Page 39 of Finally Mine
But so much had happened since then.A lifetime in some ways, Gloria thought, deliberately turning away from the spot where she’d taken what she thought was her last gasping breath. She focused on the neon signs in the skinny windows and the music that was leaking out of Remo’s front door.
Different circumstances. Different life. She was an independent woman. Okay, so she was living with her mother, but she was working a full-time job and ready to buy herself a glass of wine with her first official paycheck, damn it.
Her ballet flats hit the planks of the front porch with conviction, and when she opened the door, it was to a jovial Benevolence happy hour, not a murderous monster.
Fortified, Gloria stepped into the Friday night party and made a beeline for the bar. She smiled at the whispers. She was giving them something else to think about. “Poor little Gloria Parker” was slowly being replaced with “that Parker girl who took over the Fourth of July.” She’d yet to do anything grand with the planning, but just volunteering was enough to get tongues wagging.
“Well, if it isn’t I Volunteer as Tribute,” Sophie said with a wink when Gloria slid onto a barstool. “What’ll it be?”
Sophie was pink-cheeked and hustling behind the bar, as much a Friday night staple in Benevolence as the band that crowded onto the tiny scrap of stage.
The twenty dollars she’d allotted herself for frivolous spending was burning a hole in the back pocket of her thrift store-find jeans. “A glass of house Chardonnay,” Gloria decided. God, these tiny daily decisions that she was now free to make,responsibleto make, both thrilled and overwhelmed her.
“Coming right up,” Sophie said, expertly pulling two pints simultaneously while nudging the bar fridge shut with her hip.
Moments later a stemmed glass appeared in front of Gloria on a paper napkin.
“Hey, Gloria. It’s nice to see you out and about!” Harper floated up to the bar with an empty tray. Harper had taken on a Friday night shift at the bar to keep herself occupied and out of trouble while Luke was deployed. Rumor had it Luke wasn’t a fan of both his sister and girlfriend closing down the bar every Friday, but no one told Harper Wilde and Sophie Adler how to live their lives.
Gloria loved that about them.
“I’m celebrating my first full paycheck from Blooms,” Gloria confessed.
“Good for you!” Harper said, traying up a round of drinks as fast as Sophie poured them. “Claire says you’re doing a great job.”
“Thanks.” Gloria felt her blush deepen. “I really like it there. So, um. Have you heard from Luke?” She was going on a bit of a fishing expedition. If Harper had heard from Luke, she probably had news on Aldo.
The dreamy grin nearly split Harper’s face in two. “I had an email from him Wednesday, and I talked to him last week.” A love like the one that lit Harper’s gray eyes could survive the long distance. Gloria was sure of it.
She twirled the stem of her glass between her fingers. “Did he say how Aldo’s doing?”
“Ooooooooh,” Sophie cooed behind the bar. “Someone has a crush!”
Gloria felt herself turning an even brighter shade of pink.Was it only a crush, she wondered. Or did the potential of a future with the man make it something more? These were questions she’d like to ask the man in question who’d given her no way to contact him during his deployment. Whether that was Aldo being chivalrous and heroic or disinterested, she wasn’t certain.
“Stop picking on her,” Harper ordered. “Don’t mind Sophie. She thinks she’s Cupid.”
“By the way, you’re welcome,” Sophie said pointedly at Harper, winking.
“Anyway.” Harper rolled her eyes at Sophie. “Luke did mention that Aldo’s organizing some crazy boot camp workout competition with a bunch of the people from their unit. Tire flipping, rope climbing. He promised to email pictures.”
Gloria nodded and worried about how to beg for an email address without sounding desperate.
“I could give you his email address, you know,” Harper offered, reading her mind.
“Don’t you think that would be…weird?” Gloria asked even while her insides were screamingGet the email address!
Harper hefted her tray. “I think you guys waited long enough. Don’t you?” She headed into the crowd and called over her shoulder. “I’ll send you his email address.”
Gloria couldn’t stop the smile that overtook her face. Aldo may have wanted to protect her, but she needed to get used to making her own decisions. And shedecidedthat she and Aldo should keep in touch.
“Ah, excuse me, Gloria?” Bob of Bob’s Fine Furnishings fame stood before her. “Rumor has it you’re handling the Fourth festivities.”
Gloria blinked, realizing this was the first time in her entire life that a man had approached her in a bar. He was, of course, married to Becky, twenty years his junior. But she was still counting it.
“Yes. Yes, I am,” she said with more confidence than she felt.
Bob bobbed his head. “Great. I have a question about the vendor fees for the festival. As a sponsor of the 5k, am I getting the same discount on my hot dog stand that I got last year or have the discounts changed?”
