Free Whatever It Takes by Marie Scott Page A

attention back to her beer. Everyone stared at her for a moment,
mouths agape, before they all burst out laughing. Mona surprised her by
throwing her arms around her and giving her a tight squeeze.
    “Why the devil haven’t I met this little hellion before?” she
cried, glaring at Mason and Dewayne. “We could have so much fun together.”
    “We only just met her, boo.” Dewayne laughed.
    Laurie smiled and used a napkin to wipe her shirt where her
beer spilled during Mona’s hug. She foggily wondered if she was sharing too
much about herself with this tableful of virtual strangers. That was her
biggest trouble with drinking. Once she got a few beers in her, she was ready
to tell her life story to the first person who asked an innocent question.
    “Come on, let’s hit the ladies’ room.” Mona patted Laurie’s
hand and motioned for Dewayne to let her out of the booth.
    Mason stood up and helped Laurie out.
    “Don’t worry, Mace. I won’t let anything happen to her,”
Mona teased him as she put an arm around Laurie’s shoulders and led her away.
    Carol was making out with a heavyset man near the bathrooms
but Laurie didn’t see Trey anywhere. She wondered if she should track him down
and let him know where she was sitting but then dismissed the idea, assuming he
would find her when he was ready to leave. The bar wasn’t that big.
    Laurie leaned against the wall in the short hallway while
she and Mona stood in the long line for the ladies’ room.
    “So where are you from?” Mona asked, gazing at Laurie with
genuine interest.
    “Portland, Oregon,” Laurie told her.
    “Wow. That’s a long ways off; what made you decide on a
college here?”
    Laurie’s cheeks heated and she attempted to avoid the
subject. She’d never told anyone the real reason. “I got accepted here.”
    Mona rolled her eyes and laughed. “Well obviously, but I don’t
think they tracked you down and recruited you since I’m pretty sure you’re not
a star football player. No, I mean what made you apply for college here?” Mona apparently
sensed a juicy story and wasn’t letting Laurie off the hook.
    Laurie thought about it for a moment and couldn’t come up
with a plausible explanation. Probably all the beer clouding her thinking. Mona
laughed and elbowed her in the ribs.
    “Come on, I know you got a good bit to tell. I can smell it.
Spill it, sister.”
    Laurie laughed and hesitated for only a second before she
decided she would tell Mona the whole story.
    “Okay. Well, I came here with my grandmother when I was eleven
and of course, I fell in love with the city. There’s just something about this
place.”
    Mona sighed and gave a knowing nod.
    “Anyway, I was supposed to be in our hotel room while my
grandmother was out but I slipped away and took a cab to the French Quarter to
explore. While I was there, this old woman grabbed me and made me sit at a
table with her. She looked at my hands for a while—every time I tried to talk
or pull away, she shushed me and just kept on looking. When she was done, she
handed me this pretty little red charm on a beaded chain and said that my soul
would have its mate and I would find him here. I mean in the city, not this bar,
in particular.”
    Mona grinned and raised an eyebrow.
    “She said I belong here and I’d find my family here.” Laurie
giggled self-consciously. “Now, I know none of that stuff is real but after
that, when I thought of growing up and moving out on my own, I always pictured
myself here. When it came time to apply for college I just naturally applied to
the ones here or near here.”
    When she finished her explanation she chanced a glance at
Mona and found her smiling warmly rather than in mockery, as Laurie had feared.
    “Sounds like you met Miss Agata. She was a fixture in the
French Quarter for a long time,” Mona said. “People really believed in her
gifts. On a rare occasion, she would just read something off someone passing by
and she would drag them