The Silver Thread (12 page)

“I need you to start that filet right now, and butterfly it!” came from the expediter back in the kitchen, even farther away.

Annika tried hard to ignore the excess noise, having practiced at home around her brother and James. Their thoughts weren’t complete open books, not all the time, anyway; she was only getting glimpses of what they had on their minds. But it was still staggering how much she was able to pick up on, both silent thoughts and spoken conversations.

Her nose gathered whiffs of the different wines and cocktails people were drinking, the scents of garlic butter cream sauce over sautéed sea scallops, and even the pungent aroma of blue cheese stuffed olives coming from the bar. They followed the hostess to their table in the back corner where three people were already seated. It was very private, and thus could not have been more perfect. Annika thought her head would have exploded if they had been seated anywhere else.

“Look who finally crawled out of the Bat Cave!” said a woman with teal dreadlocks and horn-rimmed glasses. A tan girl with a blunt black bob who had been talking to her turned around and her eyes opened wide. She leapt up and hugged Annika tight.

“Annika, you made it! I haven’t seen you in
forever
!” she scolded. “I guess you finally got over that case of mono.”

“Yeah, I’m feeling a lot better,” Annika assured her, and settled into the chair beside her after greeting the other two members of their party. “Thanks for asking, Patti.”

“Hey Jack, hey Jill, and happy Birthday, Patti Cake,” Charlie wished the girl with the black bob while he took a seat next to Jack. He noticed that Patti’s right hand was bandaged up in white gauze. “What happened this time?”

“Oh, Charlie…” she began with a sheepish grin and glanced down at her bandages. “You know what a klutz I am. One of the line cooks was showing me how to make my favorite entrée during my break today and I burned the crap out of myself. And of course it had to be my right hand, and the jerk manager on duty would only let me take two tables at a time. He said I couldn’t handle more, so I didn’t make any money today.”

“Aww, I’m sorry to hear that,” Charlie sympathized. “I hope it’s not too serious.”

“You’re such a sweetheart, Charlie,” she said, and gave him a wide grin. “It could have been a lot worse, but it still hurts like hell, so Jack ordered us a bottle of ‘special medicine’ tonight.” With her left hand, she picked up a glass of red wine and toasted the young man sitting between Jill and Charlie before taking a generous sip.

“So what do you think of Jack’s prescription?” Annika asked, looking at the bottle. “Was 2004 a good year for special medicine?”

“Abso-friggin’-lutely,” Patti sighed happily, sinking comfortably into her seat. “It’s commonly known on the wine list as a Malbec, and I highly recommend it. I don’t know why I drove my car, though, because at this rate I’ll probably need a ride home tonight.”

“I can like, drop you off on my way home, no prob,” Jill drawled. “But all my boarding gear’s in the back and I’m warning you right now that the passenger seat is majorly covered with dog hair.”

“Oh Jill, that would be awesome. You know I could care less about the dog hair,” she grinned. “In a few hours, I don’t think I’ll care about too much at all.”

“Damn, who are the hotties with James?” Jill asked Annika when he walked through the door with Talvi on one arm and Chivanni on the other. He must have been in heaven, because he looked like he was floating on a cloud. “Is he dating two at a time now?”

“Ha! He wishes he was,” Annika hooted as the trio approached their table. James reluctantly let go of his arm candy as he made the introductions.

“Okay, so everyone, this is Talvi and Chivanni. Boys, this is Patti, Jack, and Jill. Patti and Annika used to work together at the restaurant, and Jack and Jill work at the art gallery with me.”

“
Enchanté
, Patti Cake,” Talvi said, taking her left hand in his right before placing a kiss on it. He let it go and did the same to Jill, then shook Jack’s hand before fixing his attention back to Patti as he took the seat between Annika and Chivanni.

“Tell me, birthday girl, however did you manage to receive such a delightful name?”

“My last name is Kaeke, which is a type of Hawaiian drum,” she explained, rummaging through her purse as she tried to hide her blushing face from Talvi’s hypnotic gaze.

“It’s actually two drums that are made from coconut trees,” Charlie chimed in. “And when you play it, it’s supposed to be a kind of language, so that you can say whatever you want without using your voice.”

“How fascinating,” Talvi remarked, still eyeing Patti inquisitively as she reapplied her lip gloss. “I’ve always taken an interest in unusual names and their meanings, but I believe Miss Patti Cake is the bee’s knees, hands down.”

“Hell yeah, she’s the bee’s knees,” said Jill, giving Patti a side hug. “Are you like, her surprise birthday blind date since she can never find a guy taller than her to go out with, or are you here with Chivanni?”

Charlie tried not to scowl as James snickered under his breath. Annika just watched with intrigue to see how the conversation played out.

“I’m here with Chivanni,” he said, touching his fairy friend affectionately on the shoulder. “We’re staying at James’s house with Annika and Charlie.”

“Okay, well that settles that,” Jill said, shaking her teal dreads with a disappointed grin.

“I love your sweater, Chivanni,” Patti said. “That shade of green looks so nice with your hair.”

Chivanni beamed with happiness. One thing about fairies, though, is that when they’re exceptionally happy, their wings tend to flutter and beat merrily, and Chivanni almost knocked a tray out of a waitresses’ hand with his orange wings.

“Holy shit!” exclaimed Jack. “Are those wings? They look so real!”

“Of course they’re real wings!” he said defensively. “I’m a fairy, and all fairies have—” Talvi clamped his hand over Chivanni’s mouth and bent down to whisper in his ear as Jack, Jill, and Patti looked on curiously.

“Chivanni just came out of the closet today,” James explained, watching what appeared to be a lovers’ quarrel between the fairy and the elf. “He’s been a little touchy.”

“Aww, that’s understandable,” Patti said, giving a supportive smile as Talvi ended their private chat. “Congratulations on coming out, Chivanni. It gets better.”

“His wings are actually a movie prop,” Annika added, hoping desperately that her friends were buying the story. “They look neat though, don’t they?”

“Oh, okay. I get it now,” Jack said with a snort, and took a sip of his wine. “He’s a fairy, so of course he needs to have real wings.

“I don’t understand why they’re so amusing to you,” Chivanni said with a little frown as he looked away from Talvi. “Every fairy I know has them, besides James.” There were a few more guffaws and sniggles from Jack and Charlie.

“Chivanni, I love that you’re being so literal about being a fairy. I think your wings are totally rad,” Jill said, adjusting her horn-rimmed glasses. “Can you make them flutter again?”

“He better not,” Talvi said sternly, looking at his annoyed friend, “or we’ll have to leave early and miss out on all the dancing to come after dinner. If there is anything Chivanni enjoys more than cooking, it’s dancing.”

“Oh, then you better behave yourself,” James said, trying not to laugh at the pouting fairy on his left. “We’re going to a club later that’s impossible to get into.”

“If it’s impossible to get into, how are we going to get in?” Chivanni asked, crossing his slender arms as he slunk down in his chair.

“I’m going to use my fairy magic, since you can’t use yours,” James announced. Chivanni scowled even more, but the warning look from Talvi told him he was walking on thin ice.

“What kind of fairy magic can you even do?” he asked James, wrinkling his freckled little nose in displeasure.

“I may not have wings, but I know one of the bartenders at the club, and I got him to put us on the VIP list for tonight. Cheer up, you sourpuss. Don’t be so sensitive.”

“Weren’t you the one telling him to be himself earlier?” Talvi reminded James. “He’s very sensitive and delicate. That is who he is. Just give him some time, and he’ll cheer up when he’s ready.” He reached over to tap the fairy lightly on his nose. “Although it is a shame how darling you look when you pout, Chivanni. I almost wish you were cross more often.”

The red-haired boy tried his best to sneer, but he failed miserably, rolling his eyes as a renegade grin danced over his lips.

“So, hey Talvi,” Jill began, leaning in on the table a little closer to him. “Are your ears, like, real?”

“Well they’re not imaginary,” he said with a wink.

“Can I touch them?” she blurted out. Talvi looked a little surprised, but Jill was already reaching over his empty bread plate for his left ear.

“If you flick them, you’ll regret it,” he warned playfully, leaning a little closer. She traced his ear with her finger, examining it carefully before rubbing it between her fingers. Talvi felt a shiver run up his spine as he closed his eyes in pleasure.

“There’s no way these are fake,” she realized, moving to caress his other ear. “And it can’t be plastic surgery ‘cause I don’t see any scars. That is so rockin’, man!”

“I think you just found out what makes him tick,” James said, seeing the response in Talvi’s body language. He watched Talvi gently take Jill’s hands away from his head, and turn to her with flushed cheeks and bedroom eyes. He looked slightly inebriated.

“You’ll make my wife insanely jealous if you keep that up,” he told her, running his hand seductively through his hair.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jill said with a sheepish grin. Then the grin was replaced with a puzzled expression. “Wait a minute…so you’re not…does that mean…?”

“He’s my husband!” cried Annika with a laugh, before turning to Talvi. They smiled at each other and held up their left hands simultaneously, revealing their matching bands.

“No way! You’re
married
?” Jill exclaimed, giving Annika a dirty look as she sat back down, like she’d been tricked.

“Surprise!” Annika laughed. Luckily, she was able to steer questions about the wedding away from being answered at any length, and kept Jill and Patti preoccupied with the story of how Talvi and his brother created their rings with Chivanni’s help.

“We won’t be able to make any birthday toasts if the rest of you guys don’t decide what the hell you’re drinking,” said Jack as their server came over for their drink order. Annika excused herself to the bar, claiming that the drink she had in mind would be too complex to explain to anyone but the bartender.

When she returned, she tried her best to join in the discussion as it drifted from Jack’s day at the art gallery, to Jill’s latest adventure snowboarding, and Charlie’s upcoming soccer game. Annika faded in and out of the conversation as she sipped on her drink, getting tangled in her private thoughts. She found herself back in the jam aisle of the grocery store with Talvi, hearing him tell her how twins ran in his family. She then went back in time to almost twenty-four hours ago, right before her husband had arrived at her door, where James had reminded her that her portion of the electric bill was about three months late. That in turn had reminded her that it wasn’t the only monthly event in Annika’s life that was about three months late. Motherhood hadn’t been a concept she was interested in, but now she found herself considering it a possible reality. There weren’t any other conditions she could think of that covered every symptom she had; nausea, cravings, and the heightened sense of smell. When she saw the care Talvi took to help Chivanni read the menu, since the fairy couldn’t read it for himself, she had to wonder; would he really be such a horrible father?

Drinks arrived, toasts were made, and when the entrees came to the table, the delectable smells made Annika’s mouth water. She was about halfway through her seared pheasant with blueberry sauce when she excused herself for a second time that evening. And Talvi knew that ladies tended to spend a bit more time freshening up than fellows did, but Annika had been gone long enough that her dinner was starting to get cold.

“Jill,” he asked after a while, “would you be so kind as to check on my lovely wife? I fear she may have gotten lost.” Jill wasted no time heading to the bathroom, and was gone for almost as long as Annika had been absent. When she finally returned, carrying a take-out box, she looked sympathetic as she sat in Annika’s empty chair beside Talvi.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but she’s not feeling too good,” Jill explained as she emptied Annika’s remaining dinner into the box. “You’ll need to take her home.”

“Is she sick?” asked Charlie, sharing a glance with James, like this wasn’t anything new to him.

“Yeah, she’s praying to the porcelain god in the ladies room,” Jill explained, and closed the take-out container. “There’s no way she’s going out dancing with us later.”

“I swear, she must have an ulcer,” James said, looking from Charlie to Talvi. “She needs to go to the damn doctor already.”

“How long has this been going on?” asked Talvi as he folded up his napkin and set it beside his plate.

“Ever since she got back,” said Charlie, rolling his eyes. “Do you want me to call you a cab? Because James has a thing about his leather seats. He’ll have a cow if she pukes in his car. ”

“Oh, I love cows,” said Chivanni, clapping his little hands. “Especially tiny calves! They’re
so
adorable. Can we have a little spotted cow at your house?”

“I don’t think he meant that literally,” said Jack, and Chivanni seemed very let down by this actualization. He really did adore little spotted cows.

“Maybe you can come to the dairy farm where I work when the calves are born,” Charlie said, seeing how upset the winged fairy was. “We have some spotted cows that are almost due.” This got Chivanni’s wings fluttering again, though Talvi seemed not to care as much this time.

“Here, take my car,” Patti said, and handed Talvi a set of keys. “I’m getting a ride with Jill tonight, and my car already looks like someone threw up on it. It’s the hooptie parked in a meter stall about halfway down the block.”