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“Still nothing with Curtis?” I ask curiously.
“Nope, and that ship has sailed. I’m over his broken promises. When he calls, I don’t even answer.”
Hallie and Curtis dated for a couple of years, but his focus seemed to transition from their relationship to work. He missed a bunch of events, but the straw that broke the camel’s back was when he missed her birthday. She was so hurt she broke up with him afterward. I know he’s made several attempts since, but she seems firm in her decision to end it with him.
“Are you seeing anyone else?” I find myself asking, wanting to ask about Logan. However, I know what her answer would be if I inquired about him specifically.
“Nope,” she replies, popping the P. “And I’m not looking to yet anyway. As much as I want the husband and kids dream, Curtis left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m not in a big hurry,” she insists as the server approaches our table.
“Hey, ladies, what can I getcha to drink?”
“Mango margarita. Big one,” Hallie replies.
“I’ll take a strawberry margarita, but make mine a small, please.”
“Do you need another minute to look at the menu or are you ready to order?” she asks.
I already know I need to review the menu, so I say, “Give us a few more minutes, please.”
The server nods. “I’ll get those drinks for you right away.”
Once she walks away, a basket of warm tortilla chips and fresh salsa arrives on our table and we both dive in. “A big one, huh?” I ask, trying to hide a smile.
“Long day. Had to go to the hardware store and deal with Shay,” she mutters, referring to Logan’s ex-wife.
“Was she able to help you?” I find myself asking, still finding it hard to believe Shay works at the hardware store.
“Not in the least, but she refused to let someone else help me and followed me around the store like a lost puppy dog. I mean, I don’t want Logan’s assistance at all, but I was praying he would come and take over.”
Smiling, I ask, “Did he?”
“Nope,” she states pointedly. “The asshole just stood behind the counter and smirked the whole time.”
“What did you need?” I ask as the server brings our margaritas. Mine is a sensible size, even though I know I won’t drink it all, but Hallie’s looks like some sort of large fishbowl. “You’re not driving, right?”
“Nah,” she says before taking her first greedy slurp from the straw. “I walked. I was planning to drink one of these babies, so I knew better than to drive.”
“Me too,” I reply, taking a much smaller sip.
After we place our food orders, I turn my attention back to her. “So, what was it you needed to buy?”
“Guts for my toilet, and a new wooden rod for the coat closet. The landlord was coming over to fix it but wasn’t going to make it to the hardware store before it closed, so he asked me to grab it. When I told Shay what I was looking for, she told me to just buy a new toilet, since mine was obviously old and gross, if it needed new guts, which she had no clue what that meant, by the way.”
“I’m a little hopeless when it comes to home repair, but even I know what the toilet guts are,” I reply with a snicker.
Shay Long was the Barbie doll of our class. She has long, beautiful blond hair, a perfect complexion, and bright blue eyes. Every guy wanted her, and every girl wanted to be her. Well, until you got to know her, that is. She wasn’t exactly the friendliest person in our class, always looking down on the rest of us from her throne.
Our senior year, she did a little modeling and was awarded a contract out in New York. She was only out there a short time, refusing to tell anyone why she left the Big Apple and returned to our quiet, small town, but the rumors weren’t kind. I’ve heard everything from she slept with someone married and got fired to her having an eating disorder and was sent to some sort of rehab. Whatever the reason, she ended up coming back to Pine Village and eventually marrying Logan. He was back after his own bright career playing football was derailed by an injury, and at that time, insisted she was different. He quickly changed his tune after putting a ring on it. The marriage only lasted about two years, but she’s been a thorn in his side ever since.
“I had to just find it myself, because she kept wanting me to go pick a new stool. Then, when I told her I needed a wooden rod for the closet cut to four feet, she just looked at me with a blank face and asked if that was the same as a two-by-four.”
A snort of laughter comes from my mouth, and I do my best to cover it. “Oh, God.”
“Yep, and that jerk, Logan Johnson, just stood back and refused to step in. When I finally got what I needed, after almost thirty minutes of getting dumb questions from Blonde Barbie, mind you, I sent him a one-finger salute as I walked out the door.”
Shaking my head, I take another sip of my margarita. It’s a dang good thing I walked too, because I can already tell this tequila is going straight to my head. I hope my food arrives quickly.
“Enough about my run-in with Shay. Tell me all about the reason you’re alone tonight,” Hallie says, dipping a chip in salsa and taking a bite.
