Lick: Stage Dive 1(76)

Ruby didn’t much mind what we wore at work beyond the official café T-shirt. Her roots were strongly alternative. She’d planned to be a poet but wound up inheriting her aunt’s coffee shop in the Pearl district. Urban development had upped property prices and Ruby became quite the well-to-do businesswoman. Now she wrote her poetry on the walls in the café. I don’t think you could find a better boss. But late was still late. Not good.

I’d stayed up worrying about what had happened with David in that alleyway. Reliving the moment where he told me he considered us still married. Sleep would have been far more beneficial. Pity my brain wouldn’t switch off.

I pulled on a black pencil skirt, the official café T-shirt and a pair of flats. Done. Nothing was going to help the bruises beneath my eyes. People had pretty much gotten used to them on me lately. It took about half a stick of concealer to cover the bruise on my neck.

I roared out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam, just in time to see Lauren waltz out of the kitchen, broad smile on her face. “You’re late for work.”

“That I am.”

I looped my handbag over my shoulder, grabbed my keys off the table and got going. There wasn’t time for this. Not now. Quite possibly not ever. I couldn’t imagine her ever having a good enough reason for siding with David. Over the last month she’d spent many nights by my side, letting me talk myself hoarse about him when I needed to. Because eventually, it all had to come out. Daily I told her that I didn’t deserve her, and she’d smack a kiss on my cheek. Why betray me now? I thumped down the stairs with extra oomph.

“Ev, wait.” Lauren ran after me as I stormed down the front steps.

I turned on her, house keys held before me like a weapon. “You told him where I was.”

“What was I supposed to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Not tell him? You knew I didn’t want to see him.” I looked her over, noticing all sorts of things I didn’t want to. “Full hair and make-up at this hour? Really, Lauren? Were you expecting him to be here, perhaps?”

Her chin dipped as she had the good grace to look embarrassed at last. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I got carried away. But he’s here to make amends. I thought you might at least want to hear what he has to say.”

I shook my head, fury bubbling away inside me. “Not your call.”

“You’ve been miserable. What was I supposed to do?” She threw her arms sky high. “He said that he’d come to make things right with you. I believe him.”

“Of course you do. He’s David Ferris, your very own teen idol.”

“No. If he wasn’t here to kiss your feet I’d have killed him. No matter who he is, he hurt you.” She seemed sincere, her mouth pinched and eyes huge. “I’m sorry about dressing up this morning. It won’t happen again.”

“You look great. But you’re wasting your time. He’s not going to be here. That isn’t going to happen.”

“No? So, who gave you that monster on your neck?”

I didn’t even need to answer that. Damn it. The sun beat down overhead, warming up the day.

“If there’s a chance you think he might be the one,” she said, making my stomach twist. “If you think you two can sort this out somehow … He’s the only one that ever got to you. The way you talk about him …”

“We were only together a few days.”

“You really think that matters?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” I flailed. It wasn’t pretty. “We never made sense, Lauren. Not from day one.”

“Gah,” she said, making a strangled noise to accompany it. “This is about your fucking plan, isn’t it? Let me clue you in on something. You don’t have to make sense. You just have to want to be together and be willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. It’s amazingly simple. That’s love, Ev, putting each other first. Not worrying about if you fit into some fucktard plan that your Dad brainwashed you into believing was what you wanted out of life.”

“It’s not about the plan.” I scrubbed at my face with my hands, holding back tears of frustration and fear. “He broke me. It feels like he broke me. Why would anyone willingly take that chance again?”

Lauren looked at me, her own eyes bright. “I know he hurt you. So punish the bastard, keep him waiting. The fucker, he deserves it. But if you love him, then think about hearing what he has to say.”

Maybe I was coming down with a cold, tight chest and itchy eyes. Having your heart broken should come with some positives, some perspective to balance out the bad. I should have been wiser, tougher, but I didn’t feel it just then. I jangled my house keys. Ruby was going to kill me. I’d have to forego my usual walk and catch a streetcar to have even a hope in hell of not getting my Texas-sized ass fired. “I have to go.”