“Oh now, Eden, you were young you didn’t know what else to do. But if you’d have told me about what you thought happened between Baylor and you I would’ve slapped him six ways to Sunday. But because I chose not to be involved I just stayed at a centralized location. I was Switzerland. But now that you have come home do you think you’ll be more inclined to visit?”
I looked down at my hands which were clasping my tank top to the point of wrinkling. Did I know the answer to that question? I wanted to say that I would but could my heart take it? Could Baylor and I actually have a long distance relationship? If I were to leave things to chance I would have to say no. I couldn’t very well come back and see Baylor all cozy with someone else and I couldn’t do that to him if the roles were reversed. “I’m conflicted. Things are so great between Baylor and me right now but it has literally only been a few days. I feel like everything that has been missing in my life has been found when I’m with him. But I have a job back home, one which has me under a contract. I have my condo, my dog, my friends…”
“What’s up, buttercup?” Dean startled me from my flashback from earlier in the day. I lifted my head from the palm of my hand and looked up at him, giving him a small smile. He reciprocated by kissing my cheek. “Sorry to have kept you waiting, I had some business to attend to.” He was dressed in a fitted gray suit with a white shirt and teal tie. He unbuttoned the two buttons on his jacket so he could move freely to have a seat.
“Business during your vacation?” Even I who was a complete workaholic hadn’t brought any work to accomplish that week, not that I had much time anyway. I really needed to call Blaine and make sure that things were going smoothly, make sure he hadn’t quit on me for leaving him with the intern, Ryan. He was definitely an acquired taste and Blaine wasn’t a fan.
“This business just literally fell into my lap right before I came. So I thought I’d incorporate business and pleasure. And at least I can claim this trip as a tax write off.” He winked.
“Vague much? You can’t just give me tiny snippets of information and leave out the best parts.”
“Tsk tsk,” he said while waving a finger in front of my face, “I can’t disclose anything. I don’t want to jinx anything before the final touches are in place. But it’ll be great news if it goes through.” I wanted to roll my eyes at him but he turned towards the waitress who had approached the table. As soon as she saw Dean sitting next to me she started to give me an irritated look as if she cursed the ground I walked on. I knew something about her was off and that stink eye proved I was right.
“Dean,” she greeted with a smirk plastered on her face. Her shirt was a little more low cut than I remembered it being just a few minutes ago. “What can I get you to drink?”
“Hey, Maisie.” I’m sure my eyes were to the point of bugging out of my head. That was Maisie? The same Maisie that Bentley mentioned as the person he thought Baylor had slept with? “I’ll just have a Coke, thanks,” he answered flatly then turned back to me after watching Maisie walk away.
Now I had ample time to conduct my eye roll. “That was Maisie?”
“Yes…Why?”
“Oh no reason, really, Bentley just mentioned her name earlier this morning at Baylor’s.”
“Maisie has her sights set on Baylor, that’s for sure, but he wouldn’t ever touch her. Actually I’ve been hearing that you and Baylor have been getting pretty cozy with each other,” he smirked while raising his eye brows up and down.
“Oh? But that’s strictly hearsay, right?”
We each chuckled but abruptly stopped when Maisie slammed down Dean’s drink. There was so much force behind her hand that Coke sprayed all over Dean’s tie. Quickly grabbing a handful of napkins, I took Dean’s tie from his hand and began blotting the material.
“Seriously, Maisie?” Dean straightened up his slouched posture in his seat with an all-knowing look, shooting daggers her way. “This,” he indicated to his tie and the mess of Coke on the table, “was because we were talking about Baylor, huh? Maisie, give it up, it’ll never be you. All along it’s been Eden, for over fifteen years it’s been Eden.”
Hearing him talk about me like that right in front of me wasn’t very comforting. I almost wished at that moment that I was anywhere but there in that bar in the midst of a confrontation with a girl I didn’t even know, over a guy who I technically didn’t have.
A slight old lady came out of the back room and shuffled her feet over to our table. I literally had to do a double take. I just couldn’t believe that it was Tillie. She’d aged so much since I’d been gone but there was still that twinkle in her eye that only Tillie could have. Her white hair was stacked high upon her head in a neatly secured bun and she was wearing a bright pink pantsuit with the same shade of pink painted across her lips. The closer she came, the more narrowed her eyes became towards Maisie, then she raised her hand and pointed a shaky, slender finger her way, “What do you think you’re doing, Maisie?”
Maisie quickly opened her mouth to object, “Why do you always think that I’m the one responsible?”
“Because you always are! If you look guilty and act guilty, nine times out of ten, you’re guilty!” She looked around Maisie and straight at me, I gave her a soft smile and a little wave before she resumed her stance back in front of her granddaughter. “I can just ask Eden what happened, she was always a good kid around here. Unlike a certain granddaughter that I could name.” She tried to straighten her slouched posture, folding her arms in front of her chest and pursing her lips. Good lord she had the look!
“I’m sorry, Granny,” Maisie muttered, then turned towards us and mumbled a hasty, “sorry,” before scurrying back into the back room where Tillie had just emerged from.
“Sorry, you two, I don’t know what goes on in that brain of hers. Only after a good time and doesn’t want to work. She thinks she’s making a name for herself but obviously it’s the wrong one. Now why don’t you two let me know what you want and I’ll cook it up quick for you.” We each ordered the bacon cheeseburger with extra mayonnaise and an order of her home fries. On her way back to the kitchen she stopped and turned around, “It’s good seeing your face around here again.” With my dad owning one of the local supermarkets and me working there in high school we closely worked with Tillie, making sure she had the freshest vegetables and bread for the Tavern. I often delivered there but only was able to go as far as the back door. Tillie was a free spirit but she didn’t need to get in trouble for letting a minor in her bar, so she was pretty strict with the rules.
“Still like your burgers, huh?”
“Oh goodness, yes! I did become a vegetarian once; it was the worst four hours of my life. I work out to eat whatever the hell I feel like. Well, let me rephrase that, my friend Julia makes me work out so I don’t get a fat ass, so therefore because I do, I eat whatever I want.”
“Nice logical thinking. This friend, Julia, seems like a real hard ass.”
“Only the best kind. Jules is definitely one of a kind. She’s the one who has been married and divorced twice like you, she says she hasn’t been able to find another who’s been able to handle her. She’s a real trip.”