right up."
Cookie tilted the glass and pulled back on the spigot handle. She served Cece the golden brew and smiled at her.
"This one's on the house. No one else is here yet. It's been kinda dead today. Shh...I don't want anybody to think I'm giving away free drinks around here," she winked, holding her finger to her lips.
"Mum's the word, I promise," Cece said, taking a sip of the cold beer.
"How many members are you expecting today?"
"Oh, I don't know, probably at least twenty-five. We've got that charity poker run coming up a week from Saturday. I brought you a flyer to post on your bulletin board."
"Cool. I'll hang it up now."
Cece pulled one out of her black zipped case and handed her one. Cookie pinned it to the corkboard in the front entryway.
"Good luck with the ride. I see it benefits Realm Of Caring . That's a great cause."
"Yes, indeed. Very worthwhile."
"Let's step inside the meeting room and slide some tables together. We'll have you set up in no time."
Cece and Cookie walked back to the meeting area and scooted four tables together, the legs squeaking as they scraped across the tile floor.
"Do you think that'll be enough?" Cookie asked.
"To be safe, let's add one more."
Cookie scooted another table to the end of the row.
"That should do fine. Thanks."
"Arlene will be here in about fifteen minutes, so she'll be able to make sure all you ladies have the drinks you need," Cookie said.
Arlene Snell was a full-on butch you didn't want to rub the wrong way. Short, dark hair, mid-forties, and heavy set. Even though she was only about five foot-two, she was The Lavender Light's best bouncer, but the woman had a heart of gold behind her rough exterior. She was an asset to the place.
"Arlene's doubling as order taker today, huh?"
"You got it," Cookie said. "I couldn't run this place without her."
Gradually the women started arriving for the meeting. Shannon Storm, a current love interest of Cece's walked into the meeting room in full, ass-hugging leather. Yum! Cece thought to herself, Shannon had beautiful shoulder length dark red hair and the most sultry, seductive green eyes! Cece felt her heart rate speed up and she let out a sigh. Once everyone was seated and Arlene took their drink orders, Cece called the meeting to order.
"As you all know, we're sponsoring a huge poker run a month from this Saturday to help one of our favorite charities, Realm Of Caring . For those of you in attendance who may not know, Realm Of Caring assists families of children with uncontrollable seizures relocate to Colorado, so the kids can get the CBD, otherwise known as cannabis oil, that they require to help them put an end to their seizure induced misery. This stuff saves lives, ladies. Unfortunately, many states refuse this type of treatment for these kids, which I think is a bunch of bogus bullshit. The money we raise will help save these kid's lives as well as help the families relocate to Colorado, either temporarily, or permanently."
"How much of the proceeds will actually be used to help these families?" Marilyn Miller, the vice president of a cosmetics company asked.
"One hundred percent, ladies. I wouldn't want it any other way. There'll be no skimming off the top by the powers that be for this one. I can assure you of that," Cece answered with conviction.
"Are we going to be the only club involved in this?" Madge Delaney wanted to know.
"We're going to be the ones coordinating it, but there will be many riders participating. We expect quite a crowd. Carvell's Custom Cycles has donated a custom Harley to be raffled off, too. There will be a lot of interest in that bike. I will need five of you ladies to be posted at each of five stops to hand out cards. I have a list of each stop here on this sheet of paper. The first one will be here at The Lavender Light. Riders will register here as well."
Cece passed the sheets down both sides of the table. The women began looking them over.
"I have several flyers with
Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Martin A. Lee, Bruce Shlain