Page 22 of Glad You're Here

As sheltered and confused as I was about sex, Anna clearly waved a green flag in my face. Go time. I drained my glass, slurred my words, and asked, “D’you wanna get outta here?”

Her dark blue eyes lit up, and she said, “Absolutely.”

Why did she say yes? Why did I ask? What was I doing?

I led her down the street and back to my hotel room. She pushed me up against the door, kissing me and burying her hands in my hair.

I didn’t want it.

I felt nothing but panic and nausea.

nine

Thea

After grabbing my bag and umbrella from Blane’s studio and peeling his disgusting, cheating hands off my waist, I headed straight to The Station. Once there, I located my aunt and followed her around the bar, bitching about my life.

“So seeing Blane really pissed me off! I had flashbacks of the messages on his phone and the girl he brought back to my house that one time he thought I was going to be at your place. What kind of asshole brings a girl back to a house his girlfriend owns?”

Lenny glanced over her shoulder at me, eyebrows raised, as she made her way around The Station for the final inspection before opening. “Well, Thea, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard Blane’s name on your lips.” She stopped walking, turned to face me, and leaned a hip on the bar. “I seem to remember you not being too broken up about his cheating ways. Your exact words were, ‘Meh. He’s been getting on my nerves, and I’ve been looking for an out anyway.’ I don’t think you even shed a tear for that boy.” Lenny’s cranberry red lips turned up with a hint of amusement.

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms. “I don’t give a single fuck about Blane!” And I didn’t. We only dated for so long because he was working on building his clientele in Durango and needed a cheap place to live. Plus, the sex wasn’t terrible. Everything else, though, was a complete shit show.

“Then, sweetie,” Lenny cocked one of her heavily penciled brows at me again. “Why are we talking about him?”

“Because I had to see him today!” I threw my hands up like my aunt’s incompetence exasperated me.

“Remind me, why did you have to see him today?”

I groaned. “Because Levi—”

“Ah, there it is.” Lenny winked at me and continued walking around the bar. “You’re not mad at Blane. You’re mad at Levi.”

I followed her, annoyed at her fast-paced stride. Not everyone had been blessed with her long gazelle legs, a fact Lenny seemed to forget hourly. My hips were going to ache like hell tonight after chasing her around the bar. “Of course, I’m mad at Levi! He was a jerk!”

Lenny laughed. “Men are jerks. Surprise! Why do you think I never got married?”

I sighed. “Because you had to raise your sister’s kid suddenly, and I sucked up all your time and energy.”

“Wrong. You know I never got married because men are jerks.”

I shook my head. “Levi’s not, though. That’s what made me so mad.”

Lenny patted my shoulder. “If this one’s not a jerk, talk to him, honey. Maybe you hurt his feelings. Maybe he’s stressed about something that has nothing to do with you.”

“Impossible.” I rolled my eyes and let the sarcasm flow. “I’m nothing but sweet, sugary goodness who’s never hurt anyone’s feelings, and the entire world has always revolved around me.”

My aunt laughed, “There’s my girl.”

I liked it when she called me her girl. Even if my mom was dead and my father didn’t know I existed, I belonged somewhere. It did slightly irritate me that my badass self still felt the need to belong, but maybe belonging was a basic human need.

I sighed. “So what do I do now? I yelled at him. And I have no idea if I have feelings for him.”

Lenny’s phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. I have to take this. It’s one of our suppliers, and we’ve been playing phone tag for weeks!” She glanced back up at me. “You’ll figure out what to do. You wouldn’t do exactly what I told you anyway.”

I shrugged and nodded. Fair. She’d been trying to tell me what to do my entire life, and I’d always sidestepped her instructions, usually in a ridiculous and unnecessary way. She’d say, “Sweetie, put your homework away,” and I’d pick up my textbooks and notebooks and stuff them in the cupboard above the fridge — the one that’s basically impossible to access and full of unused vases. Then I’d smirk and say, “There. It’s away,” like an annoying little shit.

Lenny would roll her eyes and walk away, and I would eventually stop being an asshole and do what I needed to do.

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