“Well,” I said, as I held a chair out for her, “the fluffies were a personal favorite, but this look works, too.”
As we ate, we talked a bit more about the events of the past few weeks.
“So what happens now?” Laura asked. “I mean, with Anthony and the gangs.”
“When I saw Asaan last week, he told me he’d advised the kids to stick with the LAW idea, but he’s trying to get everyone to think of the LAW as a community-service organization. He convinced the mayor to spring for jackets for the kids, and last Friday, they helped out with security at Franklin’s football game. Augie said it went pretty well.”
“What about Anthony?” Laura said
I leaned back a little and smiled and shook my head.
“He’s not in the LAW anymore. Asaan told me that Anthony went to see him, to tell him in person that he didn’t want to be part of a gang, even if that gang wasn’t actually supposed to be a real gang anymore.”
“That was pretty mature for a kid his age,” said Laura.
“Yeah, it was. Asaan told him that was fine, and he hoped they could stay in touch and maybe even work together again sometime. And then, after all that, according to Augie, Anthony showed up last Friday and spent a few minutes helping his friends keep things cool at the game.”
Laura reached over and put her hand on mine.
“I think Anthony’s going to be okay.”
“So do I,” I said.
We ate in silence for a few minutes. The silence was comfortable. That’s one of the things I liked about our relationship. After a while, Laura said, “And what about Asaan? Assuming that your lawyer friend keeps him out of jail, do you think Asaan will be all right?”
I thought about that for a minute.
“There’s a line from a song in the musical Jekyll and Hyde. Something about, ‘It’s such a fine line between a good man and a bad.’” Asaan was on the wrong side of that line for a long time, but when he got out of prison and came back to Pittsburgh, he found himself on the other side, the right side. I think he discovered that he liked being on that side. I think he’s gonna stay there.”
After dinner, we took the rest of the champagne into the living room and sat in front of the fire and listened to Ginny Tiu playing As Time Goes By. I had my arm around Laura, and she was resting her head on my shoulder. Also, she’d crossed her legs, making her short skirt ride even higher up her thigh.
Then she leaned in closer to me, and I noticed that two more buttons on her blouse were undone. When had that happened? Oh, probably while I was looking at her legs.
“Are you deliberately trying to turn me on?” I asked. “Because if you are, I just want you to know that your goal has been achieved.”
“That’s what you think, big guy,” she said, with a gleam in her eyes. “Actually, my goal tonight extends a little, shall we say, farther?”
Then she snuggled even closer and whispered, “Now, then, about that stud service.”
About the Author
Robert Germaux and his wife, Cynthia, live outside of Pittsburgh. After three decades as a high school English teacher, and now a good many years into retirement, Bob is beginning to have serious doubts about his lifelong dream of pitching for the Pirates. Leaving the LAW is the fourth Jeremy Barnes mystery Bob has published (the others are Small Bytes, Hard Court and In the Eye). He’s also written two novels (Small Talk and One by One) about Pittsburgh police detective Daniel Hayes. Outside the mystery genre, Bob has authored The Backup Husband (a romance with a twist) and Love Stories, a semi-biographical novel based in part on the six weeks Cynthia spent in Europe prior to her senior year in high school. Finally, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, Bob has penned what he likes to call his Grammar Sex Trilogy, three collections of lighthearted essays:
Grammar Sex (and other stuff)
More Grammar Sex
Grammar Sex 3
Coming soon is Speak Softly, the fifth JB mystery. You can find links to all of Bob’s books (and download free samples) at his Amazon Author Page.
