Page 4 of Lady Sings the Blues

2.

Mark

“This your dad’s place?” I take the last drag off my cigarette before throwin’ the butt down on the ground in the gutter, snuffing it out with the toe of my boot against the curb. Sucks to have to pretend I don’t know her, at least the her from five to seven years ago. But she put that ball in play, now I have to run with it.

Elise looks almost exactly as I remember her. Still just as beautiful. Her hair’s maybe a bit shorter, otherwise not much physically has changed. It was so hard to let her leave the bar earlier, but when Margo barged in very unwelcome, I really didn’t have a choice. As soon as Toby showed for his shift, I hauled ass into town to find her. Not too hard in a town the size of Thornbriar.

“Yeah. How’d you know?” she asks.

“Small town, remember? I live just a couple streets over.”

“Then you should remember your place, here. Or moreover, my place. You shouldn’t be seen talking to me. I don’t know how long you’ve lived here, but I’m not well liked in these parts.” From the look on her face, she can tell I don’t much care for her answer. But the truth is, she’s tellin’ the truth. What can I do?

“Couple streets over?” She flawlessly changes the direction of the conversation. “You live by the Hollister’s then?”

“Yep.”

“George and Margo?”

I nod.

“Dave and Lenore?”

I nod again.

“Anyone heard from Beau in recent years? I haven’t seen him since—do you know about Logan Hollister?”

I nod for a third time, lips pressed into a tight line. Don’t mean to, that’s just what happens when I hear Logan Hollister’s name.

“Then you should know… I’m…um…I’m the one he was dating when it happened. So you can see why you shouldn’t be talking to me.”

Shouldn’t be talking to her? I know more than she thinks. “The Hollisters don’t dictate who I talk to. And for the record, I know what happened. You are in no way responsible.”

“Well, I didn’t use to think so, but five years down the road, and they’re still blaming me. Maybe you can call a town hall meeting, enlighten them. Because from where I’m sitting, their version of the truth seems highly contradictory.”

“I’ll get right on that.” I tease.

Couple things about our conversation to focus on. First being, well, I’m not gonna lie, it stung that she didn’t remember me at the bar, and yeah, still stings a bit now. But thinking about it, she did me a favor. It’s better for the both of us she don’t remember just yet. Gives me time to prepare, and looking at her with the way my heart gets tight again, there’s a lot to prepare for. Plus, it ain’t like I haven’t changed completely since the last time we were together. Neck, arms, chest and back covered in tattoos. My hair, as in, I have it now. Don’t keep it shaved like I used to. My face, don’t keep that shaved either.

For the second, as I said, Elise Manning is as beautiful today as she was seven years ago when she first rolled into town. Only then, despite her parents’ divorce, she still had this sparkle in her eyes, which turned them from average blue to like, I don’t know, a gemstone or something. Just her face emanated this natural light, something which brought out a smile to folks old an’ young. If she stood next to you…shit. No straight man in this town, married, single or otherwise, stood a chance against her magnetism.

Now that light has been all but snuffed out. Sure, she’s here to bury her father, which can’t be easy. Her light, though, started fading out years ago. Everyone in town knew Logan was a train wreck waiting to happen. The kids just didn’t care because he was so cool. The adults ignored the situation because he was the golden boy. Or should I say, another golden boy. Another Hollister golden boy.

She hitched her cart to the wrong horse. And then she fell in love. Love makes us stupid. Don’t I know it? But Elise—she wouldn’t unhitch that horse, even when it turned rabid and needed to be put down.

Toward the end of their relationship, I’m not sure if she had any love left for him, but if she did, it was residual. Loved him out of habit, but she wasn’t in love. By the time she made her break, Logan Hollister wasn’t a train wreck waitin’ to happen, his train was in the process of wreckin’.

What I do know, she never did what they accused her of. I knew it then, know it now. So for her to think she shoulders any responsibility—I just wanna beat the shit out of Logan Hollister. Jackass didn’t know how good he had it.

“Come on.” I hold my hand out to help her up off the curb. “You can’t stay here all day. Let’s get some lunch, then I’ll take you back to the bar. Show you why I call itLady Sings the Blues.”

“You don’t have to be so nice to me, Mark. It will come back to bite you.”

I don’t say anything back. She’s right again. It will come back on me. But this girl needs a friend to get through the next week, and I finally have my shot with Elise. I’m not blowing it this time because gossip mongers can’t keep their noses out of other people’s business.

Looked everywhere to try and reconnect with this woman. A social media ghost. Short of hiring a private detective, which woulda just been creepy, she didn’t exist anywhere. I mean, I knew she had to live somewhere, work somewhere. Worked up the courage to ask her pops once.Elise, you’d probably be surprised to learn your dad ripped me a new one.Doc Manning wasn’t known for using the words flying out of his mouth at me that day. No one from Thornbriar could wanna know her whereabouts because say, they missed her laugh or her smile. Or her kindness toward just about everyone she met until Logan did what he done.

I guess Doc couldn’t have known how much I missed those things, because she didn’t know. I didn’t have the guts to tell her when I should’ve. No point in it, she had Logan from the beginning. And then once she didn’t have Logan, I don’t suspect she much trusted any of us from around here.

---