by H. P. Munro
“You’re welcome.” Teddy reached over to swipe Erin’s drink.
“The agreement was you chose the outfit. That was it. I don’t need your help.”
“Yeah? Well, your twenty-minute flirt with the tramp with the wedding ring mark says otherwise. You need a wingman.”
“I don’t need a wingman,” Erin replied as she reclaimed her drink.
Teddy pouted as she waved towards Sully for a drink. “I was Alex’s wingman for years.”
“Yeah? And how many relationships did you help her with?” Erin looked over to where Alex sat with Maddie, both of them lost in each other.
Scratching her head Teddy screwed up her face. “I prefer not to be performance orientated and would rather focus on the experiential aspect of my assistance.”
“So none. Teddy, you need to butt the hell out.”
“Hey, can I buy either of you gorgeous ladies a drink?”
Both Erin and Teddy turned towards the voice.
A young woman sat on a stool beside them with a cocky grin on her face. The sleeves of her Ramones T-shirt were rolled up with the outline of a cigarette pack visible beneath one.
“I’m gonna bet that T-shirt is at least twenty years older than you. Have you even gone through puberty?” Teddy asked.
“You’re feisty, I like you.” The woman was seemingly unperturbed by Teddy’s remark. “So, can I buy you a drink?”
“I don’t know? Are you legally allowed to be in a bar?” Teddy shot back.
Erin kicked out a leg, catching Teddy’s shin. “Thank you, but we’re both okay.”
“Oh.” The woman’s head moved back and forth as she looked between the two friends. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were a couple.”
“We’re not!” Erin’s pitch went up a couple of notches as she replied.
“Hey.” Teddy slapped her arm. “There is no need to sound so horrified. You would be lucky to be with me. You’d definitely be punching above your weight.”
“I will punch—”
“So if you’re not together…” The stranger interrupted Erin’s threat to Teddy.
Turning back towards the younger woman Erin immediately realized her mistake. The persistent woman had a cocky grin on her face obviously thinking she still had a chance. Sensing that Teddy was about to speak she turned to let her know her help wouldn’t be required.
“So my name’s Yolo. You know like ‘You Only Live Once.’”
A false smile froze into place on Erin’s face as she swiveled back to face Yolo. “Ooookay.”
“I know you don’t need a drink, but I was thinking maybe you’d agree to a dance, ’cause turning me down twice would just be plain mean.”
Erin could almost hear the grin that she was sure was on Teddy’s face. “One dance and then you’ll go speak to someone else?”
Yolo’s cocky smile dropped from her face to be replaced by a look of surprise. “You’ll really dance with me?”
“One dance.” Erin held up a finger. She stood up and bit back a sigh when Yolo slid off her stool. She realized their height difference meant Yolo’s eye line was directly at the level of her breasts. She’d a feeling she was going to regret her decision.
As they approached the dance area the music slowed. The fast-paced beat was replaced by a slow one and Erin’s apprehension increased. She’d barely any time to relax before Yolo had a limpet-like grip around her waist and her head resting against her chest.
“So Yolo? Is that your real name?” Erin placed her arms on Yolo’s shoulders and attempted to relax in the tight hold.
Yolo looked up reluctantly. “Yvonne Lowell.”
Erin smiled genuinely at her dance partner. “My name is Erin. I’m gonna call you Yvonne from now on. Pleased to meet you, Yvonne.”
Yolo sniffed and lowered her head.
“You know, Yvonne I’m going to give you some advice.” Erin tried to lead their dancing, so that it involved less pelvic movement. “I’m probably not your demographic.”
“You’re hot. That’s my demographic.” Yolo pulled away so she could look up at Erin and give her a cheeky wink.
“While that’s kinda sweet… I guess. I’m not sure you really believe that.” Erin stopped their uncoordinated swaying. “I’m getting the impression you’re putting on a bit of an act here.”
Yolo’s eyes widened. “It’s like you see the real me.”
A panicked look passed across Erin’s face as she feared her well-intentioned advice may have made matters worse. “I’m not the one for you, Yvonne. But I truly think when you meet the right woman, you won’t feel like you have to put an act on”— Erin smiled sadly—“and when you do, make sure you don’t let that woman go.”
Yolo looked as though she was going to reply when a voice interrupted them.
“Mind if I cut in?”
A tingle started at the base of Erin’s spine.
Yolo looked towards the interloper and nodded. “Sure, there’s more than enough of me to go around.”
Without turning around, Erin released Yolo. “I think she means me.”
Yolo cocked an eyebrow in query. When she received a nod in response, she stepped away holding her hands up in surrender. “S’all cool.”
Gulping, Erin finally turned around to face a smiling Charlotte. “You did mean me right?”
Charlotte’s smile widened. “Yeah, I meant you.”
She stepped forward and pulled Erin closer to her.
“You got my email then?” Erin queried, pulling back as a thought occurred to her. “Wait. Where were you when you got my email?”
“I was close.”
Every ounce of tension left Erin’s body as she pressed against Charlotte. It was as if time hadn’t happened and she was seventeen again. They fitted snugly together just as they always had.
Her eyes closed and she bit hard on her lip to stop the sensation of being held by Charlotte from erasing everything still between them. She swallowed hard to summon up the courage to speak. Her voice was hoarse when she finally managed to get the words out. “So, I’m listening.”
“I thought maybe we could discuss it somewhere a little less public?”
Erin looked around, registering the still full bar around them, she shook her head and exhaled softly. “Good plan.” She could feel the warmth on her cheeks as she withdrew from Charlotte’s embrace. “Tomorrow night, my place at seven? That is if you’ll still be around?”
Charlotte nodded. “I’ll still be around.”
“Alright then.” Erin moved to get around Charlotte. She paused when they were shoulder to shoulder. “Thank you for the dance.”
She left before Charlotte could respond.
***
Maddie and Alex watched the exchange from their table. As Erin strode past them, Alex caught Teddy’s eye at the bar. Maddie watched as Teddy grabbed her drink and came across to stand beside their table.
“You see that?” Teddy asked. “There was no calmouflage during that conversation.”
“Don’t do it!” Alex barely rushed the words out before Maddie spoke.
“Did you say camouflage?”
With a triumphant grin on her face, Teddy scrunched her nose in Alex’s direction, before turning to Maddie to explain. “Not like hunters wear. Calmouflage is when you give off that calm, chilled vibe when really the world is turning to crap around you, or you want to rip someone’s face off Hannibal Lecter style. I invented it.”
Maddie looked towards her girlfriend. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have asked. Anyway, it looks like they’ve got a lot of stuff to work out.” Maddie glanced over to where Charlotte was making her way off the dance floor. She turned in time to see the look exchanged between Alex and Teddy. “Oh no! You two are not getting involved.”
“Of course not.” Alex placed a kiss on Maddie’s cheek, before standing up and hooking her arm through Teddy’s. Ignoring Maddie’s complaints, she directed Teddy towards the bar and out of Maddie’s earshot.
“I’m seri
ous!” Maddie frowned as Alex responded with a backward wave. “Might as well be talking to myself.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. She opened her eyes just as a young woman in a Ramones T-shirt spun one of the seats from their table around and started to sit down beside her.
“Hell no.” Maddie shook her head and waved her hand. “I have underwear older than you.”
***
“One skinny Americano with an extra shot.” Alex placed a silver travel mug down in front of her girlfriend.
Maddie reached out and wrapped her fingers gently around Alex’s wrist. “I think you’ll find I’m in the exclusive customer program that gets me extras.”
Alex grinned as Maddie pulled her closer. “Really? And what extras does the program entitle you to?”
“Oh you know just the usual, free coffee, discount on food, and sex. Yeah, the sex bit is where your customer satisfaction scores are really showing a spike.” She placed her hand behind Alex’s neck and pulled her towards her until they were millimeters apart. Her pulse sped up. It had been just over a year since they got together, yet even the anticipation of kissing Alex was enough to set Maddie’s heart racing.
“Yeah, well you’re just gonna have to park that request since we both have work to do, but I’ll make good on it tonight.” Alex kissed Maddie soundly before groaning as the bell above the door signaled a new customer. As she straightened up, she saw a blushing Charlotte hovering beside the door. “C’mon in, don’t let the cool out.”
Charlotte hesitated before coming in and closing the door. “I was just looking for some breakfast.”
“Well then you’ve come to the right place.” Alex pulled out a chair at Maddie’s table and gesturing for her to sit. “And that’s mine. You better not have written in any answers, Madeleine Marinelli.” She lifted the newspaper, which was open at the crossword, off the table and rolled it up possessively.
Maddie grinned as Alex made a show of swatting her with the paper before trotting off to get Charlotte a menu. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” she called after her retreating girlfriend. “Although seven down is Florence.”
The dishcloth never had a hope of reaching her, but the intent was clear as Alex scowled in her direction. Turning her attention from any further possible assault Maddie regarded Charlotte as she took a careful sip of her coffee. “So I thought you left?”
Charlotte leaned over the back of the seat to scoop up the dishcloth sitting innocently on the floor. She placed it on the table and settled further into her chair. “That makes two of us. What was it you said about this place sucking you back in?”
Laughing, Maddie toyed with the dishcloth. “They ought to put a warning on the town sign alongside the population count.”
Charlotte sat forward. Her face pulled into a frown. “Have you ever been so terrified to speak that you’re not sure whether the words will get past the lump in your throat?”
Maddie didn’t need to consider her reply. She sat forward and mirrored Charlotte’s pose. “I resigned from my job. Packed my life back up into my ancient car to hightail it back here to persuade a woman, who I’d known for all of about a week and who at that point probably wanted to punch me, that she should spend the rest of her life with me.” She smiled at the memory. “So yeah, I know a little about pressure.”
“I’m getting the chance to speak to Erin tonight, to tell her my side of what happened when we were teenagers.” Charlotte blew out a breath. “And I’m scared that if I don’t get this right I could lose any chance I might have of keeping her in my life.”
“Tell the truth and speak from the heart,” Maddie said, patting Charlotte’s arm. “I usually find that’s the way to go.”
The sound of the bell above the door, followed by a crash from the door banging against the wall halted their conversation. A puffing Cindy stood gripping the doorframe.
“Doc, you’re needed at the clinic. It’s Erin. They’re bringing her in.”
Chapter Twenty
“What happened?” Charlotte asked as they ran towards the town’s clinic. Despite wanting to run at full pace, she kept beside Maddie and Cindy. It would be useless to arrive at the clinic before the town’s doctor.
“Foster’s ranch. Horse kick. Erin hurt.” Getting even the briefest of words out took its toll on Cindy and she lost step with them for a moment.
The three women arrived at the clinic in various states of breathlessness. The sense of panic that had fueled their run was now absent as whoever was bringing Erin in hadn’t yet arrived.
Mack appeared from Maddie’s office looking between Cindy’s puce face, Maddie’s game face, and finally Charlotte’s worried expression. “What the hell happened?” she asked as Cindy flopped down into a chair in the waiting area, and Maddie brushed past her into one of the exam rooms.
“Erin got a call out to the Foster’s ranch this morning. Next thing I get a call from Carl Foster saying she got kicked by one of their studs and to go get the doc as they’re bringing her straight here.” Cindy managed to huff out between breaths.
Without saying anything further, Mack disappeared into the exam room where Maddie was and reappeared a minute later pushing a gurney with an orange backboard balanced on it.
“Don’t just stand there,” she said to Charlotte, who obediently followed her out of the clinic to wait on the sidewalk.
Charlotte paced back and forth impatiently.
“You know there isn’t but a month goes by before she’s getting bitten or scratched or trod on,” Mack said neutrally. “If our patients hurt us half as much as those animals do her, I’d have found a new occupation.”
Turning, Charlotte smiled. “Thanks, but I saw your face when you heard what happened, and I reckon this isn’t one of your usual incidents.”
Mack returned the smile. “Dammit an’ I thought my poker face was better than that.”
The noise of a loud engine halted their conversation and broke the relative quiet of the morning. They watched a blue truck approach at an alarming speed. The sound of the engine was accompanied by a regular blast from the horn as the driver screeched to a halt beside them. The driver flung open the door and jumped down, waving to Mack as he ran around to the rear of the truck. “She’s in the back.”
Charlotte held her breath as she stepped forward. She was unable to see anything in the flatbed of the truck other than bales of hay, and a worried-looking young man running his fingers through his hair.
“Chuck Foster, I had better be dead, ’cause there’s no other reason for you to be driving like a maniac through town.”
At the sound of Erin’s voice, the breath Charlotte had been holding left her in a rush. She stepped around to see Erin laying in the rear of the truck, surrounded by bales of hay buffering her movement.
Mack allowed a sheepish-looking Chuck Foster to help her up onto the truck. “How you doing Erin?” she asked, attempting to recover from her ungainly entrance, which involved Chuck Foster laying hands on places only her husband was familiar with.
“Well I’ve been better,” Erin replied, her smile turning into a wince.
“What happened?” Mack glared at Chuck, who instinctively took a step back.
Erin gripped her arm around her side. “I took a kick from one of Chuck’s stallions. It caught me in the ribs.”
The young man who was sitting in the truck beside Erin shook his head. “I’m sorry, Doctor Hunter, I thought I had him.”
Grimacing with pain, Erin shook her head. “It’s okay, Carl. I’ve been around animals long enough to know the biting, scratching, and kicking ends. Today I just wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way. It’s no one’s fault.”
“Did you lose consciousness at all?” Mack pushed hay bales out of the way to get closer to her.
“Unfortunately not, was awake and felt the whole damn thing, including the warp speed drive here. It’s just my ribs. Nothing else got damaged.”
Chuck’s cheeks reddened at the comment.
Mack
laughed as she crouched down beside Erin’s head and carefully placed a cervical collar on her. “Let’s not take any chances. You think you can roll over so I can slide the backboard in?”
Erin looked up at Mack and winced. “Probably, but only with a whole lot of pain, and a load more cussing. I think one might be broken.”
“I think my delicate ears can cope with the odd cuss word.” Maddie pulled herself onto the truck and collected the backboard from a willing Chuck. She positioned herself so she could help Erin move. “Hey, Erin. Bad day at the office?”
“Something like that.”
“Well let’s get you in and get drugs into you. After three?”
On the count of three Erin let out a loud yell followed by a volley of expletives as she was returned to her prone position.
Mack waited for a moment for Erin to compose herself. “You still okay?”
“Yup, just working out my next round of swear words for when you try and get me down out of this thing.”
Maddie stopped securing Erin onto the backboard for a second and leaned over so she could see her face. “My personal favorite was monkey shit fucker.”
Erin smiled weakly. “Why thank you, I worked hard on that one.”
“Okay, we’re good to go.” Maddie jumped down from the truck and gripped the backboard’s handles near Erin’s feet. “I’m going to need you all to help move her off.”
Chuck and his son Carl immediately moved to help. Charlotte hesitated, unsure her presence would be welcome, but stepped forward to help when Mack jumped down off the truck. She gripped the handles of the board nearest to Erin’s head.
If Erin was surprised to see Charlotte beside her, it didn’t register on her face. “Hey.”
“Hey you.” Charlotte lifted the backboard along with the others, moving carefully so as not to jostle Erin. “You really okay? Or are you pretending to be tough like when you broke your big toe?”
“Totally pretending.”
“Let’s get her in,” Maddie said, once they’d placed Erin on the gurney.
***
Charlotte paced back and forth in the waiting room. She was conscious her movement was being watched by the seated inhabitants. They were no doubt puzzled enough to see Charlotte Grace back in Grace Falls, never mind seeing her wearing a hole in the floor of the clinic. It had been a half hour since Maddie and Mack wheeled Erin through to the exam room and neither had reappeared. The absence of news started to wear Charlotte’s already frayed nerves further.
