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“Good Lord.” She righted me by pulling my arms and narrowed her eyes behind the bar. “Seriously, Hank?”
“He said he could handle the stuff,” the owner defended himself against the tiny firecracker.Has she always been this small?
She motioned her head to me. “Does it look like he can handle it?” She shook her head. “Sorry. It’s not you I’m mad at. Actually, I’m a bit mad at you. Don’t let people get to this state here, it’s dangerous.” She wrinkled her nose at me. “And please, bring him some water and your greasiest burger and fries. If you have anything sweet, it’ll help as well. We need to soak up this booze.”
I twirled to the counter like a scolded child, and she helped me balance myself on the stool. We stayed in silence while we waited for my food to arrive, the music around us not loud enough to stifle the awkwardness I felt as she vibrated with frustration.
When my food arrived, I forced myself to eat it, my stomach swirling in revulsion. I wanted to blame the food for it, but I had a feeling it was more because of the scotch.
“Can you please explain to me why I got texts from Hank, Jimmy, and Danny, asking me to check on you because you were drunk out of your mind? And what was that text you sent me? I didn’t know you could sound drunk on a text.”
“They should mind theirbusinesss.”
“No, we should keep a look on you, because apparently you need babysitting.” She sighed and took off her glasses to rub her hand over her face.
“You should do it three times.”
“What?”
“Jimmy said so, you should do thingsthhricebecausethhreeis a good number.”
“Okaaay.”Why isn’t she believing in it? It’s real. “I’m guessing there’s a story there. First I need to know what’s going on.” Getting closer, she asked quietly in worry, “What happened?” At my silence, she urged, “Benny?”
“Isabella is pregnant.”
She concealed a gasp as best as she could and let out a quiet “Fuck.” Better than anyone else, she knew why I couldn’t be a father. However, deep down I expected her to tell me I was wrong. When she stayed quiet by my side, I felt like shit.
“I take it you didn’t react very cheerfully,” she started carefully.
“I came here.” She nodded, pursing her lips, still not talking about the merit of the situation. The food eased my imbalance, but my mind was still foggy. Lucky for me, I was filled with great ideas. “I’m gonna call her.”
Mia’s eyes snapped at mine. “You’ll do no such thing.” I picked up my phone from the counter. “Rule number one: never text while drunk,” she stressed.
“Thatrulleyou believe in? Don’t worry, I’ll call her three times, as Jimmy taught me.”
“Please, Benny, give me the phone.” I looked for Isabella’s contact and turned my back from her, still needing to lean on the counter. “Give me the phone, Benjamin,” she demanded more forcefully as she hopped off the stool.
“I need to talk to her.”
“Not while you’re drunk. Give it to me.Now.”
Damn it, slow fingers. I wasn’t fast enough. When I was almost pressing the call button, I felt a weight on my back, and it took me a while to realize Mia was climbing me from behind. “Stop calling her. You’re gonna screw this up.”
“I already did, so what’s the harm?” She climbed higher, her knees punching my ribs and one arm around my throat as the other arm was stretched to grab my phone.
A few of the patrons turned to us and gave us a wide berth, but none of them was helping me.Jerks.
“Give it to me.”
“It’s my phone.”
“You don’t get phone privileges while drunk.”
“I’m driving there.”
I stood up and paced toward the door, with Mia still riding my back. She forgot my phone and tried to hold on to a column nearby while still attached to me, keeping me from going out. “Why are you so freaking strong?”
I was wondering the same thing about her. She rounded her legs tighter around my ribs, and I lost my balance. I finally pulled us away from the column, the momentum almost throwing us down on the floor. Then she struck me at the side of my neck, not strong enough to cause damage, but with enough power to stop my struggling against her.
