“He kissed you? And that’s a non-story?” she squealed loudly. “I agree, it sounds like a random sequence of events, but I’m so proud of you! That’s pretty good progress, given you haven’t kissed a guy since Ian.”
“Please don’t bring that up,” I interjected, cutting her off. That wasn’t a subject I liked talking about – ever. Especially not on a work day when I needed to maintain my composure. “Look, it was just a weird, random night. Nothing will come of it. Unless he comes to the clinic for me to check his arm, I doubt I’ll even see him again. But it doesn’t matter, he’s not even my type at all.”
“Of course not, why would handsome and muscular be your type?” she teased.
“Good morning ladies,” Dr. Nikki said cheerfully, popping her head into the break room. “Sydney, you’re going to kill me, but the message service was quite busy last night. The Humane Society has six new ones to bring over today, and we only have room here for four. Any chance you can handle a rabbit at your place, and one tortoise? It would just be for a couple of nights. I may have a home for Dexter by Friday, but unfortunately they’re coming in faster than we have them going out.”
Sadly, this was eternally our problem. The clinic already got fined once for being over capacity, so I knew she couldn’t risk it again.
“Of course, I have an open spot for the rabbit for sure, I only have those two black spotted ones right now. As for the tortoise, that should be pretty low maintenance, right? I can probably keep him in the kitchen, high enough so Dexter can’t get to him?” I offered. Dr. Nikki was so compassionate about all of these animals that I couldn’t help but try and accommodate them for her. She kindly showed her appreciation by bringing me groceries when she dropped off food and toys for the animals, and occasionally my rent was even covered when I had a full house. She was so generous when I needed time off too, so I genuinely didn’t mind helping her out in any way I could. Plus, it gave me some company.
“You are a lifesaver,” she replied sincerely as she left the room.
“See, if you lived in an apartment with pet restrictions like me, you could have a normal dating life without pigs and tortoises running around,” Sam teased. “Maybe that would help you find time for a guy.”
“Your place is a dive, that’s why you’re always hanging out at mine,” I joked back. “You do have pets already, they’re called mice.”
“Oh stop, it’s not that bad. Besides, mice are cute,” she happily shrugged. “Hey, are we still on for that concert tomorrow night?”
“Of course, looking forward to it. Beach today after work?” Many of our afternoons were spent the same way, lazily laying out in the summer sun, reading magazines and talking about life.
“Yep, I need to work on my tan before tomorrow night,” she agreed. “Come on, we have a spay to prep for. Let’s get to work.”
The workday passed by pretty routinely. No major catastrophes, which was always a relief in our line of work. We unexpectedly adopted out a few rabbits and two cats to someone who owned a small farm, which would free up the ones I had in my condo. That would leave me with Dexter and the unnamed tortoise for the time being, probably the least amount of pets I ever had at one time.
Since Sam and I had the early shift, we got off at three in the afternoon. We loved days like that because the clinic was only a five minute walk down to the beach. Lake Tahoe had so many wonderful beaches, both on the Nevada side where we were and on the California side about twenty minutes away. But Halo Beach, the one nearest to the clinic and my apartment, was by far my favorite. There were no good parking spots near it, so it was mostly only locals versus the crowds of tourists most of the other Tahoe beaches had.
Sam and I brought the tortoise back to my place, securing his tank on top of my kitchen table far away from Dexter’s curious snout. Sam made Dexter a giant salad for his late lunch and then we made our way down to the beach.
“We’ve gotta talk about this concert tomorrow night, what’s the deal with this band guy?” I asked as we neared the water’s edge. We laid out our towels and dropped our bags.
“Ah, Soul Punch,” Sam replied dreamily.
“That’s the band’s name? Soul Punch? Is that a horrible joke?” I said with a giggle.
“Yeah, so not a great name,” Sam agreed with a laugh. We laid down on our towels to take in the sunshine. “Honestly the band isn’t even that great. But their guitarist…” she gushed.
Last week Sam had a date with a guy she met at the library. He took her to some dive bar and although she wasn’t into the date, she left swooning over the guitar player. She never even got his name, but it was all she talked about over the last few days.
“So I’ve done a bit of internet stalking,” Sam continued, “and I’ve narrowed down his name. It’s either Tyler, Luke, Ethan, or Barry. Their crappy website didn’t have them labeled, it only listed their names,” she sighed.
“So where’s the bar, what’s the name again? Joe something?” I asked. I knew it wasn’t a place I’d ever been to before.
“Local Joe’s,” she stated. “You’re going to freak out when you see it, it’s a total dive. But it appears to be the only place they play. Here’s the bad part… It’s in the West Cove.”
“The snake pit?” I uttered. “We’re going to get mugged.”
“I know, not the best spot. But at least it’s on a Tuesday night. That has to be better than a weekend, right?” she speculated.
“I don’t know, the fact that this band can only book a weeknight in some crappy bar, that’s just bad all around. How terrible are these guys?”
“It’s bad,” she admitted. “But I’m telling you, when you see the guitarist, it will all make sense. It will be worth risking our lives for in some seedy dive bar.” She giggled.
There was an area nearby known as the West Cove. It was still on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, but it was nestled into the trees right near the California line. Nothing good happened in West Cove, according to the nightly news anyway. It was riddled with dive bars, cheap motels, and run down trailers and cabins. It was such an odd little pocket of Mountain Ridge life. The rest of the lake towns were full of tourists or multi-million dollar homeowners who dwelled in huge five-story mansions on the lake. There was still a strong working middle class area across from the lakefront owners – people like me in modest condos or duplexes. But crime in general was really low in this beautiful town full of outdoor enthusiasts. West Cove was the black hole of the entire area.
“The bar itself isn’t as bad inside as it looks on the outside,” Sam commented, shrugging it off. “I wouldn’t exactly go there alone, but in reality it’s only a few miles from here. Maybe Brandt can come with us.”
“Yeah, because he looks tough and threatening,” I said sarcastically. Brandt was my ex’s best friend. Even though Ian was very much out of the picture, Brandt and I remained pretty close. Along with Sam, the three of us did a lot together.
“You’re right, we need a real bodyguard. Maybe the guy from the clinic?” Sam suggested. “Eva said he’s literally a giant mass of muscle. That would serve us well,” she said with a smile.
“His name is Cole, and I don’t think so,” I replied, shaking my head. “I’d rather take my chances.”
We flipped over onto our stomachs so we could get some sun on our backs. I tied my hair up into a knot on top of my head.
After a couple hours of sun, Sam and I packed up our stuff and headed into a small beachfront café for some sandwiches.
“Do you want to catch a movie tonight?” she asked as we finished up our dinner.
“Nah, I’m kind of tired. Last night I was up later than usual,” I replied honestly.
“Right, kissing strangers,” she brought up again. “Look, I totally get that you needed a break from everything after what had happened last summer. I get it. But I just don’t want to see you miss out on an opportunity. I’m not just talking about that Cole guy, I’m talking about anyone.”
“So you’re sayi
ng I should lust after one of the guys from Soul Punch tomorrow night?” I teased. I laughed. “I’m sorry, I just can’t take that stupid name seriously.”
“The other guys in the band are cute too, just you wait. Maybe one of them will get you back on the horse,” she countered. “Just promise me you’ll think about it. Promise me that if you do see a guy that you could be interested in, that you’ll at least give it a chance.”
“I will,” I groaned as we headed back to the clinic for Sam to pick up her car.
“Do you want a ride home?”
“No, I should walk. I could probably use the exercise,” I replied nonchalantly. I wasn’t really out of shape by any means, I had a pretty slender five-foot-seven frame. But long days at the clinic and slow afternoons at the beach didn’t exactly do much for my cardio intake.
“Fine. See you tomorrow night after you get off work. I’ll grab Brandt and we’ll be over to your place by seven forty-five?” she said with a raised brow.
“Sounds good,” I replied, waving to her as she pulled out of the lot. I thought about what she said on my walk home. Even if I did see a guy I was interested in, was I finally ready for that? Not that I had my sights on any type of band fling or something flighty like that, it wasn’t my style. But clearly I wasn’t going to meet anyone with something more substantial going on at a dive bar in West Cove. That’s where dreams went to die.
I entered my condo and dropped my stuff, feeling more exhausted than I should for seven-thirty on a Monday. I fed all of the animals, gave them all some attention, then headed up to my bedroom for a good night’s sleep. Instead of passing out right away though, my mind wandered.
There was honestly a time when I thought I would never be ready to date after Ian. After everything that had happened, for awhile I thought I was too love-stricken to move on. I thought giving my heart away like that to someone could only happen once in a lifetime. I figured after loving someone like that, it wasn’t possible to ever feel that way again.
Shortly after that period of time though, I felt the opposite. Not love-stricken about it – but guilt-stricken.
Because deep down, I knew it was all my fault.
I was solely responsible for Ian’s death.
CHAPTER 4
After a restless sleep, I awoke to a cloudy morning and a very hungry, squealing pig. I reluctantly got up, fed Dexter his breakfast, cleaned up the tortoise tank and got ready for work.
My shift at the clinic from eight to five flew by. All of the appointments were pretty routine. I missed having Sam there on Tuesdays, but she always had class on Tuesdays and Thursdays so she didn’t work on those days. Eva was at least growing on me. She’d only been working at the clinic for about eight months. She was a little bit older, in her late thirties, and she was unmarried. Aside from her soap opera obsession, she loved parakeets more than any other bird lover I’d ever met. We didn’t necessarily have a lot in common, but she had a great sense of humor and was fun to be around.
“So, any details for me on the hunk from the other night?” she questioned as I sorted through some charts towards the end of my shift. “Possibly a date tonight?”
“Nope, no juicy details for you,” I said wearily. These people see me leave one time with a guy and they can’t let it go. “I’m headed out tonight with Sam for a concert. It’s at some dive bar in West Cove though, so if I don’t show up for work tomorrow, somebody needs to come look for my body.”
“Those West Cove boys would enjoy doing something to your body, all right,” she said with animated eyebrows. “You watch out tonight. See, that’s why you need that hunk of a man, to take care of you in a place like that.”
“Brandt is going with us, we’ll be fine,” I stated, setting down the charts and grabbing for my purse.
“That skinny little friend of yours that comes in here for lunch sometimes? He’s going to save you?” she asked with a laugh.
“I’m not the one who will need saving. Sam is going nuts for some guy in a crappy band. Who knows how the night will end,” I said, only half sarcastically. Sam didn’t always have the best taste when it came to dating material. They were always cute, but sometimes had little else to offer.
I said my goodbyes and made the short walk back to my condo. I took a quick shower and dried my long hair, opting to keep it down for the night. I tried to pick out something dive-bar-concert-worthy, but I had no clue what this place was really like. Sam and Brandt rang my doorbell just a few minutes before eight.
“You’re wearing pants?” Sam asked me with a scrunched up face as I answered the door. I guessed by her tight black dress that she expected me in something different.
“I don’t know, I’m just trying stuff on,” I said in a frustrated tone, throwing up my hands. “I don’t usually frequent seedy bars on the wrong side of town. I feel like I’m suppose to wear leather or metal or something.”
“You’re not a biker chick for heaven’s sake,” Sam said, leading me back upstairs to my closet. Brandt just shrugged at me in his khaki pants and light green button down shirt as we left him in the living room. “We’re going to flirt with hot guys in a band,” she said, rummaging through my hangers. “You need something tighter… Shorter.”
“You’re the one flirting with band guys,” I said with a laugh. “I’ll be hanging out with Brandt in the back corner of the bar trying not to get mugged. I’ve never heard anything good about the bars in West Cove, other than they’re fabulous places to score cheap heroin.”
“That’s why Brandt is with us, for security so no one takes advantage of us,” Sam further explained, holding out a short navy and white striped sundress. “This doesn’t look all that daring, but it’s the shortest thing you’ve got. You’re my wingman. Please wear this instead of the pants?” she pled. Her giant hazel eyes begged.
“Whatever,” I said, shooing her out. “Give me two minutes.” I heard her tall heels thump down the stairs as I slid the strapless dress over my head. It was at least longer than the dress Sam had on, but not by much.
I only had on light makeup, versus the black eyeliner and smoky eyes Sam had, but I felt comfortable. After all, I was just going as the supportive friend, so I didn’t want to overdo it. The least amount of attention I could bring to myself, the better. I grabbed a small clutch purse with my ID and very little cash and ran downstairs to head out. Brandt was currently on the floor, scratching Dexter’s tummy, while Sam was fixing her makeup in my hallway mirror.
“This pig is amazing,” Brandt said, playing with his snout. “How much longer do you have him?”
“Only until Friday,” I said sadly. “Nikki found a home for him.”
“Maybe someday you’ll focus less on real pigs and you’ll find yourself a human one instead,” Sam teased.
“A girl can dream,” I said with a laugh. “Dexter, here,” I insisted, pointing to the baby gate area he stayed in with a litter box while I was away. He followed my command and stepped right in. “This one is at least listening to me,” I stated with a smirk. “I’d rather have a pig.”
I shut off a few lights and we headed out for the night, climbing into Brandt’s yellow Hummer.
“Does this band play anywhere other than West Cove bars?” he asked Sam as he drove us towards the locale. “I’m afraid we’re all going to end up on the news tomorrow. Look at this place.”
I gazed out my window, taking in the liquor stores with barred windows. There was a lady on the other side of the street looking disheveled while pushing around an empty shopping cart. There was good reason why we stayed around downtown Mountain Ridge. This definitely wasn’t our scene.
“According to their website, their next three gigs are at Local Joes, so this is our only option,” Sam sighed. “But I promise you Syd, when you see this guy it will all make sense. I would do the same for you.”
“I know you would,” I replied earnestly. Sam was one of the best people I knew, so of course I didn’t mind joining her for this adventure. Sh
e would do it for me without hesitation.
“What’s his name?” Brandt asked, following his GPS instructions down an unlit side street.
“Here we go,” I teased. “It’s either Luke or Ethan or Barry.”
“Or Tyler,” Sam interjected. “I know, it’s embarrassing. But I love you both for being here with me,” she said sincerely. “This is it.” She pointed to a small blue building. There was a jankity sign out front that read Local Joe’s. The wood siding was peeling off and two of the parking lot lights appeared to be burnt out. Lovely.
“There are a decent amount of cars here for a Tuesday night,” Brandt said, pulling into one of the few vacant spots left.
“May we all live not to regret this,” I teased as we climbed out of the SUV. A few heads turned our way in the parking lot. Turns out we weren’t blending in as well as we’d hoped, but I blamed Brandt’s loud attention seeking car for that.
Brandt held out some bills to the bouncer checking IDs, covering our five dollar entrance fee. The place inside was bigger than I expected. There was a long bar area with people lining up for drinks, and a few tables set up towards the back of the room with chairs. There was a decent-sized stage full of instruments with a somewhat sad homemade drop cloth hung up baring the words Soul Punch. I snickered again at the name. It was so dumb.
“The usuals?” Brandt asked towards Sam and I, pointing to the bar. We both nodded. Sam was scouring the room for any sign of her band target. Within a minute, the room went completely dark.
“Dammit, we really are going to be murdered here,” I muttered, grabbing onto Sam’s arm in the dark. Seconds later a small spotlight turned on, illuminating the stage.
“That scared the piss out of me,” Brandt said, walking up behind us. “I spilled Sam’s cranberry vodka all over myself.” Brandt looked annoyed as he handed us our drinks. He wiped his clothes down with a bar napkin.
A loud voice came over the speakers, introducing the band. Immediately following that were drums so loud I could barely hear the vocals. Sam grabbed my arm, pointing to the guitarist. He had on dark jeans and a grey tank top, and his brown messy hair looked chaotic. He was so into the music though, it was as if he didn’t even realize how many people were looking at him.
The Falling Kind Page 3
