From the Hat Down, page 23
Tuesday morning she spent on rounds and the afternoon busy with appointments. She put Haley to work with one of the techs after her last appointment and went to check the next day’s calendar at the front desk. Ginny was entering information into the computer and Sandra had just left for the day. Meg appreciated it when the last clients were gone after a long day.
“Everything okay?” Ginny asked as Meg reached for the clipboard on the work space nearby.
“For the most part. Can you print out a copy of my appointments for tomorrow?”
“Already did. It’s on the clipboard.”
“Thanks.” Meg looked at it. Her first was at eight. Which didn’t guarantee much, since they opened at seven. If she hadn’t been such a coward, she would have been flying to California in a week.
“You want any time off next week?”
Meg glanced over at Ginny, wondering if she’d said something aloud. She shook her head and Ginny gave her a school marm look that quickly softened.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Nothing.” Meg tried to focus on her schedule. “Literally.”
“So you’re not going to Sacramento?”
“I don’t think so.”
Ginny turned her chair so that she was facing her. “Is it time for a beer?”
She half-laughed. “Maybe.”
“What about right now?”
Meg smiled. “Sure. Let me finish some stuff up. Where?”
Ginny gave her a measured look. “Comfort food, too. Grand Avenue.”
“I think I love you,” Meg said and Ginny laughed.
“I won’t tell. See you there in about thirty minutes.”
Meg nodded and put the clipboard down. She went to her office and retrieved her satchel and went out the back. She swung by the house to feed Moonshine and by the time she got to Grand Avenue, Ginny already had a table. She’d changed into jeans and T-shirt before she’d arrived. Meg ordered a beer and when the server left it and moved away, Ginny gave her the school marm look again.
Meg sighed, resigned. “Here’s the nutshell. I’m pretty sure Gina is still involved with someone, but she’s been flirting with me and I’m having a hard time reconciling the past with that.”
Ginny tsked and sipped her own beer. “Have you talked to her about it?”
“No. I don’t think I want to lose the image I had of Gina. I’m not ready.”
“Hope’s a funny thing.”
“It’s a rat bastard is what it is.” Meg picked up her glass and studied it, as if it was a rare find.
“I thought she really wanted to see you.”
“So she said.”
Ginny shrugged. “She probably does. For whatever reasons.” She set her own glass on the table. “You need to talk to her.”
“I know.”
“Even if she’s got two of you on the line, you haven’t drawn your boundary, and she’s probably wondering why you aren’t going to visit.”
Meg sipped and stared at the table. “Yeah.”
The server returned, but maybe she saw something in Meg’s expression, because she said, “Oh, if you’re not ready to order, I can come back. Just wave me down.”
“No, it’s all right.” Ginny smiled. To Meg, she said, “I’m ordering.”
“Sure.” Meg gestured at the menu.
“Large pepperoni and olive.”
“Excellent. We’ll have it up in about fifteen minutes.” She moved away and Ginny sat back and studied Meg for a few moments.
“Does she know how you feel about her?”
“No.”
“Then maybe you should tell her.”
Meg shook her head and took another drink. “It’s not fair to her girlfriend.”
Ginny raised her eyebrows. “It’s not about that. It’s about being honest as to why you don’t want to visit her. You feel strange about it. Therefore, you don’t think a visit is a good idea.” She picked up her glass. “At this time.”
Meg chuckled. “At no time.”
“Never say never.”
She started to reply when Haley walked over.
“Hey, Doc. Hey, Ginny.”
“Hi,” Meg said. “So I’m guessing you’re indulging once again in the staple of college diets everywhere?”
She grinned. “Yeah, I guess I am. I’m waiting on Beth and a couple other friends.” She motioned with her head toward the front of the restaurant, at a table where three other college-aged people sat.
Ginny’s phone buzzed and she looked at it. “Trent. Let me see what he wants for dinner.” She got up and gestured for Haley to sit down. “Tell Meg about how you and Beth met.”
Haley looked at her, puzzled. “Um, I don’t think Doc wants—”
“I think she will,” Ginny said as she moved toward the front.
Haley looked at Meg, who shrugged.
“Well, it must be a good story, if Ginny wants me to hear it. Have a seat.”
“Okay. Not much to tell,” she said as she sat down to Meg’s right. “We met in an English class. I think I told you that part. I—” she cleared her throat and grinned sheepishly. “I had a huge crush on her, but she was always hanging out with this other chick from the art department. I thought they were together, so I just had unrequited love, you know.”
“So how exactly did you meet, then?”
“We had to work on a project together. Me, Beth, a couple of other guys, and the other art chick. It was the best and worst thing ever, because I felt like such an idiot around her.”
Meg took a sip of beer. “I know that feeling.”
Haley relaxed. “Well, I’m not very good at talking to people in general, but when you have a crush on someone. . .” she trailed off. “It’s so much worse. Especially for me. And that’s a whole other story. Anyway, Beth was really nice to me, which made everything great but terrible.”
Meg laughed. “Been there.” And she was there right now. She set her beer down.
“So the semester was ending and it sucked because I wasn’t sure I’d get to see her again. Different majors and all.”
“But you must’ve had her phone number. From the class project.”
“Oh, yeah, but I didn’t know what I could call her for. I didn’t have an excuse like homework, you know.”
“Okay, now I’m wondering how the hell you two managed to pull this off.”
Haley smiled. “Right? One of my friends kept telling me to just ask her out and I kept saying how weird that would be because of the art chick.”
Ginny returned and sat down. “Haley was caught in one of the worst crushes I’ve ever seen.”
Haley flushed and glanced at the table.
“Lord, she called me one night asking for advice.”
“What’d you tell her?” Meg asked.
“To call Beth and ask her if she wanted to get some coffee between classes sometime.”
“Oh, like that wouldn’t be obvious,” Haley said with an eye roll. But she was smiling.
Ginny smiled back. “Bull by the horns, hon. The worst that could happen was she would say no.”
“That’s pretty bad, though,” Haley said.
“I’d have to agree, Ginny.” Meg took another sip of beer. That was a huge let-down, when someone turned you down for something as simple as coffee.
“But there was also a fifty percent chance that she’d say yes. Pretty good odds in Vegas.” Ginny gave both of them a raised eyebrow.
“Not if Beth was dating the art chick,” Meg pointed out. “Then the odds go down.”
“Haley thought she was dating the art chick. So in her mind, the odds were bad. That’s what she told me. So I told her to invite Beth out with a group of friends for pizza. Or to a party or something comparable.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Meg said. “The group of friends as camouflage. So did you do it?” She looked at Haley.
“Well—”
“Hi.” Beth came up behind Haley and leaned down to peck her on the cheek. “Hi, Ginny. Doctor Tallmadge.” She wore jeans and a button-down short-sleeve blue shirt in a feminine cut.
“Hey,” Haley said as she squeezed Beth’s hand. “I’ll be right there.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Beth said. “Just wanted to say hi.”
“It’s fine.” Ginny smiled. “Meg wanted to know how you and Haley met.”
Meg shot Ginny a look, but nodded. “I did.”
Beth laughed. “How far in the story are you?”
“It’s after the semester in English and Haley is trying to figure out how to call you without making it seem like she’s calling you.” Ginny gave Haley an encouraging smile.
“Can I interject?” Beth looked down at Haley.
“Yes. Save me.”
“I thought Haley was super cute. I still think that, actually.”
Haley flushed again and slipped down a little in her seat.
“And she was always polite and nice during class. At first, I thought maybe she might be interested, but she’s pretty good at hiding her feelings, so I let that thought go, though it was fun being in class with her and working on the class project together. You might not realize it, Doctor Tallmadge, but Haley’s really funny once you get to know her.”
“Oh, geez,” Haley muttered. She cleared her throat.
Meg smiled. “I figured. The quiet ones usually are.”
Haley muttered something else that Meg didn’t catch.
“Anyway,” Beth continued, “after that class, we’d see each other around on campus and sometimes off-campus and Haley would always say hi and ask how things were going with me. Like I said, she’s always polite. I figured she had her own thing going on, because I didn’t have any indication that she was interested in a date or anything like that. I probably should have followed up.” She squeezed Haley’s shoulder. “And then one day I got this phone call.” She looked down at Haley in a way that made Meg think about the first week she’d spent with Gina.
“Not a text or email. A phone call. I think Haley was surprised that I answered.”
“Oh, my God, I totally was. I didn’t expect her to. It seems most people just let it go to voicemail or they text back or something.”
“So I answered. And it took a minute or two, but Haley asked if I would like to go to coffee with her. I was trying to say yes, but she had a whole lot of other stuff on her mind and kept talking. She said that she understood if I couldn’t, or had something else to do or was seeing someone else, and that was fine and maybe I’d have coffee with her later on down the line.” She smiled at Haley again. “Down the line. That’s the phrase she used.”
“I don’t even remember what all I said.” Haley laughed. “I’m sure it was totally incoherent.”
“It wasn’t. And I said I would love to have coffee with you, Haley.”
“And I didn’t know what to say to that.”
“So I asked her if the next day would work.”
“Oh, my God. I couldn’t even talk.”
Beth laughed. “She couldn’t. So I said if her schedule was okay, I’d meet her at five at Coal Creek.”
“I said yes. I do remember that. And then I couldn’t sleep.”
Meg grinned. She’d been there, too.
“And as soon as Haley sat down at my table at Coal Creek, I told her I was really glad she called because I thought she was really cute and I’d been wanting to get to know her better. Which of course tongue-tied her even more.”
“But that pretty much broke the ice,” Haley said. “I think I did okay after that.”
Beth touched her cheek. “Much better than okay.” She looked at Meg and Ginny. “There you have it. The grand Laramie love story.”
“Thanks.” Meg lifted her glass in a toast. “To both of you.”
“Sure. Good to see you both,” she said to Ginny and Meg. To Haley, she said, “I’ll see you over there.” She motioned toward the table near the front that had added another college-aged guy.
“Okay.” Haley gave her hand a final squeeze before Beth walked away. “I was pretty shocked when she said yes.”
Meg smiled. “So what made you finally decide to call?”
Haley didn’t respond for a few moments. She stared at the tabletop and then looked up at Meg again. “For some reason, that day I called Beth, I had been thinking about something I heard my mom tell my sister a while back, and it really hit me. She told my sister that something she always regretted was that she hadn’t told my dad she loved him the day he died. She usually did, but she didn’t get a chance that day. I decided I’d better just call Beth, and even if she said no, at least I wouldn’t regret not saying anything.” She stood and leaned over to give Ginny a half-hug. “See everybody tomorrow?”
“Same time, same place. Thanks for the story,” Meg said, enjoying this more relaxed version of Haley.
“Have a good evening, love.” Ginny watched Haley walk over to the table where her friends were then moved her glass as the server approached with their pizza.
“Here you go. Extra napkins, too.” She set the tray on a wire stand and placed two plates and forks next to Ginny. “Care for another beer?”
“Yes.” Ginny looked over at Meg. “Two more.”
“Great. Be right back.”
Ginny set to work serving pizza.
“So how is it you know exactly how to smack me upside the head so well?” Meg asked as she took the plate Ginny handed to her.
“Blind luck.” She winked at her.
“Good lesson. So how’s Trent?”
“He’ll be on the road again in a couple of days.”
“How long?”
“A month.”
“Let me know if you need a girls’ night out while he’s out trucking around.” Meg bit into the pizza and realized she was hungrier than she thought.
“I will. And you let me know when you’d like your calendar cleared.”
Meg smiled and took another bite.
Chapter 21
When Meg got home, she let Moonshine out back and stood in the doorway, trying to draw support from the dark. After a bit, she pulled her phone out of its holder at her belt. Her stomach clenched and her heart pounded, mostly from anxiety. She had programmed a two-digit code for Gina, so she pressed it and waited, trying to calm herself. She was bumped immediately to voicemail, which caught her off guard. “Um, hey,” she said, mind racing. “It’s Meg. Listen, I’ve had a few things on my mind and I’m sorry if I’ve been coming across like an asshole or something. I’d really like to talk to you, so let me know when you have a chance. Hope you’re healing up okay. Catch you soon, hopefully.”
She ended the call and took a deep breath. There. She did it. She’d called. She sagged against the door jamb. Sean had texted her several times that day about putting off the call, so she texted back and let her know she’d called and left a message. The ball was now in Gina’s court, and that made Meg relax a little. Her phone rang, which sent another tide of anxiety through her chest and stomach. Dammit. Gina was passing the ball right back. She looked at the screen.
“Fuck,” she said softly, seeing Mary’s name in the caller ID window. She stifled an urge to throw her phone into the next yard, took a deep breath, and answered.
“Hey, Mary. What’s up?”
“Well, Meg, I might ask the same of you,” Mary said, brusque.
She winced.
“What’s going on? Gina mentioned that you hadn’t sent her an itinerary, which clearly means you haven’t bought a ticket yet.”
“Look, I’m sorry. I’ve just—I’m not sure it’s a good idea after all.”
Silence. Meg bit her lip.
“I’m just going to be blunt,” Mary said after a few more excruciating seconds. “I don’t know what you’re doing, or why you seem to be pulling back, but please, for Gina’s sake, don’t fuck with her emotions like this, Meg. Don’t do this on-again off-again crap. She’s vulnerable, especially when it comes to you.”
“Hold on. What the hell does that mean?” She stalked onto the patio.
“What do you think it means?” Mary snapped back. “She still has feelings for you. And you’re dicking her around.”
A roaring filled Meg’s ears. “Feelings? What are you talking about? Does Sharon know?”
“Sharon? What does she have to do with this?”
“Well, I’d think she’d want to know that her girlfriend has feelings for somebody else.” Meg tried to control her sarcasm, but from how the statement sounded to her own ears, she knew she hadn’t.
“Girlfriend?” And then realization dawned in Mary’s voice. “Oh, fuck. Meg, they broke up last year. October.”
“Broke up?”
“Yes. Gina sent you an email. That apparently you didn’t get.”
“Broke up,” Meg repeated softly.
Another silence until Mary said, “Well, this is awkward.”
Meg smiled in spite of it. “A little, yeah.”
“Gina said you never responded to her about it. She figured you didn’t want to talk about it.”
She sank down into one of her plastic patio chairs and rubbed her forehead. “Email? I never got an email from her in October. And then she mentioned Sharon at Christmas. She said Sharon got a job stateside. I figured that’s why Gina wanted to apply for a job in the States. I thought she wanted to follow her.”
“No, she didn’t. She’s not with her or anybody at the moment, though she and Sharon are still friends. Gina told me she mentioned the job thing to see if you’d take the bait and talk to her about the breakup. You didn’t.”
“What bait? I thought they were still together.” A mixture of relief, confusion, hope, and other assorted emotions she couldn’t identify bounced through her heart.
“Fuck,” Mary said again after a long pause. “So you’ve been thinking that Gina was still with Sharon this whole time?”
“Yes.” And she realized how stupid she’d been, and how she should have just asked Gina about it earlier. She started mentally kicking herself. Hard.
“Didn’t you think it was weird that nobody talked about her in that context?”
