Page 12 of Starting Our Chance

6 Loretta

The coffee at churchwas garbage. I learned last Sunday that what I thought was palatable as a child was torture to my spoiled adult taste buds. The little old ladies liked their water warm with just a tad of flavor. Thankfully, the gas station was down the street and open twenty-four seven.

I was putting the plastic lid on the styrofoam cup of relatively decent java when I heard the doorbell chime. Two voices wafted toward me. I sneaked a look and saw two pregnant ladies enter, arguing about caffeine. Felicity’s hands were in the air and she was rattling off in a beautiful foreign language, Sammy beside her.

“Is that Italian?” I asked, poking my head around the wire racks of prepackaged pastries. “It’s so beautiful!”

Felicity caught sight of me and flashed a brilliant smile. “Loretta!” She rolled my ‘r’ and made my middle vowel long—I sounded exotic on that sharp tongue of hers. “How are you, Darling?”

“You feel proud of yourself?” Sammy’s bitchy remark sent tendrils of dread into my stomach. I knew she was talking about Duke’s black eye.

She had seen Duke with a black eye before. Hell, we had given the boys some of their first back in the day. But why she was taking his side now—as if I were the enemy when it had been his choice to defend me—I couldn’t fathom. Unless he was worse for wear after that fight? The image of Duke in pain wrenched at my gut. He can handle himself. Duke is fine. I took three breaths and ordered myself to be patient and rise above the situation before responding, “I’m in a hurry, but otherwise, I’m great, Felicity.”

However, Samantha Bowers would not be ignored. “You and Dylan an item now? After Duke took that ass-kicking for you?”

“No!” I almost dropped the coffee. Setting it down on the counter, I put my hands on my hips and glared at the blonde woman who I’d thought was once my friend. “I told him off last night after he snorted coke at the table and tried to get fresh with me.” I gestured to the road, before continuing, “It wasn’t until Duke improved Dylan’s hearing that I laid it out plain for him. And so we’re all clear, I’ll lay it out for you, too: I’m back here to have a career change because things didn’t work out like I planned up north. I did not come back here to start high school all over again, let alone go backward in any way shape or form.”

“Well, don’t go messing with people’s feelings if you don’t have the balls to follow through with it. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Samantha,” Felicity hissed.

What does that mean?I bit my tongue. “I’m not messing with anyone.” I glared at her. “But it seems that I am the only one who went into the real world outside this podunk town and learned anything.”

Then I did it. I waved my hand up and down to gesture that Sammy was part of this ignorant, backward town. My logical side knew that she was a freaking psychiatrist, and that took learning and hard work. But I wasn’t in a good mood. And insulting her made me feel better.

I took my coffee, threw some cash down on the countertop and considered walking off without my change. Except I was broke and shouldn’t be spending ten dollars on a ninety-nine cent cup of joe. While I waited, I refused to meet Sammy’s death stare. She had no witty comeback and I escaped without a further attack. However, as I had noticed last week, Sammy and her husband came to my church. So, it was possible that I might catch another earful when her brain caught up with her mouth and her anger let her think.

Purposely ignoring Sammy, I called out, “Felicity, will I see you at Bible Study?”

“Oh, God, no.” Felicity shook her head. “I’m merely grabbing some coffee before I slip over to Saint Dominic’s for Mass. I will have to go to confession to repent for the sin of deceiving my husband. But really—who hides the coffee machine from the pregnant lady?”

I laughed. “Sounds like Marcus should go to confession, too.”

“He wrote your name.” Sammy’s voice was low, barely audible.

I was through the door, but her comment made me turn, pausing on the threshold. “What did you say, Samantha?”

“Dylan,” Samantha spat at me. “He fucking spray painted your name on the wall of the high-school with hearts and flowers. It made the front page, because in this here podunk town, vandalism mixed with juicy debauchery is always interesting to us backward locals.”

I felt the color drain from my face. I rushed back into the gas station, spilling the coffee on my Marc Jacobs dress. It was dry clean only, but my mind barely registered the stain. “The paper?” I gasped. The cashier, who was smirking, was already handing me the thick Sunday bundle where my name was in color on the front page. My stomach dropped. Oh, no, they’ll see this!

Felicity was at my side, holding my elbow. “It’s not that bad.” She flicked a look at Sammy, telling her not to start with me.

Gently shaking Felicity off, I dropped the paper back to the counter and left. What the kind foreign lady didn’t understand was that others were watching me, and that right before I left New York, I had received a note under my door. It had been the morning of my move.

‘Run away, but know that we are watching you. You are still the best link to our money.’

How I stumbled from the gas station to the church, I didn’t remember. I had thought that I was doing a good job of laying low and starting over back here—free from the drama that had caused me to run. Given I wasn’t an official suspect, and so long as my hands remained clean, I was free and clear from the law.

But they will always be watching.

That thought followed me through the rest of my day. Going through the motions, I met my mama and went to Bible Study. However, instead of listening to the worship leader, I wracked my brains to find a way around the situation. I had been used by some criminals to steal from my boss. And because of my quick thinking after the lucky discovery that my pass key was gone, I had created an airtight, legal alibi and saved myself from being a suspect. However, my old boss still thought I was behind the theft. So, I had run. And now my name was in the paper—and on a freaking wall of the high school. It was a definite way to draw unwanted attention.

The last thing I wanted to do was sit in a roomful of people at Bible Study. But if I left, Mama would pester me about it until I spilled every last detail.

I reminded myself that even though my messed up ex had drawn unwanted attention, it didn’t give the folks up north any reason to pay me a visit. I told myself that it wasn’t as bad as I initially thought, that I didn’t need to run again. Besides, I was broke. I had to stay here . . . but for how long?

The answer to that question walked in the door as Nikki, nodding to some folks, me included, slipped into a seat behind me. I reminded myself that I could make it in this town. If Nikki could do it, and Sammy could do it, and Felicity could run her empire from this location as a remote office, then I sure as hell could, too. I took a good hard look at Nikki, trying to decide if I was up for the challenge.

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