Part 18 (1/2)

”No.” She smiled her warm, genuine smile. ”I guess I'm just surprised and I guess I've always held out hope. It's like, I'll never have a chance with Will again but I feel like you still have a chance with Carolyn.”

I leaned over and kissed her cheek. I felt so G.o.dd.a.m.ned bad whenever she brought up Will's name. ”I don't believe that anymore, Tori. Three years is a long f.u.c.king time.”

”It is a long time. It's just...” Her eyes got that playful sparkle back.

”What?”

”It's nothing,” she said, but a laugh escaped her before she turned away.

”Holy s.h.i.+t, Tori. Start talking before I scream out loud that there's a c.o.c.kroach in my coffee cup.”

”You wouldn't!”

”Oh, I would,” I said, nodding my head, rising slowly up out of my seat.

”Okay! It's just that last weekend I was witness to Carolyn losing her s.h.i.+t when one of your old f.u.c.k buddies brought your name up. Carolyn was jealous as all h.e.l.l.”

”One of my what?”

”Beth Peterman? Ring a bell? She's a little...mature, no? And a lot married?”

”Where did you see Beth?”

”So it's true!” she exclaimed, wide-eyed.

”It was a long time ago. I haven't seen Beth in a few years.”

”Wow,” she said, shaking her head, looking away from me.

”You still haven't answered the question, Tori. Where did you see her and how did my name even come up?”

Tori rolled her eyes. ”Mrs. Peterman volunteers for the Briarwood Gala. She was at Carolyn's house last weekend. And she brought your name up. It was kinda creepy, Jeremy.”

I shrugged. ”I don't know what to say.”

”She didn't come out and say it but she implied you and her were more than friends. It was gross. She licked her lips and then said you were a great guy. I thought Carolyn was gonna claw her eyes out.”

There was a part of me that seriously doubted Carolyn was jealous, even though I hoped that she was. Kind of served her right. Did she expect me to be waiting on her for three years? Waiting for her to decide that I was worthy of her time? Carolyn thinking that I couldn't or wouldn't move on and be with someone else burned me. It made me almost look forward to my date tonight.

Almost...not quite.

We were meeting at Red's, a local bar and burger joint with pool tables and a relaxed vibe. I balked when Frank had suggested venturing to Manhattan to check out some comedy club in the Village. I told him I didn't want to be trapped for six hours in case this was a bust.

I was there first and took one of the few available booths. The waitress came over and was making small talk with me when I saw Frank come in waving, with Sadie and her friend trailing behind. The waitress moved aside and gave them all a welcoming smile. I noticed that Sadie and her friend both immediately narrowed their eyes at her. So it was going to be like that, huh?

Sadie leaned over and kissed my cheek, whispering, ”Kenzie,” in my ear. Thanks for the save, I was thinking as I smiled back at her. I stood up and introduced myself. ”Hi, Kenzie, I'm Jeremy.”

I had offered her my hand but Kenzie came right in for the hug and kiss on the cheek. ”It's so great to finally meet you. Frank and Sadie are always talking you up to me.”

She was pretty. She had long brown hair, blue eyes and a friendly smile. Not a lot of make-up, I liked that, but Kenzie dressed in a way that left nothing to the imagination. I had nearly a full view of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s peeking out of her low cut top every time she s.h.i.+fted her body towards me, which she did every time she asked a question or answered one of mine.

There was something the matter with me. Even after the second pitcher of beer was drained, the girls were laughing and flirty, and we'd all moved onto pool, I just could not muster anything for this very attractive, very willing girl.

It all felt so contrived. Being set up, the forced getting-to-know-you questions, the coy, flirty glances, and now the whole I'm a girly-girl who can't shoot pool so I need you to show me act? At a certain point of the night I was close to rolling my eyes. Kenzie's a.s.s was practically on display for me as she leaned over the table in her short skirt, giggling as she struggled with the pool cue. Begging for that movie scene bulls.h.i.+t where I bend over her, lining the cue stick up to the ball, pressing my d.i.c.k into her backside in the process. f.u.c.k that. I checked my watch when she looked over her shoulder a second time, beckoning me. I looked to Frank and asked quietly, ”Hey, I'm gonna head out. Can you drop her at home?”

”Nope,” he answered, taking a long pull off his beer.

I took a deep breath. ”You set this up. You're gonna act like a little b.i.t.c.h just because I don't want to, what...drop to one knee and propose to Sadie's friend?”

”No. It's just that you agreed to come. The girl was excited to meet you, got all dolled up and seems to really like you. If you're not planning on seeing her again, then I'd say you owe her the courtesy of telling her that yourself. That's all I'm saying.”

He had a point.

”Kenzie, I've gotta work tomorrow. Can I take you home or would you like to hang out and catch a ride home with Sadie and Frank?”

I looked back towards Frank as I said that and noticed that he was now in a full lip lock with Sadie. I'm sure that was his way of flipping me off.

”I think I'll head home with you,” Kenzie said, laughing nervously as she locked eyes on the loving couple. ”You work on Sat.u.r.days?” she asked skeptically.

”Most of the time, yeah.”

”Sadie said you owned your own business. I guess you've got to be there if you're in charge, huh?”

”Yeah. I don't mind it, though. I like being busy,” I said as I opened the door for her and we made our way through the parking lot.

”I'm about a half-hour drive from here. Is that all right?”

”It's no problem.”

We made more small talk for the first five minutes and then the conversation lagged. She seemed uncomfortable with the silence, so she'd punctuate it with questions every few seconds. ”Where are you working tomorrow?”

”New Haven.”

”Oh.”

A minute later, she asked, ”So do you have any brothers or sisters?”

”No, only child. What about you?”

”One sister.”

I felt like a s.h.i.+t. I never should have agreed to go out with her. I had no interest but still, she didn't deserve my indifference. ”Look, Kenzie, I shouldn't have wasted your time. I'm not really looking for a relations.h.i.+p right now. I'm tied up with work all the time and...” I was struggling to make sense of it but I couldn't.

Kenzie reached over and put her hand on my hand that was rested on the gear s.h.i.+ft. She swallowed nervously and said, ”I know what you went through, Jeremy. Sadie told me everything. You lost some good friends and then you also lost a girl you were really serious about. I know how that feels.”

She dropped her hand from mine and then her gaze s.h.i.+fted away, out the pa.s.senger side window. ”My boyfriend, my high school sweetheart,” she said, a smile of fond remembrance creeping up, ”was everything to me. We started dating when I was sixteen. He was two years older. He enlisted as soon as he graduated from high school. I thought I'd die being separated from him, Jeremy,” she said, shaking her head, smiling wistfully again. I took her hand then, wanting to comfort her, having some idea of where this story was going. ”He wanted to go to college but we didn't come from the kind of town where your parents made enough money to bounce you right into the university of your dreams right outta high school...know what I mean? The plan was: Marines, marriage, college, kids. In that order.”

I was pulling up to the address she'd plugged into the truck's GPS. The apartment complex looked fairly well kept but was in a somewhat gritty area on the outskirts of Bridgeport. She turned to me as I brought the car to a stop. ”He was deployed to Afghanistan-didn't make it one month. Roadside bomb. He was twenty years old.”

”Kenzie, that's awful. I really am sorry.”