Chapter 5 #2
She could feel the weight of both sets of eyes on her. Blue had never been very good at keeping things inside. She’d learned techniques to do that, but still, some people could crack her open wider than a nut in seconds.
“So what really happened?” Klaus asked. He handed the coffee through the window to Bart and then handed Blue one. “It’s apple tea. It helps. Plus the muffins.”
She handed them to Bart and then sniffed the cup. “What does it help with?”
“Everything.” His smile was gentle and for some odd reason made her want to cry.
I’m clearly losing it. Work kept me sane, and now I don’t have a focus. I’m a mess.
She sipped, and the crisp, tart taste of apple made her hum in approval.
“Told you so,” Klaus said.
“Right, then,” Bart said, turning in his seat, which put his shorts in a far more compromising situation. “What’s the deal? You have our ears, and we can keep secrets unlike the rest of this town.”
Blue focused on her cup. He wasn’t wrong. These two only talked or shared things they’d heard if they felt it was needed.
She leaned her head back on the rest and closed her eyes briefly. “I haven’t told my family, so if this gets out, I know who to come after.”
Both men nodded solemnly.
“I was told to teach a new girl, who is related to the company owners I worked for. She stole one of my designs and pitched it as her own. When I complained and demanded she be reprimanded, they told me to get over myself and that it was no big deal.”
“Shitweasels,” Klaus snapped.
She looked at him. “I’ve never heard you swear, Klaus.”
The man was now sipping innocently from his cup.
“And so you left because they have the morals of alley cats, and you were raised better than that,” Bart said. He was now eating a muffin.
“Yes. I know it was rash, but I’d been there for eight years, and they should have shown me more respect.”
“Agreed,” Klaus said.
She wasn’t sure why now felt like the right time to talk about it, but it did. Of course she’d told Lynx loosely what had gone down, and he’d said she’d done the right thing, but they hadn’t discussed it fully, as he’d been focused on touring.
“Blue, what I’ve always found is that when someone shows you their true colors, you need to understand they’re not likely to change,” Bart said. “In my opinion, you absolutely made the right move.”
“I’ll add to that,” Klaus said. “It may seem hard right now that the path you’d decided to take has deviated, but that’s often a good thing.”
“Klaus is right,” Bart agreed. “Now is the time for you to take another direction, Blue. You’re smart, with oodles of talent, and you have support. There is more in your future. You just need to wade through the grief and anger to find it.”
She looked first at Bart and then at Klaus, who was now looking at something behind her car.
“Thank you both. I probably needed to hear your words. I thought I had my future mapped out, you know, and then this happened. It’s derailed me.”
And sleeping with Jay Haddon didn’t help. But she kept that thought to herself.
“You guys are the best.”
“Afternoon, Red,” Klaus said.
A large, bearded face appeared in Bart’s window. He smiled when he saw Blue.
“Well, now, look at that. Just the person I needed to see right now.”
“Why do you need to see me, when I don’t even live here, and you had no idea I was back in Lyntacky, Red?”
His smile widened. He was married to the firebrand that was Dee Heckler, and they were the most mismatched couple that worked and the poster children for a happy family.
“Jenna can’t do boys’ night. One of her brood is sick. You can fill in for me,” Red said.
“Ah—no, I can’t.”
“Sure, you can, and I’ll even pay you. You’ve done it before. Besides, you don’t take any crap from the men.”
“It’ll be good for you to get out,” Bart said, patting her knee. “She’ll do it, Red.”
“Awesome. See you on Friday night, then, Blue.” Red then straightened and she turned to watch him walk out of the Beckers’ driveway.
“He’s walking now?” Blue asked instead of getting out and yelling at Red that she didn’t want to work boys’ night. “I can honestly say I’ve never seen Red in shorts.”
“Dr. Hannah said he wasn’t getting any younger and carrying too much weight in the wrong places due to his unhealthy lifestyle,” Klaus said. “Unfortunately, Dee heard.”
“’Nuf said,” Blue said. Red’s wife wasn’t someone anyone messed with.
“Now back to you, Blue. You talk to your people. They’re good folk and will help you work through this,” Klaus advised. “But good things are coming for you. I know it.”
The honk of a horn had Blue looking in her mirror.
“You hold your horses, Larry Limpet!” Klaus roared.
Blue laughed.
“No one has to wait over five minutes at any time, and he sits on his horn,” Klaus said, shaking his head.
“Thank you,” Blue said, meaning it.
She drove Bart and his shorts home and then headed for hers, feeling lighter inside.
“Good things are coming for you, I know it.”
Klaus’s words ran through her head. She sure hoped that was the case because right now she couldn’t find the energy to get excited about anything.