Page 21 of The Hampton Beach Café 3
"Wait, no, shut up. I need a second," she said. When she opened her eyes again after a moment, she looked angry. "You're going to sit here, in front of me right now, and try to tell me that because some crusty rich boy from Texas cheated on his hometown girlfriend with you and fell in love with you that you ruined his life? Nah, nah, sweetie, you need a talking to. He chooses you, of his own free will, marries you, treats you like garbage, then divorces out of the blue and goes running home to mommy and daddy? And somehow, some way, that's your fault? Absolutely not."
Frances swallowed hard. She rarely saw Lucinda get this riled up about anything at all.
"Not exactly––"
"No," Lucinda said. "No, I won't accept it, I refuse. You told me before, you didn't know he had a girl back home?"
Frances shook her head. It wasn't exactly the way Lucinda was painting it, but...
"And he had some super prenup, right?"
Confused now, Frances raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?"
"So, he could’ve shot his shot and said bye bye whenever the heck he wanted, right? So, he didn't need to stay with you, he could’ve upped and left whenever he chose, but he didn't. He stayed. I don't know why he left when or how he did, but I'm sure as my nose lives on my face that he stayed because he wanted to."
Why did that make her cry more? Frances covered her face with her hands and let the tears roll down her face––she hadn't cried over him in weeks. Why was she so emotional now? If she was completely honest, she'd barely thought about him in weeks either. She'd been realizing more and more lately that even though she was devastated by the whole thing, she hadn't really been in love with him for a long time.
As the last of her emotion drained out of her, she wiped her eyes with her shirt front.
"The better part of my honor needs to clarify something," she said in a small voice. "He didn't cheat on her with me, we were in a study group together and even though there was a spark there, we never went out. One day, he showed up and the first thing he said was that he'd broken it off with his high school girlfriend, and would I like to go on a date with him. I'd had a crush on him for ages by that time so of course I said yes. Didn't think I'd marry him, though."
Lucinda huffed in the way only she could. "Fine, I'll grant him that. I still think we should feed him to the pigs."
A metallic click drew their attention and they all turned in time to see a white envelope fall to the floor next to the door.
Frances rose from her seat and crossed to the door, stooping to pick it up.
The front was blank, but the folded note inside was handwritten.
"Open your eyes. He's not doing this for you, foolish girl."
Frances gritted her teeth and refolded the note.
"What is it?" Lucinda asked from the chair.
"Oh, nothing, just that guy from down the road who's always pushing to ban music on the beach," she said, feeling a little guilty about the lie.
She pushed the whole thing into her pocket and stared out into the dark street, the warm light of the café encompassing her like a blanket of safety. Turning to Lucinda, she smiled halfheartedly.
"Thank you for putting me in my place," she said. “I think I just needed a pity party."
"Happens to the best of us," Lucinda said. "Now, you go and get a cup of something hot and sweet from that someone hot and sweet in the kitchen."
"Luce!" Frances exclaimed. It was weird to hear someone talk about Alex like that.
"What? Heissweet!...and hot," she said, laughing. "And go to bed. You need an early night."
Swallowing hard, Frances knew that Lucinda was right. She often was, and Frances rarely got enough sleep even when ridiculous stalker fans of someone she wasn't even dating were shoving letters through her front door.
ELEVEN
"So...do you want to come with me to the barber across the other side of town after lunch?" Alex asked.
Turning to look at him, Frances frowned. "You’re probably old enough to go on your own by now, dontcha think?"
He flicked the dishcloth that he was using at her. "So funny, please stop. I can't handle the comedy."
Acting entirely like the teenager he once knew, she darted out of the way and pinched his arm on the way past him to the fridge.
