Page 1 of Blueberry Cake
Queenie
Sipping on her cocktail, Queenie sat back and enjoyed Houston’s cooling evening air beside her two best friends. It had been a while since they’d been able to go out, and it only showed her how much she actually missed it.
“That man hasn’t stopped staring at us.” Before Queenie could turn around and see which one, Jessica stopped her. “No, don’t make it obvious.”
“Then you have to give me details because apparently I’m the only one of us three who can’t see him.”
“Handsome,” Allison giggled. “But way older than us.”
“Looks like he’s got his life together,” Jessica added as she stared obviously in the man’s direction. “Well managed beard and an expensive shirt.”
“Maybe you should go over there,” Queenie suggested to Jessica. “Make the first move, you know?”
The waiter approached, setting a drink none of them had ordered on the table before her. “The man over at the other table would like you to have this, ma’am.”
Queenie looked up at the waiter, who seemed to find that rather cute and then finally turned to see who’d bought her the drink.
“Seems like he wants you,” Allison said, ordering herself another cocktail.
Queenie on the other hand, had to stop her heart from failing. She stared across the open space of the bar to the man in question. He was handsome and all the other things that the girls had said, but what they’d failed to mention were those forest-green eyes that often still haunted her nightmares. Not his, she corrected herself, but his son had inherited them like a carbon copy. She returned to her friends, bristling.
“What happened?” Jessica asked. “I think he’s rather handsome.”
“He is, but there’s history.”
She couldn’t look at them, her eyes trained on the drink before her. For just a few moments, she returned to that girl from high school. Then she remembered that she was no longeranyone’sdoormat. She stood up, taking the drink and walking over to his table.
He smiled wide, his eyes burning a hole through her as he let them travel over her rather revealing sundress. Clearly, he didn’t know who she was. After all, they’d never officially met. She’d only seen him during school functions where she’d avoided him—and his offspring— as far as she could.
“I can’t accept this,” she said rather firmly, plonking the cocktail down so aggressively that liquid sloshed over the sides.
“And why is that?”
“Because your son bullied me in high school and I’d rather not be reminded of that ever again.”
The man’s brows hit his hairline, and he gave her a thorough once-over that had Queenie fighting the urge tosquirm. His gaze paused on her left arm before he spoke. “I wasn’t aware of that. If I’d known I would have put a stop to it.”
“I believe that was intentional,” Queenie snapped. Flustered, she turned not wanting to escalate the situation.
Sitting back down, Queenie faced curious, accusatory eyes from her friends.
She sighed and relaxed into the lounge chair. “He’s the father of my high school bully.”
“The one that drowned your final papers?” Allison asked.
“Yes.”
Jessica’s lips curled into a proud smile. “Oh, so you told him to fuck off.”
“Not with those words.”
“Well even if you said it in a kinder, more polite way than he deserved, I’m still proud of you.”
“Thanks, Jessie. It did feel good.”
Allison frowned. “Shame; he doesn’t look that old.”
“I think he was a teen dad.”
