Free Awake by Elise Daniels Page A

Tuscany maybe. I visited there with my father the year I turned sixteen.
    At the table, a cute old lady in a wheelchair shucks an ear of corn and smiles up at me. “Oh my, that is a one-of-a-kind Joie Signe top,” the cute little lady says referring to my blouse.
    “You behave, Simone,” Alodia instructs. “Erin is our special guest tonight.”
    I reach out to shake Simone’s hand which she wipes with a towel before taking my hand with a gentle grace. “Charmed,” she says.
    “You’re right. It’s from the new line,” I say, “but I don’t think it’s one of a kind. It’s just not out yet.”
    “Not out yet,” Simone says. “A girl connected in the fashion world. You just became my new best friend.”
    I sit down next to my new best friend and start shucking corn. I want to show them that I am more than my father’s money. I know how to get my hands dirty.
    Alodia smiles at Simone’s surprise when I rip through the husk and clean the corn quickly like a good Minnesota girl. “She did not always live in the house on the hill,” Alodia quips.
    Alodia is so sweet to me, but I actually did always live in the house on the hill. The first house was just on a hill in Minnesota where corn on the cob is as cherished as the sushi at Urasawa on Rodeo Drive.
    “There’s a man in your back yard,” I say suddenly startled as a man trips over a bush outside the window.
    “Oh that’s not a man,” Simone says. “That’s just Billy Bermuda from next door.”
    Alodia opens the back door and helps the man into the kitchen. He brushes off his Bermuda shorts and tan legs.
    “Good evening, ladies,” he says. “Looks like I’m the last here for ladies night.”
    “Glad you could make it, William,” Alodia says. “You need to start using the front door before you break your hip.”
    “Oh I won’t break my hip, you old diva,” William says. “I’m still young and spry. You’re the one who’s old enough to have screwed Frank Sinatra. You’re due to slip in the shower any day.”
    These people and this place make me smile. “Really, Alodia?” I ask playing along. “You did it with Sinatra?”
    To my surprise she blushes.
    “They didn’t do it,” Simone offers. “Old Blue Eyes was in his fifties and Alodia was in college. They didn’t have the blue pill back then.”
    “Don’t listen to them, Erin,” Alodia says. “The whole story is Frank kissed me on the lips after he signed an album for me.”
    “All Frank needed was a coat room and he would have made short work of you, Alodia,” William says. “No pun intended.”
    “Vivi sends her regrets,” Alodia says taking the clean corn to the stove. “William, introduce yourself, please, honey.”
    He ignores my hand and leans in for a hug. “I’m William Maroney the Third,” he says with a wink. “I’m just as pleased as fruit punch to meet you.”
    “Nice to meet you as well, William,” I say totally smitten with his jester-like energy. “Maroney, huh? They lead me to believe your name was Billy Bermuda.”
    William grabs his chest and lets his mouth hang open in mock shock. “Don’t you believe one word that comes out of that Simone’s mouth. She is an evil little woman and she does bite and bite hard. Some old timey sailors told me so. God’s truth.”
    William winks to me a second time and then bends down to kiss Simone’s grinning face. She shakes her head and slaps William’s hand affectionately.
    “Who has tonight’s theme?” William asks.
    Simone and Alodia glance to each other puzzled.
    “I think its Vivi’s turn, but she’s on stage tonight,” Alodia says.
    “How about we let this perky little one decide then,” Simone suggests.
    “Me?” I say feeling immediately odd that I knew perky meant me. They all look to me for a theme, but I’m clueless. “I think William should do it seeing how he risked life and limb to be here.”
    “Now I don’t like how you set that up, but I’m going to have to agree with