Page 34 of Grand Escape

My stomach rolling at the thought of a purple drink, I shook my head. “No thanks. That doesn’t sound like my kind of thing.”

“It’s really a gin and tonic, but we drop a little all-natural food color in.”

“Well, that makes me feel better. Can I get lunch?”

“Sure can.”

As she plopped a menu down in front of me, I heard my stomach growl. I hadn’t been hungry this morning after the dinner and a heavy helping of sexual frustration, but now my gut was grumbling for some food.

Taking a look at the menu, I decided on a grilled shrimp salad and conch fritters.

A small wave of melancholy pinched my heart at the word conch. All at once, the memory of a game of Scrabble on a snowy night in Michigan swept over me.

Cal, Becca, and I must have been eleven. It had been a long week of snow delays and cancellations. Mom was getting annoyed with all the television we’d been watching, so she set out a stack of board games for us to choose from.

Becca wanted to play Scrabble, so we gave in. Even back then, her tantrums were overdramatic. We didn’t know them to be an early sign of mental illness.

We sat at the kitchen table playing, and I laid down the word conch. I’d learned it in my upper-level reading class.

Becca couldn’t get the pronunciation down and kept saying something that sounded like “cock.” Of course, Cal being a jokester, couldn’t help but run away with it. He chased Becca all over the house saying, “Cock, cock, cock, cock-a-doodle-doo,” until she ended up in a crying, screaming, irrational ball on the floor.

I wondered why I didn’t think about it the other night with Rylan. I hated to admit it, but she was a salve. Being with her was like applying a thick layer of ointment to my heart, making it feel all better.

Shaking my head, I looked up to see the redhead squinting at me.

“You okay?” Staring at me with concern, she cocked her head.

I nodded. “Yeah, something hit me hard, but I’m good now. I’ll take the shrimp salad and a crab cake.” After my trip down memory lane, I decided to skip the fritters. “And a large water.”

“Sure thing.”

“Oh, is Rylan around?” I asked as the bartender turned to key in my order.

She whirled around, giving me a huge smile. “So, you’re the guy?”

I found myself grinning, which was becoming more the norm lately. “I’m not sure which guy you’re talking about, but I am a guy.”

“The guy everyone’s talking about. The guy who apparently caught Ry’s interest, and no one, and I mean no one, ever catches her eye.”

The redhead focused on me again, entering my order apparently long forgotten. She leaned her hips against the bar, getting closer without being flirtatious, only curious.

It didn’t matter, though, even if she were flirting. She was too young and naive for me. Now that I spoke with her, I realized she was a bit younger than Rylan, for sure, and I was already making an exception there.

“Is that so?” I asked coyly.

“It is so, and I’m sure after spending five minutes with Ry, you knew it. She’s a tough sell.”

“What’s your name?”

“Teddi with an i. Ry was the one who trained me. I’ve been off the last few days ... went to see my grandma in Wisconsin. Yeah, I know, who leaves this place for Wisconsin? But I had to. Granny turned seventy-five, and there was a party. Anyway, I came back, and all I’ve heard about is Rylan found herself a man, and Ry went on a date, and you should see the guy Ry is shacking up with.”

Teddi placed a glass of water on the bar for me.

I chuckled. “Well, now you saw me, Teddi-with-an-i. Do you approve?”

She leaned a tad bit closer, and when she started talking again, I couldn’t get another word in.

“It’s really Theodora, but seriously, that’s a mouthful. I’ve been Teddi since the first grade. Forget about that,” she said as she waved a hand in the air. “I may look young and be the baby of the group, but if you hurt Ry, I will cut you. That girl pretends to stay removed, keeps her distance, but I love her and see right through her BS. She doesn’t even realize it, but when she takes people under her wing, she’s one tough mother hen. I came here to find myself, and she showed me how to do it.”

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