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Odd.
“Eve, what are you doing here?”
She looks up at me from the stack of papers in her hands.
“Oh dear, hello.” Evelyn’s stern expression melts away, but it’s not enough to calm my budding worry.
“Everything okay?”
“Nice to see you too, Lily.” She sets the collection of papers on the bar top. “Why do you always have to assume something’s wrong?”
I brush off the teasing sarcasm in her voice. “Because you’re only here when you need something.”
Evelyn rolls her eyes. “Someone’s in a bad mood.”
I drop my bag on the bar top and slide into a seat. “I failed one of my classes. The professor was an ass.”
More like Professor Miller needs to get some ass, preferably smack-dab on his face.
“Well, dear, I know I don’t have to tell you, but being disappointed by men, especially ones who believe they’re smarter than you, is the unfortunate part of being a woman.” Evelyn sets her palms on the bar and leans forward. “I mean, look at me. I’ve been stuck managing Bob’s bar for ten years. Bastard had the nerve to leave me alone on this earth with this shack and an empty bank account.”
The Mademoiselle is hardly a shack. But it’s not as frequented as it was three years ago, or even two.
“What are you talking about? You love this bar.” I readjust the skirt riding up my thighs.
“I loved Bob, not this bar. But I’m ready to let him go and live for myself. Starting by closing up the Mademoiselle.” There’s a trace of melancholy in her voice.
“You don’t have to do that, Eve. I can extend my shift and lock up tonight.”
Evelyn’s pungent perfume wafts into my nostrils, filling my lungs with the tangy smell of irises. “No, Lily, the Mademoiselle is going out of business.”
I stare at her in disbelief.
Her lips clap back into the thin line she greeted me with earlier.
I blink once. Twice. Three times.
“Why?” I manage to break the uncomfortable silence between us.
“Well, besides the fact that we haven’t had customers in months? It’s time to stop spending another second living in Bob’s shadow.”
“But what about—”
“Look, let’s not make this harder than it needs to be, Lily. I hand in the keys next week.” She smiles with half her mouth. I’m sure the other half is weighed down by the gray storm cloud erupting above me.
“Next week?” My nails carve half moons in my palm. “You thought telling me this now was an appropriate amount of notice?”
“Oh, Lily, one day you’ll learn the heart wants what it wants.” Evelyn reaches her hand to my heated cheek, pinching the skin roughly until it prickles with stinging pain. “Bob’s voice dictated my life for many years, and I’m tired of living with regret. I’m putting myself first.”
“Okay.” I sigh with resignation. There’s no use arguing with Evelyn if she’s made up her mind. I do my best to shuffle through the fog of panic coursing through my body.
I’ll have to find a new job this summer, and that’s the last thing I want to spend my time doing.
How can someone abandon their life to play pretend in some fantasy world?
“I know it’s a lot to put on you all at once, and I’m sorry, I really am,” Evelyn says. “But if I can give you one piece of advice—if you ever settle down, find someone who puts you first. Or, at the very least, supports your dreams as much as their own.”
“Yeah, Eve, not going to happen.”
