“She just wants attention,” Bonnie said quietly. “My goodness, you are beautiful. Look at those feathers. You’re like a flying rain-bow.”
“Senor Dave’s regular! Squawk.”
Bonnie giggled and now David felt his cheeks heat. “That’s just obnoxious. Go away, bird.”
“Stop it,” Bonnie ordered, stretching up higher and managing to stroke a finger down Duchess’s chest. “You aren’t a duchess, are you? You’re a queen.”
“Queen Duchess! Pretty bird Queen. Four, three, two, one, pulse, pulse, pulse.”
“Great. A workout with our lunch.”
David offered Flora a mouthed apology when she returned with their drinks and the guacamole. Flora merely shook her head and laughed, her knee-length blue skirt bustling around her legs as she disappeared back into the cantina.
“You going to wash your hands after that?” David asked when Bonnie took her seat again.
“I guess I should.” Bonnie winced. “Be back in a second.” She darted off to the bathroom.
“Duchess Queen! Squawk!”
A flap of wings and a burst of air later and the parrot landed on the back of Bonnie’s vacant chair.
“Don’t even think about it, bird.” Bonnie was absolutely right. Duchess was stunning. The majority of her body was covered in bright green feathers, but around her head, smatterings of yellow and red and blue accented her enormous eyes and beautifully curved beak. And those eyes were as dark as the deepest ocean.
“Guaca-mooleeeee!”
David sighed. Clearly Duchess had an agenda, if not a self-destructive one.
“Sorry, Duchess. No can do.”
He tapped open his phone and scanned through the photos Sienna had taken the last few hours. A few seagulls, water shots that indicated fish near the surface. Lots of seaweed and a few dolphins keeping pace with Blue Blood.
“Well, I guess I’ve been replaced.” Bonnie stopped beside the table and planted her hands on her hips. “Duchess, you’re in my seat.”
“Squawk! Don’t be a slacker. Pedal to the metal. Spin, spin, spin.” Duchess tilted her head from side to side, blinked widely at the two of them, then launched off the chair and disappeared into the trees.
“Typical,” David said. “Runs when she doesn’t get what she wants. You’re making friends everywhere we go, aren’t you?”
“Ha, ha. Steve at the phone store would disagree.” Bonnie retook her seat. She reached for a chip and dunked it nearly all the way into the guacamole. He waited, watching as she bit, for the explosion of happiness he knew was coming.
“Oh, wow.” The chip broke and she caught the part that dropped in her palm as she licked the side of her hand. “Oh, wow, this is amazing!” She finished the first and went in for a second. “Who knew that combination would work. And no cilantro. Be still my heart.”
“Not a fan?” He wasn’t sure what he was enjoying more, his own portion or watching Bonnie thoroughly like hers.
“Of cilantro? Yuck. Nuh-uh.” She ate, swallowed. “Tastes like soap to me. Do you like it?”
“I can take it or leave it.” He resumed eating. “It’s a genetic thing, did you know that?”
“I did.” Bonnie held up a chip. “Learned about it in my college biology class. We did testing to see who had a specific marker and how cilantro tasted to them.
“That’s just weird, isn’t it?” She squeezed and popped a wedge of lime into her beer bottle, then drank.
“One of those things.”
When Flora brought their plates, once again David entertained himself by watching Bonnie’s eyes go wider than the platters.
“There’s enough here for three people,” she gasped once Flora had gone. “You should have warned me.”
“You were too busy flirting with the bird,” he teased.
“What did you order?” She leaned over to examine his plate.
“Carnitas. Best I’ve ever had.”
“Hmm.” Bonnie didn’t look convinced.
“We’ve got some pretty amazing Mexican food back home.”
“I totally agree. This is better.”
“Small town versus big city, I suppose?” Bonnie challenged.
He shrugged. “Just like us. Not everything is better because it’s popular. Sometimes what’s hidden away is the best treasure to be found.”
Bonnie grinned. “I will say the tamales are amazing, but it takes a special touch to get carnitas just right.”
“Fine.” He pushed his plate over a bit. “Help yourself. Just don’t touch that corn. It’s mine.” He used his fork like a barrier, then refrained from saying “I told you so” when she sighed in culinary ecstasy. “Good thing I’m not one to say I told you so.”
“No,” she said, and laughed. “Good thing.”
Silence fell as they ate, which gave David time to think. Normally he preferred to make trips on his own; except when Rick was still alive. Then they went together. Talking about Rick with Bonnie earlier had brought up a whole lot of memories, memories that hurt, but also put a smile on his face.
“Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
Bonnie’s fork paused on its way to her mouth. She looked surprised at his inquiry.
“Sure.” She said.
“It’s about your father.”
Her gaze went from curious to guarded and she suddenly seemed very interested in the pattern on her ceramic plate. “What do you want to know?”
“From what I’ve observed, it seems like you two aren’t close.”
“We are… I mean… we,” she added with a tight smile. “We are kinda close. I’m was just closer to my grandmother. He is a good father, and he and my mother are so in love with each other. He’s always been very focused on his business… on royalty, on finding the next big deal, the next money-making merger. That sort of thing.”
“Yeah I noticed you always mention your grandmother, but not your mom.”
“Yeah, my mom and I aren’t close either” Bonnie had gone from shoveling food into her mouth to moving it almost absently around her plate. She sat back, lifted her bottle and drank. “I had nannies… a lot of them… until I was around twelve, then Grams took over.”
Bonnie examined how her beer glistened in the sun. “On the bright side, she was amazing with me. Took me on fabulous adventures. Vacations and excursions every summer. She didn’t want me to miss out on anything. When she got sick, she was so angry. Angry that she was running out of time. One night…” Bonnie cough-laughed, but David had witnessed enough grief that he recognized a broken heart. “A few months before she died, she woke me up at two in the morning and told me she’d booked two tickets to Paris. Just like that. We left the next afternoon. It was one of the best weeks of my life. Of hers, too, I hope.”