“I wonder how much money I made at my casino today. Myra, are you listening to me?”

“I am,” Myra said as she massaged a thick, gooey night cream all over her face.

“You should rub some of that on your ass, old girl.”

“Annie!”

“I just said that to wake you up. You look like you’re half in a trance. It couldn’t hurt, you know. That is a rather large encryption you have back there. Block letters, no less.” Annie sniffed to make her point. “I thought we were going for, you know, tiny, delicate—and what do you do? You order up psychedelic colors and block letters.”

“I don’t care to discuss my rear end, thank you very much. I got carried away in the moment. Do I wish I hadn’t done it? Yes. But I’m stuck with it. I have no intention of talking about this ever again.”

Annie wadded up her pillow and threw it at Myra, who in turn threw her pillow at Annie. “Night, friend.”

“Night, Annie.”

Chapter 14

Jack stood back to look at his and Harry’s decorating handiwork. “Done in the nick of time,” he said, shaking his hands in the air. “What do you think, Harry?”

“What I think is I hate you, Jack. When you said pink, I thought you meant pink like a peony. That’s a flower, Jack. My people love peonies. The color is delicate, almost white. This,” he said, shaking his fist, “is fucking PINK! Men do not have pink bathrooms. And men do not have pink bedspreads with flowers all over them.”

Jack backed up a step. “And your point is?”

“When you aren’t looking, I’m going to kill you. How can I live with this?”

“We did it for Yoko. Don’t lose sight of that, Harry. Stop being so selfish. At best Yoko is only going to be visiting short-term. Very short-term. We did it to make her happy. We did it so she could see your creative, sensitive side. She’s absolutely going to melt when she sees all the trouble you went to. I guarantee it!” Jack said, his voice sounding a little more brave.

“And if she laughs and mocks me?”

Jack danced away. “You are so damn negative, Harry. How do you live with yourself? Just look at everything. It’s pretty. Women love pretty. Those rose-scented candles are the topping on the cake. I hope you remember to light them. You need to be suave, Harry.”

“Eat shit, Jack.”

Jack danced even farther away. He dusted his hands together dramatically. “Well, my work here is done. Yoko should be arriving any minute now. That means Nikki is probably already at my house. I really have to go now. I hope you appreciate all the help I’ve been to you. You know, I could have just left you to your own devices. What that means is Yoko would have said she wanted to go to the Hay-Adams. I saved you money. A thank-you would be nice.”