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Mia jumped in with the answer, “She turns thirty-one pretty soon, sometime in late winter if I remember right. My birthdays in the summer, and I will be twenty-nine. I need to be out of this town by thirty.”
Tess looked over at the woman. “I will never get over how much you know about people in this town. Do you know everybody’s age here at the bar?”
Mia’s eyes scanned the room at the dozen or so people in the bar. Looking back at Tess, she answered, “All but you. I’m sorry, I’m a people person.”
“That is what makes me say you can never leave this town. It will fall apart.” Tess waved at the bartender again.
“I know. I can’t imagine the café without Mia yelling at someone for something. Never going to be the same,” Ruth agreed with Tess.
One of the guys from the bar brought the drinks over, handed them out, and said, “Peace offering from Rafferty and me.” He only had eyes for Ruth as he said it.
Looking him up and down, Tess analyzed him from his shiny black shoes to his dark hair. He was good-looking too. From the time she had spent with her new friends, she knew he was Ruth’s boss, Anderson Miles. She didn’t know him at all, since he didn’t have any money in her bank, “It is going to take more than a few drinks to put yourselves right with these ladies. More drinks and one of those little cardboard pizzas might help.”
Anderson laughed. “Coming right up, ladies.”
Ruth watched him with longing as he went back to the bar, then she turned to the women. Both were watching her, and she demanded, “What?”
“You have the hots for your boss,” Mia stated in a loud whisper.
“I do not,” Ruth defended herself.
“Oh, she does. He is 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 to Mia and Ruth gossiping about a building that had recently changed hands in town. Tess couldn’t figure out the significance of the conversation, but both women were very into it.
From beside her, Mia said, “I can’t drink these. I’m already buzzed.”
Turning to her friend, she grabbed the still-full wine glass in front of her and put it in front of Mia, swapping Mia’s whiskeys for the wine. Tess drank them, one after another. It felt good going down and banished the thought of getting old from her mind. She added the empty glasses to the pile in front of Mia with a satisfying clink.
“I am never having a drinking contest with you.” Mia’s brown eyes were wide in amazement.
“Drink your wine, you lightweight,” Tess said with a laugh. It actually surprised her that most people couldn’t drink as much as she could. Maybe it was that her family was big on social drinking, and they socialized a lot. Tess had her first taste of Vodka at her sister’s wedding when she was ten. She had been limited to three that night, but nobody had actually kept track. She smiled at the memory of Natasha and her drunk in the back of the reception hall at ten years old.
“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. Tess knew she lived across the street from her, just over a block away.
At her words, Tess smiled as she got up and went to the bar, leaning on it to get the bartender’s attention. She then heard a voice beside her.
“You’re still in town, Thorn?”
Turning, she saw old blue-eyes himself—and not Frank Sinatra. Mathias Nordskov was drinking at the bar. How long had he been there? She hadn’t noticed him at all, though her back would have been to him as she sat with her friends.
“Mr. Nordskov,” was all she said, not daring to call him by his first name, though she wanted to say it out loud. Just once again.
“Just waiting for you to leave town.” His eyes swept her body from head to boot, lingering a little too long on her breasts. She wanted to hate it, but couldn’t seem to not be a little flattered.
“Well, you have a long wait in front of you. I have no plans to leave,” she replied, happy to see Paul finally coming her way.
“What can I get you, Tess?” Paul asked with a friendly smile, so different from the man beside her.
“Mia said she needs more alcohol. So, two whiskeys and one of what he is having.” She pointed at Mathias.
“I wouldn’t take a drink from you if you had the last alcohol in town. When are you leaving again? You don’t really belong here,” Mathias hissed quietly, so only she heard his words.
Not letting him see his words affect her, she asked Paul for two more whiskeys. Paul had them filled and then made a mixed drink and set it in front of Mathias. Tess handed the bartender her credit card and turned to Mathias. “Since you do not want this….” She drank the liquor, not reacting to the fizz of the pop or the burning of the whiskey in it. She just drank it like water. Silently she thanked the dozens of weddings and family events she had attended over the years.
Paul gave her back her card, and she took the whiskeys to the table. After 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.”
