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Watching him walk away, she decided that her limit might be two. Then she started drinking the new one that Anderson had brought over. Turning back to the girls, she saw that they were both staring right at her. “What?”
“You have the hots for your boss,” Mia replied in a whisper that wasn’t exactly the quiet whisper of a sober woman.
“I do not.”
“Oh, she does. He’s a fine one, too. Should I head out and leave you guys to them?” Tess asked.
“No!” both women said at the same time, and all three broke out laughing.
The conversation turned away from her and who she had the hots for. And what did it matter if she did have the hots for her boss? He didn’t even notice her. For four nice years, she had been able to just look at him for forty hours a week. It was never going to go anywhere; they were completely different. One day, he would be gone. He was not staying here forever, unlike her.
“Did you hear that Howard Brooks sold the insurance office?” Mia pulled Ruth’s attention back to the conversation.
“Not the insurance part, just the building,” Ruth answered. Mia’s eyes swung to Ruth, who just smiled at her and took a sip of her drink. Now Mia knew who the buyer was.
“I heard that they might be evicted; rent is going to be too high.” Mia’s eyes didn’t leave Ruth’s face. She knew where the answers to her questions would have to come from: Ruth.
“That’s what I heard also,” Ruth confirmed but didn’t go into it any more than that.
“Someone must really hate Rafferty to do that.” Mia’s eyes slid to the man in question at the bar.
“Rafferty is just an annoyance. Somebody really hates his father,” Ruth stated. Rafferty had done nearly nothing to her, except he was his father’s child. Guilty by association.
The man in question walked over to the table with another round of drinks. Nobody thanked him as he set them down, but he was all smiles anyway. He then walked away without saying anything, and the ladies watched him go.
“Doesn’t seem so bad to me,” Tess commented, not catching the underlying conversation happening at the table.
“Wait till he opens his mouth.” Ruth took a sip of her drink.
“I can’t drink these. I am already buzzed,” Mia said from the back of the booth.
Ruth turned to Mia, who was sitting behind two glasses of whiskey, and two empty ones were piled in front of her. Tess handed her a full glass of wine and took the two glasses and downed them before anyone could say anything. Smiling, she added the empties to Mia’s pile.
“I am never having a drinking contest with you,” Mia said in amazement.
“Drink your wine, you lightweight.” Tess patted her back.
“I could have drunk them; I just shouldn’t. I have to walk home after this. You know the rules about drinking and walking. Friends don’t let friends walk home drunk.” Mia laughed at herself.
Tess looked at her and got up, heading to the bar. She talked to Paul for a moment and then spent a few minutes talking to a man who was sitting at the bar that Ruth didn’t know by name, but knew he was from town. Coming back, she carried four whiskeys. Setting them on the table, she slid into the booth again. “Sorry, I drank your whiskeys, Mia. I got you extra as a peace offering.”
Mia’s eyes were as big as saucers looking at the four full glasses. Taking one, she drank almost all of it before setting it down. “Bluff called, Tess. I am a lightweight.”
Tess and Ruth laughed at Mia’s defeat. Ruth watched as Tess took the glasses from in front of Mia and quickly drank the three full ones and then finished off the one Mia hadn’t finished, then added the empty glasses to the pile in front of Mia. Ruth realized that the woman across from her had now consumed more alcohol than Mia and her combined but seemed completely sober as she started sipping her wine again.
Just as the pizza showed up, Tess said that she should head out. That left Mia and Ruth alone with the pizza. They ate and talked about people that they knew and what had happened to them over the years. It was actually a lot of fun to gossip with Mia, who knew everyone and everything in the town.
Since their drinks stopped going down so fast, the guys had stopped bringing them more. Now they were just nursing the last of what had been brought before the pizza came. Ruth barely noticed Anderson and Rafferty at the bar anymore. In the last hour, the building had filled up. The noise level rose, and Ruth was not used to being anywhere with this many people. She was about ready to leave.
As they talked, she noticed that Anderson was talking to Heather Reed, who was recently divorced. The woman was definitely into Anderson, and he seemed to be interested in her. It was starting to bother Ruth to watch. Sure, he had lived with someone for years, but she never had that rubbed in her face. Not like this.
A younger woman had stopped and talked to Mia and was asking Mia to join her group in the back of the bar. Ruth glanced at the table of around seven women who were singing and dancing and having a good time. Mia was saying that she was okay with Ruth and that they should have a good time without her.
But Ruth could tell that Mia really wanted to go and spend time with her real friends. Most likely, she had just called Ruth to come out when nobody else answered. Mia hadn’t really wanted to spend time with boring Ruth Kennedy, now that her real friends were here. It was time to go.
“You go with your friends, Mia. I should go home anyway,” Ruth mumbled as she got up quickly. Too quickly because her head started spinning, and she had to sit down again, hard. She bumped the table, making some of the glasses fall over, which then sent alcohol and ice running over the table.
Before she could process what had happened, Rafferty was in front of her. “Are you okay, Angel? You know you shouldn’t drink like that.”
