Chapter 10

Dawn

I was spending too much money on shots. We should have just gotten a bottle and headed back to Jeannine's place. But she wanted to go out, and I needed to get away from the shop. Not to mention her two roommates hated me. I supposed that was my fault. I wasn’t a warm and fuzzy type of person, and when they tried too hard to include me on all the roommate fun I was missing by not living with them, I somehow offended them.

Jeannine thinks it’s because when it was my turn to pick an activity, I brought them down to one of Jack’s gigs. Paula got elbowed in the nose and Margo cracked a rib when someone body slammed her in the mosh pit.

Maybe it was because I laughed and went back to shouting at Jack onstage.

After bickering a bit, Jeannine and I wound up playing darts and pool at the local tavern. It was a dive bar that Rory would want to raze to the ground and replace with a billiards and cigar bar. Still, the tequila was going down rather nice, and I was walking distance from Tantric Books. No one would think twice about me staggering back there instead of driving somewhere drunk.

"You need to get out more," Jeannine said as she scratched the cue ball.

"I know. I just can't afford to hire someone part time right now. Not with your boss and his asshole cronies trying to fry my ass." I took the ball out of the pocket and lined up my shot.

"You've been saying that as long as I've known you. Twelve-hour days, seven days a week. You'd be better off waitressing."

"No, thank you." I missed, so I had to do a shot. The salt tingled on my tongue, but I wasn't tasting the lemon anymore. That might be a problem. "I'm not a people person. One jerkoff would start on me about his steak not being rare enough and I'd dump it on his head."

Jeannine actually made her next shot and took a swig of her beer. "You could always go back to school. I bet you'd be a good therapist."

I snorted. "I need a good therapist." I closed one eye and tried to focus on the ball. It must be my lucky day, because it went in. "Whoo!" I did a little dance and immediately regretted it. I should sit down. I leaned against the table instead.

"I'm worried about you. I'm worried those assholes will escalate the situation. I can't believe you were robbed yesterday."

"Almost robbed. And I'm making a bank deposit every day before the bank closes so it's not worth anyone's time to go after the till."

"Shhh," she spluttered over the table. "Don't talk about shit like that in here."

"Right,” I closed my eyes and nodded. I wished I was on a nice yacht right now.

"Me too," Jeannine said, and I realized I said the last part aloud. "Your turn."

"What color am I again?"

"Stripes."

"Right."

I missed the shot. I blinked at the shot glass and asked myself, "Am I going to hurl?" Getting the negative, I forwent the salt and lemon because why bother? And tossed it back. It tasted like water. I was going to be in a world of hurt tomorrow morning.

"I can't believe you're fucking the enemy," Jeannine said.

"It's a bit of a surprise to me too."

"How did it happen?"

I hitched a hip up on the table and missed the shot. "I think it all started in high school.”

Jeannine snorted. “He was too old for you back then.”

“Tell that to my little freshman heart. Anyway, he emailed me earlier this year wanting to reconnect.”

“You connected?” She squinted at me.

“Not unless you count me doodling on my notebook and drooling over him in the stands during his lacrosse games connecting.”

“Not even a little?” Jeannine made a crude gesture with her hands.

“Not even a little.” I shook my head sadly. “Anyway, we went back and forth, flirting in emails for a few months. I guess it was flirting." I drank some more beer. "It was more like fighting. I was having a rough time with Jack."

"There's another asshole. Have you heard from him lately?"

"Are you kidding me? He's probably baked in the van surrounded by groupie pussy somewhere on Long Island."

"You should have had him arrested."

"I knew better, but I opened a joint account with him anyway." I banked two balls on one shot. Unfortunately, one had been Jeannine's.

"He's a fucking douche bag. I hope his dick rots off."

I was glad she was on my side.

"So why did you go from grunge metal Jack to preppy Rory? He's totally not your type. I mean, don't get me wrong. He's gorgeous, rich, and looks like he knows his way around the clitoris."

I nodded.

"It's that he's trying to change our town into some rich folks' playground. Fuck them. I have to live here the rest of the year."

"Right?" I agreed.

"I mean, it's bad enough they fuck up traffic on Main Street. Try to get into town and back on lunch during July. Forget it. Now I hear he's going to oust Town Pizza for a joint that uses tofu or some crap in the crust."

"What?" I took a swig of beer. "That's crazy talk."

"You need to wallop some sense into your man."

"He's not my man. We're just fucking."

"Well, fucking leads to dating."

"I think you've got that backward."

"And next thing you know, you're going to be going to Thanksgiving at the Parkers’ mansion."

I nearly snorted Corona out of my nostrils. "Yeah, picture that fiasco."

"Holy shit," Jeannine said.

"Mmm?" I pried open an eye to see what had caught her attention.

"Is that your sister?"

My head whipped around so fast I almost got whiplash. I did get nauseous. "I'm going to sit down." I hobbled to our booth and slid in. Holy shit, indeed, it was the protocol sister herself. "Hi, Stephanie," I called out drunkenly.

She turned, and her eyes widened. She looked around like she was expecting our parents to be there too. I snorted. Not bloody likely. Hurrying over, she scooted into the booth. I looked over to see what Jeannine was up to and saw she was kissing Fred, the fire chief.

So much for girls’ night out.

"What are you doing here?" Stephanie asked.

"Playing pool and drinking tequila shots. Want one?"

"No."

"Probably for the best." I nodded sagely. "I've had one too many. Where's Drew?"

"He's home with the kids," she said tightly.

"Why are you slumming it here?"

"This isn't really the time to be discussing this," she said.

Her eyes were darting around the bar and it was making me dizzy.

"Are you meeting someone?"

"Dawn, please don't tell anyone." She gripped my hand while I looked at her numbly.

"Who would I tell?"

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later."

"Um, Okay." I watched as she darted deeper into the bar. She wasn't the darts type, and for a moment I thought I should follow her to make sure she was going to be all right. But then I figured, fuck it, she was probably meeting friends. Stephanie wouldn't soil her gloves in this place for any other reason. She'd be more at home with Rory's family than I would ever be. Not that that would happen in a million years. His father would have a heart attack.

I glanced over at Jeannine, saw it was getting hot and heavy between her and Fred. So unless I wanted to cock block, I was on my own. The hell of it was it was barely midnight. I wanted to be out at least until two. Staggering up to the bar, I paid off my tab and flirted with Rick, the bartender. Or at least I think I flirted. I might have burped a few times while I settled up. I tipped to make up for the tequila breath and headed for the door.

"Dawn, you need me to call you a cab?" Rick asked.

"Nah," I said. "I'll go back to the shop and sober up before heading home." The lie came easily to me, even in my impaired state.

"You want me to get one of the guys to walk you over? I heard about the break-in last night."

I shook my head. "They won't try again so soon."

"Well, if you're sure . . ."

"Have a nice night, Rick." I waved and pushed out of the bar. The quiet hit my ears as soon as I was a block away. I could see lights on at the far end of the street where some boaters were still partying. I turned back toward town and shivered a bit in the chilly midnight air. I wasn't afraid. Haven was quiet at night, even down by the docks. Sure, there were bad elements, but it never seemed to touch the town. About halfway back to the shop, the cat caught up with me, and we made the trek together.

"How was your night?" I asked her.

She meowed an answer, but I was too drunk to understand her. I wished I had an apartment. She could have one of those carpet cat trees and her own food and water dish. I could have a tub and take all the bubble baths I wanted. Maybe I would splurge on a towel warmer.

I snorted and had to lean against the door to the bookstore while I laughed.

If I had my own place, I could be messy and not have to worry about someone catching me living where I wasn't supposed to. I could bake cookies and lasagna and freeze the leftovers. Letting myself in, I double locked the doors behind me and the cat. Staggering over to the back room, I glared at that lumpy, uncomfortable futon. I missed having a big bed to stretch out on and a closet for my clothes.

Damn tequila. Made my eyes water.