Celeste grabbed hold of thestair post and rested her cheek against the pineapple-shaped newel.“You know he didn’t do it, right?”
Knocked off kilter by thequestion and stymied by her own opinion, Trudy struggled with aresponse.
“He didn’t doit, Trudy,” Celeste asserted in the face of Trudy’ssilence. “My daddy might have been a lot of things, but hewasn’t like us.”
The hairs on the back ofTrudy’s neck snapped to attention. “Like us?”
“Sinners.”
Trudycouldn’t believe what she was hearing. Celeste had actuallybought into her old man’s shit hook, line and sinker. Not inthe mood for her cousin’s sudden brand of crazy, Trudy stoodup, pulling her cousin with her.
“Whereare we going?” Celeste asked, yet allowing Trudy to guide themup the stairs.
“I’mputting you to bed. You’re better than this. I’mbetter than this.”
Before they could reach thetop of the stairs, Celeste started to hum.
Recognizingthe chorus to ByeBye Blackbird,Trudy joined in. They used to sing the jazz standard whenever thingswent southward, which was more often than not.
“Packup all my care and woe…hereI go, singing low…”Celeste wrapped her arms around Trudy’s waist with a drawn outsigh, “…I’m doing it again, aren’t I?”
“Almost, but I stoppedyou.” At the top of the landing, Trudy turned down a shorthallway. “Nothing but blue skies from here on out, blackbird.”
“Hereon out!” Celeste crowed, while Trudy hustled her over to thebed.
“No more spoilingwhat’s rightfully yours?”
“Rightfully mine,”Celeste affirmed, falling back into the mattress.
Trudy yanked off hercousin’s shoes and placed them on the floor. Her cloche,fur-lined over coat and her dress followed, leaving her cousin innothing but silk stockings and a slip.
“Know why?”Trudy tugged the chenille spread from under Celeste’s hips andthen draped it over her. Enveloped in the all-white covering, hercousin looked more like a little girl than a grown woman oftwenty-six years.
“Cause’ I’mnaked, drunk and stupid.” Giggling, Celeste kicked her leg,disturbing Trudy’s handiwork.
Trudy tried to smooth thecovers, but Celeste kept moving around. “You’ve gotsomeone who loves you and has your back despite what you may think.”
Her words must have hit achord because Celeste stopped wiggling and her expression turnedsomber. “Do you think I’ll find someone who’ll putup with me, understand and love me like you do?”
“Maybe you’vealready found him. Sugar Shane couldn’t keep his eyes off youthe other night.”
Celesteclosed her eyes and then opened them again, as if fighting sleep,“Sugar’ssweet, so is he,”she whispered, barely containing a yawn. “I’m going toturn over a new leaf.”
“Sureyou are, sugar,” Trudy entertained. She’d heard thisspeech before.
Yawning,Celeste curled her arms around the bed pillow and her eyelids slippedto half-mast. “I’m on the level, Tru. First thing in themorning, I’m paying a visit to my old manager Freddy. Then,I’m going to see about moving back into the brownstone onWilloughby. Finally, I’m going to tuck my tail tween’ mylegs and apologize to Shane.”
Flabbergasted by the news,Trudy’s mouth fell open. “You’re pulling my leg!”
“Nope,” Celestehalf yawned, “I was wrong for hanging him out to dry.”
If she didn’t love hercousin, Trudy would’ve strangled her. “I’m nottalking about him, clown! I’m talking about your moving backinto the brownstone.”
A dreamy smile lit Celeste’sface. “The Reverend willed it to me, along with the store and awalkup.”
“The whole kit andcaboodle, well I’ll be damned.”
Celeste finally gave up thefight and closed her eyes. “Knocked me for a loop too,”she rasped sleepily, “but its home, I’m home…”
Trudy made sure her cousinwas out for the count before she reached over and switched off thetable lamp. “Good night, black bird.”
CHAPTER Ten
By midweek, Celeste squaredthings with her old manager Freddy Colon. She even started thetransition back home by rehiring her father’s housekeeper andordering all new furniture for her old bedroom. Since she’dleft home at the age of fifteen, her old twin bed, writing desk andarmoire had been acceptable for an adolescent, but not a grown womanexpecting to entertain company.
Now the only thing she hadleft to do was apologize to Shane.
Like so many times in thepast, Celeste would’ve scrapped the unsavory business on her‘live and learn’ pile and simply walked away.
But in this situation, shewas finding it hard putting the prize fighter behind her. Ever sincemeeting him, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. And thatflummoxed her, considering she generally went through men likeseamless stockings.
Of course, she could’vefollowed proper etiquette and forwarded a written apology. But adelivered message seemed too cold and insincere. And in all honesty,Celeste simply wanted to see him again.
She needed verification ifher attraction still had merit. If her desire for Shane was still asembarrassingly wanton in the bright of day, while clean and sober asit had been while she was ripe on gin and in a dimly lit funeral homeor smoky nightclub. Lord knows, while in the throes of a sauce bingeshe’d found herself infatuated with practically anything withtwo legs.
But now as she stood eyeingthe Navy Yards Boxing Club, Celeste wished she’d ignored herunreliable libido. Every time she made up her mind to cross the busyintersection, she suddenly came down with a case of cold feet.
Confidence waning, Celestemade an about face to check her appearance in a store front window. She didn’t see anything wrong with her reflection, and yet shewas beginning to second guess her outfit.
Smart, but understated, heroutfit didn’t come off as if she’d spent all morningagonizing over it, which she did. Still, it was quite modern evenfor New York City. Seeing a magazine layout of starlit KatherineHepburn, she’d run out and bought a pair of navy wide-legtrousers. She wore them now with a matching beret, a red and navycandy-stripped sweater and a pair of kid gloves.
Celestebit her bottom lip. Why did she choose today of all days to look likethe sailor off a box of Cracker Jacks? Even worse, would he beturned off by her forwardness? What if he were no longer interested?Maybe in the bright of day, he’d find her lacking. And why onearth was she chasing a man?
Bombarded with doubt, hergaze drifted to
