At Jeremiah’s
“Hey, ‘Nica. New girl for the Alfalfa club?” The hostess greeted them when they walked in the door.
“No, Burke. She’s an old friend.” Veronica said as they pulled even with the hostess station.
“So, normal table is open and the other two are here already.”
“Amanda probably has my order in as well.” Veronica commented as she led Violet through the sea of table to a booth in the back half of the restaurant.
“Shit, Veronica. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard you called ‘Nica.”
“Well, there’s no ‘Nickey’ to get confused with like in High School.”
“Fair enough.”
At the table, two women sat on one side of the table. One was a heavy set older woman. The other one was a smaller framed young woman. The older one spoke as they arrived at the table.
“Who did you bring, ‘Nica?”
“Bron, Felicia, this is Violet. She is my longest friend. Don’t trust anything she says about me unless it’s positive.”
Veronica slid into the booth. The older woman reached across the table to shake Violet’s hand.
“Hi, I’m Bronwyn.”
The other woman holds up her coffee mug in salute to Violet.
“I’m Felicia. So, You’ve known Veronica a while?”
“Long enough to know she has a tattoo, and where it’s at and the name of the tattoo artist.” Violet quipped.
“A tattoo?” both Bron and Felicia said, clearly surprised.
“And she isn’t telling you and neither am I!” Veronica blurted out as the waitress came, another coffee cup and a carafe of coffee in her hands.
“So, who’s the new girl?” The waitress asked, setting the extra cup down in front of Violet as she spoke to Veronica.
“Amanda, this is Violet. Violet, Amanda. She is one of my oldest friends.”
“So, what are you doing with the he woman man haters club?” Amanda said, handing Violet a menu.
“Yeah, by adding you, they are only two short of a Henry the Eight’s Wives’ club.”
“Ah, I get it now. Well I’ll keep the blades from Veronica to cut down on the beheading.” Violet said between the laughter.
Felicity tried to get her laughter contained some before she replied.
“That’s a lot of blades. Shit, she has a whole murder room built in her garage!”
Violet looked from Felicity to Veronica. Amanda and Bron were just laughing harder. Veronica looked a little embarrassed. Now Violet had to ask.
“Do I need to add murder room to the intervention schedule?” Violet smiled as she said it, to take a little of the sting from some real concern creeping into her voice.
“She is just picking on my game processing station in the garage.” Veronica tried to defend herself. Bron didn’t let her weasel out so easily.
“Yeah, ‘game processing’, also known as a hook in the ceiling, a drain in the floor, a v-8 powered garbage disposal and enough tools to break down an elk carcass in half an hour. ‘Game processing’, sure.”
Violet looked at Veronica silently for a moment before asking the other two a question.
“So, where did you guys get hooked up with Princess Ringleader?”
Bron was the first to answer.
“I work the cyber-crimes section at the shop and Felicity is one of our junior agents. I got rid of my jackass of a husband several years ago and we have been trying to help Felicity through her latest jerk of a boyfriend and we started hanging out for breakfasts on Sundays. Shop talk is banned and it’s just a place to vent.”
“Yeah, the Air Force is promoting the whole ‘mentoring’ thing and Veronica was the best mentor I could find.” Felicity added.
“So, you guys came to her? I thought she was recruiting a crew of minions for her next plan for world domination.” Violet replied.
“Oh, so you know about her plans?” Bron asked. Violet started laughing.
“Ladies, I have been her co-conspirator since about four years old.”
The group was laughing and cutting up for hours. Food came and went, coffee flowed like rain in a monsoon. Finally, Veronica and Violet left.
“We needed that. Tomorrow we can go do all the paperwork.” Veronica said as they drove back to her house.
“While we are doing paperwork, you need a lawyer. You need to shift bank account stuff and get the paperwork to drop Tim.” Violet said, her tone serious now.
“Yeah, I guess.” Veronica sounded unconvinced.
“Bullshit! Let’s get the paperwork started, get his shit packed and ship it off to the east coast where he seems to want to stay.”
“I hate the idea of a long drawn out divorce. I’ve seen enough of those and they get ugly.” Veronica’s tone belied her worry.
“Shit! Plot it out as an ambush and get him to sign them before he knows what’s happening.” Violet snapped back. She wasn’t used to this weak and indecisive Veronica. She had to snap her back to herself, and quickly.
Veronica didn’t reply. Violet looked over. Veronica’s eyes seemed unfocused. Good! That was the thinking and planning look Violet was used to. That was the Veronica she knew. This was the Veronica that Veronica needed. Finally, Veronica spoke.
“If that is what we need to do, we need a reason for him to sling a lot of signatures. “
“Well Veronica. How many copies and papers did you sigh when you got your shit shipped here from your last duty station?”
Veronica smiled. She looked over at Violet.
“You know, you’re right. We could do this. This could work.”
Veronica may be the planner but Violet knew she was the engine. She got things going and then Veronica figured out how to make it work.