"How old is Dana?" I ask.
"Twenty-three."
"What? How? Why?" I can't decide which question I want to ask.
"Fuck, man, I don't know. I could've asked a lot more questions, but I ultimately figured that I didn't really want to know"
"Fair enough. I don't mean this to sound weird, but you don't seem very broken up about it.”
"It happened four months ago."
"Four months? Why didn't you say anything?"
"Eh, I didn't want to talk about it"
I understand that concept better than most, so I get where he's coming from.
He adds, "I guess it just wasn't meant to be"
How very evolved of him.
We go on about our evening, knocking back a couple more beers and shooting the shit. The most fun part of all of it is people watching. At a bar with a name like Giddy Ups, you see some crazy characters.
When a pool table opens up, Adam asks if I want to play. Grabbing our beers, we head to the other side of the bar. Unfortunately, the moment we get over there, I want to turn right back around.
Bent over one of the pool tables, trying to hit a tricky shot, is none other than Jo Lawson.
How do I know it’s her without seeing her face? I’d know that ass anywhere.
What the fuck is she doing here?
As she stands up, Adam gets a look at her. “Hey, look! Jo’s here!”
“I see that,” I say, not able to fully hide my annoyance.
It’s been a few days since Jo and I had our encounter at the animal shelter. We saw each other at the shop in passing, but thankfully, we have had no direct contact. I don’t think I’m about to get as lucky tonight.
Adam and I walk over to the empty table. While he’s racking up the balls, I can’t help but look to see what Jo is doing. She’s finishing up a game with two guys. Judging from the stack of cash sitting on the outer corner, I’m guessing they’ve got some money on the game.
Clearly, they don’t know her because if they did, they’d know better than to bet against her in a game of pool.
Her pool skills aren’t the only thing garnering her a ton of attention, but it’s also the fact that she’s wearing cut off jean shorts, a ribbed tank top, and her Converse sneakers. She’s underdressed for how cold it is outside, but that’s never stopped Jo from showing a little skin.
The men she’s playing with can’t seem to take their eyes off of her. It’s not so much that they are gawking or even surprised by her skills. It’s that Jo’s entire persona demands attention—not in a pick me kind of way but in a way that her mere presence commands everyone and everything around her.
As she moves to walk to the other side of the table, I look down at her legs. I notice the big scar she has on her knee. I remember when she got it. We were probably around thirteen and decided to ride our bikes on some of the trails that wind through the mountains surrounding Lilly Leaf Falls. We were going way too fast, and she hit a fallen tree branch and flew off over the handlebars. She smacked her knee on a rock and had a huge gash. We were nowhere close to home, but tough Jo managed to walk all the way back. I offered to help, but she’d never hear of it. By the time we got back, she looked like the surviving character in a horror movie. She ended up with about thirty stitches and one hell of a scar.
While that’s still there, she’s now added a large tattoo on her other leg. It looks like dark green vines that snake from her feet all the way up to her hip. Between the vines, there are brightly colored flowers scattered through.
I try to ignore how sexy it is. I also try to ignore the voice in my head that wonders what other tattoos she has under the clothing.
“Do you want to shoot first?” Adam asks, pulling me to back to reality.
“No, go ahead.”
He shoots his shot and only knocks in one ball. We start playing through, but after a while, it becomes hard to concentrate. A small crowd forms around Jo’s table. Of course, Adam wants to see what’s going on, so we pause what we are doing.
Their game is nearing its conclusion, and the guy she’s playing against scratches, so it’s Jo’s turn. Her opponent has the cockiest grin on his face, thinking there’s no way she’s going to be able to hit this shot.
