Veronica
I parked behind the building just like Hazel had instructed when she'd hired me. My nerves were getting to me as I tied my apron around my waist while walking towards the back door. I pulled it so tight that I was forced to undo the knot and start over. Starting over was one of my least favorite things, and there I was being forced to do it again.
Not that I would dare let Vinnie hear me complaining. Most high school football coaches never got the chance to coach at the college level. The job at Kelley was a real chance for Vinnie to prove himself. And because I relied on Vinnie—and Gabby—for so much, that meant I had to pick up and move, too.
Whether I liked it or not.
And I didn't.
"Veronica, is that you?" Hazel's voice called out the second I started to pull the back door open.
"It's me," I confirmed as I slipped inside.
A row of metal kitchen equipment greeted me. I dodged around it all as I followed the sounds of splashing water. My mouth dropped open in horror when I came to Hazel standing near the kitchen sink surrounded by a puddle of water.
"Yeah, there's a bit of a mess I'm afraid." Panic laced her voice when she said, "Oh, shoot—I forgot—Do you think you could figure the bar out for a few minutes without me? I got distracted back here and I still owe the corner booth a Cosmo and a Coke."
"A Cosmo? Is Carrie Bradshaw sitting in your corner booth? And did walking in through the back door somehow time warp me back to the nineties?"
I bit my lip to keep from spewing out any more nonsense. Making fun of the customers probably wasn't the best choice for my first day. Hazel surprised me though, bursting out into laughter.
"I'd say that one's more of a Charlotte than a Carrie."
"Poor thing." I rested my hand over my heart jokingly. "My sister-in-law is a Charlotte, too."
A mischievous glint appeared in Hazel's eyes. "I like to think of myself as quite the Samantha. I'm sure I don't need to explain why."
I choked back a laugh as I pictured Hazel channeling Sex and the City's very own promiscuous cougar. It wasn't hard at all to picture Hazel in that role. She had to be in her sixties at least, but she definitely still had plenty of fire in her.
"Okay, so, Cosmo and Coke," I repeated, just to make sure I'd have the order right.
After she nodded, I strolled out to the bar and went to work fixing a laughably pink concoction. Despite my apprehension, mixing drinks came easily to me. I fought back the memories of learning to mix drinks on someone's back porch. Gin splashing over the edge of the glass when familiar arms wrapped around me. Lips pressing against the back of my neck. I cleared my throat, doing my best to force those memories back down in the imaginary box where I liked to keep them.
When the drinks were both set, I grabbed one and each hand and worked my way around the bar towards the corner booth that Hazel had mentioned. It was set just slightly out of view of the bar, so I didn't get a good look at the couple until I was halfway to them. The guy had his back to me, but I had a good view of the girlfriend. She was definitely a prim-and-proper Charlotte-type. She even had a short strand of pearls around her pale neck.
It was a little much if you asked me.
As I got closer, I focused my attention on the drinks so that I wouldn't stare at the Gabby look-alike sitting in the booth. "Here y'all go," I announced cheerfully.
It was just as I started to look up again that a familiar voice spoke, "Veronica?" causing me to stumble over my own feet.
His hand shot out to help steady me, but I shook him off. He had no right to touch me.
I felt as if my heart was beating in my throat as I stared uncomfortably at him. Muscles bulged on his body in places I distinctly remembered them not being before. The signature long hair he'd once wore was cropped. The sight of it baffled me so much that I was nearly tempted to reach out and touch it. I wasn't sure I'd have recognized him if it hadn't been for his voice.
He'd still been a boy when I'd known him. Now, Travis Olson was all man.
"What are you doing here?" I managed to say in a voice barely above a whisper.
He reached out and pried the two drinks out of my grasp. It was only then that I realized my hands were shaking. Sticky liquid had slid over the sides of the glasses and wet my fingers. I hid my traitorous hands behind my back, making what was surely a failed attempt to make the jerky motion look casual.
"I go to Kelley."
It took me a second to realize he was talking about the university. "You go to college?" I couldn't help the shock that leaked into my words.
His cheeks colored. Whether it was from anger or embarrassment—I wasn't sure.
"Are you going to replace our drinks?" the woman across from him piped up. "I don't mean to be rude, but you did spill nearly half of my drink."
My head turned and I stared at Gabby Jr. with renewed interest. Her returning stare was completely blank. With horror, I realized that she had no idea who I was. I'd never been able to make it through even a first date without at least one story about Travis leaking out. I guess I'd just always assumed he'd be off somewhere doing the same thing.
Apparently, while I'd been busy sabotaging myself by being stuck in the past, he'd been shacking up with Malibu-freaking-Barbie.
"He broke my arm," I blurted out.
The color drained from Travis' face as his lips twisted into a grimace. I dug my fingers into my sides anxiously. Only the slightest look of surprise crossed over Gabby Jr.'s face before she resumed her passive stare.
Travis rose from the booth, putting us far too close together. I took a half-step back.
"Outside," he barked at me. Apparently, I didn't start moving fast enough because he felt the need to add, "Now."
I folded my arms in front of me defensively, summoning up every last bit of strength I had. "I'm not going anywhere with you. We both remember what happened the last time I did."
"You don't get to—"
Whatever he was going to say was cut off when his companion stood up and jerked at his arm.
"Travis. You're drawing a lot of attention." She nodded pointedly towards the rest of the bar, where the few other patrons had begun to gawk at the scene we were making. "Let's just go."
Already, Gabby Jr. was reaching into her stupid, expensive purse and throwing a twenty dollar bill down on the table. I tried desperately not to mentally compare it to the cheap diaper bag that I usually carried, but I couldn't help it.
"I'm not going anywhere," he stated firmly as he stared down at me.
The woman huffed. "But Mack won't like—"
"Mack's not the coach anymore."
A realization started to form in my head. Travis hadn't seemed nearly as surprised to see me as I had been to see him. Plus, the reference to a coach. It could only mean…
"You're still playing football?" That surprised me even more than the discovery that he was in college. The last time I'd seen him, it had seemed pretty certain that he'd never play his beloved sport again.
"Yeah," he answered uneasily.
"Does Vinnie know?"
"Yeah," he repeated. "I ran into him already."
"Oh." No wonder Vinnie had been so desperate to try to talk to me.
Travis stepped towards me, lowering his voice as if he didn't want his girlfriend to hear him. "Ronnie, I think we should talk."
Hearing him call me by my nickname made my shoulders tense. "Don't call me that."
"Sorry. Veronica, then."
"Don't call me that, either."
He fell silent for a split-second before saying, "Hey, you. Let's talk," in a dead serious tone.
If the whole situation wasn't so fucked up it would have made me laugh. Travis had always been good at making me laugh. But I wasn't about to give him that kind of satisfaction.
"I have nothing to say to you," I forced myself to say in a voice that sounded far calmer than I felt.
"Laurel can tell you, this isn't a very big town. We're bound to keep running into each other. We should clear the air."
Gabby Jr.—Laurel—laid a comforting hand on Travis' arm. The sight of it made my stomach turn. I wasn't ready to see him with someone else. I was pretty sure I never would be. My head was throbbing as I took a step backward. Then another.
He took a step towards me as I retreated, almost as if he planned to follow me. Laurel tugged on his arm to stop him. She stretched up on her toes to whisper something into his ear. Whatever it was she said, it worked. He froze and watched silently as I retreated all the way to the bar. My eyes found his again just before I slipped into the kitchen.
It hurt to see how good he looked standing next to Malibu Barbie. They looked right together, and that only made my heart ache more.
"Everything okay?"
I turned around to find Hazel staring at me in concern. I could only imagine how ruffled I looked after that ordeal.
"Yeah," I lied. "Everything's fine."