Bitter Sweet Street

by Lena North

  “I’m good,” I replied. “It has been rough, but I have friends here and they helped, so I’m okay. I’ll be back in Chicago next week.”

  “You’re coming back?”

  “I’ll be back to pack my things,” I said quietly. “We’re splitting up,” I added.

  I wasn’t ready to use the d-word, but he should know what was happening.

  “Yeah,” he sighed. “Guessed you would.”

  “Yeah?” I asked, not sure what I was asking.

  “A woman like you, Angelica. Of course, you would,” he said calmly, and added, “Stewart is an idiot. You know that, right?”

  “Michael…” I said, not sure if I wanted to trash-talk my soon to be ex-husband with a man who was still working with him.

  “People call me Mickey outside the office,” he murmured.

  Oh. I hadn’t known, but we hadn’t spent much of our free time together, so how would I?

  “When you come back, will you call me?” he asked, sounding oddly hesitant.

  “Sure,” I said uncertainly.

  “Maybe we could meet?” he asked and my brows went up, but he went on hastily, “Not like a date. I know you’re not ready for that, Angelica. More like… meeting up. I don’t know, have dinner, talk for a while?”

  That sounded like a date to me but I opted against correcting him because it also sounded nice.

  “Okay,” I said.

  “Yeah?”

  There was happiness in his voice and I felt my face soften with a smile.

  “Yeah,” I confirmed.

  “I’ll –”

  A loud crash echoed in the background and a young child started wailing hysterically.

  “Shit. Sorry. Wait a sec,” he said, and must have moved his phone away because his voice was muffled when he shouted, “What in the hell are you doing now, you spawns of Satan?”

  I started giggling when I heard several young voices babble out explanations that sounded more like excuses.

  “Hey,” he said into the phone again. “Sorry, I’m at my cousin’s and her kids are out of control, I have to –”

  Another crash interrupted him and he swore softly again.

  “Mickey,” I said. “Go. Do what you have to do. I’ll call next week when I’m in Chicago.”

  He was silent for a second and then I heard him sigh.

  “Yeah, next week, Angelica.”

  “Angie,” I whispered.

  “What?”

  “People outside the office call me Angie.”

  There was another silence and then he said softly, “Angie.”

  “Later,” I murmured.

  “Yeah, later,” he echoed.

  When I’d closed the call, I stared at my phone in surprise for a while. Had I just agreed to a non-date with Michael?

  Wow.

  “Angie!” Louise called from her house and waved at me. “Want to come over for dinner?”

  “Yes, totally!” I shouted back to her and waved my hand toward the house, indicating that I needed a few minutes.

  She gave me a thumbs-up and I walked inside to change into something that wasn’t fancy, but at least clean, before I walked over to my neighbors.

  Beatrice and Pat were there, and Zack stood by the grill with Dan when I walked up the steps to their back porch.

  “Smells fantastic,” I called out to Dan, and he turned to grin at me.

  I kept walking and tilted my head to the side a few times to get Beatrice to come with me into the kitchen where Louise was filling a tray with plates and glasses. I told them about my baffling call with Mickey. They giggled, and so did I, and it felt completely surreal. I was almost fifty, married but soon to be divorced, and I wasn’t planning to start anything at all with anyone. Still, after everything that had happened in the past months, it felt good to giggle a little with my friends about a handsome man. And Mickey certainly was handsome with his tall frame and easy grin. His Mediterranean ancestry had given him dark brown hair and eyes the color of chocolate. Not that I’d thought of them as chocolate before, but when I showed Louise a picture from the company web-site, that’s what she said. She wasn’t wrong.

  Dinner was lovely and we laughed as Dan and Pat took turns re-telling hilarious stories from their high school years. Zack had only lived in the small town for a couple of years, which was a surprise. I’d thought he was a Colorado native like the others.

  “Have to go,” he sighed when we started clearing the table.

  “Zacharias,” Louise protested softly. “Can’t you stay for coffee? I thought Joanie worked tonight?”

  “Month end,” he muttered. “Late as fu –” he stopped himself and with a glance at his hostess he corrected himself, “Have to do the books, and I’m depressingly late with it.”

  The look on his face told me exactly what he thought about administrative tasks.

  They went back out on the porch while I finished loading the dishwasher. I thought about Zack and his books and remembered how it had been back when I started working. The company had been smaller and I’d actually liked the hands-on job of keeping everything in good order. It took only a few seconds to decide what I wanted to do, and then I walked out to the others.

  “I’ll do you,” I said to Zack before I could change my mind.

  They all froze and stared at me.

  “Angie, wh –”

  I interrupted Zack before he could talk about paying me because I was technically on paid leave from my job so I couldn’t exactly get a salary from someone else.

  “Give me a beer or two and I’ll be happy to,” I said with a grin, and added, “I’ve been restless for a while so working off some of that energy will be good for me.”

  Pat snorted out laughter suddenly and when I saw a lazy grin spread on Zack’s face, I realized what I’d said.

  “Oh, God,” I whispered hoarsely, and clarified hastily, “Your books. I’ll do your books. Month end. Financial book close.”

  I felt a blush creep up my cheeks as I babbled, and they all burst out laughing.

  “What is wrong with this porch?” I asked sourly. “It makes me stupid.”

  “Makes you funny, babe,” Zack amended and walked toward the steps leading into the garden and the path up to his house. “And thanks. If you mean it, then stop by Higher tomorrow around lunchtime and I’ll let you loose on the mayhem that is my office.”

  “Okay,” I said, feeling an unexpected surge of excitement about working again.

  When Zack passed me, he stopped and bent down a little. I could see the humor in his eyes but there was something else too, and it made my belly tingle.

  “For the record, Angie,” he said and leaned closer to murmur into my ear. “I don't fool around with married women but if that situation changes, I'll definitely be interested in… doing things.”

  His breath sliding along my neck sent shivers down my spine and my mouth fell open, but he straightened and started walking again, grinning crookedly at me over his shoulder.

  “See you tomorrow,” he said and winked.

  I stood there staring at his back and watched him raise his hand and extend a finger to Dan and Pat when they both hooted with laughter.

  What was going on? First a non-date with Mickey, and now Zack had… what? Propositioned me? Or since I had started it, perhaps he’d counter-propositioned me? Did people even use that word anymore?

  “Coffee,” I squealed and walked inside.

  Dan helped me carry the mugs, and he was chuckling quietly but to my relief not saying anything about my newest idiocy. When we were seated again and chocolates were passed around, we talked about my job in Chicago. I explained what it had been about, and how I had been unhappy even before finding my husband working overtime in the conference room.

  “I don’t know what to do now,” I said slowly. “My boss is fantastic, setting it up so I can go back if I want to, but I won’t take him up on that. Next week when
I’m back, I’ll ask him to give me the severance package and take me off payroll.”

  I was silent for a while and they waited quietly for me to continue.

  “I don’t know what to do now,” I repeated after a while because I didn’t.

  “Anything,” Daniel said immediately. “That’s the beauty of where you are now, Angie. You have time to think, and you can do anything you like.”

  “Like Julia Roberts,” Beatrice added.

  “Uh, maybe –”

  “Yes,” Louise said, ignoring her husband’s objection. “Exactly like Julia Roberts.” She leaned her head a little to the side and murmured, “I’ve always though Benicio del Toro looks mighty fine, and maybe you’ll meet –”

  “What?” Pat asked with his brows high on his forehead.

  “Javier Bardem,” I said, understanding exactly what she was talking about, and in spite of the magnificent beauty of Benicio, wanting to set the record straight.

  “Really?” Louise asked. “I thought it was Benicio.”

  “Nope.”

  “I thought it was Antonio,” Beatrice said. “Javier? You’re sure?”

  “Oh, I’m sure,” I said. “Latino men have always been an obsess –”

  “Okay, stop,” Pat said and turned to Dan as he added, “Do you understand what they’re talking about?”

  Dan was silent for a second and then he made a face.

  “Freaks me out a little, but yeah. I do.”

  There was another silence, and I whispered to Louise, “You lucked out with that one, didn’t you?”

  “I sure did,” she replied happily.

  “Do I want to know?” Pat asked Daniel.

  “They’re talking about a movie with Julia Roberts where she drifts through the world and meets a hunky Hispanic-looking guy.”

  “Oh,” Pat said. “I’ve seen that movie.”

  “Slept that movie,” Beebs corrected him with a smirk.

  “That’s what I said,” Pat retorted, although he was grinning back at her.

  “So, Angie, maybe you should roam the world, maybe you should go back to Chicago,” Dan said. “You can live here, or in Alaska. Start crocheting hats and sell them at flea markets, go back to work in finance… Anything you like.”

  I thought about that for a while and he was right. I could do anything I wanted and I had no clue what that was.

  “What about you, Dan?” I asked. “If you could do anything you wanted, what would you do?”

  His smile was calm and confident as he replied, “Already do.”

  “What?”

  “Have the job I always wanted, in the town I want to die in,” he said, glanced over at his wife and continued so sweetly my eyes burned. “I also married the prettiest, funniest girl I ever met and watched her grow into the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on. That she did that right next to me is a blessing I’m not sure I deserve but believe me… I thank the Lord for it every day.”

  “Danny…” Louise whispered softly into the silence that followed.

  Oh yeah. I thought. Totally lucked out.

  “For fuck's sake, Danny,” Pat muttered.

  “What?” Dan countered. “It’s true.”

  “I know it’s bloody true,” Pat said. “And you’re my best bud since forever, man, but sometimes I really hate you. You know that, yeah?”

  Daniel grinned and raised his coffee cup in a silent toast.

  “Why would you hate him? That was sweet,” I protested.

  “That’s Danny. Sweet,” Pat said. “So, what do you think my lovely wife will expect from me tomorrow morning, when I roll out of bed, scratch my butt and maybe even let go of some wind?”

  “Um,” I said, stunned by the visual.

  “Love’ya babe,” he went on. “Do you think that’ll be words that work well for me if I’m trying to go for some morning nookie?”

  I blinked and said not a word because what was there to say?

  “Now she’ll want something about blessings and how I live the life of my friggin’ dreams,” he muttered, but went on quickly, “Don’t get me wrong, Angie. I do. Gorgeous wife who puts up with my shit. Great job. Kids are not in prison. Couldn’t ask for more.”

  My mouth fell open. His kids were not in prison? I’d thought all three were in college, so had there been any risk of them being incarcerated?

  “Pat,” Beebs snorted. “You can shut up now.”

  I turned to her and found her grinning at her husband.

  “I don’t need the words, and you know it. Wouldn’t mind if you held that wind until you are in the bathroom, but apart from that…” she winked at him and murmured, “Morning nookie is a given, honey.”

  “Appreciated,” he said, clearly trying to sound nonchalant, but I saw the look they exchanged and knew that Beatrice had totally lucked out too.

  As they continued to talk quietly, I turned toward the forest and thought about what they’d said. It didn’t take very long for me to decide that I’d start by going back to Chicago, pack my things and tell Jonas I wasn’t coming back to the office. Then I’d send Annie plane tickets so she could be with me at O’Hare when Johnny came back. Maybe they’d go with me to Colorado for a little while before school started.

  After that… I had no clue, but that thought didn’t scare me. It made my lips stretch out in a smile and I felt a pleasant flutter of butterflies in my belly.

  I could do anything I wanted, and I didn’t know what that was but I had time to figure it out.

  Continue reading about the people on Sweet Street

  It was supposed to be easy

  Released 2018

  Angelica, Angie, Parker is forty plus. Okay, strictly speaking, she’s forty plus-plus, and unless you count her newly acquired dog who seems to think he’s more human than anything else, she’s also single.

  Angie is rebuilding her life after divorcing her philandering fool of a husband, and she fumbles her way through dates and lawn mower repairs, trying to figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life. It quickly becomes clear to her that looking forward without understanding the past isn’t a good thing, though. Especially not when the past holds secrets.

  Then the small town in the Rockies needs her help, and suddenly Angie has choices to make; Small town life or the big city? Zacharias? Mickey? Or perhaps Stewart deserves a second chance…

  ***

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  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  My thanks

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Continue reading – It was supposed to be easy