McCann's Manor (3 page)

"And what are you going to wear?” Kim asked, wondering if she had made the right choice.

Liz stalled, grumbled, replied, “Well, I can't manage the no-bra mode, and my hips won't do for the wraparound thing, so I guess it's skirt and blouse for me. No one said we were supposed to dress up or anything, did they?” She peeped into her tiny closet, nose crinkled to the side.

"Hmm, guess I should have asked our hostess; I know she has some posh,
la-ti-da
friends and we want to make the right impression. Don't we?” Kim said.

Liz looked at the ceiling, turned around to face Kim, who had discarded the body suit and gone back to her closet. “I would say that all depends on which set of friends she invited tonight. Some of Grace's friends, I'd just as soon
not
make an impression on at all. Know what I mean?"

Kim pursed her lips, peered at Liz through narrowed eyes. “What are you saying? Would you rather not go?” she asked.

"Oh, no; I mean, it's always an interesting time at Grace's, for sure. It's just that, well, I'm not psychic enough to know how to dress for one of her soirées without asking her what the dress code might be. You and I tend to stand out from the crowd a little already and if we go dressed in our usual devil-may-care garb, it could get nasty.” Liz sounded less than confident.

Kim sighed and let her shoulders droop. “So I suppose that means you want me to call her."

Liz looked at the floor and said, “Well, she is
your
friend, after all. You almost married her brother. I barely know the woman."

"
My
friend? I thought you and she were thick as ticks on the back of a wild hog. And I did
not
almost marry him."

Liz cackled, “You must have me mistaken for someone else. She and I are not
anything
near as thick as all that!"

"All right, all right, I'll call her, but I won't like it!"

Liz raised her eyebrow, returned to looking in her closet as Kim pushed in the numbers on the cell phone. “You'll like it better, I'll wager, than showing up dressed like that with everyone else wearing dinner jackets and long dresses."

Kim turned her back on her friend, smiled into the phone and said, “Gracie, how's it going? I was just calling to see if you needed us to stop off and get anything for tonight. No? Are you sure? Oh, I see. By the way, I forgot to ask; how formal is this little get-together? Oh. Great. Thanks. We'll see you in a little while. ‘Bye."

Liz waited.

Kim put the phone down, took a deep breath and stood staring into space.

"Well?"

"It's Wade's birthday,” she announced.

"Who's Wade?"

Kim glared at Liz, “You remember Wade—Grace's
brother
, Wade—the aspiring middle-aged actor, the one you were just accusing me of almost marrying?"

Liz frowned a moment before recognition crossed her face. “Oh,
that
Wade. Wade, the forever-in-love-with-Kimberly-Dawn, Wade. Of course! I can never remember his
stage
name! Why did she invite us to his birthday party?"

Kim smiled, “She wants us to give him readings ... for his birthday present!"

"Are these paid readings from his sister or free readings from us?"

Kim continued to smile.

"I see. Good thing we called—otherwise I would've had to give him a reading with playing cards. This is going to be a
really
fun time, isn't it?"

Kim's smile was becoming more of a sneer. “There is more!” she announced.

"I thought there might be; and it is?” Liz smiled back at Kim.

"We have just over an hour to find and don our costumes. She is giving a fancy, catered, costume
ball
in his honor."

"Well, that figures. All our costumes are in storage."

"I
know
that! The question is, do you know where in storage?"

"Of course, I know exactly where they are—and there's
no way
of getting to them in time for that party,” Liz said. “If we have to go in costumes, we had better get our buns over to that little costume shop. It's either that, or we had better invent something here because the storage thing isn't going to work at all. Even if we could find them in time, we'd be too hot and gross from digging for costumes in this hundred-degree weather, climate-controlled storage or not."

"Okay, I don't need a complete dissertation on why it won't work,” Kim scolded. “However, I
would
be open to suggestions. I think the costume shop has probably already closed for the day."

Liz crossed her arms, patted her foot on the floor before breaking out in laughter. “Well, if we are supposed to go
tell Wade's fortune,
we should go dressed as gypsy fortune tellers."

"But in what?"

"Look, you go ahead and put on that body suit and wraparound and I will wear that pair of gold harem pants and my black peasant blouse; we'll put on tons of makeup, lots of jewelry and
voila
, gypsy fortune tellers!"

Kim slumped again, asked, “Are you sure you want to go to this party?"

"You already told her we'd be there; no backing out now. Besides, I have a feeling this party might lead to something good for us. Maybe it's the perfect chance for you and Wade to work out your karma thing."

"We don't have a
karma thing,
” Kim said, “so drop that bit right now or I'll kill you and tell Grace you died of heat stroke on the way to storage. I mean it."

"Okay-okay, enough said. Come on, let's hustle.” Liz started through her jewelry box for gaudy costume jewelry while Kim opened her closet and started pulling out scarves to create a turban.

Kim and Liz arrived at Grace Freeman's ostentatious Lake Austin home at seven-fifteen; not too late to be on time, but late enough for their entrance to make a statement. Parking in the circle drive and handing the keys to one of the teenagers acting as valet, Kim stopped to admire the fountain with its abundance of summer-blooming flowers. Native lantana, black-eyed Susans and a wide range of other yellows, pinks and reds surrounded the fountain with its mustang colts cavorting in stone bluebonnets and prairie grasses.

They entered the door, looked around, and saw most of the other guests had already arrived and were dressed in various period costumes ranging from Louis XIV powdered wigs and accessories to futuristic extraterrestrial garb. Many of them wore masks.

Their hostess met them just inside the door. “Liz, Kim, how marvelous the two of you look—perfect costumes,” she said. Looking at the small bags each one of them carried, she said, “You know, I'm sure there are any number of people here who'd
love
to have readings, if you're so inclined.” Her pale lavender costume seemed unwieldy, with a huge hoop skirt, miles of lace and fairy wings
a la
Glenda, the good witch of the North. Her dainty figure was accentuated by a glittering silver and rhinestone waistband.

Liz smiled through gritted teeth, reached across the huge dress and hugged her hostess. Kim waited for her obligatory hug and said, “You know, we didn't come here to put on a show, Gracie. Of course, we'd be willing to do some readings if that'll make your friends happy,” she lied; she wasn't willing at all.

Grace beamed, tapped each one of them with her fairy wand and said, “We have a number of famous celebs here tonight, you know. That's why Wade and I decided to have a costume party. That way, the poor dears can be treated like ordinary people for one evening at least."

Liz shrugged her shoulders and stifled a chuckle at being tapped with a magic wand. “That's our Gracie, always thinking of the comfort of others,” she observed.

Grace gave a feigned blush, ducked her head. “Oh, now, you know I do try.” She said in her best imitation of a Southern Belle. “I wanted Wade's birthday to be the best and it was the only way all his friends could feel comfortable about coming,” she said.

"The place looks fabulous, Grace. You have really outdone yourself this time,” Liz observed. She looked around the living area. Multicolored ribbons and frothy lace hung from the second floor loft. Fresh flowers adorned every flat surface—tables, shelves and stands. Wheatgrass centerpieces with colorful picks laden with shrimp rolls and cheese cubes stood along the buffet with chips,
chili con queso
on a warmer and fresh vegetables cut and arranged in exotic patterns. “I know Wade must consider himself fortunate to have you for a sister,” she added, rolling her eyes at Kim.
How does she manage to blush on cue?
Liz wondered.
Acting must run in their genes.

Kim read the look Liz gave her, cleared her throat, bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. “Yes, indeed. And where
is
the birthday boy, Grace?” she asked.

Grace looked around the room, but failed to find Wade. Shrugging she said, “He was right here just a minute ago. Now, where could he have gone? You two make yourselves at home and I'll find him.” She floated away into the crowd.

"Oh, no, Grace? Rats! Me and my big mouth. Now we will be supposed to follow the two of them around all night until she makes the announcement that her psychic friends are ready to begin the freak show,” Kim complained.

Liz chuckled, “Relax, kid. Something tells me she's already told her illustrious guests about her friends the psychics and that we're already under their
intense
scrutiny."

Kim looked around the room and to her dismay, saw several pairs of eyes looking at them. “Great. I should have told her we expected to have
our
anonymity too."

Liz let out a string of giggles, then patted Kim on the shoulder, “Come on, Kimberly Dawn, lighten up! We should be having a great time. I mean, here we are hobnobbing with some of the
elite
of the universe and all you can do is bristle because
they
know who
we
are?"

"Yeah, but do you think this is fair? I mean, she's put us on the spot again. She has all these unnamed guests here expecting to stay that way and they all know we are psychics and...” She focused at a point to the left of Liz's face and said, “Oh, hello, Wade, how are you?"

A tall, dark-haired man in a vampire suit swooped in next to Kim, his fangs bared, and encircled her with his black satin cape. “Kimberly, how wonderful to see you again. I'm so glad you and Emma could make it."

Liz smiled and held out her hand to Wade, “Wade Buscher; aren't you the charmer, though!” She said, “It's
Liz
, Wade. Happy birthday."

Wade staggered a bit, but took her hand and pecked at it with his lips. “Of course, how stupid of me; I meant Liz,” he said, a look of triumph on his face. He did love riling her, didn't he? “Great to see you. We've several surprise guests tonight. Can you pick them out?"

"Are you challenging me?” she asked with a smile, careful not to show her disapproval. Regardless of what she divined from the crowd, Liz had picked up on the fact the birthday boy had started celebrating much earlier in the day.

"Well, no, but you
are
psychic. I just thought you might have an impression or something,” Wade mocked.

Liz looked him square in the eye a moment, then smiled and raised one eyebrow. “I do indeed have all sorts of impressions, Wade.”
Come on, Liz,
she thought,
think of something.
“Most of all right now, my impression is that I'm thirsty and hungry. Why don't you and Kim visit while I go check out the refreshment situation?” she asked.

"Why, yes,” he agreed, still holding his cape around Kim's shoulder, “why don't we visit a while? I haven't seen you in ages."

Watching as her sole chance for a quick escape walked away, Kim gave up on breaking free of his grip and tried to relax.
Just take a deep breath,
she told herself. “So, Wade, tell me all about life in the West."

"What, California? Oh, well, you know; it's a concrete jungle out there. It's so nice to be here among old friends. You look—good enough to eat!” he growled.

Kim managed to wriggle from his grasp at that remark, “Uh, Wade ... thank you for the compliment, but I don't ... I mean, I don't feel comfortable hogging all your attention. After all, it is your birthday and these are your friends. We should mingle."

Wade sighed, “Sorry. I just keep hoping maybe someday you'll see me the way I see you ... the way I have always seen you, as the one person in the world I'd want to spend the rest of my life with."

Oh, my,
she thought
; melodramatic as ever, aren't we?
“I'm flattered, but I'm not very lucky in the long-term relationship business. You'd wind up wishing you'd never got that close to me in the first place. Please, let's just keep on being friends, okay?"

Wade looked deep into her eyes, pressed her hand to his heart, then to his lips. “All right, but you know all you have to do is say the word and I would do anything for you."

Kim took another deep breath, tried to calm her temper. Wade was good-looking enough; always had been, but he
never
had been the type she could enjoy being around. The more he seemed interested in her, the less she could stomach him. It'd been that way for her ever since high school. Yet he was the one who kept turning up in her life. Maybe Liz was right; maybe it
was
karmic. “Perish the thought!” she said.

"What? What thought?” he said with a frown.

His response surprised her into realizing she had spoken aloud. “Oh, nothing. I just suddenly realized I'm hungrier than I knew; the thought of food is making me weak."

"Jesus! Aren't you taking care of yourself? Haven't you been eating right? I know you're on the move again, but you know you shouldn't neglect your health,” he fussed.

"Oh, Wade, it's nothing like that; I was tired and hot this afternoon, so I didn't eat when we finished the move because it would have made me sick. Now I'm over being hot and I have rested a bit, so I
am
hungry."

Wade smiled down at her, said, “Of course you are. Come along. Let's go get you some food. Gracie has everything you could ever want."

Kim allowed herself to be whisked across the room to where Liz was nibbling her way along the buffet table.