The Queen of Cool Read Free

I came
to get you,” Larry said.
    “ I can’t take this,” Lo
said.
    “ You can’t not take this,”
Larry said. “You need food, clothing, and a place to
stay.”
    “ What about Ruth
Ann?”
    “ I’ll tell her I lost it in
a bet,” Larry said. “I’m betting on you, Lo. You’re going to turn
this around. I just know it.”
    “ How?”
    “ What about Don’s company?”
Larry asked. “Don owned the biggest air conditioning company in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area.”
    “ Owned in name only,” Lo
said. “Henry, his dad, bought it as a side project. Don never got
around to selling it.”
    “ So what? Is that
frozen?”
    “ I didn’t think to ask,” Lo
said. “It’s probably still in Henry’s name.”
    “ I bet you five bucks they
didn’t touch that air conditioning business,” Larry said. “You
should take it over.”
    “ What do I know about air
conditioning?” Lo asked.
    “ What’s to know?” Larry
smiled. “Let’s check it out tomorrow after we get some of your
stuff. I bet Lisa would go through the books for you. She’s really
good at that kind of thing.”
    “ And have Earl take care of
their three kids?”
    “ Hey, a man’s got to do
what a man’s got to do,” Larry said. “He’ll survive. Lisa and I
will meet you tomorrow.”
    “ Meet me where?”
    “ Mom’s.”
    “ Mom’s?” Lo shook her head.
“No. No. No. Uh huh. No way am I staying at Mom’s! I haven’t been
there since I found her…”
    “ Since she hanged herself,”
Larry said. “I remember. I’m the one who cut her down. Best
post-boot camp leave on record. Do you still have the
keys?”
    Lo nodded.
    “ I drive by Mom’s every
week or so just too… well…” Larry shrugged. “Did you know Don took
care of the place? It has a new roof. He had someone mow the grass
and take care of the yard. I saw a plumber there once or
twice.”
    “ He did?”
    “ I asked Don about it at
one of your Fourth-of-July barbeques,” Larry said. “A couple of
years ago. I asked him what he was up to. He told me that his
Lorraine was born in that house. He couldn’t let it fall to the
ground.”
    “ You don’t think he met
other women there?” Lo asked.
    “ When would he have had the
time?” Larry asked. “He had a busy law practice, the air
conditioning company, and he spent every other waking moment with
you.”
    “ He was with another woman
when he got sick.”
    “ You honestly think a man
who wouldn’t be with you before marriage was with a bunch of other
women?”
    “ Ministers do it all the
time,” Lo said.
    “ Now you’re just being
weird.”
    “ I don’t know anything
anymore,” Lo said.
    “ Stop the doubt, Lo. It’s
killing you.”
    Lo sniffed at her tears.
    “ No matter what happened,
Don Downs loved you,” Larry said. “And…”
    “ And?”
    “ Now that all this crap
happened,” Larry said. “I wonder if he kept up Mom’s house so you’d
have a place to go.”
    “ How could he have known?”
Lo asked.
    “ Don always seemed to know
what was going to happen,” Larry said.
    “ Yeah, I always thought it
was from helping the Romani,” Lo said.
    “ The Gypsies kept him well
informed about the future?” Larry asked. “Probably.”
    Shrugging, Lo wiped her eyes.
    “ Come on,” Larry said.
“I’ll take you home.”
    Larry put his arm around Lo, and they walked
into the Whataburger parking lot. Larry helped Lo into her Lexus
and went to his cruiser. Lo drove up Hemphill Street to Feliks
Gwozdz Place and turned left. She continued on West Myrtle until
she got to Henderson. She turned right and pulled up in front of
their mother’s house. Larry pulled in behind her. She waited for
him to come to her door before she got out.
    They walked to the front door together. Lo
put the key in the dead bolt and turned it. The door swung open,
releasing a blast of hot air.
    “ I bet the air conditioning
works,” Larry laughed.
    Lo and Larry stepped into the house.
Instinctively, they both turned