March 22

Greg’s new building was going up really fast. They already started work on the inside. In contrast, Bobbie’s motel work had stopped as her whole crew was at the new building until she got her next infusion of money, March 30.

She texted James and asked him what was new and did he want to come to Citadel City with her on Friday and to call her.

Her phone rang a few minutes later. It was James he said they were fine, they were talking to Lorne about renovating the kitchen in their apartment and Lorne had some great ideas. Then he asked. “Why do you want us to go to the city?”

“The only thing left there, is my safety deposit box that has all my inherited jewellery and I want you to help me go though it and decide what to do with it all.”

“Well that is really right up my alley. I’ll pick you up Friday at 10:00 and we can get to Citadel City by noon, have lunch, get to the bank and get home by dark.”

“Or, we could stay the night at Trixie’s old apartment and go out on the town Friday night then go home in the morning. Trixie even has a safe where we can keep the jewellery.”

“Twist my arm. I think we’re starting the demo on the apartment, so we have to be out and Jarrod wants to stay at his mother’s so this is a good excuse. I’m not spending extra money for accommodation so that’s a bonus.”

Bobbie replied. “I don’t want to piss of Jarrod but I hear ya, it’s rough sticking to a budget.”

Bobby was ready the next morning. She saw him in the parking lot and waved out her window. She came down the stairs with a backpack two coffees and a bag of her muffins. She put the coffee on the roof, tossed the muffins at him, pulled her purse out of the pack and put it in the back seat. She remembered the coffee and got in, handing him one.

“That was quite the party you had last week.”

Bobby laughed and said “Ya, we got some great pictures for the website. Quinn is photo shopping everyone to look like fun loving but sober, beautiful people, enjoying elegant cocktails.”

“So I have to ask, who did you end up going home with? When we left, it was like all the single guys there were trying to hit on you.”

Bobby laughed and said. “You’ve got it all wrong James. All those guys didn’t want to actually hook up with me, they just didn’t want anyone else to hook up with me either. If I stay in Crow Harbour I am never going to get a date!”

James looked concerned. “You’re not thinking of moving back here are you?”

Bobby said “No, I don’t really feel ready to date yet anyway. When I do maybe those guys will be ready to let me go.”

Jamie just shook his head and said, “You Het people are so weird and Johnny’s never letting you go. He was in Ireland back when you married Alex, that’s how you got away with that. I’d bet money on his wedding falling though. He’ll never get married now that you’re back home.”

They went to Trixie’s place first and parked in the parking garage. Bobby had the parking card and put it in the window. They got into the apartment and Bobby texted Trixie saying they were there and everything looked good. The set out on foot for a nice looking restaurant between Trixie’s and the bank. They found a modern Italian place and they had a lovely focasia with oil and vinegar and some really nice ravioli. They skipped dessert and headed to the bank. They got into the safety deposit box and opened it.

They were silent for a few minutes then James said. “Wow Bobbie there is a lot here. I haven’t even seen most of this before and I knew Max’s collection quite well.”

“I know. Raisa (Alex’s Mom) told me this was all her family stuff; she wanted me to have it and thought I should have tried for a daughter. I already have all the jewellery I will ever need, James”

James had a magnifying lens to look at the stones. He said. “Most of these gems are really good. They are just screaming to be reset. A lot of what you have is pretty old school, I could make you some nice modern statement pieces he said thoughtfully.”

Bobby got several large velvet bags out of her purse. “Can we sort it into these bags” she asked?

“Sure we can put all the loose stones in this one, all the ones with broken settings in this one, all the super-nice ones in this one and all the regular nice ones in this one.”

Bobby said “I wish I could just sell one super-nice one, I could probably afford to finish my hotel rooms.”

And James said. “If I could sell regular nice one It would pay to renovate my apartment.”

Bobby looked at him wistfully. “Apparently there are tax implications when you sell one.”

Jamie nodded and said “Yup lots of tax implications but if you sell a piece for 100K you end up claiming 50k on your personal income because it is a capital gain You’d probably pay out 25K.”

Bobby put the bags of jewellery into her bag and said. “Wherever they are right now, my financial people just got a chill, paying tax like that is not reasonable for them. I might do it someday if I need to. We should pretend we are international jewel thieves.”

“We should high tail it back to Trixie’s, dump this stuff and find a nice place to have a beer.”

An hour later they were back on the street looking for a pub. They found one that was playing live music so they figured it was a good one to try. They sat at the edge of a big table. It wasn’t too crowded. Bobby looked at her watch and said. “It probably fills up when people get off work.” She was right. They finished one beer and their table filled up with people. They chatted a bit and listened to music and were having a great time. They ordered a big pile of nachos for supper and Bobby said she was going to regret eating so much. They laughed.

Around 8 they were feeling no pain and were thinking they should go home when the band left the stage and someone said “Welcome to open mic night.”

James gave Bobby a meaningful look. “We should stay for one more.”

When they asked for volunteers James put up his hand. “Me and my sister can play but we’d need to borrow the instruments.”

He ran up on stage and motioned to Bobbie to join him. She wasn’t really feeling it but she hadn’t seen James like that for a long time. James was convincing the band member to loan them the instruments and Bobby was handed a guitar and James picked up a banjo and whispered “Small Glories”

The band member and the MC sat down expectantly and Bobbie smiled and counted “1,2,3,4 ”

James started with the Banjo and she joined with the guitar and after a few bars the pace changed and she started to sing. James sang harmony and it sounded pretty good.

They finished and the crowd was silent Bobbie looked over at James thinking maybe they hadn’t sounded as good as it felt and the place erupted with cheers. Bobby turned and carefully put the guitar down and took a bow. James did the same and they left the stage together.

The guy from the band rushed over and said “That was amazing. I’ve never heard that song before. Do you play around here professionally, you look familiar.”

“It’s great, isn’t it? We are purely armatures and haven’t played in about 35 years.” said Bobbie

“Wow, you might know my Grampa he plays with us sometimes. The song really clicked though. We’re finished our show but you should come back to the place we’re staying and jam with us!”

James smiled “Well that sounds fun, we’ll help you pack up the gear.”

Bobby grabbed her bag and joined him outside. “Are we really doing this Jamie.”

“I know crazy but we haven’t partied like this in a long time Bobbie.”

“Way back when, jam sessions after the festivals we used to play at, were the best.”

The band’s taxi stopped and they climbed in. “Buckle up” said the driver.

They were on the road for about 10 minutes when Bobbie saw flashing lights and the taxi pulled over. “This taxi just got pulled over for speeding.” Bobbie whispered to Jamie

“I hope it was speeding; a couple of these guys look a little nervous.”

Bobbie saw another police car pull up and she gave Jamie a look. They were told to exit the vehicle. The cops were shining the light in their eyes and Bobbie heard. “Bobbie Orlov?”

It can’t be! Thought Bobbie. “Hi Harry.”

The light went of and Harry said. “Why don’t you come over here Ms. Orlov”

She dragged Jamie along with her.

“What are you doing in this cab, Bobbie?

“This is my brother Jamie and we’re in town for family business and we ran into some musician friends and we were heading out to visit them.”

“So you and the passengers are not connected with the driver?”

“No, nothing like that, sir.” Said Jamie.

“Well I’ll call you another cab and you can be on your way.”

“Harry, can you call two cabs, I think Jamie and I just want to go back to where we’re staying. We’ve had enough excitement”

“I can take you. You hop in the back of my car and I’ll call a cab for the others.”

“OK”

They got into the car and Jamie said. “Those band guys are going to think we’re bad ass jewel thieves seeing us in the back of the cop car.”

“Or they’ll think we’re narcs.”

Harry got in the car and asked where they were going.

“We’re staying at my friend Trixie’s, here’s the address.”