Be Mine (Jackson Boys 2)

“I’ll take care of it. You can go.” I’m closing anyway, which means Cass will be asleep when I get home. Working nights means I miss most of her bedtimes, but I get to make her breakfast in the morning and go to the park with her before my shift at the mall starts. Sometimes, when I crawl into bed after working a double shift, I think about the pool of dirty money sitting in my bank account collecting interest. Then I remember the shame and terror the night that I got the money and count my blessings for being employed and having my baby girl lying in the bed next to me.

“Thank you.” The busty blonde leans over the bar and kisses the air in front of me. “You’re the best.”

As Ashley cashes out with the bartender, I go and confront the woman sitting by the window. The blonde is staring moodily out over the Riverwalk with the fingers of her right hand laced around the stem of her now empty wine glass while the left arm dangles over the railing of the patio. Sometimes you get drunks who start fights and sometimes you get the weepers. Like Ashley, I think it’s almost easier to deal with the angry drunks than the sad ones. The criers tend to pull you down with them. We all have something to cry about.

“Ah, miss, I’m sorry to tell you but we’re closed now. Can I call you a car?”

The woman swings around, her honey-gold hair fanning out. Our eyes meet in surprised recognition.

“Lainey? Lainey, is that you?” Charlotte Randolph cries.

I grab the back of a nearby chair for support. “Ch-Charlie?”

Charlie rises from her chair. “My God. It is you.” She reaches down and snatches a cloth napkin off the table. For a small woman, she moves quick because she’s beating me with the napkin almost before I realize she’s moved. “You left without saying goodbye! I looked everywhere for you. I thought something bad happened.” She halts, mid-strike. “Did something bad happen?”

“Nah. I just found some new opportunities. Better job and all.” I smile sheepishly. The bad thing that happened was way before I ever met Charlie.

She looks around at the restaurant with its nice tablecloths and the shiny silverware. “Oh, I see.”

She doesn’t sound convinced. I notice that she’s thinner than I last saw her—not that she was ever very big. Her eyes are red and her skin is pale even under the bar lights.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

She nods slowly. “I’m good.”

But a tear falls out of the corner of her eye. She laughs and tries to swipe it away, but a couple more escape. I realize I can’t leave her like this.

“Come on. I have to cash out and then we’ll…” I trail off. I can’t take her to another bar because, like Ashley, I have to get home to my babysitter. While my current digs are slightly nicer than the apartment I used to rent over in South Dallas, I’m not sure she’ll notice. Still, I’m not going to leave her here to cry by herself. “We’ll go home.”

“Really?” Charlie sounds so eager I feel bad for even thinking about abandoning her.

“Yeah, come on. Cass is sleeping, obviously. I don’t have a two-bedroom, but I can offer you a couch.” It seems ridiculous to invite her to stay over because I’m certain that she has a room in one of the swank hotels overlooking the river, but her face lights up.

“I can’t wait to see my best girl.” A true smile spreads across the woman’s face.

A pang of joy vibrates inside my chest at Charlie’s eagerness to see Cass. It’s been lonely here for me in San Antonio. Just like in Dallas, caring for Cass and making enough money to pay the bills took up all my time. There weren’t people like Nick and Charlie down here that bulldozed their way into my lives and forced me into friendship. I missed that…and them.

I cash out quick with the bartender while Charlie looks on silently. She’s not crying anymore, which is a plus.

“You did get a better job,” she says in surprise as we approach my Honda CRV.

“Yeah.” I spent a part of Chip’s money on a car and a deposit on a decent apartment. The rest went into a savings account for Cass. I read up on the internet and a site said if I let that money sit there until she turned twenty-one, there’d be enough to send her to college. I hit the keyfob and gesture toward the passenger door.

“Who watches Cass?” she asks

“I have a babysitter. It’s a grandma who needs it for extra cash. Her daughter’s a single mom, too, so she knows how it is.”

“That’s nice.”

“It is.”

We fall silent, the two years stretching between us like a big canyon. Charlie’s got questions and I…I don’t know if I’m ready to give any answers. The big bad wolf has moved out of Texas. He got injured mid-season. Nick took over and led the team to a Super Bowl. Chip got traded to Seattle and then to Cleveland. After the third trade, he decided he was done and retired. I’m not sure where he is, but from the occasional call home, I know he hasn’t returned to Texas, much to his mother’s dismay. I’ve breathed a lot easier since his departure.