“I know. It’s just family stuff. Don’t worry about it.”
I sighed, wishing I could unload on someone. But my problems were not for her to worry about. If there was one person who needed a break in life, it was Nora. That meant not adding to her worries.
“All right, Estrella, I’ll let it go for now. But promise you’ll come to me before you do anything stupid.”
I snorted at the thought. “You’ve met me, right? The most illegal thing I’ve ever done is get a parking ticket.”
She studied me for a few seconds and hugged me close. “How were the kids tonight?”
And there was yet another reason why she was one of my best friends and why I would do anything for her. She read me like nobody else; a topic change was exactly what I needed.
“They were great. Lena took a while to go to sleep, but Luca passed right out the second his head hit the pillow. How was work?”
“Same old shit. Too many drunks, not enough staff.”
“You should really get a job somewhere else. Humptulips is small, but there are a lot of bars. Even if it’s just to get away from creepy Harry.”
“There isn’t anywhere else that pays as well. There might be a lot of bars but only one strip club. And I can handle creepy Harry.”
Nora had been working in the town’s one and only strip club for about a year now. And she was right, it paid much better than anywhere else. If she didn’t have a stalker, it would be a great place to work. But taking a pay cut would be worth it just to get away from him. He was obsessed with her, and it was only made worse by the fact that he was a bouncer at the club. Nora shrugged it off whenever I brought it up, not taking him seriously.
“This is one of the few times I wish I still had money,” I said and sat up again. “Then I could help you out and you could go back to school.”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about me. I’m good. I have a roof over my head, beautiful kids, and food in the house. People are way worse off than I am. And the one thing I would never want you to do is go back home again.”
I suppressed the hysterical laugh that wanted to escape. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
There was nothing left there for me, and the last thing I wanted was to see my mother again.
She got up and smiled. “Enough with the doom and gloom. Let’s have a drink.” Her head disappeared inside the fridge. “I think I still have a few beers somewhere in here.”
Extricating herself from the appliance, she lifted two bottles up in triumph. “I knew it.”
We toasted to the good things in life like wet wipes and James Fraser, and neither one of us mentioned families or work. In just a few months Nora had become one of my best friends and one of the reasons why I was reluctant to leave Humptulips behind.
It was Friday. Beautiful, long-awaited, glorious Friday. The week had been busy, and I was finally settling in. Mason was blissfully absent, and when he needed to place an order he just emailed me a list. I decided to get comfortable and started playing 90s rock anthems, wore warm fuzzy socks when I was at my desk, and brought my teapot to work today.
The guys were booked out every day, so I started a waiting list. It didn’t help that we were one man down with Jameson being away. Word had spread that Drake’s garage did the best rebuilds in the state, and after being in business for two years, all their hard work had started paying off.
It was almost closing time and I was eyeing the clock on my desk. Willing it to turn to 5:00 p.m., I cringed when the door chime sounded, announcing a customer. I only had ten minutes to go.
“Welcome to Drake’s garage, how can I help you?” I said in my best customer-service voice, honed by many hours in front of the mirror. What could I say, I was a perfectionist. And getting the voice just right was a job in itself.
“I know my way around. No need to get up,” the bombshell from the other day said, then walked toward the back door. I smiled at her, using my best customer-service smile that hopefully masked my annoyance. Her dress was so short, it barely covered her ass. Her hair was big, her lips bright red, and she used a heavy hand with her makeup. I felt bad for judging her; she could be a nice person after all. But I was hungry, which always put me in a bitchy mood.
She breezed past me without another word. See if I cared that some people didn’t know how to use basic manners. A hello would have done nicely. Much to my annoyance, I compared my ragged appearance with her perfect one. I eyed the stain on the front of my white blouse, a casualty from the donut I’d eaten this morning, and started scrubbing it with my finger.
Since it had been there for hours and was dry, my endeavor was pointless.
When the doorbell chimed again, I was ready to hide under my desk and tell whoever came inside that we were closed. It was 4:58.
“Welcome to Drake’s garage…,” I started to say but words escaped me as soon as I saw who had come inside. My mouth was moving but no sound came out.
“So this is where you work now. I had to hear it from Senator Bayden. I didn’t believe him when he told me you were working in the office of the garage where he got his car restored,” my mother said, looking around the room with her nose turned up. Her black suit was without a stain, fluff, or wrinkle, and her heels were shiny and unblemished, most likely brand new. Her hair was artfully arranged into a bun at the back of her head and her makeup was applied with precision, nothing smudged, nothing too bright.
One thing she didn’t like was seeking out people, and her narrowed eyes made her displeasure clear. The fact that I hadn’t been home in well over six months hadn’t sent a clear enough message…obviously. I was under the illusion that if I stayed away and pretended she didn’t exist, I could stay under the radar. But it was only that, an illusion. My ignorance just caught up with me.
This wasn’t the first time she had tracked me down. Last time I ended up hiding out at Maisie’s place for a few weeks. The time before that I stayed at Willa’s. They both knew bits and pieces about my mother, and I’m sure they put the rest together.
