Mackie's Men by Lynn Ray Lewis

must have gotten the wrong impression when Mr. Klinger called earlier. I haven’t eaten dinner, being under the assumption that food would be on the schedule. So if you don’t mind, we can reschedule this meeting for another time. My stomach thinks my throat’s been slit, and it is making me aware that I haven’t eaten since early this morning. Call me tomorrow and I will try to fit you in my schedule for a meeting.” She stood and walked toward the door. So much for a romantic evening, this was a big waste of time.
    The old saying “for a big man, he sure moves fast” filtered through her mind, as Darryl Reynolds hand hit the doorknob before she had it in her outstretched hand. She turned her head and waited for his explanation before she did something physical to him that she might regret later.
    “Settle down there, Liam is talking to his grandmother. Isabella Kennedy never stops talking until she is ready, and Liam loves the old girl so he let’s her compromise his time. You can understand that, can’t you?”
    She turned around and folded her arms over her chest and stared at Darryl for a moment, then turned her gaze toward Liam. His face was almost comical as he rolled his eyes and listened to the person on the other end of the airwaves. He was nodding his head and she almost burst into laughter as he made a rolling gesture with his empty hand, another eye roll and she had to put her hand over her mouth as she choked on her laughter.
    Darryl met her eyes and nodded his head. “She speaks English as well as one born to it, but insists on speaking in French because she has decided it is the only civilized language left in the modern world.” He nodded his head toward Liam who was pacing back and forth, now holding the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. “The interesting part is that Liam doesn’t speak French other than a few phrases that he learned in high school, and few of those phrases are something you would want to say to a ninety-four-year-old grandmother. Even if she was a former burlesque showgirl back in the late nineteen thirties and early forties.”
    Mackie couldn’t stop the giggles, her eyes were tearing up from the pressure being held back from shouting in laughter. She had to look away from the pacing man, and she held her hand up to stop Darryl from continuing his explanation. He was still watching Liam and grinning.
    She couldn’t speak, if she did open her mouth words would have to wait until she was finished laughing. His next comments finished her off, there was no stopping her from laughing out loud.
    “Every time she’s around, John and I have to keep our backs to the wall. She has a habit of pinching our asses. One time she asked me if I was attracted to older women, and I made the mistake of saying I had met some very attractive ladies of a certain age.” He turned his head to watch her laugh and continued, “You can laugh, the old gal scares me. Don’t even get me started about her ninetieth birthday celebration. All I will say is that I don’t care how rude it might be, I won’t sit next to her again. You will have to ask John how it felt to have her lay her hand on his thigh during dinner and squeezing it. He dropped his glass of wine, and she insisted on helping him by dabbing at his crotch with her napkin. I had to get up and leave the room when she invited him to her room at the hotel to change out of his wet pants.”
    Mackie was laughing out loud and the more he talked the harder and longer she laughed. Her eye make-up was probably leaving mascara trails down her cheeks but she couldn’t do anything about it. The old woman sounded like a hoot, and she would give a week’s paycheck to see the three men having to deal with a ninety-year-old wild child. She could only say “I, you, oh.” Not very coherent at all, but that was the extent of her attempt at conversation.
    The shushing sound from across the room just added fuel to the fire. She bent down to pick