Bound for the Outer Banks (22 page)

Ella wondered where BeBe had come up with her name but she’d never thought to ask.

Tanqueray continued, “To this day I have no idea why my Southern Baptist mother thought God’s greater plan would involve naming a child after a brand of liquor, but I wasn’t around to argue with her.”

“I’m sure Belle is fascinated with this story, but ladies the sun is setting,” said Desiree. She then stood up from her chair and swiped the sand from her derrière. Tanqueray did the same and they both walked toward the volleyball area where Steve and Dylan were in a heated game with two of the waiters from Pinkie’s. Sam and Chief were placing the grilled meats, clams, and veggies on platters.

Lacey turned toward Ella and said, “We have a tradition on The Banks that we kiss at sunset. Someone counts down to the official time kind of like New Year’s Eve.”

“Well you’ll have to excuse me, I’ll be swimming with the fishes.” Ella got up and took a step toward the water.

Lacey reached out and grabbed Ella by the arm. “Oh no you don’t. We can’t let that little hussy Elise get to Chief. I know he thinks you’re pretty. He’d have to be blind not to. Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with a cherry on top for your best friend in the whole state of North Carolina?”

Ella rolled her eyes in feigned protest. “You owe me big time!”

Lacey grabbed Ella’s hand like a schoolgirl and the two ran through the sand to Sam and Chief. Ella noticed that Elise had started that way holding her own drink pouch, but Lacey and Ella were too fast and closed the gap. Lacey walked Ella over to Chief who was placing a large platter of potatoes on the table. “I’ve brought you a sad, pathetic, lonely girl just in time for the sunset,” said Lacey.

Ella gave Lacey a wild eyed, incredulous look and with as much sarcasm as she could possibly muster said, “Thanks, friend.”

Chief smiled and said, “There’s still about ten minutes until sunset, and last time I checked you were my sous chef so I’m putting you to work.”

Ella was so relieved. Chief was somehow making this whole thing less awkward. Ella followed Chief back to the pit where he had placed the cooked corn back into one of the bushel baskets. He sat a large aluminum pan on the sand. He then retrieved two ears of corn passing one to Ella. Chief demonstrated how to pull the husk off the cooked corn and how to “silk” it by ridding it of the bronze strings left on the cobb. The two joked with one another and kept the conversation light hearted, each one not wanting to reveal too much to the other.

Sam, who had his arm around his wife, yelled, “One minute ‘til sunset!”

Ella blushed heavily and looked down pretending to focus all of her energies on silking the last ear of corn.

Chief grinned then said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle. I’m not that hungry. I snagged a few clams earlier.” He laughed referring to the cannibal threat from their earlier conversation.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, ONE!” yelled Sam.

Chief lowered the ear of corn he had been working on and laid it down in the pan between him and Ella. He gently placed his hand on Ella’s cheek, leaned in, and brushed her lips with his. Ella’s heart was racing. Chief noticed his own heart racing and was glad he got to kiss Ella under the guise of tradition.

“You can help me with my last job of the evening and then you’re off the hook,” said Chief. He led Ella around to each windsail and clicked on the battery powered rope lights lining each pole. After all the wind sails were lit, they proceeded to the line of umbrellas and switched on the little white lights which illuminated the spirals on top of each one.

Ella’s eyes lit up as well. “I had no idea they did that!”

Chief was enjoying the fact that Ella seemed to be having a good time after everything she’d been through. He also noticed he was having fun for the first time since Brad’s death. “Time to enjoy the fruits of your labor,” he said.

Ella noticed that some of the revelers had already put on clothes over their swimsuits for the evening’s festivities. Ella went behind the Jeep where Lacey and “the Rays” were. They were already putting on their attire for the evening. Ella took out her coral sundress and pulled it on over her bikini. She slowly unrolled her bikini bottom down her legs and hung the wet suit piece on the mirror of the Jeep. She took out the lace, boy short panties and put them on. The ladies passed around Ella’s tubes of mascara and lip gloss, unanimously deciding that she was brilliant for packing them.

The girls walked toward the tables and joined the buffet line. Chief joined Ella at a table with Art, Mary Lynn, Melody, Harmony and Dr. Patel. Ella enjoyed hearing her mother’s old, dear friends tell stories of beach parties past. As the sky grew darker most of the older folks excused themselves and left the party with lots of hugs for their host and hostess, Sam and Lacey. Chief built a bonfire in the clambake pit. The younger guests dragged the pillows and beach blankets close to the fire. Eric, the waiter from Pinkie’s with the little round glasses, brought out a guitar. Until the wee hours of the morning those left sang along to Jimmy Buffet songs and special requests. Everyone chipped in loading the wind sails, umbrellas, and other items into the truck and Jeep. Chief took great pleasure walking Ella to the passenger’s side of the Jeep and handing her the bikini bottom which was still hanging on the side view mirror. She snatched it from his hand. He laughed and opened the door. Ella hiked up her dress and stepped up into the Jeep.

“Good night, Belle,” said Chief.

“Good night.”

Lacey dropped off Ella at the blasé cottage.

“Thank you for including me, Lacey. See you soon?” asked Ella.

“You better believe it,” answered Lacey. “Thanks to you we have a raft to build!”

“I got this,” said Ella confidently, even though she had no clue how to go about building a raft. But if it meant she could spend time with her new friend and her sexy brother-in-law, she would make it happen.

Chapter 21

After seeing Ella’s sketches for the “Glam raft,” Lacey was thrilled. She decided Hottie’s Air Conditioner Sales and Service would sponsor the raft and immediately the girls decided on a date to go to New Bern to shop for fabrics and supplies.

In the two weeks leading up to their shopping trip Ella spent time riding her bike around the island, exploring The Lost Colony Festival Park and visiting the small aquarium on the north end of the island. She spent time at Sassy Sweets treating herself to the occasional slice of carrot cake or other goodie. Shopping at Raz’s was especially fun and she and Roz always had entertaining conversations.

One of the most memorable things that Ella had done, however, was purchase a sewing machine on Craigslist. The young woman had listed it for only twenty five dollars stating that it was “broken.” Ella asked if the tension had been a problem before it stopped working and the woman said it had. The machine was only one year old and the lady had already bought a new one to replace it. Immediately Ella said she would take it. The seller told Ella she hoped she could find someone to fix it for her. Ella rode her bike to the front of Sassy Sweets which was the designated meeting place. Ella asked Mary Lynn if she could inspect the sewing machine inside the bakery. The Craigslist seller couldn’t resist the smell and ordered a slice of chocolate mocha cake with a raspberry cream filling.

Ella opened the bobbin chamber and as she suspected it was filled with lint. It was clear the lady had not cleaned or oiled the machine since she’d bought it. Ella smiled and handed the lady twenty five dollars she’d removed from the roll of money hidden in the tampon applicator. The Craigslist woman then handed the five dollar bill over to Mary Lynn.

By merely cleaning and oiling the bobbin chamber Ella had managed to fix the sewing machine. As excited as she was to have a new sewing machine, the highlight of the past two weeks was having supper at Miss Melody’s house with Lacey, Sam, and Chief. It was easy to see where Lacey got her sense of humor. Melody Beauchamp Gainsborough was a joy to be around. Ella and Chief were cordial but distant. Each got the impression, and rightfully so, that Lacey was trying to play matchmaker. After the Labor Day beach party, Ella decided that even a carnal fling with Chief wouldn’t be worth it seeing that he could be called back to The Bureau at any time. If that happened Ella could predict the looks of pity she’d be getting for the remainder of her stay in Manteo.

Although Chief convinced himself that his being sent to Roanoke Island to babysit Miss Barrantine had been a ruse, he decided it wouldn’t be prudent to get involved with the star witness in The Sacred Crown trial even if it was just a fling. But even though Ella and Chief tried to convince themselves that being more than friends wasn’t worth it, they each could not help having their thoughts dominated by one another the majority of the time.

Chief liked it when Lacey and Ella headed out for a day at the beach because he knew where she’d be. He could always ensure they weren’t being followed and then head back to his little rental for a few hours. They always went to Lacey’s favorite beach in Corolla which was the end of the road for non-four wheel drive vehicles. Besides, Flynn didn’t ask for Belle Butler to be constantly followed. As a matter of fact she’d never been followed at all since she’d been taken into protective custody. This convinced Chief even more that his following Ella was unnecessary and just busy work given to occupy him while getting some Bureau mandated R and R on The Banks.

When the shopping day arrived for raft supplies, Ella heard Lacey beep the horn. She grabbed her small purse and was careful to lock the door behind her. Ella kept reminding herself not to get too comfortable in the friendly little town of Manteo. Agent Jefferson had warned her to watch her back when he dropped her off on the outskirts of the island. Apparently surveillance on Crown members had indicated there was still chatter about “the girl” having “the goods.” This still perplexed Ella since Dante Vitali had never revealed anything about his true occupation and had never given Ella anything that might be considered “goods.”

The girls headed off the island to New Bern to shop for their glamorous raft creation. Since Samoset had taken Chief on the Lacey Lorelei for the day to work with him, Lacey had borrowed Sam’s truck. The first stop was the Paws Pre-Owned Emporium. It was the Humane Society run thrift store. Lacey was friends with the volunteer cashier, Camille. She always attended Miss Melody’s Peacock Ball which was a fundraiser for The Outer Banks No Kill Shelter. Ella brought out the list of items while Lacey grabbed a buggy. Ella always thought it was funny that BeBe said grocery buggy and the other mom’s called it a cart. Ella liked calling it a buggy. For some reason the word cart added more of a sense of drudgery to grocery shopping than the word buggy. Ella always thought of the wooden carts that hauled away the dead plague victims. Buggy never brought that image to mind.

The first order of business was a mattress. The ladies agreed that a twin wouldn’t be big enough to give the sexy canopy bed Ella envisioned enough presence. There was an abundance of full mattresses as most people now had either queens or kings in their homes. Lacey yanked the large blue tag off the least stained one and threw the tag in the child’s seat in the buggy.  Next they headed over to linens. Lacey and Ella started filing through the comforters from opposite ends of the long rack. They thumbed through scads of kids’ character comforters, and faded solid comforters with the obligatory square seams. Occasionally one of the girls would pull out an especially hideous comforter just for entertainment. There was no shortage of atrocious floral covers which begged the question for Ella, “What man sleeps under this?” Finally Ella hit the jackpot. She pulled out a fluffy, shiny red satin comforter. The only drawback was that the center contained an oversized letter A representing the University of Alabama. No problem, thought Ella. She looked at the fabric on the underside of the comforter and saw that it was the same red satin.

“Bingo!” said Ella, removing the comforter from the clamps on the hanger.

Lacey squinched up her nose, “Really?” she asked.

“Trust me,” she answered.

“You’re the designer,” Lacey said with a hint of sarcasm.

Ella tossed the comforter into the buggy and headed for the pillows. She found two large European square pillows covered in a tapestry pattern of monkeys sitting on sconces wearing little pill box hats and vests. She then found a bolster pillow in a purple damask. Lacey added two small black beaded pillows to the collection. The two made their way to a large bin filled with sheets of every kind. After rifling through the linens for a few minutes, Lacey pulled out a cheap, shiny, black fitted sheet. The fabric was so thin you could almost see through it.

“What is this? Poor man’s satin sheets?” she asked.

“That’s exactly what it is,” replied Ella. “It’s a thin, scratchy satin sheet imposter but it serves our purpose. See if you can find the flat sheet that goes with it.”

Lacey pressed her hand down through the pool of used sheets until she felt the same scratchy texture and pulled out the matching flat sheet. “Viola!” yelled Lacey.

Ella made her way to the curtains looking for sheers to hang on the edges of the canopy. Sheers had not been in vogue since the nineteen seventies, but the Paw Emporium had an abundance of them.

“We need black,” said Ella, but the girls found almost every color but black.

Ella threw in four pairs of sheers including two sets of white, a pink set, and finally an avocado green set. “We’ll stop at the grocery store and get some black dye. Dying the sheers will be your labor contribution, but you have to be gentle because they’re probably already dry rotting.”

“Gross,” said Lacey.

“You want a glamorous float and we need black sheers. It’s better than paying ten bucks a yard for chiffon to the tune of twenty four yards,” explained Ella.

“I got this,” Lacey declared.

The total at the register was $21.35. Lacey pulled out her Hottie’s business credit card. The young man, who had just bagged the sheers, pillows, and large satin comforter, read the name on the card and asked Lacey if they were belly dancers in a harem or something.

“Why yes we are,” answered Lacey. “We have a little lesbian love act we do.”

The young lad that Lacey’s friend Camille was training almost started to hyperventilate. Lacey quickly signed the receipt and the two headed out laughing.

Ella headed straight for the “special occasion” section in Rosemary’s Fine Fabrics. She pulled a bolt of black lace with a large paisley floral pattern. Lacey took the bolt from Ella and held it while Ella turned to the row with all the satins, taffetas, and bridal fabrics. She chose a bolt of blood red satin. “Nothing says Hottie’s like red hot satin,” said Ella, heading to the cutting counter.

Lacey followed with the black lace. “Next stop Victoria’s Secret, where I get to pick something,” said Lacey, following Ella to the cutting table. The sales associate cut two and a half yards of the black lace which Ella planned to sew on top of the red satin comforter giving the bedding a sexy, French brothel feel. The label on the bolt of satin read ten and a quarter yards. Ella informed the salesperson that they would purchase the entire bolt. Before the girls headed to check out, Ella found a card with four large rhinestone clasps she would need.

The raft Ella envisioned had a canopy bed as the centerpiece with a black frame, black sheers hanging from the canopy, and a red and black lace comforter with lots of red satin pillows plus the black beaded pillows she and Lacey had scored at the humane society thrift store. Positioned at each corner of the raft would be Ella, Lacey, Tanqueray, and Desiree. The girls would be clad in black lace teddies with red satin, open-front, ball gown length skirts. The entire length of the skirts would have ruffles like a Latin Rumba dance dress. The skirts would be secured by a thin red satin belt clasped with a large rhinestone fastener right at the belly button. Not only would the clasp look sexy at the belly button, similar to a piercing, it would serve as a safety latch if one of the girls fell overboard. She could quickly unfasten the skirt so that the weight of it would not pull her down in the water.

From Rosemary’s Fabrics Lacey and Ella headed to the mall to shop at Victoria’s Secret. Lacey found the teddies almost immediately. Ella suspected she was a frequent Victoria’s Secret shopper. The lace and mesh teddy she chose was called Lacy Meets Racy.

“This is the one!” she exclaimed. “I’m Lacey and we’re going to be in a race! It’s a ridiculously slow, flow with the current raft race, but a race nonetheless.”

Ella inspected the teddy. The design was perfect. It had an underwire, heavily laced bra with sturdy, wide lace straps in case the ladies had to use their push pole to keep the raft on course, and Ella had no plans of having a wardrobe malfunction during the race. The torso was a lighter more sheer lace and the back was a see through mesh. The panty part of the teddy was made of the same heavy lace the bra was constructed from. Ella liked this teddy because the butt was covered with the heavy lace as well, so that in the event they needed to remove their skirts the girls would not be mooning the other rafters. The way Ella saw it the teddy covered just as much as a bikini so she was comfortable that the girls would not be flaunting partially nude bodies down the river.

“Lacy meets Racy it is!” confirmed Ella.

The ladies picked out four teddies in the appropriate sizes. Neither Tanqueray nor Desiree had balked at the idea when Lacey presented them the sketch of the raft. Ella figured since they worked for Hottie’s Air Conditioning, they would probably be O.K. with it. She had been thinking of what Lacey had told her about Chief and Elise. Ella scoffed and thought, “You managed to seduce him by showing him a little lace under your Peacock Ball Gown. Well Honey, wait until he gets a load of this.”