Blood Diamonds of the Lost Bazaar by Rickey Pittman

Author:Rickey Pittman [Pittman, Rickey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller; obsession; diamonds; Sierra Leone; boy soldiers; music; musician; art; paintings;
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2022-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

A bad husband is better than an empty bed.

—Krio Proverb

The wake of a passing barge rocked the houseboat. The movement woke Caitlin from her daydreams and mental flight into her past with Hunter, and she laid down the newspaper. She watched as the tug and its two barges chugged slowly past. Two men sat idly on the tow. One was smoking and staring idly at the water. The other noticed Caitlin sunning in her shorts and bikini top on the houseboat and whistled and gyrated his lower body.

“Dream on, deckhand,” she called out. As the barge chugged by, she hummed Johnny O’Neal’s song, “Snaggin’ on the Ouachita.” She knew it to be one of Hunter’s favorite songs, and in her mind, she could hear him singing it again. When the barge had faded into the distance, she picked up her cell phone and dialed Melissa’s number.

“Hey,” Caitlin said. “It’s Caitlin. I’ve been getting some sun and reading the paper. You’ll never guess who’s playing at the Back Door Lounge tonight.”

“Who?” Melissa asked.

“Hunter. I’m going to hear him and give him the African instrument I bought. Want to go with me?”

“Oh, your old boyfriend. I thought you had sworn off the Hunter addiction.”

“I know, I know. And I treated him so badly that he probably won’t even speak to me, but it still would be good to see him again, even if I have to admire him from a distance.”

“Oh, don’t worry, you love-sick fool. I bet money he’ll speak to you. You’re probably the only reason he came back to Monroe. And it’s more than just you wanting to see him—I think you still care for him, in spite of all your talk about this Von guy. Did you know that after I signed the lease, all you talked about was your breakup with Hunter? And then when you came back from Africa, you asked if I had seen him? I don’t think there is a cure for what you’ve got. What will you tell Von when he comes? Weren’t you like thinking of getting serious with him?”

“I was, but now, I don’t know. He’s my boss and I probably shouldn’t be dating him anyway. Isn’t there a law against that? I’ll probably have to handle the Von situation by ear. He’s so damn good-looking that I may change my mind once I see him. I really think I’m over Hunter, Melissa. Maybe I need some sense of closure.”

“Bullshit. Would you stop with the love clichés already? You’re not over him, and I’d bet money that he’s not over you. Some part of you will always love him. And I’m not cutting you down for feeling anything. I know what it’s like to be love-sick with no known cure available.”

“Well, do you want to go?” Caitlin asked.

“Sure, we’ll go, if I can snap out of my dreamworld we writers like to slip into. I’d like to meet him because I do like his music. Remember his CD you gave me? I play it all the time.

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