Page 5 of Lady Sings the Blues

Placing her hand in mine, I tug a bit too hard causing her to stumble into my arms. I couldn’t have planned that any better if I’d tried. Her being so close, looking down into those eyes, breathing in her scent. Sometimes a man can’t help the physical reaction to having a beautiful woman in his arms. If she notices, she’s kind enough not to draw attention to it.

“We can walk from here. It’s a nice enough day.” As we start to move, I casually adjust myself. “You still like Whippy Dip?”

She stops walking to stare at me. “How do you know I liked the Whippy Dip?”

Well… I reach in my pocket and pull out my pack of Kentucky’s Choice, pull another one from the pack, put it up between my lips, cup my hands around the tip and light the end, taking a long drag and exhalin’ before I calmly answer. “It’s Thornbriar. Everyone likes the Whippy Dip. But you haven’t been here in a while. So your tastes might’ve changed.”

She seems to accept this answer and nods as I take another lengthy drag from my cigarette. Shit, that was close. How could I be so stupid to let my guard down this soon? She’ll have to remember me eventually. But not now. Not ‘til she knows how I feel, how I’ve always felt.

We get looks from everyone we pass on the way. Hers are for having the nerve to show up back here after all these years. Mine for betraying the town. And the Hollisters. Because heaven forbid someone ruffle those precious Hollister feathers. Don’t care if she’s the town pariah. I’m a shit-ton bigger than I was back in the day, and I could take on just about anyone then. That’s another change. Back when she knew me, I was streamlined muscle. Running back muscle. Started gaining when I took over the bar. Put on twenty-five pounds of bulk because drunks can be unpredictable, and I couldn’t afford to hire enough bouncers just starting out. And I needed a certain number of bouncers to keep my liquor license. Let’s face it, a bar ain’t much good without a liquor license.

Still like the girl she always was, Elise don’t let those looks stop her from walking up to the window of the Whippy Dip to order. I knew that girl was still in there, despite how defeated the woman on the outside appears.

We order two Everything Burgers and a large plate of chili cheese fries to share. With so much of our worlds in flux since we were teens, it’s nice to see her still get excited over chili cheese fries and an Everything Burger. Of course, even that’s changed some. Instead of ordering her usual drink, she tries to order an unsweetened iced tea. Well, I don’t think so.

“Vanilla Coke.” I order over top of her. Now she really glares at me. Smooth move, again. Getting too excited. Showing my hand too early. “What?” I try to play it off. Because for a little thing, she kind of looks scary when she’s pissed off. And right now with me ordering her old favorite, she looks pissed right the hell off. “This is the Whippy Dip. Everyone drinks Vanilla Cokes. Make it two,” I tell the girl taking our order, even though I hadn’t planned on drinking one. My stupid mouth getting in the way again.

I was actually one of the few who didn’t like Vanilla Coke. Don’t matter they use the real vanilla syrup and mix them on the spot. But surely she’d remember the guy who didn’t like the vanilla.And Elise, it’s far too soon for you to remember.

We move to sit at one of the outdoor picnic tables. She sits across from me so we can talk while we eat. I watch her take a big bite of drippy burger.

She chews on it slowly, clearly lost in thought. “I used to spend a lot of time here with Logan and Beau Hollister. I mean, I guess, everybody. But that first year, Logan and Beau were my world. The way they took me in. I needed them. Especially after my parents’ divorce, which had gotten particularly nasty. Then I met those guys and decided to stay here with my dad. She didn’t take it so well. I’m not sure mom even really wanted me. I think she more just didn’t want my dad to have me.” She stops speaking to shake her head as if trying to shake away the unpleasant memory.

“Sorry.” Elise bites the tip of a fry. As she chews, she double-dips the end back in the cheese sauce. “That was a little heavy for lunch at the Whippy Dip conversation.”

“I think you get a pass. It ain’t like bein’ here’s easy for you.”

“No. I mean it’s hard knowing I don’t get to see my dad. That’s a regret I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life. But this place holds a lot of good memories for me, too. Your bar, Logan used to sneak us in through the backdoor. Then he’d steal whatever bottle was closest to us behind the counter. He and I and few friends would party in the banquet room. Beau did too, until he went off to college. It wasn’t quite the same once he left. Still, this one time we were so drunk, and it wasn’t snowing, but icing out. We wouldn’t have made it home. I had the brilliant idea to call Beau to rescue us.” She giggles.

God I love hearing her laugh of any sort. Her giggle, well that shoots straight to my heart. I got the feeling she don’t do it near enough anymore. Seems like everything made her giggle back in the day. Now with that little burst of sound, her guards fall. Her guards fall letting me see that I’m right in deciding to pursue this with her. Knowing that happy girl is still inside just confirms it’s me who’s supposed to help her let go, to bring back that happy all the time. The woman, she’s still too important to me. Five years since I’ve been in the same room with her, and my heart gets that familiar squeeze. My mind continues to fill withmyhappy, pushing all the other shit out. I wasn’t man enough to fight for her then. Damn Hollisters. But I sure as hell am man enough now.

I want to hear the rest of her story. “Go on,” I prod. “You called Beau to come rescue you.”

Though instead of answering, she drops the lighthearted from a moment ago, replaced by a serious expression as she stares over my shoulder. Then just as quickly, she shakes her head again, to clear it like, and continues. “Yeah. And he did. He drove all the way from UK in an ice storm to pick us up.” Elise pauses long enough to sip from her straw.

“We had a secret parking spot only about a hundred feet from the bar,” she goes on after swallowing. “Logan and I had to walk it. The idiot fell, hitting his ear. It stayed black and blue for a good week. We were frozen icicles when we reached Beau. He had this old orange Chevy pickup. Rusted out fender, wheel wells and doors. Rust bucket, we called it. But that damn thing ran like a dream. Beau was always so good with his hands. Kept that engine purring like a contented baby kitten. It always surprised me that he opted for UK when I thought he’d be happier at one of the technical colleges learning how to build and fix expensive engines.

“Did you go to college, Mark?”

“For a while. Wasn’t really my scene. Old man Gallbraith who owned the bar decided to close it and retire at a time when I’d kinda lost my way. So I took my tuition money and bought it from him, cheap. He was a good man. Gave me the downhome discount.” Not lying again, I love that she’s interested in me, my life. Interested enough to ask questions.

“What about you? Where’d you go to college?”

“Well, I didn’t. I mean, I did and I didn’t. I—life got pretty hard after Logan and Beau and the town. I found it really hard to be around people for a long time, so I mostly stayed in my apartment and went to school online.

“I worked as a telemarketer for a time, which sucked, but I could do it from home, so I stayed with it until I found something else that allowed me to work from home. Set my own hours, and it paid much better.”

“So, what’d you do?”

Elise avoids looking at me, wiping her hands on the napkin and moving the remaining chili fries around on the plate with her fork. “I don’t want to tell you,” she admits. Then takes another long sip of her Coke.

“C’mon, it can’t be that bad. It ain’t like you were a sex worker or somethin’.”

Right as the words leave my mouth, Elise chokes on her drink. Coughing up liquid. She grabs her napkin again as pop spurts from her mouth and nose. Poor girl, her eyes water.

I jump up to pat her back hard several times so she don’t die on me.

Eyes still watering, once she can catch a breath, she answers.“Phone sex operator.”

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