34
Ididn’t tell the taxi to take me home. I didn’t want to be alone, but I also didn’t want to talk to anyone. I knew the perfect place.
When I walked into Walt’s bar Jessie immediately came to my side.
“Whiskey sour?” she asked, her voice full of empathy.
I nodded, knowing I wouldn't actually drink most of it. I didn’t want to get wasted. Hanging out at the bar was just better than going home, crying myself to sleep and waking up to nightmares.
I sat on a stool at the far end of the bar by myself. The bar patrons left me alone. They were used to my presence, so walking in wearing a leather corset and knee high boots didn’t cause a second look anymore. Besides, Walt, the bar’s owner, kept the guys in line. Any inappropriate words or comments and they were out on their ass.
Jessie kept throwing me worried looks so I knew Gael had told her at least part of the story. She spent the night busy with work so at least I didn’t have to talk to her.
I’d been there about half an hour, surfing mindlessly on my phone as I nursed my drink, when someone approached the table.
“Mind if I sit?” a young woman asked.
I looked up from the screen.
Natalie stood in front of me. A French braid pulled her hair back from her pretty oval face. My eyes immediately went to her ring.
She lifted her hand to give me a closer look. “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” She let out a happy sigh, her eyes going soft as she examined it for what was probably the thousandth time. “He did a perfect job of picking it out.”
“It looks good on you.”
And it did. The solitaire diamond in a platinum band had that sort of timeless, classic style perfectly suited to her.
“Do you mind if I sit?” she asked again, gesturing to the empty seat next to me.
Yes.
“No,” I said. Go ahead.”
She took a seat on the stool, not caring about the cracked leather with foam stuffing peeking out, or the bar’s sticky surface. Either she had gotten used to the place by now, or she really didn’t mind.
“Can I assume running into you isn’t a coincidence?” I asked.
She gave me a sympathetic look. “Gael called Jessie who called Morris who told me that you’d had a rough night.”
“You could say that.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
If I didn’t feel like talking to my own brother about it, I sure as hell didn’t want to talk to Morris’s fiancée.
“You don’t have to.” Natalie's eyes grew sad. “I just know how difficult it’s been for Morris recently. Especially today. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now.”
No. She couldn’t. Very few people could.
“I can do the talking, if you like,” she offered with a small smile. “It’s sort of my specialty.”
She’d come all the way and was sitting right next to me. I couldn’t very well say no without sounding like a bitch.
“What’s there to say?” I asked instead. “We all know what happened. We lost someone we loved. It was traumatic. But it’s been five years. We’ve worked through our issues. Today’s just harder than most. Tomorrow will be easier.”
“Have you?” she asked quietly
“Have I what?”
