Page 55 of Say Something
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“What’s going on with you and the older Thompson boy these days?”
I stared blankly at the elderly woman sitting in one of the matching brown leather guest chairs at my desk. She was thethirdclient this week who felt the need to pry about my relationship. Apparently my public appearance with Danny at the Fall Festival over the weekend meant it was officially open season for relationship advice and opinions and everything else I didn’t care to hear about.
“Mrs. Blakeney,” I said, pointing to the documents on the desk, trying to redirect her attention.
“It’s a damn shame you two split up. Kids these days,” she started, shaking her head and tsking at me. I think some spittle landed my desk. “You all don’t work hard for anything anymore. You just give up. That’s not what a relationship is all about.” She droned on, but I checked out, biting my tongue so hard I could taste blood. It wasn’t the old bitty’s fault she didn’t know what she was talking about.
“And that sister of his,” she continued. “It’s a shame what she put that family through over the years.”
“Mrs. Blakeney,” I interrupted. She startled, looking at me with wide eyes. I might have raised my voice. Just a little bit. “If you could just sign here and here, we’ll be all finished.”
She wisely didn’t say another word and signed beside the flags on both revised copies of her last will and testament. I thanked her for her business and walked her to the door, wishing her a good rest of her day before locking the door behind her.
I sighed and sagged against the door frame. What was with people? I don’t remember the town being this invasive when I was in high school. No one seemed to care about Danny and me being together until we weren’t anymore.
I scanned and filed Mrs. Blakeney’s new will, then locked up my office. I didn’t bother heading home to change, just got into my car and drove over to The Diner to meet Mel for dinner. I beat her there and slid into a booth, browsing the menu I had memorized at the age of seventeen. It never changed. There was just something about looking at a menu for the billionth time.
“Sorry I’m late,” Melissa said, dropping her messenger bag down on the booth seat and sliding in across from me.
“I just got here myself,” I told her, setting the menu down.
“Why do you even bother?” she asked, gesturing to the menu.
I shrugged. “Maybe something different will pop out at me. I don’t know.”
“It’s all in the nightly specials,” Melissa said. “It’s what keeps things fresh. Mrs. Harper always has something new and different as a special.”
The waitress came by and we ordered our drinks and the special, which was some kind of fried pork chop smothered in heaven. I could feel my arteries readying for the assault, but I didn’t care.
“How’s your story going?” I asked. She had mentioned she was working on an exposépiece about an entrepreneur who had been looking to purchase some land just outside of town.
“It’s going,” she answered, sipping the Coke the waitress just dropped off.
“That good, huh?” I asked. I squeezed a lemon wedge into my water and set the rind back on the saucer.
“He’s just so...I don’t know. It’s hard to get any solid leads. He’s very elusive is all.”
“That’s frustrating.”
“Yeah, well, not as frustrating as your week apparently.” I’d texted her earlier in the week after busybody number two had come into the office. Lawyer-client privilege didn’t allow me to tell her who the clients were, but I could anonymously bitch to my sister.
“I wanted to think that they were making appointments because of the Fall Festival, but now I’m thinking they were making appointments just to meddle.”
“It’s quite possible.”
“I just wish everyone would mind their own business. It’s not like I don’t put enough pressure on myself or anything. Let me just add all of Oak River to that.”
“Just ignore them. I always do.”
“What do they say about you?” I asked.
“Nothing worth worrying about, though I’m sure there’s a deck of Old Maid cards somewhere in Oak River with my picture on one of the cards.”
“Are you kidding me? They’re calling you an old maid?”
“Not in so many words, but they’ve insinuated it.”
