The Necklace - The Dusky Club, June 1962 - Linda S Rice (books to read fiction txt) 📗

stepped up to the microphone, lowering it to guitar-level, and started to play the instrumental song. James moved over to Derek and said something to him. Derek looked in Susan’s direction, then turned back to James and laughed as he said something back. Then he winked at James.

Susan was observing this with amused interest, wondering if Derek had been told to check out the new girl in the silly pink dress, when Sandra came back with a mug of beer. It looked to be all foam.

“There ya go, love. See whatcha think.”

Susan took a sip, wiping the foam from her upper lip. It was pretty much all foam.

“Not bad,” she lied. “Not bad at all. Hey, I don’t know your money system very well; can you figure out what I owe you from what I have here?”

She opened her purse and pulled a bill out of one of the inside pockets.

“Lor!” exclaimed Sandra. “That ‘ud be enough for six or seven beers!”

“Well, then, why don’t you bring me the dusty wine bottle, if it’s enough to cover it, and keep the change for yourself?”

“Sure, and that’s awful good of you, love...I’ll be back with the bottle in a bit...By the way,” she added, just as “Sigh in the Shadows” ended, “I think you’re gonna have some company.”

She gave a big grin and turned to walk away.

“Ciggy?” said a voice over her shoulder.

Susan froze, the color draining from her face. Hairs stood up on the back of her neck. She knew that voice as well as she knew her own. She’d heard it thousands of times over the past fifty years, talking and singing. She held her breath as she slowly swiveled around on the barstool.

And there he was, just a couple of feet away, leaning towards her over the tall table, one hand extended with an unlit cigarette in it. He also had one dangling from the side of his mouth that was lit.

His dark hair looked greasy, but it might have just been sweat. His face was certainly shiny with it. He had on a black leather jacket over a ratty-looking black t-shirt. He put the hand without the cigarette in it up to his forehead and brushed his hair away, a gesture that drew her eyes to his. They were brown with amber flecks in them, and they were smiling; his mouth also quirked in a grin.

“Cat got your tongue, Luv?” he asked.

Thanks to the smoky room and dim lighting away from the stage area, James didn’t see Susan’s face turn crimson as she stuttered, “No, of course not. You just startled me is all.”

“Oh my God!” she thought. “Those are the same words we said to each other in the Sleeping Beauty Castle, but…but that’s in the future still!” She shook her head to clear it.

“Your accent...are you American?” he asked.

“Yes, California...the southern part...”

“Here on holiday then?”

“You could say that.”

She was thinking, “What can I say? What story can I make up? Think quick, Susan, think quick!”

“I’m here to meet some friends. We’re...um...students...my Uncle back in the states is a history professor...we’re um...on a history tour. I’m staying at a hotel just down the street. I was out walking around and heard music coming from here. I thought I’d check it out.”

She was mumbling like an idiot, words tumbling out of her mouth at random. And she was also starting to feel faint. Looking into his gorgeous eyes made her feel weak in the knees. She was glad she was sitting down.

“And where are the other students?”

“Well, they’re not here yet...they were, um, delayed...they should be here in a week...by next Friday...then we’re off to Bath and...and Devon before heading to London.”

Bath and Devon were the only other English cities she could think of on the spur of the moment, recalling the names from the English Regency romances she frequently read. How lame was that?!

“Ah, here for a week on your own then?”

“Yes, but I’m sure I’ll find plenty to do. I plan on buying a guidebook tomorrow.”

“Oh, geez! What made her say something so stupid?”

“A guidebook of Brighton?”

“And the surrounding area...yes.”

He started to laugh. “Not much to see around here,” he said. “Other than the Prince Regent’s Pavillion, I wouldn’t say there’s enough to take up a whole week or even a whole guidebook.”

“But, I’m very resourceful when it comes to guide books!” she quipped, again wanting to kick herself for all the stupid words spouting out of her mouth.

“Are you?” he asked, his eyes filled with amusement.

“Oh, yes!”

“So, you want the ciggy? I can light it for you.”

“No thanks; don’t you know that stuff can kill you?”

“Is that so? No, I haven’t heard that. The commercials on telly say smoking is good for you. They make it glamorous like.”

“Well, they’re wrong, you know. They’ll find out someday that it causes cancer. And it’s also habit-forming, and it makes your clothes and breath stink and...”

“Stop...stop...I’m thinking you don’t approve of my smoking.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You did in so many words. You said it makes me smell bad.”

She could see his lips quiver as if he was about to laugh out loud. It was hard for her to keep a straight face, and she gave a sudden burst of laughter.

“Okay, okay...so I insinuated that it might make you smell bad...and well, have you ever kissed a person that’s been smoking? Gross! Ick! And, quite frankly, this whole place smells bad because of all the smoke...it’s hard to breathe in here, and my eyes are burning.”

He dropped the unlit cigarette into the ashtray on the table and stubbed his own out.

“There, how’s that?” he asked. “Wouldn’t want to be kissing anybody with smoke breath.”

She blanched, regretting the comment about kissing. What was wrong with her? There was nothing but nonsense coming out of her mouth! She was so nervous that she started playing with the silver chain of her necklace, fingering the silver ballet shoes that hung on the end of it.

She swallowed. “Much better, thank you,” she replied, ignoring his comment about smoke breath.

He stared at her intently. From a distance, she’d stood out from the crowd because of her pink dress up against the dark wall of the club. Up close, however, she stood out even more, despite the dim lighting. The dress was totally out of place, of course, but he looked beyond that. She was slender and looked to have some very lovely curves outlined by the form-fitting dress. Her skin was clear and flawless and tanned by the sun. Her long blonde hair cascaded down her back almost to her waist; some of it spilled over her shoulders and arms. Her eyes were green in color, under thick lashes and nicely arched eyebrows. Her comment about kissing had drawn his eyes to her lips. Hmmm...they looked very kissable.

“Hey, James! Time to get back up here and quit flirting with the new bird!” Derek yelled from the stage area.

“See you after the next set?” he asked, arching his eyebrows.

“I suppose so,” she replied, her heart pounding so loud in her chest she could almost hear it.

“And may I know your name?”

“Oh, um, sure...it’s Susan.”

“Would you like to know mine?”

She almost choked. “Of course, I would.”

“It’s James.” He winked at her as he walked away, wondering if he’d be able to win a wager regarding her. Too soon to tell. He’d need to stop by and talk to her some more after the next set.

“What’s with guys winking here?” she wondered. She remembered the scruffy guy who tried to buy her an ale when she had first popped onto the bar stool a half-hour earlier, then Derek winking at James after they’d looked over at her. “Is it some kind of a signal for guys?”

“Here’s the wine, Luv!” Sandra said as she set an empty drinking glass on the table with a dark red-colored wine bottle. It was uncorked. “Go on and see whatcha think. Sorry, we’ve no wine glasses here.”

Susan poured a small amount from the bottle into the glass and lifted it up to her nose for a sniff. She took a sip and decided it must be either Merlot or Cabernet.

“Red?” she remarked. “Hmmm...I usually only drink white, but I appreciate your getting this for me. Want the beer? I’m not much of a beer drinker.”

“Can’t drink on the job, Luv, but thanks all the same...Hey, are you here on holiday with anyone?”

“No, like I just told James, the band guy, I’m waiting for some friends to arrive before we head off on a, um… history tour. I have a whole week to kill here. I’m planning on being my own tour guide.”

“Well, if you want someone to maybe show you around tomorrow, like some shops and stuff, I have tomorrow morning free. It’s Saturday, ya know. A lot of people come in from the countryside to shop, so there’s a lot more open like the fresh stalls.”

“Hey, that’s so nice of you. I think I’ll accept the offer. You show me around, and I’ll treat you to luncheon. You name the place, okay?”

“Yeah, that sounds fine. I need to get more drinks, but I’ll pop by later, and we can set up a time to meet...By the way, see that dark-haired girl on the other side of the room? No! Don’t look right at her! Just listen to me...a little warning... she's not well pleased with your being here, and neither are her friends. Hilary used to be James’s steady girlfriend…at least she thought she was... but he dropped her after he caught her cheating with another bloke. Now she wants him back. She’d planned on being in James’s bed tonight, but he seems to have taken a fancy to you, and she don’t like it.”

“Oh, my God! You must be kidding! Why would she see me as a threat? I didn’t ask him to come over to my table! And I most certainly have no intentions of being in his bed!”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re a real looker, all clean and fresh like a daisy and everything, and she’s pretty used-up in appearance, if you know what I mean. She’s probably jealous.”

“Well, she has nothing to worry about. You can tell her if you want. And tell all of them I’m only going to be here for a week, so I’m no threat to her or any of them. Geez!”

Sandra nodded and hustled away as Frank yelled her name.

Ian stepped up to the microphone and said, “Ready for more?”

The girls on the other side of the room screamed, “Yes!”

While their attention was on the stage, Susan took a glance at them, trying to figure out which one was Hilary but couldn’t see clearly through the thick haze that permeated the room.

“Hilary,” she thought. “Why does that name ring a bell with me…?”

She almost choked on her wine when she suddenly recalled how James’s second marriage in the future had ended in disaster after a woman named Hilary had robbed him of half his fortune in a bitter divorce. But that was still far, far into the future.

“Maybe I should go over and introduce myself.”

The wine was making her feel brave, even though she hadn’t drunk very much of it yet.

“Potent stuff maybe from being under the bar for so long,” she thought. “Or, maybe I’m still a little tipsy from all the wine Lynn and I drank on the ship.”

Not likely.

She