“Hey you,” she said. “What the hell are you doing here?”
I took a stool three down from the brandy men.
“Just wanted to see the Bay Area’s sexiest bartender do her thing.”
“Well, I’m not jumping on the bar for you, if that’s what you think is happening.”
Her hands moved quickly as she made my drink. She knew the brand of gin I liked, so she didn’t even have to ask. She slid my drink over and leaned over the bar, giving me a view of my favorite white bra.
“I’ve got something you can jump on later, if you are so inclined,” I said.
“Luke!” She threw her rag at me. “We kick perverts like you out of here all the time. Ain’t that right, guys?”
The brandy men voiced their agreement.
Holly’s smile never left and I could feel the tug of war in my heart pulling me back into her camp. God, I was a mess.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Holly’s boss walk into the room. I had never actually seen him before, but from the descriptions she gave me, I knew it was him. His monstrous, bushy eyebrows gave it away.
“Hey, Holly,” he said, pointing to one of the TVs overhead. “Turn that up.”
All of our glances went up to the television. It had been on the sports’ station, but there was a special news report breaking in.
We caught the news anchor mid-sentence.
“...has confirmed that at 4:13pm Eastern Standard Time, Flight 2133 from Dallas to Miami crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. The death toll is not currently known, but is considered to be high. We go now to Paul Barry, live in Dallas. Paul...”
“Awful,” Holly’s boss said. “Turn it off. I’m tired of all this bad news.”
Holly obliged.
Nothing like bad news to kill the mood.
“God, that would be the worst way to die,” Holly said to me. “I think I would choose any other way but that.”
I disagreed. There were many other forms of death I considered to be worse than death by plane crash.
“If you could choose any way to die, what would it be?” she asked, running a rag over the counter.
“That’s a pretty morbid topic,” I said.
Holly’s face flushed. “I’m so sorry, Luke.” She squeezed her eyes closed. “I forget sometimes about Carrie.”
“Not cancer,” I said, finishing off my drink. “I’d go with something that had to do with free falling. Sky diving accident, careening off a cliff.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Really? I didn’t take you for a daredevil.”
“I’m not,” I admitted. I reached out a finger and touched the tip of her scrunched up nose. “That’s why I’d want to die one.”
“Well, I’d like to die while having sex,” she announced loudly. The guys a few stools away raised their glasses to her. “But, not until I’ve had an orgasm. Right in the middle. That’s the way to go out.”
I laughed and ordered another drink. There was no one quite like Holly.
Pretty soon, the dinner crowds started to come in and I said my goodbye.
I still hadn’t heard from April as I drove home, and was beginning to think I wouldn’t for the rest of the day. Probably for the rest of the weekend.
I warmed up some of the soup April had made for me and turned on the baseball game. Naturally, the pre-game show consisted mostly of talking about what had transpired the night before. Marco had apparently been suspended by the team for the remainder of the season and wouldn’t be joining them for the final week of games. This was obviously good news for the team, but I imagined it would be bad news for April. Now she was stuck with him at home all the time. Good thing she had a job to escape to.
Halfway through the second inning, my phone rang. It was April.
“Hello,” I said, surprised to see her calling.
“Hey Luke,” she said.
“What’s going on?”
“Do you mind if I stopped by for a few minutes? I had to run out and get groceries and he’s at the house with the kids.”
“Of course not,” I said, heart beginning to beat more rapidly. Why would she want to come over on a grocery run?
“I’m at the house,” I said. “Come over whenever.”
“Okay. Bye.”
And before I could reply she hung up.
There was only one reason she would be coming over. She felt guilty about what happened last night and needed to tell me it can’t happen again. She’s married. Oh god, why did I even let it happen? Nothing ruins a perfectly good friendship like fooling around after the woman’s husband tried to beat her.
Within fifteen seconds of hanging up, there was a knock on the door.