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“Gladly,” I reply.
I’d give anything for just a few minutes with Nyssa.
CHAPTER 26
Nyssa
I’d like tosay it took me a long time to get used to small-town living, but it didn’t. Having actually slept on big-city streets, the quiet, slow ease of a tight community has been a balm. Of course, the security of having a home with a roof overhead and food in the fridge helps too.
The downside to living in such a community is that you know everyone. Not deeply, but you make acquaintances every day and you see them over and over again.
The hardest part has been meeting new people of the male variety. Edenton is smack in the middle of corn fields, and farming is big here. The men are hardworking and as earnest as they come.
They’re also a little overeager in their pursuits, and when I go out for drinks with Karen at the local honky-tonk, I would suffer alcohol poisoning if I accepted every drink someone tried to buy me.
I get it… I’m new to town, and that makes me shiny, but I don’t want to be on anyone’s radar.
Karen nudges me in the ribs playfully. We’re sitting at the bar with beers in front of us, and it’s still early. The place is only about half full, but country music blares from the jukebox, and I’ve already turned down two drink offers.
“Jonas Bauer is totally staring at you,” she says with a grin.
I don’t bother looking over my shoulder to where he’s playing pool with his friends. I also try not to laugh at Karen, because things sometimes move so slowly in Edenton that this is considered big news. If she knew about all the sleazy men I’ve had to fend off during my life on the streets, she would know I don’t give a crap about Jonas Bauer staring at me.
“So, how was work today?” I ask, making it clear that my change of subject is because I have no intention of acknowledging Jonas’s interest.
Karen rolls her eyes. “Same ol’, same ol’. There’s only so much excitement on an assembly line.”
She works over in Waterloo at the John Deere plant, which is considered a really good job in these parts. It’s probably where I’d be working had Zora not used her deity mojo to get me the job at Tonya’s shop.
The bartender sets two shot glasses in front of me and Karen. “These are from Jonas.”
“We don’t want them,” I say.
“Speak for yourself,” Karen says, pulling one in.
“He already bought and paid for them,” the bartender says. “Drink them or not, your choice.”
“Fine, but don’t let anyone buy me drinks after this, okay?”
“Whatever you say.” He shrugs.
“Cheers,” Karen says, holding up her shot glass. I have no clue what the amber-colored liquor is, but I guarantee it’s not top shelf, not that it matters since I’m not drinking it. I rarely drink more than a beer or two when we go out. My days of chasing highs and inebriation are over.
“You can have mine,” I say.
Karen downs her shot, gives me the stink eye, and pulls the other drink in. “What’s the deal with you, Nyssa? You shun all attention from men.”
There’s no way I could ever begin to explain it to her, but before I can come up with a lie just so I don’t have to, she gasps and asks in a hushed voice, “Are you gay? Is that why?”
I laugh and shake my head. “No, I’m not gay, but if I were, I wouldn’t accept drinks from any women.”
“Why not?” she asks, sucking down the second shot like a pro. “Did your heart get broken?”
A simple five-word question, and the staggering pain wells up inside me. My gaze drops to my beer, and I fiddle with a corner of the label. Swallowing hard, I admit, “Yeah… I got it broken bad, and I’m just not interested in putting it back out there again.”
Karen doesn’t say anything, so I twist to look at her. She appraises me before shaking her head. “I don’t see it. I know we haven’t known each other but a few months, but you don’t seem like the type of woman who could ever break.”
I blink at her in surprise, because she would indeed be talking about the old Nyssa. The one before I killed Vince. I was a resilient bitch who kept pushing on, no matter what.
