Tasting Fear by Shannon McKenna

before I can talk to him about the necklaces? Hell yes.”
    Nell reclasped her pendant around her neck, her dark eyes worried. “I’ve never seen you this way, Nance. You’d say you were fine even if you were bleeding to death. I about dropped my teeth when you asked to come over here tonight. Not that you aren’t more than welcome. I’m scared, too, and damn glad to have you.”
    Nancy fidgeted. “Oh, that’s just because I swore a vow,” she blurted. “I would’ve been perfectly fine at home.”
    “Vow?” Vivi straightened up, her eyes wide. “What vow? To whom?”
    “To Liam.” Nancy picked at the fabric of her jeans, regretting her incautious words. “The carpenter who was going to do the remodel.”
    Nell and Vivi exchanged significant looks. “He made you swear not to stay alone?” Nell asked. “This is the carpenter who flash memorized Lucia’s letter? My. He certainly is taking a personal interest, isn’t he?”
    If they only knew. “I guess you could say that,” Nancy said.
    “Tell us about this carpenter,” Nell prompted. “I’m picturing a potbellied guy with a bushy beard and a red nose and twinkling eyes. Like a young Santa. Jeans slipping down over a big, hairy ass. Am I close?”
    “Um, no,” Nancy admitted, with a snort. “Light-years.”
    Her sisters exchanged knowing smirks this time. “So?” Vivi asked. “No potbelly, then? No big, hairy ass?”
    “No,” Nancy hedged. “Lean belly. I can’t speak for the hairiness of his ass, but shapewise, it was, well, proportional, let’s just say.”
    “Proportional, hmm?” Vivi purred. “Height?”
    “Maybe six two,” Nancy admitted.
    “Six two,” Nell said dreamily. “Eye color? Blue, right?”
    “Wrong. Very pale green. Like a dollar bill.”
    Nell and Vivi grinned and gave each other a high five. “She remembers his eye color!” Vivi crowed. “It’s serious!”
    “Oh, shut up,” Nancy muttered.
    “Let’s celebrate.” Nell popped open another beer. “At least the guy isn’t a musician. That’s a step up, at least.”
    “Actually, he invited me to a seisiun in Queens tomorrow night, so he’s some sort of musician. Although I have no clue at what level, or even what instrument.”
    “Invited you? To a seisiun?” Nell’s voice rose to a squeak.
    Nancy squirmed. “Not a date. It’s just a seisiun. We’re talking a couple of pints in a grotty Irish bar, and Irish tunes until our eyes cross. A date is a bigger deal. Dinner, drinks, dancing, a show.”
    “Yeah, like you’re such an expert,” Vivi said. “What bar?”
    Nancy stared from one to the other. “Oh, no. Don’t you dare.”
    “What bar?” both sisters demanded in unison.
    “I’m not telling. Forget it.”
    “Fine,” Vivi said. “We’ll go through other channels. I’ll call…Let’s see…Eugene. We’ll tell him you have a hot date in Queens tomorrow night, and ask him for a list of the seisiuns tomorrow in Queens, and Nell and I will take my van and make the rounds until we get lucky.”
    “Oh, God, Vivi,” Nancy started to protest. “Don’t.”
    “And then we will roast you, babe. We will have no mercy. None.”
    Nancy closed her eyes, her face hot. “Don’t tell Eugene,” she begged. “He’s a terrible gossip. I’ll never hear the end of it.”
    “So give it up,” Vivi said, merciless.
    Nancy gritted her teeth. “It’s at Malloy’s,” she admitted. “Ten to two. I haven’t decided yet whether or not I’m going.”
    “Oh?” Vivi’s eyes were innocently wide. “Six two, green eyes, perfectly proportional ass? You are so going to that seisiun.”
    “Whether or not, it’s my business,” Nancy bitched. “We’ll see how you like it when I hunt you down on a date to embarrass you!”
    Nell looked pained. “Like it’s going to happen in this century.”
    Something in Nell’s voice made Vivi and Nancy give their sister a careful second look. Vivi hoisted herself up onto her elbow. “Why shouldn’t it?”