Page 10 of Love Finds Home

“No,” she chuckles, “but I could have died. I walked away with my life, but I lost the ability to create it.”

With that bomb dropped, Ginny stands from the couch and lowers the waistband of her pants to show me a dandelion on the right side of her lower belly. The flower head is floating across her lower abdomen like someone blew on it. It’s beautiful, butthere’s something about it that’s off. It takes me a minute to realize it’s the stem of the flower. It’s crooked? Jagged?

“Is that…?” I trail off, my hand reaching out to touch the tattoo. “A scar?” I raise my eyes to meet hers, my hand hovering over her skin, but not touching it.

She nods her head while pulling up her sweatpants and sitting back on the couch, pulling her beer with her and taking a big swig.

“Did you have surgery?” I do the mental gymnastics trying to remember where the appendix is. The spleen. What other body parts can you live without?

“You could say that,” she replies, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Want to talk about something else?”

“Would love to.” She nods, blowing out a breath. “We can talk about why you left Diamond Cove.”

“Or we could just sit here in awkward silence and eat our pizza and get drunk?” I ask, hopeful.

“Oh, we’re getting drunk. I never realized how comfortable Tiny’s couch is, or how big. I’m totally sleeping on it tonight. But, let’s delve into the mystery surrounding you.”

I stand, putting down my beer. “Gonna need something stronger than this if I’m talking about me.”

“I promise to repay the favor one day and tell you all of my gory details?”

“I’m going to hold you to that!” I call over my shoulder as I walk into the kitchen, where I know the good stuff is. “Mixer or shots?”

“Shots! Gets you numb quicker!”

“Shots it is,” I mumble to myself, pulling the bottle of vanilla vodka off the shelf. “Hey, where’s Keith tonight?”

“Out of town.” She rolls her eyes at me when I sit back on the couch with the glasses and bottle. “Another conference, I guess.”

“You guess?”

Pour the shot. Take the drink.

“Wow, that’s good.” She licks her lips. “He’s always going somewhere for something. Says it’s important Vice Principal stuff. I quit asking when he started acting annoyed.”

Red flags start going off in my head, but I don’t say anything. I’ve tried to put all the drama that is my life on the back burner with everything that’s been going on with my brother and his crazy situation, but I think my time is up. I also knew the first time I met Ginny, Lottie, and Trish they wouldn’t let me go forever without getting all my dirty details. It kind of feels like tonight, with just Ginny, would be a really good time to start talking.

Pour the shot. Take the drink.

“Fuck, that is good.” I smile at her.

“Start talking, sister.” She grins, holding her glass up again.

Pour the shot. Take the drink.

“You want what drove me here this time, or what turned me into the person I currently am?”

“Yes,” she giggles.

Three shots of vodka in five minutes after consuming beer. This is more alcohol than I’ve had combined in almost a year. We’re going to be sick tomorrow but that’s a problem for future Elle and Ginny.

Poor the shot. Take the drink.

“When I was twenty-two, I got married in Vegas to someone I thought was my best friend.”

Ginny stops with a piece of pizza midway to her mouth and stares at me, her jaw hitting the floor. She closes her mouth and opens it again, like she has something to say, but changes her mind and clamps her jaw shut. She rolls her hand in a ‘go on’ motion, so I do.

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