She nodded. “Claire loves well, but not necessarily easily, so I predict,” she barely paused, “that this is the real thing. ” When she looked up, Claire was frowning.
Meghann didn’t know what she’d said wrong. It had seemed cheery and optimistic to her, romantic even. But Claire looked ready to cry.
“I’m last,” Gina said in the sudden silence. “I have only one. Claire is completely tone-deaf. So I predict that Bobby will never let her be his backup singer. ”
That got them all laughing and talking again. They got to their feet and closed ranks around Claire and Bobby.
Absurdly, Meghann felt the start of tears. She got clumsily to her feet, realizing when she stood up that those margaritas had been stronger than she’d thought. She turned away from the party. Getting drunk would be the last straw. When no one was looking, she ducked into the house and ran for her car.
She meant to go home, wait up for Claire, and apologize for whatever wrongs she’d uttered.
Then she saw the tavern.
FIFTEEN
MEGHANN EASED HER FOOT OFF THE ACCELERATOR. THE Porsche slowed to a crawl.
Through the smoke-grayed glass of the tavern’s window, she could make out the shadowy bodies inside, pressed in close together along the bar.
It was easy to get lost in a crowd like that, where no one asked your name or why you were there. She knew that if she went inside and had a drink—or two or three—she would feel better.
Maybe she would meet someone . . . and he would take her to his place for a few hours and help her forget. Help her sleep.
Experience had taught her that on a night like this, when her inadequacies felt as sharp as bits of glass embedded in her skin, she would lie in her lonely bed and stare up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. In the morning, she would awaken to a face that was wrinkled and stare into eyes that were tired and sad.
Meghann hit the gas. The car roared to life. She sped down two blocks, found a parking space, and pulled in. When she shut down the engine and got out of the car, she noticed how quiet the night was. The Big Dipper pointed toward the river.
Most of the stores were closed. Only a few kept their signs illuminated. Every twenty feet or so a green wrought-iron streetlamp tossed light downward, creating a lacy, scalloped pattern along the darkened boardwalk.
Meghann settled her shoulder strap in place, clamped her elbow tightly against her purse, and started for the tavern. She didn’t falter when she reached the open door, just turned and walked in.
It was like a hundred other taverns she’d been in. Smoke collected along the acoustical tile ceiling, trailing like ghostly sleeves below the inset lighting. The bar ran the length of the room on the right side, a huge mahogany piece that had to be a hundred years old. The mirror behind it was at least six feet long, veined in strands of gold and aged to a tarnished silver. In it, the patrons looked taller and thinner, a fun-house mirror for people too drunk to notice.
She saw the people clustered along the bar, seated on wooden stools. The pitchers outnumbered the people, and there was a lit cigarette in every hand.
Those were the hardcore drinkers, the folks who found their bar stools at 10:00 A. M. and climbed aboard.
Scatted throughout the left side of the room were round tables; most of them were full. In the smoky background, she saw the faded outline of a pool table, heard the clackety-thump of a game in progress. An old Springsteen song played on the jukebox. “Glory Days. ”
Perfect. It had probably been chosen by the guy sitting at the bar who wore a red-and-white letterman’s jacket. He’d long ago lost all his hair.
She moved into the haze. Her heart beat faster: Smoke and anticipation made her eyes water. She walked to the closest empty space on the bar, where a tired-looking man was busily wiping up a spill. At her arrival, he sighed and looked up. If he was surprised by her—after all, women like her didn’t show up alone in seedy taverns every day—he hid it well.
“Whaddaya want?” He threw down the rag and grabbed his cigarette from an ashtray.
She smiled. “Dirty martini. ”
“This is a tavern, lady. We don’t have an H license. ”
“It was a joke. I’ll take a glass of white wine. Vouvray, if you have it. ”
“We have Inglenook and Gallo. ”
“Inglenook. ”
He turned and headed down the other way. In a moment, he returned with a glass of wine.
She slapped her Platinum credit card on the bar. “Open a tab. ”