“What do you mean?” Tammy asked me incredulously. “You don’t know what you bought?”
“Actually, no. I stopped by yesterday to get you some items, but she was sold out, so Stella just brought them here, and I haven’t had a chance to look.”
She huffed, nodding, and then opened the box like a kid on Christmas morning.
“Ooooh, these are great.” She practically salivated while looking in the box.
“Well, what kind are they?” Ruthie asked.
“The kind that disappear, that’s what kind,” Tammy responded, shoving some ball covered in white powder into her mouth before moaning loudly as she chewed it.
“This is torture,” Ellie said, echoing my thoughts exactly.
Tammy turned and took the box back into the kitchen area with her before returning a few moments later with a knife and small plate. She cut up one of the pastries into four smaller pieces and offered one each to Ruthie, Ellie, and me before she ate the fourth.
Feeling bad that she hadn’t offered Stella a piece, I reluctantly gave her mine.
“Oh, no thanks,” Stella said, shaking her head. “My rule is I am only allowed to eat them at my bakery. Nowhere else.”
I nodded and slid it back over before inhaling whatever delicious thing this was.
“Okay, ladies, back to our previous discussion,” Tammy said, clapping her hands. “Remember, it’s all in how you word something. For example, if you tell someone to ‘have a nice day’, it sounds pleasant and kind. But if you say ‘enjoy your next twenty-four hours’, it sounds way more intimidating and ominous. This is why choosing your words carefully is most important in an argument.”
I chuckled at her assessment just as some man I’d never seen before walked up next to me at the bar.
“Tammy, you know you get me all hot and bothered when you get bossy like that,” he called out from beside me.
The man was smiling as he stepped up to the bar and climbed into the chair next to me. He wobbled a little getting situated, so I assumed he’d had more than a few beers.
“Dale…” she teased back.
Dale laughed beside me, irritating me.
“Tammy, I’m moving back to Oklahoma…so this is my last chance to take you to heaven,” he flirted, though his words were slow and slightly slurred.
Tammy sighed and rolled her head as if to work out the stiff muscles.
“You know what would help ease your stiff neck?” Dale asked.
Tammy rolled her eyes. “Let me guess…a trip to heaven?”Her voice was flat and monotone, but there was also a hint of teasing.
Several guffaws sounded around the bar—from both men and women—as Tammy just smirked.
“Your loss, my dear lady friend,” Dale teased back. “If you’re ever in Oklahoma, look me up.”
“I’ll do that,” Tammy said, but the opposite read true, given the look on her face.
He got up from his seat, still smiling, and waved to Tammy as he departed.
“Oooh, Tammy, did he get you all hot and bothered?” Stella joked.
“Just the bothered,” she shot back quickly, causing the other women to all laugh.
I knew the conversation was all in fun, but I still didn’t like that man just brazenly coming on to her like that. I felt the sudden urge to punch him in the face, even though he’d already left.
I looked up to find Tammy’s eyes on me, assessing.
“What?” she asked.
