Page 6 of Love Unavoidable
I do. I so fucking do.
“So, prove me wrong. Go dance. Have some fun. Show your Babs life is not all doom and gloom.”
“I can’t,” I whisper. I finish the bourbon in one swallow and set the empty glass on the bar.
“This is not you, Sadie Ann. You need to rise above the shit that has become your life. The things that happen to you don’t define you.”
“My life is not shit,” I cry. She looks at me with a sideways glance, chin lowered to her chest and one eyebrow raised.
“Fine, it’s shit,” I mumble. “It’s because I am the outcast of love.”
“The what?” She laughs.
“The outcast of love. The whole doggone town has decided that if I can’t accept love from someone like Aaron, then it’s all over for me. I am an outcast. From the town and from love.”
“Es dreck,” Mavis says, waving her hand dismissively.
Where’d she come from?
Mavis is Babs’ best friend and since both were widowed recently, you rarely find one without the other close behind. I am kind of surprised I had Babs for thirty seconds or so before Mavis chimed in. The Southern Belle and the Jewish Princess. They are a force to be reckoned with, for sure.
“It sure is, dreck,” Babs agrees. “That’s just small-minded people right there, showing you all o’ their . . . uh . . .” She pauses as if to find the right word.
“Small minded-ness,” my new friend suggests.
“Yes, Courtney, thank you.” Babs raises her glass toward my new friend in appreciation for her suggestion.
Courtney! That’s right. She works with Cole’s new wife, Lexie. It’s all coming back to me now.
Courtney. Courtney. Courtney.
Say it three times to commit to memory.
Mavis reaches over me to grab my now empty glass, then holds it out to Babs, who fills it with bourbon. She takes a large swallow before turning toward me.
“Is Texas thing, no?” Mavis asks.
“No!” Babs cries at the same time I shrug my shoulders and say, “Maybe.” Mavis tips her head to the side and narrows her eyes at me. I immediately look down to see if I’ve spilled something on myself. She has that effect on people.
“It’s a small-town thing,” Babs argues. Mavis turns her gaze on Babs. Unlike me, Babs is undeterred. Maybe that’s why they are such good friends, neither one quite bests the other.
“You don’t know,” Babs says to her, waving her hand dismissively in Mavis’ direction.
“Oh, I know,” Mavis says, pointing to herself and nodding her head once.
“It don’t matter,” I interject. “Fact remains, I’m persona non grata back home.”
“You will live here,” Mavis says.
“Now, that right there is a great idea. Sadie, sweetheart, what do you say?” Babs asks.
“No.”
“Why not?” Babs asks.
Because that’s MY plan and I don’t want it to be your suggestion.
“Um, ‘cause I was thinking maybe I’d move to Los Angeles or something,” I tell them.
