Wicked Wednesday #197 — Weird (And A New Call for Submissions!!!)

“I came over to talk you because I know that the other day must have been weird for you…”
Eliza felt weird taking her Laphroaig neat from another bartender. But she had waited to talk to Josephine after her shift. She knew that she had put Josephine in an awkward situation without meaning to, and she wanted to clear the air.

“You looked so awkward when you saw Rafe and Oscar together, and I felt bad about it. You were trying to protect me…”

“I was not in a situation that I have not been in before…I just figured that you were an eccentric socialite like your namesake…” Josephine took a sip of her Laphroaig, and smiled.

“My namesake?”
“You know Eliza Jumel? No one has ever teased you about that?”

Eliza laughed, and shook her head.

“No. I do not even know who that is?!”

“An eccentric socialite, she lived in a mansion that I have been to a few times. Rumor has it that she haunts the place.”
Eliza smiled awkwardly. She had never heard of this place, and wondered if Josephine was teasing her. She did not have a lot of girlfriends, but she knew that girlfriends did like to tease each other. Fiona teased her often enough, but she was more her sister than anything else.

“Well anyway,” Josephine continued, waving her hand. “I have been in that situation a lot. I work at an upscale sexy hotel bar. I am either hiding other people’s secrets, or my own…”

Eliza stared at Josephine for a long moment. Josephine grinned,

“I have secrets too, Eliza. You know your namesake bragged that she was close friends with Josephine Bonaparte…maybe we could be close friends?”
“I don’t have a lot of female friends, it would be nice to have one…”
“Well I already know so much about you, and what you like to drink…” Josephine lifted her glass at the bartender. They were not even done with the first set, and there were two neat Laphroaigs placed before them.

Eliza arranged her two Laphroaigs side by side, and reveled in their smoky scent.

“Certainly is not awful to have a bartender for a friend!”

“I have better liquor in my apartment, trust me. You should come over sometime and bring whichever guy you want to…”

“Rafe is my fiancé…” Eliza whispered.

“I know, he made it very clear. But you love Oscar…”
“I do, I have loved him for a very long time. And loving him has made me a different person. But I cannot live without Rafe. We tried, and we got back together. We cannot live without each other…”
“So do you love him, or are you addicted to him?”

“Both. When I broke the engagement, I was so mad at him and it was easy to be without him. But he came to the hotel and I — we fell so easily into each other. It is so easy with him, and miss him physically when I am not with him. Not just intimately. It is just so easy to be with him. He is part of me…”

“So you love them both…”

“I do…”

It was lovely to confide her love in her new girlfriend…

My publisher Riverdale Avenue Books has a new anthology coming out, based on the Morris-Jumel mansion–Eliza Jumel was a real person, and a namesake for my Eliza!!! Which was weird so…ahem… The details for the anthology can be found here, and on my Calls for Submissions page!!!

Update–you can buy a copy of the anthology here!

More Wicked Wednesday here:

morris-jumel mansion via wikipedia