Free Key West by Stella Cameron

unattached woman.”
    Romano’s face reddened. “You listened a long time. My sister-in-law is not unattached.”
    “Is that right? Well, since we’re being honest, she’s right in not wanting you moving into her house, then, isn’t she?”
     “Get out,” Romano said.
    “When Sonnie tells me to go, I will,” Chris said. “She’s very good with the customers, y’know. They look out for her. Say she raises the tone of the place.”
    Romano turned to Sonnie and said, “You have never worked, my dear. There has never been any need. Giacano women look after their husbands and homes.”
    “My husband seems to be missing,” Sonnie said. “I would very much like to see him come back. We’ve got things to work out. But he isn’t here now and I choose to fend for myself. I work for Roy Talon and Bo Quick at the Rusty Nail.”
    Romano shook his head. “This is insupportable. Do you answer phones? Type letters? What? You have no training.”
    “That’s an error I intend to make good,” Sonnie said. “I’ve got time to go back to school. Meanwhile, I’m a barmaid at the Rusty Nail on Duval Street.”

 
    Six
     
    The phone was ringing as Sonnie let herself into the house. She dropped her keys on the wicker chest inside the front door and went into the parlor. Without turning on the light, she picked up the receiver and said, “Hello.”
    “At last you answer,” Romano said. “Where have you been?”
    Sonnie sat on the edge of the couch, then pushed to the back. She was so tired. “I told you earlier today. I’ve got a job. I work.”
    “Sonnie,” Romano said, dropping his voice, “I am beside myself. Let me come to you.”
    “This makes no sense. You have nothing to worry about—not about me. I’m fine.”
    “Υοur car was at the house all eνening.”
    Now he was watching her. “Υou have been the one I relied οn,” she told him. “I relied on you because you were on my side. Or I thοught you were. You supported me when I insisted I would get well faster if everyone stopped fussing over me and telling me what to do.”
    “I still support you. I am your champion. But you are not being yourself. I asked you about your car. How could you have gone to that place tonight without your car? Did that biker person take you?”
    Biker person. Sonnie grinned at the description, but she guessed that was fairly apt. Chris Talon was a biker person. “Chris didn’t take me. I walked.”
    Romano’s following silence made her edgy.
    “I cannot believe it,” he said at last. “Surely...It is a long way even in daylight. You don’t mean that you walked home in the darkness.”
    “It isn’t far, and yes, I walked home.”
    “Sonnie, please listen to me. I do not want to stay here at the club. I do not want to be in Key West at all. But I cannot leave you alone at such a time.”
    “Such a time?”
    “While you are not yourself, dear one.”
    She felt shivery. “Why do you keep talking about me not being myself, about bringing in doctors to examine me? You aren’t responsible for me. I don’t want you to be. I want you to go back to being the friend I can call on when I need him. I can’t understand why you’re so upset. We’ve spoken regularly and everything’s been okay. As okay as it can be until we know—until Frank comes back.” If Frank came back she would have to pray for the strength to do what must be done.
    “Frank will come back,” Romano said, but without conviction. “You have done so well since the accident. I thought you would continue to improve—as long as you didn’t do something foolish and possibly dangerous, as you have now.”
    Sonnie propped an elbow and buried her face in one hand. He was a good, kind man who had always done his best for her. When she’d been in the hospital, he’d rarely left her side. Her family loved him. In fact, they loved him as they had never seemed able to love Frank.
    “Are you still there?” he asked.
    Perhaps she should stop trying