Page 6 of Scotch: Unraveled

“Miss Frankie,” Elise calls over to me. “It’s good to see you.”

“Thanks.” As I try to discreetly push past them, she blocks my cart with hers, leaving me with only one option. To play along. “How’s Gun?” I ask, forcing a smile onto my sullen-not-nearly-inebriated-enough-to-deal-with-these-two face.

“He’s with his daddy. Male bonding, so Caity and I decided to have a girls’ night at her place.”

I look over to smile at Caitlin. It’s odd to hear people refer to her as ‘Caity.’ She’s a doctor. “Hi, Caitlin. I suppose Diesel is bonding with his dad, too?”

“Sure is. Lords from birth.” The two women crack up laughing, as if that’s supposed to mean something to me. “Jade’s with him too until we get back, and then she’ll come back to the house with me. But it’ll be bedtime, so she won’t see mom getting snockered.”

That’s good, I suppose. “Well,” I say to wrap this up. I’ve got drinking to get on as well. “It was good seeing you.”

“Wait,” both women say at once. Elise throws her hand out in front of her for effect. She’s the one to continue. “How do you know Scotch?”

“Scotch?” I ask. I don’t know a Scotch. Could she be referring to—“Do you mean Rory?” Great. I’ll never stop thinking about him now.

“Rory?” Caitlin asks. “His real name is Rory? That’s amazing. I’m so calling him that when I see him.”

“No. You can’t,” I plead. They look at me like I’ve ripped the heads off their Barbie dolls. “He’ll know I talked about him. Please don’t. For me. I know we don’t know each other well, but please.”

“Okay, we won’t,” Elise readily agrees. My heart grows lighter. “If you tell us why you looked like you’d been kicked in the gut when you saw him this morning.”

Well, there goes the light heart. “I can’t.”

“Oh, girl, you so can. We need to know this story.”

I could fight it. But the fact remains, I don’t know these women well enough to discern if they’re being truthful about ratting me out or blowing smoke up my ass. I sigh and ask, “You promise?”

Both women nod and give their verbal yeses.

“We dated a very long time ago.”

“How long?” Caitlin asks.

“About eight years. I met him in Lexington when I moved there to take care of my ailing mamaw. He’d only been in the country a few months. I mean, it’s not hard to see why I fell for a man like him,” I ramble on.

“Youfellfor him?” Elise leans way close to me like I’ve just given her the best secret she’s ever heard in her life.

Shoot.Why couldn’t I be more careful with my words? Yet another reason to prove the universe hates me.

“Yeah. We dated for two years.”

“What happened?” Elise again.

“We broke up.”

“Noooo.” She draws the word out incredulously as she shakes her head. Then, bestowed with powers the moment sperm met egg, to perfect that mom-guilt look that all moms get, she throws a healthy dose of it—the mom guilt—in my direction. And she’s not even my mom, but resist as I might, part of me finds it difficult to deny her an explanation. “No one turns ashy white simply from seeing an ex. Spill, sister.”

I lean deep in her space, pressing the cart into my stomach to beg. I’m not above begging. I’ll do almost anything not to have to talk about him with them. Only Brighton knows the whole story. “Please, guys, we’re in a liquor store.” My stomach ties itself in knots making me regret this evenings food choice and I become a stupid, teary-eyed mess. “Can’t what I’ve told you be enough?”

“No way,” Caitlin says. “The very fact that you’re crying in a liquor store after seeing your long-lost ex proves it’s not enough. Nothing will ever be resolved if you don’t talk about it. Trust me, I’ll tell you Duke and my story sometime.”

“Mine and Beau’s too,” Elise cuts in.

“Trust me when I tell you there’s nothing to be resolved. Relationships end all the time. It is what it is.”

This time it’s Caitlin to mete out the mom guilt, raising her eyebrow at me, no words necessary to get me to crack.

“Fine,” I say on a defeated sigh. “But then I’m leaving.” I clear my throat before continuing. “He asked me to move in with him. I mistakenly thought we were in it for the long haul. I’d been saving money to go to college and when I got accepted to Northern Kentucky, I asked Rory to go with me. He refused, said he wasn’t about that life. It was too domestic. He just wanted to have fun. And that’s why he wanted me to stay with him, so we could continue to have fun.” It took a second for me to rid my mind of that last conversation with Rory after admitting my stupidity. Then I rushed to finish. “I was thinking marriage and family while he was thinking orgies.”

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