“Certainly, Carlita. We would expect nothing less,” Pete replied.
“You must bring Violet around to the house one of these days,” Tori said. “Byron has asked several times when the two of you will be by for tea.”
“Violet would love to see Byron.” Carlita pressed a hand to her forehead. “Oh my goodness! I forgot to tell you. Tony, my middle son, and Shelby, Violet’s mother, got engaged.”
“Congratulations,” Tori said. “When do they plan to marry?”
“This summer. They haven’t worked out all of the details yet. I’m sure it will be a small, intimate affair.” Although Carlita wasn’t certain of that. She hadn’t had a chance to discuss the wedding with Shelby.
“You’re welcome to have the wedding at Montgomery Hall,” Tori offered. “I have plenty of room.”
“Thank you for the generous offer,” Carlita said. “I’ll mention it to Tony and Shelby.”
“There’s also a large reception room here at the Parrot House,” Pete said.
“Or we could have it aboard a pirate ship,” Carlita joked.
“That we could,” Pete opened the entrance door and the trio stepped onto the porch. “Thanks for meeting with us to listen to our idea. Tori and I both agree you would make the perfect third partner.”
“I promise I will give it some serious consideration,” Carlita said. “And if I were ever to go in on a business venture, it would be with you two.”
“There’s Byron.” Tori waved as Byron, her driver, steered the sedan into the parking lot.
He exited the driver’s side and opened the rear passenger door before joining them. “Mrs. Garlucci, Mr. Taylor.”
“Hello, Byron. How are you?”
“Splendid. It’s a beautiful day. Did Miss Tori invite you to tea?”
“I did,” Tori answered.
“Yes, she did.” Carlita nodded. “She invited me and asked if Violet wanted to come along.”
A slow smile crept across Byron’s face. “I know you’re busy, but I sure would like to see Violet someday soon.”
“And I’m sure she would love to see you, too.” Carlita patted the file folder she was holding. “I’ll get with Tori in the next day or so. I need to meet with her again anyway.”
Byron nodded and the smile never left his face as he helped Tori into the car before returning to the driver’s side.
Carlita waited for the car to drive off before turning her attention to Pete. “When do you take possession of your pirate ship?”
“The ship is on the way. It will be here any day now. As soon as it arrives, I’ll arrange to take you and Tori on a grand tour.”
“I would like that,” Carlita said.
“I fear Lawson Bates may try to pull some strings and undermine our business venture before it ever sets sail.” A flicker of concern crossed Pete’s face.
“Is there a chance his cousin will side with him?”
“I don’t know. You know the saying…blood is thicker than water.”
“If that happens, we’ll fight it,” Carlita vowed. “And if that doesn’t work, I know a few people up north who might be able to help us out.”
Pete chuckled. “I hope it doesn’t come to that. Looking back, perhaps I shoulda done a little more investigating before ordering the pirate ship.”
“But you have the necessary permits,” Carlita pointed out. “Competition is a good thing. I predict Lawson Bates will eventually come around.”
“Or not and make all of our lives miserable,” Pete said.
Carlita waved the file folder. “I’ll be back in touch in a couple of days.” She thanked Pete again for including her and then slowly walked home.
Despite her words of confidence to Pete, and Tori’s connections, she was concerned the pirate boat wouldn’t hit the high seas.
She knew Mayor Puckett in passing. What if the mayor managed to pull some strings and he permanently grounded the pirate ship?
If they couldn’t get the business up and running, who in the world would want to purchase a pirate ship? It was something Carlita needed to consider.
When Carlita returned home, she found a note from Mercedes telling her mother she had an important errand to run and after that, planned to meet Autumn for a late lunch at a restaurant in the City Market district.
Carlita slipped her reading glasses on and began mulling over the agreement. Most of it was mumbo jumbo. She would need to have someone with a lot more expertise in legal agreements take a look at the papers.
The rest of the afternoon dragged by, and Mercedes’ lunch date with Autumn turned into an afternoon and evening date, leaving Carlita rambling around the apartment.
She polished off some leftover lasagna and then settled in front of the television to watch the news. Carlita was still sitting there when Mercedes finally returned home looking none too happy.
“Our new tenant is going to get an earful from me the next time I see him,” Mercedes fumed.
Carlita set the remote in her lap. “What happened now?”
“He left a pile of Welcome to Savannah signs in the spot where I park my Segway. I had to leave it in the pawnshop because there was nowhere else to put it.”
“We’ll ask him nicely to move the signs tomorrow,” Carlita said.
“Or I can go over there right now and tell him to move his crap out of my way.” Mercedes reached for the doorknob.
“Mercedes! You will not. We cannot have you and the new tenant waging war from day one. You two will make peace tomorrow or else.”
Mercedes almost asked “or else what?” but judging by the tone in her mother’s voice, she decided it wasn’t the right reply. “Fine. I’m going to my room to work on my new murder novel. Thanks to our new tenant, I’ve already picked out the name of the thug, soon to be a dead guy.”
“I’ll take a wild guess…Sam?”
“Sam Slimey.”
“Mercedes.”
