40. Chapter 40
“We’re closed.”
“I’m thirsty,” Jason said from his usual booth.
“It’s going to be hotter than hot in here in about twenty minutes,” Theresa said, wiping spilled food from the counter.
Though the storm passed, the power hadn’t come back on. Theresa offered to stay and call the staff back once the power was restored.
“Something colder than coffee, then,” Jason suggested.
She disappeared inside the kitchen and came back with two cups of melting ice, a couple of colas, and half a bottle of something brown and cheap. She sat across from him and mixed two drinks.
“Your usual stuff won’t work on me,” she warned.
“No bullshit. I swear.”
“Sure.” She passed him a cup. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to meet a lawyer.”
“I mean here, now. Sweating in the dark.”
The day never really recovered after the tornado, and another storm was rolling in. Her face was already more shadows than skin.
“Because I chased some crazy waitress into a storm and I want to know why.”
Theresa smiled and shook her head, her attention drifting to the parking lot that was still in one piece, unlike the factory across the highway with a caved roof and several cars flattened by a fallen tree. A flash of lightning lit up her face for an instant.
She took a drink, and he noticed her fingernails were painted pink. Pink nails, cheeks, lips. Billy only wore red lipstick and her nails were either red or black. Demon colors. Pink wasn’t bad either.
“You still think you have me pegged?” she asked.
“After today? I want to know what makes someone chicken fight with a tornado.”
“That wasn’t what I was doing.”
“Death wish? Your boyfriend finally dump you for his car? What?”
“You weren’t wrong about him,” she said. “A lot of what you guessed about me was spot-on, okay?”
“Is that why you were pissed at me?”
“Surprisingly no.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I don’t play games, Jason, and all you do is play.”
“How about that? You know my name.”
“I know enough to know I don’t want anything to do with you. And you’ll never in a million years get me over to that motel.”
“How about for ten million bucks?” he chided.
“You’re insane.”
“You kissed me.”
She waved it away. “Heat of the moment.”
“You liked it.”
“It was a good kiss.”
“You want to do it again.”
“There it is,” she said as if she’d uncovered some hidden truth. “You’re here because you think you’re going to get laid.”
“If I wanted to get laid, trust me, I would’ve followed Maisie home.”
“Maisie has a boyfriend.”
“She also has a sister.”
“Oh my God.” She sat back hard enough to shake the booth. “You are completely hopeless.”
“That was before I met you.”
“Please,” she scoffed. “You said no bullshit.”
He pointed to the parking lot. “You sure you’re not suicidal? If you are, I’d have to stay with you all night to make sure you don’t try it again.”
“The opposite, actually. I wanted to feel alive.” She breathed out the word alive as if she drew it from a deep, hidden place, and swallowed it back down with a drink.
“Have you ever stood in the presence of something completely unpredictable that could wipe you off the face of the earth in an instant? Something so big?”
Something unpredictable that could wipe him off the face of the earth in an instant? Why did he get the feeling he was looking right at her?
“I needed to see it. I needed to feel it.” Theresa stared out the window at white lightning snaking across the sky. Sweat collected on her forehead and slowly dripped down her cheek. “You know what I mean?”
“Sure, I think,” Jason said. “It’s why I got my bike. I wanted to feel…something.”
“How long have you been riding?”
“Twenty years, give or take. Ever since I could.”
“Sounds lonely. I guess that’s why you’re never alone.”
“I ride alone.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Why do the other women bother you if you don’t want anything to do with me?”
She sighed. “Even if I wanted to know you, I don’t want to be played. I don’t think you know how to do anything else.”
He sipped his drink. “Did it work?”
“What?”
“Out there. Did it make you feel alive?”
A long exhale ended in a reverent smile. “Yeah. Yeah, it did.”
“Would your boyfriend have come running out after you?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
He smiled. “Good.”
She lifted her chin and asked, “Why did you do it?”
“What?”
“Come running out after me.”
“I must’ve been out of my mind.” He tapped the envelope. “I even left this on the table.”
“What is it?”
“Paperwork. And a check for ten million bucks.”