We all watch her go until Kyle speaks. “If you’ll excuse me, ladies. It was nice meeting you all.” Our eyes watch as he follows the same path that Violet just took.
“What the fuck just happened?!” Surprisingly, that was Sadie and not Keely. I guess the colorful vocabulary is catching.
“No clue,” says Keely in a breathy voice. “But go Violet go. That guy was smokin’ hot.”
“He was but Violet’s reaction was strange. Don’t you think?” I ask the girls.
Sadie nods, “I agree. She practically sprinted to the back of the bar.”
Aggie nods as she finishes off yet another glass of beer. “And he sprinted off after her.” Aggie’s eyebrows move up and down. “Maybe Vi’s finally gonna get some.”
I stare at Agatha because that’s not something she’d normally say. It must be the beer. “A hangover isn’t going to help you,” I say stating the obvious.
“Shush up, Lainie. I just need to forget for a while. Tomorrow will come soon enough. That’s when I’ll have to figure out how to get a job when the one I’ve had for the last eight years is no longer a viable reference.” She pours a fresh glass from the pitcher. “No one is going to hire me. I’ll have to sell my pretty little house and move in with dad.” A big, wet tear slides down her cheek.
“No. I’m sure if we put our heads together, we’ll figure this out.”
“No, you’ve got your own mystery to solve. I’ll be fine.” She looks at me and smiles. “I promise. The wounds are just fresh today. Tomorrow will be a better day.”
Violet returns from the bathroom sans the cute guy.
“Where’s Kyle?” Keely teases.
“Gone.” Violet reaches out and grabs Keely’s beer, drinking the entire glass in seconds.
I stare at Violet. It’s then I see how hard she’s working to get her breath under control. Her face is red too. “Vi? You okay?”
“Fine.” She sips her glass of clear liquid. Water? She hasn’t been drinking at all tonight or much at all lately. I’d like to ask her more, but I can tell she’s done talking about Kyle and whatever just happened.
“How do you know Kyle?”
“From UA,” she says quickly.
After graduating high school, Violet went to the University of Arizona, but she quit in the middle of her first year. None of us really knows why she quit only that, ‘she didn’t like it there’ and using the excuse that Tucson was too far away from all of us. I guess that’s a good enough reason. She’s since returned to college but is doing it as a commuter and attending Coconino Community College.
After the food is gone and the beer has been drunk, we all hug and kiss cheeks with the promise that we’ll talk soon. They all agree to email me until we know what’s going on with my phone. I promise to only read them on my computer at GCM. It seems the safest course of action right now. Not only that, I don’t want Lewis to get wind of Agatha’s problems. He knows everyone in this town and he’s got a big mouth.
And, dang, so much happened I didn’t tell them about my date. Next time.
