Saved (Minnesota Caribou #5) - Colleen Charles Page 0,16
satisfied, happy, and a little fluffy than look like a supermodel all the time. It’s just too much damn work to look like Sue-Ann and her kind.
Once the next period gets going, I hand Sue-Ann the rest of my chips and cheese so she can finish them off.
“Damn, these are good,” she says with a groan, wiping her mouth on a napkin. “Why is everything bad for you so scrumptious?”
“Just the Universe trying to punish us.” I sit on my hands. “Um… Sue-Ann… Can I by any chance ask you about something personal?”
She stands up to toss the plastic container in the recycle. “Of course.”
After she sits down again, I lower my voice to a whisper. Julia isn’t here because she and Adam had a baby girl recently and she’s not up to attending games yet. I think she’s still nursing too. But I don’t want any of the WAGs to hear what I’m about to say. Most of them are snooty gossips in love with themselves and their elite status in Duluth, and I don’t want them sticking their noses in my business.
“Last week when we were at knitting circle, something came through to the group text.”
Sue-Ann leans forward. I don’t think she can hear me over the roar of the crowd as our goalie makes a stellar save on a slapshot from the point. “What kind of something?”
“A dick pic.”
“A chick flick?”
“No, a dick pic!” Just as I shout the words, the crowd calms down at the ref’s whistle and Mike Shermet’s wife, Jacklyn, stares at me like I’ve grown another head. She turns to her friend and they share a giggle but then they turn away again and watch the game.
My entire face flames as I pretend to be fascinated with my Converse. God, why do I always say the wrong thing at the worst possible moment in front of these women when I will never, ever be one of them?
And they know it.
And so do I.
And they exploit it.
It doesn’t matter how many games I attend, sitting in this very seat, they never make me feel welcome. They don’t talk to me. They barely even acknowledge me. I even started putting on lip gloss and mascara to come here and curling my hair a little bit, but that didn’t make one whit of difference.
Gazelle vs. Hippo, remember?
“Do you mean to tell me that some pervert sent a dick pic to a bunch of ladies in a knitting circle?” Sue-Ann asks with wide eyes. “Who in the hell does that?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. But I don’t know what I should do about it. Nana Blanche is in an uproar trying to find the perpetrator—she’s even got a police officer involved. I think she should just delete it and move on with life, but ever since Papa died…”
Sue-Ann clucks her tongue. “She’s lonely, isn’t she? Winter must be especially hard on her. This gives her something to focus on besides her grief and that someone important in her life is missing.”
“Exactly. So on one hand, I want her to drop it, but on the other, I just want her to stop thinking about how much she misses him. I’m kind of backed into a corner. We both loved Papa so much and with me teaching, grading papers, knitting, and supporting Blaine, I don’t get to spend as much time with her as I want. I’m afraid of what she’s gonna get up to on her own. Especially, since Roxie always just goes with the flow. Nana is always the ringleader. And don’t even get me started on her friend, Josie.”
She pats me on the knee. “What if you just let her do her thing for now and take a wait-and-see approach? That always works with my customers. If I butt out when a woman is shopping for a special event, eventually she comes to the right decision all on her own.”
“You’re really wise, Sue-Ann.”
“Just wait until you’re into your thirties. I swear something happens to a woman when she hits the big 3-0. She just stops caring so much about what other people think.”
Adam Spencer scoring the first goal of the game takes our attention away from each other as we stand and scream to the blaring music over the PA system.
“Go, Adam! Jules and Charlie and Chelsie will be so proud. I bet Jules is plastered in front of the big screen as we speak. Wave, Cora!”