The Promiscuous Escapades of a Blonde Bombshell: Chapter Thirteen
Masterpost
Disclaimer: I do not actually own anything Chase says. They are all Shania Twain lyrics, which I used as his dialogue due to a dare.
“We’re going to have to charge you tonight,” Trip informed Mars and I as we got our Ruby Pineapples.
“What? Why?” Mars seemed more upset about this than I was. She probably doesn’t know that David picks up her check.
Trip looked around and beckoned us closer. We leaned in so we could hear him. “The bar owner is here. He’s not exactly happy since he’s been sick with the flu for a week. Tori Mae and I both have to be extremely careful of what we do because it’s the monthly check up. If everything isn’t up to scratch, we’re both in trouble.”
“But you’ve been the only two on duty all week!” Mars said indignantly.
“Tell me about it. But he’s strict. This bar means everything to him. He set it up in hopes that the woman he lost would come back to him. It’s his only hope.”
“Then he needs a new hope,” Mars scoffed. She snatched her drink off the table and turned around to face the rest of the bar.
“Cass,” Tori Mae said. I went over to her. She pointed down the bar at a guy who looked like he was trying to drink his sorrows away. Beer mugs were piled around him and he stared straight ahead.
“He’s been here for two hours. I called him a cab and it should be here in five minutes, but I don’t know how I’m going to get him out the door. Can you help?”
“Yeah, sure.” Funny how the whole original plan has been scrapped, isn’t it? I took my drink over to sit next to him. He was wearing cowboy boots and a belt with a huge buckle. He didn’t look up, but he spoke suddenly.
“I’m jealous of the moon.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“If I were the moon, I could catch your eye.”
That’s sweet. “I’m Sydney.”
He tipped his head down and showed me his cap. The name ‘Chase’ was embroidered in a way that made me think it was personally done. “Nice to meet you Chase. Who created your hat?” He pulled out his wallet. A picture practically fell out. It was him, obviously, with a very pretty young girl.
“Her name’s Juanita,” he explained.
I looked at the setting. It looked like a prom. “Were you two high school sweethearts?”
He nodded. “We were lovers, we were friends.”
“That’s nice.” I handed the picture back to him. “What happened to her?” His face fell completely. It was kind of startling. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was such a touchy subject for you.” He started crying, tears spilling down his face. “Did you fight with her? Is that why you’re here?”
He nodded again. “We’ve slammed every door in anger ‘cause you can’t live on love. I worked night and day to keep us going.”
“Well I’m sure you do try your hardest to provide for her.” This guy is freaking me out. I’m not used to emotional breakdowns from guys that look like they should be in a bar scene of a country music video.
“Every night I’d pray I could give her enough.”
“And I’m sure you do. What does she do for a living? What is she?”
“A romance novelist,” he scoffed.
Wow. That’s an interesting contrast. “She’s probably wrapped up in her own world. Don’t worry if you forgot to do something.” This was apparently the wrong thing to say. His face crumpled in pain again.
“Did I neglect all that mattered?”
“If you paid attention to her and listened to her, instead of focusing on how comfortable she is, you didn’t neglect her at all.”
“Was I chasing rainbows, blinded by the sun?”
“No, you weren’t. The fight probably wasn’t as bad as you’re making it out to be.”
“She’s going home to mama,” he admitted.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, that’s bad, I’ll agree with you there. But you’ll get over your broken heart soon. Trust me.”
“My heart only breaks when it’s beating.”
I took his chin in my hand. “I know. I’ve been where you are. I was there this time last week.” I looked him in the eyes and he met my gaze. “It will get better.”
“I’m such a sucker for your eyes.”
Well, that was unexpected.
“They permanently paralyze.”
He’s totally drunk. Might as well give what he wants. He leaned in to kiss me and I gave in. His technique was horrible due to the amount of alcohol he had consumed. He barely moved his lips or tongue at all.
“I want you to hold me all night.”
I pushed him away. “No. That may be what you want, but it’s not what you need. What you need to do is go home to Juanita. Stop her from packing. Show her you still love her.”
“When will we make up?”
“If you do what I tell you, soon. Trust me. Now go. There’s a cab waiting for you,” I said. I turned him around and pushed him toward the door. The cab Tori Mae called earlier had better be waiting. I don’t want to deal with him any longer. I watched a stumble-down drunk cowboy, well, stumble down, then right himself and walk away.
“You know,” Trip said. “That was a very nice thing you did right there.”
“What?”
“Giving him advice. Sending him back without being harsh.”
“I hope they work out all right.”
“Me too.”
I finished my Ruby Pineapple. I caught sight of a man standing in a corner. He looked like he was familiar, but didn’t look right in a suit. What was creepy was the fact that he was staring at Mars. He watched as she and David danced in the middle of the room, not even bothering to keep a beat with the song playing on the radio. I was getting even more creeped out by the glances he occasionally shot at me. When Mars headed over to me, I almost tried to tell her not to because of the creepy guy. Before I could say anything, the creepy guy spoke.
“Marly.”
It was a quiet word, but it made me freeze. Mars hadn’t heard it, so she kept coming. When she got closer, he said it again, this time a little louder.
“Marly.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. I knew why. Only one person had ever called her Marly. Everyone else had always called her Mars, or Marlene, if they were one of the people who knew her as that. There was only one person who had ever been allowed to call her Marly, and he was the reason that she had changed her name to Mars. If she took out the “l” then no one could call her Marly and remind her of him.
“Marly, it’s me.”
Mars looked like she was about to faint. I couldn’t blame her. I was still frozen to my seat. I was scared for her. There was no telling what this guy was going to do. She had ticked him off last time he saw her. He could go off on her or try to hurt her.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
I got off my bar stool and marched over to her. I put an arm around her shoulder to help support her. “What do you want, Todd?”
He didn’t seem to hear me. “Marly, it’s me. Todd. Todd Bell. I knew this would work. I knew that you would eventually come to a place with a name like this. I hoped you would. Marly, you look just as beautiful as always. More beautiful. You are stunning.”
Mars just stood there, still as a statue. I wasn’t sure if I wanted David to come over here or not. On the one hand, he might get rid of Todd. On the other, he might get awkward and say something that let Mars go back to Todd.
“Todd,” I repeated. His eyes snapped to me.
“Cassidy?”
“Cass.”
“Cassidy McCall. I remember you. You were such a pain in my side sometimes, but a good friend. Are you still close with Marly here?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yes, I guess you are. Huh. So how are you?”
“What do you want, Todd?”
He looked taken aback. “No, ‘I’m fine, how are you’? My, my, someone needs to teach you some manners.”
“And someone needs to teach you when to let go. Mars has moved on.”
“Mars?” He looked around, confused. “Who is Mars?” Then he looked at the arm I still had wrapped around my best friend’s shoulders. “You go by Mars now? I can understand not wanting to be called Marlene. I mean, that name was incredibly old-fashioned. But Mars?” He gasped. “You’re not a lesbian now, are you?”
That woke Mars up. “I sure as hell am not a lesbian! I just wanted you to not be able to find me. I wanted to forget you, you lying, cheating bastard!” She was shaking with anger now. “You made my life heaven on earth at first. And then you made it a living hell. I wanted you to leave me alone so I could get on with my life. I didn’t want you crawling back all apologetic so that I would feel like I had to take you back. That wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to know I could trust someone, and I know I can’t trust you. So walk out of here and leave me the hell alone.” Her shoulders were heaving with the force of what she had just said. But I knew there was one problem.
“You see, darling,” Todd said, “I don’t have to leave.”
“I’m close with the bartenders. I can have you thrown out.”
“But you see, I’m the owner. What I say, goes. If I decided to stop serving martinis, they would stop serving martinis. If I want to throw someone out, they get thrown out. And if I want to stay, then I sure as hell am going to stay.” As if to illustrate his point, he sat on a bar stool and propped his feet up on the bar. “So you might want to be nice to me.”
Mars started toward him, her arm raised.
“No, Mars!” I grabbed her arm. I knew she was going to try to slap him, and that would have been a very bad thing. He just laughed.
“I forgot about that fiery temper you had, girl. I knew this would work eventually.”
“You planned this?” she hissed through her teeth.
“Of course I did. Don’t you remember? One of our dorm front picnics, we started pairing random foods and colors. You said you could never imagine a purple coconut. I knew the name would draw you in eventually.”
“It wasn’t the name that got me.”
“It was the drink wasn’t it? The Ruby Pineapple? That was another one we came up with together.”
“It wasn’t anything I did.”
“Really? Then why are you here?”
“My boyfriend brought me here.”
That shut him up.
For a few seconds.
“Boyfriend.”
“That’s right. My boyfriend.” My heart lifted a little to hear Mars call David her boyfriend. Maybe they’ll get a happy ending eventually. “I asked out a guy at the store and he brought me here. That was a week ago. We’ve been coming here nearly every night with Cass here.” She stepped back and threw her arm around my shoulder. “She and I have been having a little fun with the guys here. You know, making friends, making fun of guys that dump their girlfriends after cheating on them, that kind of thing. You actually ought to thank us. We’ve even chased a few guys out of here. There was one… What was his name again, Cass?”
“Chase? Sammy? Alex? Richard? Stephen? John? That’s all.”
“It was John.”
I looked at Todd and shook my head. “I didn’t like John. He quoted Shakespeare and not in a flattering way.”
“Anyway, Cass here made him chase her out of the bar, and then he got in his car and chased a carload of a bachelorette party down the street. And then the next night, she ended up in a YouTube video. She sang a karaoke song to bash her ex-boyfriend, she kissed a model, she talked to a guy that sang the song that gets on everybody’s nerves, and tonight, she got a guy to go back to his girl. She effectively increased the likability of your clientele by weeding out the not so savory ones. And all because she got dumped. You know what I did when you dumped me to marry that slutty cheerleader?”
“You slept with all of my friends.”
“Wrong. You thought I slept with them all. I didn’t sleep with any of them, but I made sure they were seen with me. Once they thought they were going to sleep with me, I bolted. And it was all to get over you.”
“Why did you have to try to get over me? I was right there. I wanted you to take me back.”
“And that was the problem. You wanted forgiveness, but you weren’t putting forth any of the effort to get it. And you know what?” She stepped away from me, but not quickly. That’s how I knew it was safe to let her go over to him. “Life’s not fair. You have to work for what you want.” She tapped his nose and turned back toward me. She was finally done with him. I felt a sense of finality in what she said.
Apparently Todd didn’t.
“I want you. I worked for you. I got my act together, borrowed capital to set this place up, made a killing and paid back everything I owed. In less than a year, I’ve gone from being a recently divorced, recently dumped, graduate to a successful business man. I have everything I want. A snap of my fingers and it’s there. Except one thing. You. I have never stopped thinking about you. I love you so much. I miss you. And I think you still love me too.”
That stopped Mars completely.
“I don’t love you. Not anymore.”
“Then why haven’t you made up with your family?”
How did he know that?
“I went and visited them. I thought if I was better off, maybe I could convince them to give us their blessing. I get there and find out that not only are you not there, you haven’t been there since that morning you ran off with me. If you were really over me, you would have at least talked to one of them. But they haven’t heard from you. I wonder why that is.”
She was quiet for a few moments. The music from the speakers came through my consciousness and into the conversation.
“Anything would have broken me off from my family,” she said finally. “It just happened to be you.”
“Hey, listen-”
“NO YOU LISTEN!” she screamed. “I’M DONE WITH YOU! NO MORE! YOU MEAN NOTHING TO ME! If you try to talk to me again, I will walk around you like you are a piece of trash.”
She marched away, not even looking back as he called, “Marly!” She went straight out the door, not stopping at all. I went and found David sitting at the bar, talking with Trip.
“We’re done here. Mars needs to go home.”
He was suddenly at attention. “Is she sick or something?”
“It’s nothing permanent,” I muttered. “But I know her and I know she needs to go home. Now.”
“Let’s go.”
He practically sprinted out the door. Trip caught me as I turned. “What’s wrong?”
“Your boss is a jerk. I’ll explain everything later.” When I got outside, he was trying to get Mars to talk to him. I put a hand on his shoulder. “Let it go.”
“What’s wrong?”
“She’ll tell you when she’s ready. Now is not a good time.”
“If something’s wrong, I have a right to know.”
I clenched my teeth and tugged at my hair. “Fine! She ran into her ex tonight, okay? He owns the bar. He says he still loves her. She changed her name to stay away from him, and he still found her. That’s all I’m going to tell you. Everything else is her story to tell you when she’s ready.” I grabbed the remote unlocker in his hand and pressed the button. Mars got into the back seat and I crawled in next to her. Her hands were still shaking.
By the time we got back to Happy Havens, she had appeared to calm down on the surface, but I could tell it was bubbling just out of sight. She kicked the door open as soon as the car was in park. David went to turn off the car, but I stopped him. “She needs time. I’ll make sure she calls you tomorrow.” He looked like he really wanted to follow her up to the apartment and hold her until she felt better, like he had the night she was sick, but he nodded. I got out of the car and went around to the other side to shut the door Mars had left open. He backed out of the parking spot and sped off, back the direction we had come.
I ran up the stairs, two at a time. Mars had left the front door open, so went in and shut it behind me. I went into her room and saw her throwing pillows around the room. I just stood there and let her get all the frustration out. After a few minutes, the swings got weaker and weaker, until she finally stopped. When her arms stopped moving, I noticed her face had tear tracks running down it. I stepped into her room tentatively, holding my arms up for a hug. She ran at me, and fell into my arms. She started sobbing, crying so hard she couldn’t hold herself up. I gently set both of us down on the ground, our backs to the foot of her bed. She just cried and I held her tighter, as if that could keep the pieces from flying apart again.
Chapter Fourteen
Disclaimer: I do not actually own anything Chase says. They are all Shania Twain lyrics, which I used as his dialogue due to a dare.
“We’re going to have to charge you tonight,” Trip informed Mars and I as we got our Ruby Pineapples.
“What? Why?” Mars seemed more upset about this than I was. She probably doesn’t know that David picks up her check.
Trip looked around and beckoned us closer. We leaned in so we could hear him. “The bar owner is here. He’s not exactly happy since he’s been sick with the flu for a week. Tori Mae and I both have to be extremely careful of what we do because it’s the monthly check up. If everything isn’t up to scratch, we’re both in trouble.”
“But you’ve been the only two on duty all week!” Mars said indignantly.
“Tell me about it. But he’s strict. This bar means everything to him. He set it up in hopes that the woman he lost would come back to him. It’s his only hope.”
“Then he needs a new hope,” Mars scoffed. She snatched her drink off the table and turned around to face the rest of the bar.
“Cass,” Tori Mae said. I went over to her. She pointed down the bar at a guy who looked like he was trying to drink his sorrows away. Beer mugs were piled around him and he stared straight ahead.
“He’s been here for two hours. I called him a cab and it should be here in five minutes, but I don’t know how I’m going to get him out the door. Can you help?”
“Yeah, sure.” Funny how the whole original plan has been scrapped, isn’t it? I took my drink over to sit next to him. He was wearing cowboy boots and a belt with a huge buckle. He didn’t look up, but he spoke suddenly.
“I’m jealous of the moon.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“If I were the moon, I could catch your eye.”
That’s sweet. “I’m Sydney.”
He tipped his head down and showed me his cap. The name ‘Chase’ was embroidered in a way that made me think it was personally done. “Nice to meet you Chase. Who created your hat?” He pulled out his wallet. A picture practically fell out. It was him, obviously, with a very pretty young girl.
“Her name’s Juanita,” he explained.
I looked at the setting. It looked like a prom. “Were you two high school sweethearts?”
He nodded. “We were lovers, we were friends.”
“That’s nice.” I handed the picture back to him. “What happened to her?” His face fell completely. It was kind of startling. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was such a touchy subject for you.” He started crying, tears spilling down his face. “Did you fight with her? Is that why you’re here?”
He nodded again. “We’ve slammed every door in anger ‘cause you can’t live on love. I worked night and day to keep us going.”
“Well I’m sure you do try your hardest to provide for her.” This guy is freaking me out. I’m not used to emotional breakdowns from guys that look like they should be in a bar scene of a country music video.
“Every night I’d pray I could give her enough.”
“And I’m sure you do. What does she do for a living? What is she?”
“A romance novelist,” he scoffed.
Wow. That’s an interesting contrast. “She’s probably wrapped up in her own world. Don’t worry if you forgot to do something.” This was apparently the wrong thing to say. His face crumpled in pain again.
“Did I neglect all that mattered?”
“If you paid attention to her and listened to her, instead of focusing on how comfortable she is, you didn’t neglect her at all.”
“Was I chasing rainbows, blinded by the sun?”
“No, you weren’t. The fight probably wasn’t as bad as you’re making it out to be.”
“She’s going home to mama,” he admitted.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, that’s bad, I’ll agree with you there. But you’ll get over your broken heart soon. Trust me.”
“My heart only breaks when it’s beating.”
I took his chin in my hand. “I know. I’ve been where you are. I was there this time last week.” I looked him in the eyes and he met my gaze. “It will get better.”
“I’m such a sucker for your eyes.”
Well, that was unexpected.
“They permanently paralyze.”
He’s totally drunk. Might as well give what he wants. He leaned in to kiss me and I gave in. His technique was horrible due to the amount of alcohol he had consumed. He barely moved his lips or tongue at all.
“I want you to hold me all night.”
I pushed him away. “No. That may be what you want, but it’s not what you need. What you need to do is go home to Juanita. Stop her from packing. Show her you still love her.”
“When will we make up?”
“If you do what I tell you, soon. Trust me. Now go. There’s a cab waiting for you,” I said. I turned him around and pushed him toward the door. The cab Tori Mae called earlier had better be waiting. I don’t want to deal with him any longer. I watched a stumble-down drunk cowboy, well, stumble down, then right himself and walk away.
“You know,” Trip said. “That was a very nice thing you did right there.”
“What?”
“Giving him advice. Sending him back without being harsh.”
“I hope they work out all right.”
“Me too.”
I finished my Ruby Pineapple. I caught sight of a man standing in a corner. He looked like he was familiar, but didn’t look right in a suit. What was creepy was the fact that he was staring at Mars. He watched as she and David danced in the middle of the room, not even bothering to keep a beat with the song playing on the radio. I was getting even more creeped out by the glances he occasionally shot at me. When Mars headed over to me, I almost tried to tell her not to because of the creepy guy. Before I could say anything, the creepy guy spoke.
“Marly.”
It was a quiet word, but it made me freeze. Mars hadn’t heard it, so she kept coming. When she got closer, he said it again, this time a little louder.
“Marly.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. I knew why. Only one person had ever called her Marly. Everyone else had always called her Mars, or Marlene, if they were one of the people who knew her as that. There was only one person who had ever been allowed to call her Marly, and he was the reason that she had changed her name to Mars. If she took out the “l” then no one could call her Marly and remind her of him.
“Marly, it’s me.”
Mars looked like she was about to faint. I couldn’t blame her. I was still frozen to my seat. I was scared for her. There was no telling what this guy was going to do. She had ticked him off last time he saw her. He could go off on her or try to hurt her.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
I got off my bar stool and marched over to her. I put an arm around her shoulder to help support her. “What do you want, Todd?”
He didn’t seem to hear me. “Marly, it’s me. Todd. Todd Bell. I knew this would work. I knew that you would eventually come to a place with a name like this. I hoped you would. Marly, you look just as beautiful as always. More beautiful. You are stunning.”
Mars just stood there, still as a statue. I wasn’t sure if I wanted David to come over here or not. On the one hand, he might get rid of Todd. On the other, he might get awkward and say something that let Mars go back to Todd.
“Todd,” I repeated. His eyes snapped to me.
“Cassidy?”
“Cass.”
“Cassidy McCall. I remember you. You were such a pain in my side sometimes, but a good friend. Are you still close with Marly here?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yes, I guess you are. Huh. So how are you?”
“What do you want, Todd?”
He looked taken aback. “No, ‘I’m fine, how are you’? My, my, someone needs to teach you some manners.”
“And someone needs to teach you when to let go. Mars has moved on.”
“Mars?” He looked around, confused. “Who is Mars?” Then he looked at the arm I still had wrapped around my best friend’s shoulders. “You go by Mars now? I can understand not wanting to be called Marlene. I mean, that name was incredibly old-fashioned. But Mars?” He gasped. “You’re not a lesbian now, are you?”
That woke Mars up. “I sure as hell am not a lesbian! I just wanted you to not be able to find me. I wanted to forget you, you lying, cheating bastard!” She was shaking with anger now. “You made my life heaven on earth at first. And then you made it a living hell. I wanted you to leave me alone so I could get on with my life. I didn’t want you crawling back all apologetic so that I would feel like I had to take you back. That wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to know I could trust someone, and I know I can’t trust you. So walk out of here and leave me the hell alone.” Her shoulders were heaving with the force of what she had just said. But I knew there was one problem.
“You see, darling,” Todd said, “I don’t have to leave.”
“I’m close with the bartenders. I can have you thrown out.”
“But you see, I’m the owner. What I say, goes. If I decided to stop serving martinis, they would stop serving martinis. If I want to throw someone out, they get thrown out. And if I want to stay, then I sure as hell am going to stay.” As if to illustrate his point, he sat on a bar stool and propped his feet up on the bar. “So you might want to be nice to me.”
Mars started toward him, her arm raised.
“No, Mars!” I grabbed her arm. I knew she was going to try to slap him, and that would have been a very bad thing. He just laughed.
“I forgot about that fiery temper you had, girl. I knew this would work eventually.”
“You planned this?” she hissed through her teeth.
“Of course I did. Don’t you remember? One of our dorm front picnics, we started pairing random foods and colors. You said you could never imagine a purple coconut. I knew the name would draw you in eventually.”
“It wasn’t the name that got me.”
“It was the drink wasn’t it? The Ruby Pineapple? That was another one we came up with together.”
“It wasn’t anything I did.”
“Really? Then why are you here?”
“My boyfriend brought me here.”
That shut him up.
For a few seconds.
“Boyfriend.”
“That’s right. My boyfriend.” My heart lifted a little to hear Mars call David her boyfriend. Maybe they’ll get a happy ending eventually. “I asked out a guy at the store and he brought me here. That was a week ago. We’ve been coming here nearly every night with Cass here.” She stepped back and threw her arm around my shoulder. “She and I have been having a little fun with the guys here. You know, making friends, making fun of guys that dump their girlfriends after cheating on them, that kind of thing. You actually ought to thank us. We’ve even chased a few guys out of here. There was one… What was his name again, Cass?”
“Chase? Sammy? Alex? Richard? Stephen? John? That’s all.”
“It was John.”
I looked at Todd and shook my head. “I didn’t like John. He quoted Shakespeare and not in a flattering way.”
“Anyway, Cass here made him chase her out of the bar, and then he got in his car and chased a carload of a bachelorette party down the street. And then the next night, she ended up in a YouTube video. She sang a karaoke song to bash her ex-boyfriend, she kissed a model, she talked to a guy that sang the song that gets on everybody’s nerves, and tonight, she got a guy to go back to his girl. She effectively increased the likability of your clientele by weeding out the not so savory ones. And all because she got dumped. You know what I did when you dumped me to marry that slutty cheerleader?”
“You slept with all of my friends.”
“Wrong. You thought I slept with them all. I didn’t sleep with any of them, but I made sure they were seen with me. Once they thought they were going to sleep with me, I bolted. And it was all to get over you.”
“Why did you have to try to get over me? I was right there. I wanted you to take me back.”
“And that was the problem. You wanted forgiveness, but you weren’t putting forth any of the effort to get it. And you know what?” She stepped away from me, but not quickly. That’s how I knew it was safe to let her go over to him. “Life’s not fair. You have to work for what you want.” She tapped his nose and turned back toward me. She was finally done with him. I felt a sense of finality in what she said.
Apparently Todd didn’t.
“I want you. I worked for you. I got my act together, borrowed capital to set this place up, made a killing and paid back everything I owed. In less than a year, I’ve gone from being a recently divorced, recently dumped, graduate to a successful business man. I have everything I want. A snap of my fingers and it’s there. Except one thing. You. I have never stopped thinking about you. I love you so much. I miss you. And I think you still love me too.”
That stopped Mars completely.
“I don’t love you. Not anymore.”
“Then why haven’t you made up with your family?”
How did he know that?
“I went and visited them. I thought if I was better off, maybe I could convince them to give us their blessing. I get there and find out that not only are you not there, you haven’t been there since that morning you ran off with me. If you were really over me, you would have at least talked to one of them. But they haven’t heard from you. I wonder why that is.”
She was quiet for a few moments. The music from the speakers came through my consciousness and into the conversation.
“Anything would have broken me off from my family,” she said finally. “It just happened to be you.”
“Hey, listen-”
“NO YOU LISTEN!” she screamed. “I’M DONE WITH YOU! NO MORE! YOU MEAN NOTHING TO ME! If you try to talk to me again, I will walk around you like you are a piece of trash.”
She marched away, not even looking back as he called, “Marly!” She went straight out the door, not stopping at all. I went and found David sitting at the bar, talking with Trip.
“We’re done here. Mars needs to go home.”
He was suddenly at attention. “Is she sick or something?”
“It’s nothing permanent,” I muttered. “But I know her and I know she needs to go home. Now.”
“Let’s go.”
He practically sprinted out the door. Trip caught me as I turned. “What’s wrong?”
“Your boss is a jerk. I’ll explain everything later.” When I got outside, he was trying to get Mars to talk to him. I put a hand on his shoulder. “Let it go.”
“What’s wrong?”
“She’ll tell you when she’s ready. Now is not a good time.”
“If something’s wrong, I have a right to know.”
I clenched my teeth and tugged at my hair. “Fine! She ran into her ex tonight, okay? He owns the bar. He says he still loves her. She changed her name to stay away from him, and he still found her. That’s all I’m going to tell you. Everything else is her story to tell you when she’s ready.” I grabbed the remote unlocker in his hand and pressed the button. Mars got into the back seat and I crawled in next to her. Her hands were still shaking.
By the time we got back to Happy Havens, she had appeared to calm down on the surface, but I could tell it was bubbling just out of sight. She kicked the door open as soon as the car was in park. David went to turn off the car, but I stopped him. “She needs time. I’ll make sure she calls you tomorrow.” He looked like he really wanted to follow her up to the apartment and hold her until she felt better, like he had the night she was sick, but he nodded. I got out of the car and went around to the other side to shut the door Mars had left open. He backed out of the parking spot and sped off, back the direction we had come.
I ran up the stairs, two at a time. Mars had left the front door open, so went in and shut it behind me. I went into her room and saw her throwing pillows around the room. I just stood there and let her get all the frustration out. After a few minutes, the swings got weaker and weaker, until she finally stopped. When her arms stopped moving, I noticed her face had tear tracks running down it. I stepped into her room tentatively, holding my arms up for a hug. She ran at me, and fell into my arms. She started sobbing, crying so hard she couldn’t hold herself up. I gently set both of us down on the ground, our backs to the foot of her bed. She just cried and I held her tighter, as if that could keep the pieces from flying apart again.
Chapter Fourteen