…continued from Dixie Bombay.

The New Year’s Eve cruise on the Spirit of Sumter was largely uneventful, except of course for Kirby Hayes.

***

With help from the girl at the coffee shop where he got his morning bagels, Billford was able to send Priscilla a text with the cruise itinerary, and inquired where she would like to be picked up.

Priscilla did not want her chaperon to see the shabby apartment she shared, in a not-so-nice neighborhood near the freeway, so she suggested they meet again at the Southend Brewhouse. This would also give her a chance to get some last minute encouragement from her friend Jill, the bartender.

Billford found himself primping in the mirror, two hours before they were scheduled to meet, with a Beatle’s album blaring through his stereo, and an excitement he had not felt in years. Many years. Too many years. He was a little nervous too, he had to admit to himself. It reminded him of his high school prom. He tried not to think about how long ago that was, and then another thought occurred to him. He dug through a seldom used drawer and found a silver flask inscribed with his initials. It was a yet unused gift from a client. A time for everything, he thought. Billford was accustomed to other people mixing his drinks and he was not sure what to put in the flask. He filled it half full of Jack Daniels, as a start, and with no Cola or other mixers, he topped it off with the only other consumable liquid on hand, which was two-week-old orange juice.

***

When he arrived at the rendezvous, Priscilla was already at the bar with a glass of white wine, talking to her friend. She looked fabulous in a black cocktail dress, with a short jacket covering her shoulders. It was early and only a handful of people were in the bar.

“You look stunning,” Billford said unabashedly as he approached Priscilla. He was used to paying these compliments to the wives of older clients, and the words came easily.

For his part, Billford looked dashing in his tailored tuxedo, with just enough gray in his full head of hair to suggest maturity without any lack of virility. Jill glanced at Priscilla and gave her a look which said: Go for it. It never occurred to Billford, that he might be overdressed for a local outing.

“You look very handsome yourself,” Priscilla repaid the compliment, but not as smoothly and not without a blush sweeping over her. “This is my friend Jill,” she made the introduction to deflect attention from herself.

“Nice to meet you Jill. I am Bill. Can I trouble you for a Scotch?”

“And when you get a chance, can you introduce me to your friend?” Bill still did not know his date’s name.

“May I introduce you to your date for the New Year,” Jill announced with a bit of drama while she poured the Scotch, “this is my good friend, Priscilla Van Owen.”

“Look after her,” she added with serious emphasis.

***

Billford arrange for a car service – not his regular driver, or any used by Jackson Beauregard – to drive them over to Mt. Pleasant. When the driver dropped them off at the entrance to the headhouse, all of the other passengers walking from their parked cars gawked to see if they recognized the celebrities. This was the highlight of Priscilla’s year, and she reached out and grabbed Billford’s hand and squeezed it. It was his turn to blush.

Food and drink flowed for most of the evening and the music on board was generally loud enough to preclude any complicated conversation or awkward silence. Billford and Priscilla both had a genuinely good time, with at least some credit due to the company of the other. Once during the night Prescilla thought she saw her ex-boyfriend out of the corner of her eye, but in reflection, she decided it was her subconscious messing with her.

The highlight of the night was the midnight fireworks display from the Arthur Ravenel Bridge. At the conclusion Priscilla gave Billford a big embrace and a sloppy kiss and told him it was the best New Year’s Eve ever.

Later when they were back in the town car, Billford asked her if there was someplace particular she wanted to be dropped off and she leaned into him and said, “I would like to go wherever you are going.”

***

With a pair of law enforcement passes to the New Year’s Eve cruise, Clinton Hayes was in pursuit of an entirely different bounty. Rita Montgomery, the young divorcée three doors down in his condo complex walked her terrier Spuds every evening as soon as she came home from work. Clinton timed collection of his mail and empty garbage cans accordingly.

He was pretty sure she would accompany him on the cruise, if she didn’t have other plans. And he was right. Rita’s New Year’s resolution was to date men closer to her age, and Clinton was definitely a move in the right direction. A tough guy bounty hunter was right up her alley.

Clinton and Rita wore jeans, jackets, and cowboy boots to the New Year’s Eve cruise, and had just as much fun as the fancier dressed passengers.

Clinton did not cross paths with Bartholomew Lumpkin as he thought he might, but he did have an argument with a group of young men who bumped into him when he was returning from the bathroom just before midnight. They we drunk or high and he might have broken their necks, but one of the boys reminded him of himself at that age, and anyway, he was anxious to get back to Rita.

###

This story continues with Bartholomew Lumpkin.

2016 Kirt Van Buren