Bellinis for Dinner

Jill had never seen Lucy’s apartment before, and didn’t bother to hide it. 

“Your place is, ah, swell. Has a lot of…”

“Boxes?” Lucy asked. 

“I was gonna to say charm.” 

Lucy snorted. “Stop Jill. You’ve known me too long. It’s a mess. I just haven’t had time to unpack.” 

“How long have you lived here?”

“Oh, no more than three years.” 

The cigarette fell out of Jill’s mouth. Lucy was glad never bothered to unroll her oriental rug. 

“So what was that bottle I shot out.” Lucy looked at her friend. “And sorry about that again.”

“It’s nothing. And the bottle was an Ayala.”

Lucy raised one incredulous eyebrow. 

“It was!”

“Well then, I am doubly sorry.”

“It’s okay. Like I said, I filched it from my boss.”

“Monroe’s stocks Ayala now? Maybe I was a little hasty quitting the chorus line.” 

Jill turned away to examine another unopened, and unlabeled box. “I don’t work for Monroe no more.”

“Oh,” Lucy said, surprised. Jill had been a rising star at Monroe’s Eastside Cabaret. She considered asking what happened, but Jill didn’t seem to want to talk about it. 

“Why was you so jumpy, anyway?”

“Is it strange for a woman to be worried walking alone at night?” Lucy went to her bar. She had unpacked most of that. 

“No, I guess not.”

In mere moments, Lucy had concocted a pair drinks. 

“Bellinis? It’s 2 am Lucy!”

Lucy sipped her drink. It was delicious. “You’ve never heard of breakfast for dinner?”

Despite her protestations, Jill took a large gulp of her drink. “You seemed real nervous. That’s all.”

“Did I? It’s not like I had anything to rob.” Other than the four grand she’d won at Lady Towne’s card room, but talking about money was, at best, rude, and at worst, bad luck. Humor was always a safer bet: “Unless you consider my pearls or my virtue. And both are fakes.”

Jill forced a laugh. That struck Lucy as odd. Jill was a stalwart co-conspirator in debauched humor. Perhaps her friend was in a bad way?

“You okay Jill?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

She wasn’t. The girl seemed twitchy. “Well, you let me know if you need a shoulder to cry on. I can commiserate. I did absolutely bum at the card table.”

“You did?” Jill tried to hide her shock. 

It was then that Lucy noticed Jill’s large purse and her hand edging towards it. Maybe she wanted to touch up her makeup or…

“Jill, how did you know I would be walking down Riverside?”

Jill grabbed for her purse.