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An hour later Anderson picked them up outside Ruth’s apartment, and the drive to the party was short. It was already in full swing when they got there, and the sun had barely set. The cold air around them and the snow under their feet was barely noticeable with the huge fire burning at the center of so many people. Mia talked to everyone as she, Ruth, and Anderson wandered through the crowds.
Chatting and drinking as she went, Mia remembered how much she loved these things. Just spending time with people she knew, nothing special. At one point, she stopped and looked around and just smiled at all the people who would show up at a party they didn’t know about twelve hours before. Landstad had some positives.
Mia turned to Ruth and Anderson. “Isn’t this great?”
“You go have fun, Mia. You don’t have to babysit me.” Ruth looked a little panicky to Mia; maybe it was time to get her home.
“I’m not babysitting you, silly. I’m partying with you.” Mia finished her beer and pulled another from her coat pocket. Was this number three or four? She couldn’t remember. Maybe she shouldn’t open it.No more getting drunk, Mia, she told herself. This was the new Mia.
Just one more, she decided, and opened the bottle. Taking a drink, someone put their arms around her. Even though she had a nice buzz going on, she knew it was Rafferty. Her body always knew when it was Rafferty.
His warm lips were touching her cold ear as he whispered, “Are you drunk enough to fuck me yet?”
Pushing him away from her, she calmly handed her beer to Anderson. Then she turned on the little weasel. His face registered that he wasn’t ready for an actual physical fight, but she was.
With all the anger from the last few weeks, months, and years over Rafferty Brooks, she wound back to punch him. As she swung, he must have seen it coming because he dodged her, and she fell into the cold snow. Not ready to stop yet, she wrapped her arms around his legs, and he fell to the ground. Trying to grab him around the neck with her mitten-clad hands, she could see he was laughing at her, which made her even madder at him.
Just as she was getting the advantage over him, she felt someone pulling her off. Anderson held her away from Rafferty, who was still laughing on the ground.
“Never speak to me again. Never!” she yelled so he could hear, along with everyone else at the party.
“I think it’s time to head home,” Anderson said as he pulled Mia toward the parking area.
To Mia’s surprise, Ruth drove Anderson’s truck back to town. She didn’t think the other woman could drive. Or she knew she could, just it happened so rarely that she always forgot. Ruth didn’t have a car, and her step-father or mom always picked her up for the weekends she spent with them. Mia knew Ruth had a sports car, but she rarely saw it. She just parked it outside the insurance office a few days a year.
On the drive, Mia was talking too much, but she couldn’t stop. When she was buzzed, she liked to talk, and she would talk about anything with anyone. Usually, she didn’t remember much about the chats.
All too soon, town came into view, and then they were downtown. Sweetly, Anderson opened her door for her and escorted her to her apartment door. He was so nice. Why couldn’t she have accidentally slept with him? Why Rafferty?
Once in her apartment, she shed all her layers of clothes and took a long hot shower—the night had been so cold. Clean and warm, she put on a tank top and the panties she would sleep in. Adding her bathrobe, she headed to the living room and plopped down on the couch, leaving the lights off.
So far, she wasn’t tired yet. She knew that 5:00 a.m. would come way too soon, as it always did, but she didn’t want to sleep yet. Flipping through the channels on the TV, she found a movie she loved and pulled a blanket off the back of the couch, snuggling in to get lost in someone else’s problems.
The movie was about halfway through when someone knocked on her door. Looking at her phone, she saw it was almost midnight.Shoot, she thought. She needed to get to sleep. She needed to be up to open the café in just a few hours.
Another knock came. Maybe it was Ruth to talk about what was happening with Anderson.
Happy to talk to her friend, she swung open the door and swore.
“Hello to you too, Mia.” Rafferty was leaning against the door jam.
“Get out of here, Rafferty.” She swung the door closed again. In his face.
Catching it with his foot, Rafferty walked into her apartment, already taking off his jacket, and hanging it on her coat tree in the corner as if he was welcome. “I just wanted to make sure you made it home all right.”
“I did. You can leave now.” She flopped back onto the couch trying to ignore him.
Pulling the blanket back over her and snuggling back into the warm spot she had left, she turned her attention back to the TV. After a second, she pushed her feet out so that she was took up the entire couch. Rafferty had walked over to the couch and was looking down at her.
Leaning over her, he grabbed her pillow out from under her head, and she sat up a little. Angrily, she grabbed at the pillow he had taken. While she was distracted, he sat down where her pillow had been. Then he put the pillow on his lap. Gently, he laid her head back to where it was.
“Just watch your movie, Mia.” He brushed her hair with his hand to get it out of her face.
Ignoring him, she concentrated on the TV, not on his body pressed against the back of her head. Not about his hand still caressing her hair. Letting herself relax and enjoy the movie, she fell asleep within minutes.
CHAPTER6
Rafferty didn’t knowwhen it happened, but by the time the credits rolled on the movie, he knew she was fast asleep. Earlier, when she had answered the door, he was sure she had been sleeping. Which might explain how she had let her guard down enough to let him inside.
