patted his friend’s shoulder, then turned to Eli. “How long will the hearing take?”

  Eli shook his head. “Not sure, but I would guess fifteen minutes. They’ll read the case notes, review the evidence, then take statements. The complainant goes first—that would be Raymond.”

  “Okay.” Rick said.

  “Then Roxie will have her chance to show the hearing officer that Lilith is rehabilitated and poses no threat to the public.”

  “Is she going to be able to pull that off?” Teeny asked, wiping his eyes dry.

  “Absolutely,” Eli said. “No doubt about it.”

  “The puppy is much nicer now,” Lucio said, taking a puff of his cigar. “There is no more of the foam, yes?”

  Eli smiled. “Lilith is doing great, because Roxie is doing great.”

  Rick shook his head. “I don’t know what you did, man, but I hardly recognize that girl. I’ve only seen her walking around hunched over with the weight of the world on her back, but now she looks … I don’t know … lighter, happier.” Rick cocked his head in curiosity. “How’d you manage that?”

  Teeny giggled. “And how about the riot gear? Did that come in handy?”

  Eli laughed, then let his laughter fade into a sigh. “Turns out no special equipment was required, just a quiet place and some patience.”

  Nobody said anything for a moment. Then Lucio cleared his throat. “She holds herself like a woman who is well loved. You can always tell, you know. She is on fire inside yet she is tranquil on the surface, as tranquil as a queen.”

  Teeny spoke first. “That was damn near poetry, man.”

  “I have been doing the crosswords,” Lucio explained.

  “So is that what’s happening here?” Rick asked, his voice low and serious. He propped his elbows on his knees and leaned closer to Eli. “Are you in love with her?”

  “Most definitely,” he said.

  “Have you told her?” Teeny wanted to know.

&n
bsp; “I have shown her, which was the only way Roxie would believe it,” Eli said. “She’s had the words before but without the follow-through.” He found himself smiling. “I guess you could say I gave her the follow-through first, so that when she hears the words from me, she’ll have no doubts.”

  “But a woman needs the words, too,” Lucio said.

  “She’ll get them,” Eli said. “I plan to tell her tomorrow. In fact, I plan to ask her to marry me tomorrow.”

  Every one of the rockers stopped moving. No one said anything for a long moment.

  “There must be something in the damn water around here, y’all running around asking women to marry you like you’re under some kind of spell or something.” Teeny shook his head, then turned to his best friend. “What was it for you, Rick? Three weeks after you met Josie? Less?”

  Rick scrunched his lips together, thinking. “Less.”

  Teeny glanced at Eli next.

  “Yeah, it was fast. A couple weeks. But that’s only if you don’t count all the times I’ve run into Roxie in the past.”

  “They don’t count.” Teeny leaned toward Lucio. “And you?”

  Lucio scowled in concentration. “I do not remember when I asked Genevieve to be my wife, because in my mind I was asking her the moment I laid eyes on her.”

  Teeny raised an eyebrow.

  “All right. It took me exactly eight weeks,” Lucio replied.

  “You were dragging your feet compared to these two,” Teeny said, puffing on his cigar.

  “Do you have a ring and everything?” Rick asked. “What is your plan?”

  Eli smiled, looking down at his boots in embarrassment. His plan might sound a bit risky, but in his gut he knew it was the right thing to do. “Well,” he said with a sigh, meeting the gazes of his friends. “My sister brought my grandmother’s ring to my house the other night, so I’d have it with me here in San Francisco. I hope to ask Roxie at the hearing, right after the ruling in her favor, in front of everyone.”

  Lucio choked on his port. “That is a ballsy thing to do, my friend.”

  “In front of Raymond Sandberg?” Teeny laughed. “That’ll be worth the drive, right there.”

  Rick tapped his fist on Eli’s knee. “You sure about this?” he asked. “You know, we’re talking about Roxie Bloom, right? She’s not the world’s most stable, predictable woman.”

  Eli grinned. “I’ll take my chances.”

  Chapter 19

  They pulled into the parking lot of the nondescript cinder-block building at Fifteenth and Harrison. Eli took a quick survey of the cars, but he didn’t see any sign of his mom and Sondra, Rick’s SUV, or cars belonging to Ginger and Lucio or Bea.

  “Nobody’s here,” Roxanne said, her voice thin and shaky as she swiveled her head around, scanning the lot. “My God, what if something’s happened to Josie? Or the baby? Or Ginger? Or her baby?”

  “Your dog is as stable as you are,” Eli said, repeating his mantra.

  Roxanne looked at him and blinked a few times. Then smiled. “I know. I will stay balanced at my core. I will remember to breathe. I will visualize the optimum outcome.”

  “Sweet thing.” Eli ran his hand down her shiny, dark hair. “You’re going to do fine. Listen, your entourage may not make it on time. Things like that happen. The traffic is terrible. Just keep your balance, no matter what. Are you following me?”

  She nodded.

  “Remember why you’re here.”

  “I’m here to save my dog.”

  “That’s right. And remember who you are.”

  “I’m Roxanne Bloom, warrior priestess.”

  Eli grinned. “Now you’re talking.”

  They both looked down at Lilith, sleeping peacefully on the seat between them. “We can leave her here for a while and bring her in just before the hearing starts. Would you like to do that?” Eli asked.

  Roxie shook her head. “No. I don’t want her to freak out alone. She could open her eyes and see this place, and remember what happened to her here, and she could go completely—”

  Thankfully, Roxanne stopped herself. She sniffed and tossed her hair behind her shoulder. “Yes, well, she wouldn’t do that because dogs don’t carry around past trauma the way humans do. They live in the present. And the only thing that would make her nervous today is if I were nervous today. Which I’m not.”

  “Exactly.”

  “How about we leave her in here for a few minutes?”

  “That’s an excellent suggestion.” Eli cupped Roxie’s pretty chin in his palm and kissed her lips softly. He gazed into her eyes. “Nothing swirling around in this place can affect your core stability. No one can take that away.”

  She nodded, her chin in his hand.

  “You and Lilith are surrounded by an invisible shield of love and calm. Everything bounces off it. The only thing that can penetrate it is more love. More calm. Which I’ll be sending you.”

  “Right.”

  They entered the hearing room together. The first thing Eli noticed was that the Sweeping Lady was seated in the complainant’s witness section. He immediately sensed Roxanne’s energy spike.

  “She’s here to tell the hearing officer what she saw the day of the dog bite.”

  Roxanne nodded her head and took a deep breath.

  “Let’s sit over here.” Eli guided Roxie to a seat in the front row on the right side of the courtroom, then sat next to her. He leaned in so he could whisper in her ear. “See the little box there?”

  Roxanne’s eyes shot over to a single chair perched on a raised platform. The platform was surrounded by a solid panel of wood with a hinged doorway built into one side.

  “That’s where you’ll sit with Lilith while you’re waiting for the hearing officer to call you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Here she is.” Eli nodded gently toward the front of the room as a uniformed female police officer walked in. She was probably in her mid-forties, short and stocky, with her black hair pulled back in a no-nonsense bun. But she had a big smile on her face as she greeted the bailiff.

  “I’ve had one other case with her,” Eli said. “Her name is Sergeant Donna Liu. She’s real levelheaded.” He smiled down at Roxie. “This is great news for us, Rox.”

  She nodded. “Thank God.”

  “Let me go say hi to her real quick.”

  * * *

  Roxie clasped her hands on her lap to keep them from trembling. This was it. The moment had come. No matter what comforting words Eli had, she knew that there was nothing outside of herself that would make a difference at this point. Everything had to come from inside her today—the strength, the calm, and the confidence and bearing of a pack leader.

  Roxie actually smiled to herself. Just then, she realized that everything she’d been through in her life—the abandonment and the rejection and the tough breaks—it had all been worth it because it had made her who she was, right at that moment. She was a tough and stable woman who was going to spend the next half hour of her life on the highest possible plane of being, no matter what shit was thrown at her.

  “Psst. Bloom.”

  Roxanne turned around, her body sagging in relief at the sight of Bea, two rows behind. “Where’s Rachel?” she asked.

  Bea shrugged. “At the hospital. She needed to be with Gloria.”

  “Of course,” Roxanne said. “Is Mrs. Needleman okay?”

  “For now,” Bea said, smiling sadly.

  “Where’s everybody else?”

  “On their way,” Bea said, taking a quick glance around the room. “You ready, Rox?”

  Roxanne smiled at her. “Absolutely.”

  “I know you’ll do great,” Bea said.

  Just then, Roxie saw Carole and Sondra enter through the double doors at the back of the hearing room. Roxie waved them forward, introduced them to Bea, and then turned back around to continue her mental pep talk to herself. Knowing Bea was here had given her a second wind.

  Eli came back, gesturin
g to his mom and sister in greeting and draping an arm around Roxie as he returned to his seat. Just as they’d decided it was time to fetch Lilith, the energy of the hearing room changed, and Roxanne’s eyes focused over Eli’s left shoulder. It was Raymond. Or was it? He looked like … Roxie suddenly remembered how Mrs. Delano had described him: looking like he’d been thrown under a bus. She hadn’t exaggerated.

  He was wearing a neck brace, the edge of the white bandage visible at the top. His left arm was in a cast and hung limp inside a sling. It looked like he was in pain as he swung a briefcase onto the table. He fell into the chair, then exchanged a few words with Mrs. Delano and … the pizza guy? When had he shown up?

  “I take it Raymond’s here,” Eli said, not turning around. “You look kind of perplexed.”

  Roxie’s eyes shot to Eli’s face. “He brought the pizza delivery kid in as a witness!”

  “That doesn’t change anything, Rox.”

  “And Raymond is wearing a neck brace and his arm is in a cast! And I can’t tell …” She peered over Eli’s shoulder again for another look. “I honestly can’t tell if he’s faking all this for sympathy or whether something else has happened to him, because he sure as hell didn’t look this bad leaving the ER. What’s he up to?”

  Eli frowned. “I’ll take a look and tell you what I think.”

  * * *

  Eli turned. Instantly, a sharp pang went through him. This was Roxie’s former lover? This was the man she had hoped to marry? This old guy pushing himself to a stand had brought the spirited Roxie Bloom to her knees?

  He kept looking, inexplicably fascinated by Raymond Sandberg. And confused. The man’s energy was frayed. He carried himself as if he were embarrassed. This was not the powerful, cocky man Roxanne had described.

  Eli stared, mesmerized, as the older man in a wool sweater vest, button-down shirt, and no tie tried to unhinge his briefcase with one hand, cursing under his breath as he struggled to accomplish the simple task. Then he reached in for a stack of papers and spread them out on the table in front of him.

  He must have sensed he was being watched. He turned, looking Eli right in the eye.