Did I Mention the Suits?
“Oh my God.”
“Holy crap.”
“I don’t believe this.”
“Blooming heck. Did that really happen?”
“This pink color is the bomb.”
The Rock Chicks were reacting to the book.
We were at Fortnum’s and we were holding an impromptu Rock Chick Powwow that Indy had hysterically called to order while riding shotgun with me on our way to the store. She was too freaked to drive. And anyway, she had a strict rule against driving and dialing and she was doing a lot of that.
As usual, no one wasted time hauling ass to Fortnum’s.
Now there were stacks of pink books that we’d bought in Cherry Creek on the low table in the seating area in front of the big plate glass window where we were congregated.
The good news was, a published (maybe) fictionalized account of Indy and Lee’s courtship took precedence over anyone giving me shit for being secretive about my non-Rock Chick activities as well as not sharing details as I was carrying on a fuck buddies relationship with Ren Zano for a year.
The bad news was, a (maybe) fictionalized account of Indy and Lee’s courtship had been freaking published.
“Oh my God,” Tod chortled, and everyone looked to him to see his book open, his eyes to it, a huge smile on his face. “I remember that. That was hilarious!” He looked to the group. “And this is fab…you…las. I’m famous!”
“Tod, this is not fabulous,” Indy snapped.
“Yes it is,” Tod disagreed.
“It is not,” Indy retorted.
“You’re famous, too,” Tod pointed out. “Or, you’re already famous with those newspaper articles, but you’ll be more famous with this book.”
“I don’t want to be more famous,” Indy shot back.
Tod stared at Indy like she’d just declared the sparkly fringed crochet dress Tina Turner wore for her 1971 Beat Club performance of “Proud Mary” was in bad taste.
Then he asked, his voice pitched high, “Why on earth not?”
Indy brandished a pink book at him and yelled, “Tod! They have the kitchen counter scene in this! I don’t need the world knowing about the kitchen counter scene.”
“What page is that?” Shirleen muttered to Sadie, frantically flipping through a book.
“I’m looking,” Sadie muttered back, doing the same.
“That scene was hot,” Tod said to Indy.
“That wasn’t a scene, Tod,” Indy returned. “That was my life!”
“I remember hearing that story,” Roxie whispered to Ava. “Tod’s right. It was hot.”
I looked to Roxie, my gut clenching, as Daisy asked, “Who’s this Kristen Ashley person?”
“My guess,” Tod took his attention off Indy and looked at Daisy, “it’s a made up name. Kudos to whoever picked that, great romance novelist name. But totally fake. No one’s named Kristen Ashley.”
“It’s not a strange name, Tod,” Stella pointed out.
“How many people with romance novelist’s names do you know?” Tod asked Stella.
“Ava Barlow,” Stella answered.
“Hmm,” Tod mumbled.
“India Savage. Allyson Nightingale. Roxanne Logan. Juliet Lawler. Sadie Townsend,” Stella carried on.
“Point taken,” Tod murmured.
But I was listening with half an ear.
The rest of my focus was on Fortnum’s.
I saw a lot of faces I knew. This was because Tex’s coffee was revered, thus practically everybody came back for more. It was also because, with the newspaper articles, as Tod noted, Fortnum’s, the Rock Chicks and the Hot Bunch were already famous in Denver.
Therefore we had a lot of regulars, and those regulars didn’t always just pop by for a coffee. Fortnum’s had been around a while. It had that feel that was real. That feel that invited you to stay. That feel that assured you you were welcome. That feel that many gave in to and hung out.
Sometimes for hours.
Right then, the place wasn’t packed, but the seating area in front of the espresso counter was full and there were people in line for coffees. And Jane, Indy’s other employee outside Duke, Tex, Jet and me, was even ringing up a book.
