Her Something Impetuous

by Hunt Harris, Kim

“And now you need me to be there for you. So I am.” Terri sniffed and placed her palms resolutely on the table. “I am here for you. Let it all out, honey. Go ahead. Just let it all go.” She nodded encouragingly, waiting, apparently, for Karen to cry on cue.

  Karen rested her elbows on the table and her face on her fists. “How about we split a piece of cheesecake instead?”

  “Oh, thank God.” Terri slid down in the seat like someone had let the air out of her. “I didn’t know what I was going to do if you actually began to cry.”

  “Well, I’m not. Things are not that bad.” Well, they were that bad, but she’d be damned if she was going to sit here and admit it out loud, after hearing Terri’s heartrending version of the state of her life.

  “Exactly. You have your whole life ahead of you. You’re relatively young, and you still have time to find someone else. And even if you don’t, lots of people live their entire lives alone and they’re just fine. In fact, they’re really happy. I’ll bet you can be that way, too, if you give it time. You can learn new skills, join a book club, go on those cruises that widows and widowers go on…” Terri’s voice cracked with a fresh sob.

  “Terri, I’m getting divorced. I don’t have a fatal disease. It’s not the end of the world.”

  Terri nodded and sniffed. “Okay, okay.”

  Karen sighed and sipped her cocoa. Enough about how pathetic her life was. It was time to concentrate on someone else’s misery. “What do you think I ought to do about Cait? She can’t stand the sight of me and now it’s almost like she’s siding with Michael and Denise against me.”

  Terri listened sympathetically as Karen poured out all her concerns and complaints about her daughters. “This is normal, right? I mean, teenagers are like this. Everyone knows that. There are entire sections of books in the library about it.”

  “Sure.” Terri nodded. “Amanda and I have our moments. Everyone with a teenager does.”

  Karen tried to smile, but couldn’t. Amanda wasn’t like Cait. Although she and Terri had their share of disagreements, they were still close. The way she and Pam were.

  Used to be.

  “I think I’m going to drive up to Roosevelt next weekend to surprise Pam.”

  “That’s a great idea. She’ll like that, whether she admits it or not.”

  She and Terri split their cheesecake and talked about their kids, their marriages, their contributions to the stupid Rockridge Box Lunch fundraiser. Terri was going with her old standby: Arthur’s favorite pork tenderloin and new potatoes. She commiserated with Karen about the pressure associated with bringing the hallowed Hallelujah muffins.

  Terri chewed her lip and smushed graham cracker crumbs with her fork. “So…are you going to tell me about last night?”

  Karen lifted her eyebrows and pretended she didn’t know what Terri was talking about, although she was dying to tell someone about Will.

  “Oh, come on! Did you kiss him?”

  “Well…yeah.” And then some.

  “And? What was it like? Was it weird, kissing someone else? Did his mustache tickle? How did it feel?”

  “Amazing. Absolutely amazing.” She hadn’t imagined that part, had she? Had that kiss really been one for the record books? Or had she simply been married too long? “Yes, it was weird, and yes it tickled. But that was okay.” She decided it wouldn’t be prudent to reveal that, while she was feeling that mustache and goatee against her face, she wondered briefly what it would feel like against her breast. Terri wasn’t ready for that.

  “Are you going to see him again?”

  “I think so. He asked me to lunch today but I’d already eaten.”

  “Ooh!” Terri grimaced as if Karen said she’d just missed winning the lottery.

  “It’s okay, I left my purse at the tattoo parlor. So I have to go back and get it.”

  “Are you going tonight?”

  “I should. I don’t have my driver’s license. But I’m not in any condition to see anyone.”

  “Well, I’m proud of you. I know last night I got kind of…”

  “Panicked?”

  “Yes, panicked. Because you don’t even know him. He could be any kind of person. But I’m proud of you for getting back out there. You’re very brave.”

  Karen shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s courage that helps you make out with a guy you’ve just met, but if it is, then yeah, I’m a tower of bravery.”

  “And I know you’re too smart to actually fall for a guy like that.”

  Karen took a sip of chocolate to get the dry crumbs down her throat. “What do you mean, fall for a guy like that?”

  “You know, get emotionally involved. I totally understand the need to…”

  “Get back out there?” Karen had heard that a lot lately.

  “Yes, get back out there. Find out who you really are. And dating is a part of that. But you have a good head on your shoulders. You can see who’s good boyfriend material and who is wild fling material.”

  “I suppose.” Although she wasn’t so sure. She’d married the supposedly good material and look where that got her.

  “Karen. Come on.”

  Karen lifted her shoulders. “What?”

  “You’re not already serious about this guy, are you?”

  “Of course not. I don’t even know his last name. I met him…” She looked at the clock on the wall behind Terri. “Twenty-four hours ago. How could I be serious about him?”

  “You have a very funny look in your eyes.”

  “Those are just the black circles from lack of sleep.”

  “Karen, promise me you’ll be careful. Take it slow. You don’t want to go rushing into anything that’s going to end up hurting you. You need some time – “

  “I know, I know. I need some time to get to know myself.”

  “Well, I’m sorry, but it’s true. You’ve never been on your own.”

  “Neither have you.”

  “And I know that if I were single again I would need some time to sort things through and figure out what I wanted before I went around making life-changing decisions.”

  “I promise you, the only life-changing decision I’m facing right now is whether or not to fake the flu so I can get out of making the damned Hallelujah muffins.”

  Dire predictions about her personal life aside, by the time she’d finished her chocolate and cheesecake Karen felt a lot better. She was full of sugar and things were back into perspective. Yes, Pam and Cait were both being pains in the ass, but kids were always a pain of some sort. It was their job.

  Still, she wasn’t quite ready to go home. Maybe she should just drop by Under the Inkfluence and get her purse. So what if she didn’t look her best? She didn’t look that bad. And it wasn’t like she was sixteen and would absolutely die if the guy she had a crush on saw her looking less than her absolute best. She was a grown woman. And she needed her purse. She was inviting a fine, driving around without her license.

  She got to the block the tattoo parlor was on and flipped down the visor to check her hair. Good heavens, whose rat’s nest was that? No, she did not need her purse that badly.

  She flipped the visor back up and gunned the motor. She had to get home and scurry back under the rock she crawled out from under.

  Her car dinged to let her know she’d let the tank get below an eighth.

  She pulled into a convenience store to get gas. She looked uneasily around as the gas pumped. This wasn’t the best neighborhood, and she was too tired to scream very loudly if someone tried to accost her.

  She rubbed at her tired eyes. That was not a good move. Her eyes started to sting. She must have some gas fumes or something on them. She blinked and sniffed and noticed that the flashing numbers on the readout were getting a little fuzzy.

  She rubbed her eyes again. Damn! This was really starting to burn. Yes, she’d definitely gotten gas fumes in her eyes. She hung up the gas pump and bent to rummage in her glove compartment for some eye drops. It felt like her eyes were o
n fire. And she couldn’t find any drops.

  She sat in her car and rubbed her eyes, no longer able to make out anything except blurs. She lurched out of the car and toward the store, jerking back when a car honked as she moved in front of it.

  “Sorry, sorry.” She waved in the direction of the bright lights and scooted up to the sidewalk, her other arm over her face to protect her eyes from the glare. Lord, this hurt. The store had some eye drops, surely. And ice. Right now she’d like to tuck a few ice cubes under her lids.

  The lights inside the store were like daggers. She put her hand over her forehead and lurched around the store like Quasi Modo, but she found a bottle of eye drops that was only four times the price she’d pay at the drug store. She tore into the box and squirted a few drops into each eye.

  “Ouch ouch ouch.” This wasn’t helping. She tilted her head up and squirted a few more drops in. Was she going to be blinded for life?

  “You okay?”

  That voice. Oh God. Oh no. Karen closed her eyes tight and held her breath. It couldn’t be.

  “Karen? What are you doing here? Are you okay?”

  It was. She sighed and opened her eyes. “Will. Hi. What a surprise.” At least, she was fairly sure it was Will standing before her, looking slightly puzzled.

  “What’s wrong? Have you been crying?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  Will placed a comforting hand on her arm.

  “Did that asshole hit you again?”

  “Oh good Lord. Here we go again.” She blinked hard. Her vision was clearing, and that was a good thing. Looking at Will was definitely a good thing.

  “Okay, okay.” He removed his hand

  Which was not such a good thing. Being the damsel in distress had its advantages… “He just…” She sniffed and cocked her head. Hopefully she looked vulnerable.

  “He just what?”

  Karen shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t really want to go into it.”

  “Let’s get a cup of coffee.”

  “No, I can’t. But thanks.” She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the soda case behind Will and gasped.

  Will spun. “What?”

  “I just…” I look like hell! “Just remembered I left the milk out! I have to get home.”

  God! She looked like she’d been lying in a gutter for the past three days. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot, her skin pasty under the harsh lights. She rushed past the counter and only remembered that she hadn’t paid for her gas or eye drops when the kid at the register held up a shaky finger. “Ummm…”

  “Sorry.” She pulled a twenty out of her jacket pocket and threw it on the counter. “Keep the change.”

  Michael Way trudged to his car in the dark parking lot just west of the courthouse. It was late, an hour and a half later than he promised Denise he would be. Still, he was debating whether or not to stop off for a drink on the way home when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned just in time to see a wooden baseball bat aimed at his face.

  He ducked, and took the blow across the top of his scalp. He went down on one knee. Took a boot to the ribs and went all the way down.

  He ate asphalt as the heel of that same boot stomped into his lower back. He tried to curl up into a ball, but couldn’t move.

  He felt hot breath on his ear. He turned his head, but a heavy hand palmed the back of his head and held him still, mashing his face into the pavement.

  “Stay away from Karen. If you hurt her again, you’ll get worse than this.”

  The hand shoved his head hard and he felt his teeth cut into his lips. He blinked and tried to focus his eyes, but everything was black. By the time he got his head lifted and looked around, the guy was gone.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Karen broke the speed limit getting home. She couldn’t believe she’d stood there angling for Will’s sympathy when she looked so disgustingly bad. She hadn't felt like such a fool since she walked smack into the Henderson's sliding glass patio door after her second margarita at their Cinco De Mayo party. At least then she'd had lipstick on.

  Of course, it was the perfect time for her to be pulled over by a patrol officer. She tried to explain her license was in the purse she’d left at Under the Inkfluence, and she’d only left it there because she’d been distracted when they were all arrested. Strangely enough, that didn’t get her out of a ticket for speeding and another one for not carrying her license.

  Back at home she dragged her feet up to her bedroom, pausing outside Cait's door. The house was silent. She thought about tapping on it to let Cait know she was home, but she didn't want to take a chance on waking her. Cait sometimes had bouts of insomnia, and the turmoil lately wasn't helping. If she was sleeping right now, Karen didn't want to ruin it for her.

  She passed by the mirror over her dresser and made a face at her reflection. Her eyes were still red-rimmed and bloodshot. Her face was washed out, and her baggy sweatshirt hung on her. She smiled and flurried her hands in her hair so that it stood on end. There. She was officially a hag.

  She brushed her teeth and told herself she ought to just get comfortable with the idea of being unattractive. It would certainly make her life easier. No more painful plucking, waxing and exfoliating. She could quit working out, although she'd really only started back today. She could resign herself to blue jeans and turtlenecks, short butchy hairdos that announced to the world that she no longer gave a flip what anyone thought of her. It could be liberating.

  Of course, guys like Will would not even glance in her direction. But that was okay. Like Terri had hinted, guys like Will only complicated things. Guys like Will, who had hands and lips so hot they created fires wherever they touched. Guys like Will who could press a girl up against a car and have her aching for more. Guys like Will…

  Karen whimpered and sank to the bed. She glanced at the clock, then picked up the phone and called her annoyingly chipper friend Tonya, who was constantly dropping hints that Karen 'needed' the full line of expensive cosmetics Tonya sold.

  “Tonya, it's Karen. Sorry to call you so late.” Although she really wasn’t. Tonya had been kind of obnoxiously insistent, so it was only fair that Karen took her at her word that Karen should call ‘at any time, really. Seriously.’ As if she were some kind of bad skin bomb ready to go off and decimate the town. “Are you still selling that makeup?”

  “I’m still a Beauty Secret skin care consultant. When you find a treasure like Beauty Secret, you stick with it. I've never –”

  Karen didn't have time for this. “Do you remember when you had that facial class at Terri's, and you filled out the card with everything I needed?”

  “I do.” She sounded smug. Knowing Tonya, she had already found the card and was adding up the tally right now.

  “Maybe I’ll go ahead and get that.”

  “You can get the Victorious Woman Color and Cover kit for only $79.95. Or, for only a little more I can get you looking like a school girl again, with our fabulous pore refiner, three-in-one cleanser, ultra light moisturizer, and a free bonus of a brush set and a pumice stone. You're going to look in the mirror and weep with joy when you see how incredible your skin looks after…”

  By the time Karen hung up, she'd spent what she'd planned to, plus next month's car payment. As much as this was going to cost her, she thought as she settled back into her pillows, not only should her pores get smaller, but so should her butt. And her boobs should get bigger. And Tonya should come over every morning and apply the stuff personally.

  It would all be worth it, though, the next time she saw Will.

  The next day Karen took off at lunch and met Tonya at home for her “consultation.” Tonya showed up in her little black lab coat and Karen had to fight to keep from making jokes about getting a second opinion and wondering if her insurance would consider this primary care.

  But Karen took things a lot more seriously when Tonya stepped back and beamed like she’d just found the cure for cancer. She waved a manicured hand
toward the mirror. “Behold.”

  Hot damn. Karen turned her face slightly to the left, then back to the right. She looked good! She looked amazing, in fact.

  She leaned forward and peered into the mirror. “It’s like I don’t even have pores.”

  “I know! Isn’t it fabulous? The transformation is absolutely mind-blowing. Oh, I wish I’d taken a before photo! If only my customers could see what you looked like before…”

  Karen rolled her eyes, and even that looked good. She didn’t really care at the moment how obnoxious Tonya was. “Let me get my checkbook.”

  It was then that she remembered she didn’t have her checkbook. It was in her purse, at Under the Inkfluence. She had to get the box of checks from her desk drawer and use one of those.

  Oh well, she thought happily as she wrote the check. She’d just have to go now and get that purse. Right now. When she was looking so fresh and pore-less.

  Bear stood at the front counter talking to a woman with a stud in her cheek when Karen walked in late that afternoon. She smiled and waggled her fingers. “Hi. Is Will in?”

  Bear nodded toward the back of the building. The braid of his beard flopped.

  “In the back. Okay. Good.” Karen smiled again and edged around the counter. “Thanks. You’re so…helpful.” And bizarre.

  Will’s face lit up when he looked up from his desk and saw her. That was a good sign. She tilted her head so the light could catch the Sunkissed Raspberry on her cheeks and the Tawny Tan on her eyelids. Definitely an improvement from the Tired Old Hag look she’d sported last night.

  Will stood and reached out his hand. “This is a nice surprise. Did you come back for your purse? I was going to bring it by your house.”

  “Oh. Okay. I’ll just go then.”

  He laughed. “What about your tat? As long as you’re here…you haven’t really changed your mind, have you?”

  “Of course not.” Heaven forbid.

  “Good. I’m glad I didn’t scare you off. I think room two is free, we can go do it right now.”