Page 54 of Baby, It's You
“What’s wrong?” I ask him, cutting to the chase. There’s no room for bullshit when we have known each other for ten years.
“I just visited Jane.” He meets my eyes and sighs. “It’s not looking good.”
“I know,” I quietly respond.
When I visited her last week and yesterday, she was completely out of it, not even acknowledging my presence. I just sat beside her and squeezed her hand the whole time while she blankly stared at the TV. Jane no longer recognizes me, and her cough continues to wreck her lungs. I can hear her wheeze as she draws each breath, and it doesn’t seem like having an oxygen tank is even helping her at this point.
I hate seeing her in this type of pain. She is so confused, no longer caring about anything or wanting to eat. I tried to lift some broth to her mouth when I visited yesterday, but she just shook her headnoand pushed it away. I feel selfish for wanting her to hold on, to live, so I don’t have to lose her. I’m just not ready to let go. I need her.
Rick reaches out and takes my hand, seeing that I’m deep in thought. “She was the best thing about this bar, I always said.”
I nod my head, agreeing with him as he continues, “That is until I met you. You are just like her. Strong. I know she would be so proud of you and everything you are trying to do to save the bar, if she knew.”
Hearing those words, a dam releases inside of me and tears flow down my face.
I squeeze his hand back. “Thank you.”
Tripp walks through the door then, spoiling our moment. “Geez, who died?” he snorts when he sees the tears streamingdown my cheeks. Rick stares at him, a stern expression across his brow, as I turn away and wipe at my face quickly, hiding my emotion.
“Is everything prepped for tonight?” Tripp asks me as he shuffles through some papers.
“Yes,” I curtly respond. Like I don’t know what I’m doing after running this place for years alone. I’ve handled hundreds of karaoke nights at this point; I could practically get everything ready in my sleep.
“Good, good,” Tripp says as he still doesn’t even look up from the papers.
I notice some earwax on the edge of his ear canal and want to gag. He looks up at me then and I break eye contact with his ear, plastering a fake smile on my face. He nods at me once and walks through the kitchen door, towards the office. I turn to Rick once he walks off and roll my eyes. Rick shakes his head, sharing my feelings.
The rest of the day goes by quickly and before I know it, it’s 8 P.M. I hurry to the women’s bathroom so I can throw on some mauve lipstick and change into my animal print outfit. I brought the tiger print orange dress that I usually wear for this theme. It hugs my body but also has stretch, so I can still move easily behind the bar.
Hunter is coming by tonight to film. He’s also bringing Eddie, who wanted a redemption after he didn’t get to do karaoke on his birthday. I told Hunter that Eddie can have the first song of the night, and he gladly relayed the message. They should be coming in the door any minute now.
I’m starting to feel a little nervous. Lust,justlust. I have been thinking about his text nonstop since he sent it, the curiosity getting the best of me. Maybe if I did kiss Hunter, I could get him out of my head. If he’s a bad kisser, then that will instantlyhandle the problem. If he’s a good kisser, I will dissociate until we finish filming the series.
I leave the bathroom and walk behind the bar, pouring myself a generous shot of tequila and quickly downing it.
“Whoa,” I hear Rob say from the kitchen window behind me. “Everything good?”
“Perfect.” I turn and plaster a forced smile in his direction as I smooth down my dress. “Just a little jittery about tonight.”
“Since when does karaoke make you nervous?”
I hear the bell chime behind me; Rob’s eyes meet someone entering the bar.
“Oh. Now I see.” He smiles and looks back at me with a wink.
I turn around to see Hunter and Eddie strolling towards me. They look like two Calvin Klein models. I glance over my shoulder so I can shut Rob down about whatever he is assuming, but he is no longer in the window. I scoff and then walk up to the bar counter.
“What will it be, gentlemen?” I grin and motion to the liquor bottles as they slide onto the bar stools in front of me. Hunter has on the cheetah shirt from his closet and Eddie is wearing a silky zebra print shirt that clings to his pecs underneath. I don’t know how either of these guys are single.
Eddie speaks up first. “Four shots of gin and some Limp Bizkit, please.”
“In the mood to ‘Break Stuff’?” I joke, naming the band’s most popular song.
“Yeah, I am actually,” he responds. “One of the guys that helped me develop my app stole my concept and is now making an AI app with the same intent.”
“What?” I ask, sliding the shots towards them both. “How can he do that?”
Eddie shrugs. “I will be asking my lawyer the same thing in the morning.”
