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Colleen kept working at the nursing home, just eight hours a week. She liked the old folks and was glad to be able to help her grandfather. Rushing Creek had several levels of care, and Colleen was one of the few who preferred the sickest patients.
Gramp didn’t seem to know who she was anymore, but sometimes when she held his hand, his fingers would curl around hers as if he was telling her he was still in there, and glad for her company, her love. That hurt her heart almost more than the days when he didn’t even open his eyes.
Bartending was a nice balance.
Eventually, Colleen always thought, she’d meet the guy who would make her forget Lucas Damien Campbell. She tried. She really did. Sort of. Okay, she didn’t try much.
A couple times a year, she’d go out with someone, only to find that he was married or weird or justmeh. And every once in a while, she’d fool around with some guy, let him kiss her, maybe allow a little groping. Even more rarely, she’d sleep with someone, hoping there, too, that maybe sex would be a great revelation, and the two of them would realize,Hell’s to the yes, we are in love, baby!
It didn’t happen. Her reputation was hugely inflated, but hey. If people wanted to think she was some sort of siren, let them. Better than them knowing she’d never recovered from her first love...like her mom.
“Do you want to go out with me sometime?” Bobby McIntosh asked her one night when Lucas had been back for two weeks. He sipped his O’Doul’s (proof that he stashed bodies in his cellar, Colleen always thought).
“I don’t, Bobby. Sorry, pal.”
“I really like you. You’re nice.”
“I’m not that nice.”
“But you have great boobs.”
“That’s true. Don’t wait for me in the parking lot, okay? I’ll have to knee you in the groin if you do.”
She pulled a Cooper’s Cave for Chris Eckbert, who always left a huge tip (as he should, perpetually guilty for that prom night so long ago when he hadn’t stuck up for her), then turned to Levi, who was sitting with Honor Holland’s fiancé, Tom, a sheaf of papers in front of them. Blueprints.
“Hallo, Colleen,” Tom said with a smile.
“Hallo, Tom,” she returned.Lovedthat accent. “How are the wedding plans?”
“I’ve no idea, really. Girly stuff, don’t you think? I’ll just be glad to be married.”
“I don’t know. Levi here obsessed over napkin colors for his wedding, didn’t you, bub?” Levi gave her a tolerant look, and she messed up his hair fondly. “What can I get you, boys?”
“I’ll have a beer,” Levi said.
“We have seventeen different microbrews,” she said. “You’ll have to be more specific.”
“Dazzle me.”
“Will do. Whiskey for you, mate?” She winked at Tom.
“I’ll have a beer as well, Colleen, and you’ve already dazzled me.”
“Oh!” she said, putting her hands over her heart. “Levi, why can’t you be more like Tom?”
“I’m more the strong, silent type. Also, I’m about to kill myself over these plans,” he said.
“Oh, are those the blueprints for the thing?” she asked, tilting her head so she could see better.
“The public safety building, Coll,” Levi said. “Your tax dollars at work.”
“I voted against that,” she murmured, then smiled at him. “I didn’t. Faith would’ve killed me. I’m a huge supporter of all of you goofballs, right, Gerard?”
“Anything you say, Colleen,” he said, smiling at her.
“I say you should go out with Lorelei, that’s what I say. She’s an amazing baker, she’s nice and she could reform you. And you know how much you need reforming, Gerard.”
“Yes, master,” he said.
