Chapter 16
Hazel
Iwas running late.
So goddamn late.
I needed to leave right now, or I’d be tacky late, instead of fashionably late to my auction. I was just trying to catch up on some work. I set alarms on my phone, and as they alerted me to the dwindling time, I ignored them.
Now I had my hair in a messy bun, though I was pretending was messy in a cute way. The mascara I swiped on my lashes had smudged—something I hoped to fix in the car… When I found my keys.
I’d been in every single room of this clinic… they could be anywhere.
“Fuck.” I hissed, dashing from the front office to my office in the back of the building. To my unbelievable good luck, my keys were sitting atop my desk. I snatched them and spun back the way I came in one movement. Swinging the door closed behind me, I strode half a step away when I heard the door slam against the interior wall of my office.
I had to figure out something. I needed that damn door to close. Hopefully, the doorknob hadn’t dented the drywall. I was in too much of a hurry to check.
Practically flying out the staff entrance, I didn’t grab the railing as I ran down the steps out of fear of splinters in my gloves.
It probably happened because I was pounding down the stairs like a stampede of wild horses, but when my sneaker hit the bottom step, it cracked. I plunged toward the cement walkway. Luckily, my other foot was already extended to catch me, and I jogged forward with my arms flailing until I caught my balance again.
The weatherworn wood was V-shaped, shards poking upward.
I stood there with my mouth open, shaking my head.
“You have to be kidding me,” I whined.
Any feelings of anger or sadness were overcome by disappointment and being overwhelmed. I was trying so hard, but not hard enough. I’d allowed myself to become distracted, and because of that, I’d almost broken my ass—or more accurately, my ankle.
“Thank god it was me and not someone else.”
Clenching my jaw, I didn’t allow myself to consider the trouble I could have gotten into if someone else had fallen.
I tried to shake off the feeling on my way to my car.
Rounding the block brought Benji’s Place’s parking lot into view.
It was packed.
I had never seen it this full.
“Oh my god,” I whispered to the windshield.
After parking in the lot of a neighboring business, I went through the employee’s only entrance.
Emily, the bartender, lifted a case of something. “There you are! We’ve been looking for you.”
“Uh… yeah, I—” I stammered, and shrugged. “I’m late.”
She threw her head back, her blond ponytail swinging. “Yeah, you are. Girlie, it is crazy out there. You have to go and say, ‘Thank you,’ to start the show.”
My stomach flipped sickeningly. I tripped on nothing as I followed her out. “I have to say something?”
“I think so.”
That was all the explanation I got before she exited through the swinging doors. When they swung open, the sounds of people—mostly women, talking and laughing—carried to the backroom. The roaring cacophony matched the volume of my internal thoughts, which were screaming, I cannot speak in front of all these people!
Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I hadn’t even been handed a microphone yet. It felt like a reoccurring nightmare, where I’d arrive to high school for my exams, and realize I hadn’t been going to my math class all semester or know where the classroom was in the building.
I wiped my brow with the back of my hand. I swallowed, then squared my shoulders and plastered on a smile.
This was my nightmare, but all these people had shown up for a cause that really mattered to me.
A chorus of, “Hazel!” greeted me on the other side of the swinging doors. It started at the bar with the people nearest to me and fanned back to the walls. It drowned out Tim McGraw’s “I Like It, I Love It,” for a moment.
I had to force a small smile, but I lifted my hand and waved.
“There’s the woman of the hour!” Ben moved next to me, throwing a heavy arm over my shoulder. “Everyone, raise your glass for our girl, Hazel, and the animals we’re going to save together!”
The last part of his sentence was drowned out by whoops and hollers. I guffawed, absolutely in shock at the gathering in front of me.
His eyes were full of excitement as he looked down at me. “Moscow mule?”
“Yes, please,” I yelled back.
“Double?”
“Triple!”
He laughed, the smile lines fitting into the corners of his blue eyes. Holding up a finger for me to wait, he moved down the bar to prepare my drink.
I scanned the crowd, looking for Elijah, but instead, I found Nora working through the mass of people. They parted for her with little resistance. There was a no nonsense set to her jaw. She was in her element, orchestrating this event and guiding all these people to her goal. Not for the first time, I thanked my lucky stars that she was on my side.
“Hey, babe.” She leaned against the wall to our left.
“Hey right back. Look at all this.” I gestured at the packed bar.
She shrugged. “I knew it was the right idea.”
I rolled my eyes, but there was no fighting her logic.
It was then I noticed her twin sister, Olivia, trailing behind her, but unlike Nora, the crowd closed in around Olivia. Squeals of excitement marked her progress as people realized she was in town.
“I didn’t realize Olivia would be here,” I said.
Nora scoffed. “And miss out on the juicy gossip? Plus, I think she wanted to see everybody before she and Anton move to Denver.”
“Is she excited?”
Nora tilted her head, considering. “You know her, she’s always game for something new, especially if it’s attention grabbing.” Turning, she spoke directly into my ear. “They’re touring wedding venues while they’re here.”
I gasped. “Is there a ring?”
Anton and Olivia had been dating for years, but neither of them was in a rush to get married—even though it seemed inevitable. They were so happy together.
“It’s been purchased, just no proposal yet.” With her gaze fixed somewhere in the middle of the crowd, she muttered quietly enough that I almost didn’t hear her, “The window is closing.”
“What window?”
“Nothin’.”
“What do you mean?” Why was she being so annoyingly vague?
At first, I didn’t think she was going to answer. But then her shoulders fell, and she looked sad in a way I’d never seen from her before. “Some people just… are too scared to try, you know?”
I hated seeing the resignation set in her mahogany eyes. “You okay, Nora?”
“I’m perfectly fine.” Nodding toward the temporary stage constructed of wood pallets, she added, “Gonna get this thing started soon.”
My earlier dread grew in my stomach again. “Do I have to give a speech?”
“What?” She looked at me with outraged disbelief. “No. Why did you think that?”
Relief flooded me so abruptly that I fell against the wall. “Emily said something when I got here.”
Nora rolled her eyes. “Oh, Em. No, I would give you so much warning. I would never just drop that on you. Jesus, that’s like the meanest thing I could do to you. I have an idea of what I’m going to say, so I’ll give the opening speech.”
“You haven’t planned it?”
She lifted her drink to her lips. “What’s there to plan? I’m just going to get started before handing the microphone to Ben.”
As if conjured by her words, he showed up next to me and placed a copper mug in my hand. Jerking his chin toward the frenzy at the bar, he said to her, “Give me a couple of minutes’ warning when you want to get started.”
She yelled after his retreating back, “This is your warning.”
He gave her a thumbs up in recognition before he leaned over the counter and took a drink order.
Scanning the bar again, I searched for perfectly tousled, chestnut-colored curls. “Have you seen Elijah?”
I wanted him, but after the first flood of attention, I was enjoying my usual anonymity against the rear wall. When he was with me, eyes darted in my direction. Observing. Assessing. Judging.
She pointed at the center of the dance floor. “Somewhere in there with Remi, Sterling, Bet, and Lola.” Over my shoulder, Nora nodded, then joined Ben to go on stage.
I took a sip of my Moscow mule and winced as the vodka burned a bit as I swallowed. He had taken me seriously about that triple. Resting against the wall, I noticed a throbbing pain in my leg. I bent down to lift the hem of my dress. The pale skin of my calf had turned a dark shade of purple. Apparently, I hadn’t taken the step breaking completely unscathed.
With the back of my head pressed against the wall, I took a gulp of my drink. This time, I welcomed the burn of alcohol.