Online Book “Taking Chances” Chapter 2:
As I got ready for work the next morning, I was thankful
that I had remained coherent enough the night before to drink a bottle of water
when I got home. Courtney would appreciate me making her have one as a
preemptive strike
against a hangover as well, even though she was pissy about
it at the time. The second pitcher of margaritas may have been a bit much.
I downed a couple of aspirin and another bottle of water for
the slight headache I had. Then I snuck into Courtney’s room and quietly left
the same items, along with a piece of buttered cinnamon bread and some orange
slices, on
her bedside table. She looked so peaceful and sweet lying
there. It made me wish there was a way for me to make her see in herself all of
the wonderful qualities that I saw in her.
On a whim, I tiptoed through her girly bedroom and went to
her en suite bathroom to grab a fuchsia lipstick out of her enormous makeup
case. I drew a huge heart on her mirror. Inside it I wrote, “You make
everything better.”
Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to walk to
work. I left the 100-year-old lakeside cottage that Courtney and I shared and
headed down the shore side of the sidewalk. The breeze off the lake was a
little chilly, but the
sun was shining, and the lake was calm. I felt great about
leaving those little pick-me-ups for Court.
She was always quick to say that I had saved her life. When
she had arrived in Harbor Shores penniless and alone, I had taken her in and
given her a place to stay. I knew the truth, though. She is the one who had
saved me.
She had arrived in our quaint town just a few months after
my parents’ deaths in that horrific car accident. They had been taken from this
world in the prime of their lives due to a careless drunk driver. I had just
left my ex,
Larry, after walking in on our real estate agent, Trudy the
floozy, sucking his cock in the living room of our condo. We had decided to
sell our condo and move out of the city in hopes of finally starting our
family. Instead,
I moved alone to Harbor Shores to the cute, lakeside cottage
my parents had left me.
I suppose I should thank Trudy because I had been unhappy in
my marriage for a long time. It had never crossed my mind to leave him though,
because I felt, as my parents had felt, that marriage is forever. Seeing Trudy
on her knees,
with her fake tits bolstered up by my couch as she cupped my
husband’s balls in her nasty hands with their blood-red, cheap, press-on
fingernails, and her bright red lips sliding up and down his dick, sealed the
deal for me on
getting a divorce. I couldn’t erase that hideous mental
image, no matter how hard I tried to un-see it.
When I described the scene I had walked in on to Courtney -
including the sight of Larry with his head tipped back, mouth agape, looking at
me with a glassy, uncaring stare - unwanted tears had started to well in my
eyes.
Courtney patted my knee and said, “Honey, that’s just
head-face. They all get it when they’re getting a blow job.” Then she dropped
her face into an exact replica of the blank look Larry had given me, and we
both whooped with
laughter.
The memory made me smile. The message I had left on Court’s
mirror was perfect. She really does make everything better.
As I walked along the lakeshore, I noticed that tourists
were starting to trickle into town. It was mid-April, still early for snowbirds
and vacationers, but each year the tourism season seemed to be starting earlier
and lasting
later into the fall. For a small, quiet town like Harbor
Shores, Michigan, that was great news for the local businesses, like the trendy
shop that had employed me since I moved here.
As soon as I opened the door to Eck, Meck & Dreck, my
wacky boss Annie attacked with questions. “How was it? Did you two hit it off?
Was it love at first sight? Are you going out again? Why aren’t you telling me
all about it?”
“I was waiting for you to take a breath.” I smiled at Annie.
She looked lovely today with a sunshine yellow scarf tied in her unruly, red
curls and a bohemian skirt flowing around her. In typical Annie fashion, she
was wearing
turquoise Converse high-tops. The combination would not be
flattering on most, but somehow she made it work.
She looked so hopeful that I hated to disappoint her by
telling her about my less than stellar date with Marcus. I decided it would be
best to rip the bandage off quickly. “It’s a no-go,” I said.
“Not even one more date?” she tried. To her credit, when I
shook my head, she let it drop immediately. “No worries,” she said as she
breezed past me. “Plenty of sardines in the can.”
I chuckled at the motto she had chosen, as unique as Annie
herself. Annie had become like a second mother to me when my own mother had
passed away. She had been there to help me through the complete devastation of
the loss of
my parents, and the crumbling of my marriage in a way that
only a mother could.
She knew that the money from my inheritance made it so that
I didn’t need to work for financial reasons. I needed to work for my sanity,
though, and she insisted on paying me. On the sly, I set aside almost all of
the money
I earned from working into a mutual fund for Courtney or
Annie, should they ever need it. It felt good to know that the two women I
cared most about would never have to worry about monetary problems.
I began turning on the myriad of twinkle lights that dotted
the store as Annie propped the bright purple front door open, jingling the
bells on the handle and yelling down the sidewalk, “Tchotchkes! Get your one-of–a-kind
artsy-fartsy treasures here!”
As usual, people couldn’t resist Annie’s magnetic charm, and
it wasn’t long until the store was bustling with activity. I liked being busy
and helping people find the perfect gift for a loved one or a special souvenir.
It was terrific getting to see people when they were at
their most relaxed and happy.
I smiled as I watched Annie open a huge cardboard box that
contained the new teapot line we would be carrying. The ceramic teapots were
animal shaped, and they were beautiful. Annie exclaimed over each one like a
child on
Christmas morning. “Look at the giraffe! Oh, I think the
dolphin is my favorite! Such beautiful colors on this parrot! Oh, Abby, look.
The cow has a calf.” She bubbled with uninhibited joy as the crowd that had
gathered around
her leaned in to see what she would discover next.
Suddenly, I felt almost overwhelmed with gratitude. Courtney
and Annie were two of the most wonderful people on Earth, and they were my
family now. I was healthy and had a terrific job that I loved. My parents had
left me a
magnificent cottage within steps of the beach in a beautiful
town, which I had been able to escape to after my divorce. I was an incredibly
lucky lady.
The only thing missing was a man in my life, but who needed one of those, anyway? In my brief history with them, they seemed to be far more trouble than they were worth.
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