Between Now and Heartbreak - Dylan Allen Page 0,66
feel, but that I’m clinging to. Without it, I’d be too scared to walk in there tonight.
“I wish you’d wait. Let me finish this interview and then I’ll come with you.”
“He’ll be gone by then. And then we’ll have to break into his house to stop him from sleeping with her. This is easier. And I’ll be really discreet. I just want to talk to him.”
Dina gives me a stern frown and wags a finger in my face. “No brawling.”
I laugh and pat her shoulder sympathetically.
“That was once. I didn’t start it. And, I have a good feeling about tonight. I really do.“
“It was twice. You certainly finished it, and you had a good feeling election night 2016.” She despairs.
“Don’t wait up. I’ll get Carter to bring me home.”
I saunter across the parking lot to The Wishbone. I’ve never heard of it, and it’s almost thirty miles outside Winsome But, Dina told me it was on a Food Network show recently and has become a tourist destination. I’m just thrilled that it’s a restaurant and a night club. I love to dance and never get to. I’m already sashaying by the time I’ve paid my cover.
I see Carter as soon as I step inside, and my bravado fails. He’s with a blonde woman. They’re huddled together at a table near the DJ and she’s leaned against him like she didn’t say no when he asked if they could be more than just friends. They’re grinning like idiots up into the phone.
Well, she’s grinning. Carter looks like he’s in pain. I know how much he hates taking pictures of himself.
I need a little liquid courage before I make myself known.
I slip into crowd and make my way to the bar. I order a whiskey soda and settle in to wait for it.
I’m staring at the mirrored wall behind the bar and do a double take because for a split second, I don’t recognize myself.
With my hair dark again and not a hint of pink anywhere on my person, I look like the woman I thought I’d be when I was a girl. When he slides my drink over to me, I raise it to my reflection. I feel like celebrating.
A year ago, I was so alone.
And now, I’ve got Carter and my friendship with Dina, and Cameron. And my brother talking to me through a weird psychic. I’m about to grab my life by the reins and figure things out for myself.
Settling for what is in front of me because I’m hungry, may fill my belly, but it won’t leave me satisfied. I know that something better is out there for me than this. And for Cameron, too.
With my drink in hand I saunter onto the dance floor to celebrate my future.
26
LIKE FLYING
CARTER
“I’m going to the bathroom,” I down the rest of my Arnold Palmer and slide out of the booth. Nadia’s friend has done nothing but take selfies all night and I’m about three minutes away from making up an excuse to leave.
I want to go and find Beth and talk.
What if Dina is wrong?
What if she’s right?
I’m halfway to the bar when a dark head, swaying in the middle of the dance floor catches my eye.
She’s transformed, but more like herself than she’s been since I’ve been here. That blond wig is gone. It’s clearly well made, but it doesn’t sit on her head like a crown the way her natural hair does. It’s dark with loose waves that just barely skim her jaw and fall over her right eye. Normally, she’s covered up in long sleeve blouses, skirts that never show her knees or pants that hide all her curves.
Tonight, she’s on display. Her tiny black top shows more skin than it covers. Her sweet ass is hugged by her tight dark jeans and her sky high black sandals make her legs look a mile long.
She’s lost in the music. So much like the night I met her. The port wine stain on her face is visible and I realize with a jolt that this is the first time I’ve seen it since I’ve been back. At home she keeps her wig and make up on all the time.
She’s beautiful either way. But, like this…she’s the beauty who cast her paradise blue lure and reeled me in hook, line and sinker more than a year ago.
My quest for the bar, my dinner companion, everything is completely forgotten as I watch her.