Page 55 of Bad Luck Club

It seemed foolish to think so, but hadn’t she promised herself she’d start trusting her intuition? That she’d let herself explore the things that interested her without worrying what it might mean about her mental state?

At least her mom seemed okay. For now. Her cat had survived the lily incident, and she was seeing someone new. While that could go disastrously wrong (and sometimes had), he sounded like a good guy.

Which gave Blue space to deal with her own problems…now, if only she had any idea how to go about it. Maybe she should accept Dottie’s invitation for tea? She’d been sending them all week, but Blue had avoided setting a date, not wanting to talk about Lee, which was surely why Dottie was so interested in seeing her. But maybe Dottie could read her tea leaves again or give her a crystal reading.

What if she sees another owl?

“Then I’ll be no worse off than I am now,” she muttered to herself.

Grabbing her coat, she left the house, leaving the light on for Buford…and herself. She didn’t like coming home to a pitch-black house, even though it was something that could immediately be remedied by flicking on the light switch by the door.

When she got to the bar, Prohibition, she wasn’t surprised to see Harry sitting in his old Toyota Corolla in the parking lot out back, tapping the dashboard rhythmically. He wasn’t the kind of guy who’d want to risk going inside before the person he was meeting arrived. She didn’t see Adalia and Maisie’s cars yet, so they were the first arrivals.

Harry got out when he saw her, his newly shorn head covered in a beanie. He saw her looking and touched it self-consciously. “Go figure. It’s colder than I expected. Cal could have picked a warmer month for me to buzz it off.”

She smiled as he closed the door, then locked it—with a physical key instead of a fob. Harry had a deep distrust of car fobs. “Maybe that was part of the challenge.”

He huffed. “This week I’m supposed to untape the camera on my laptop and do a Zoom meeting for an online discussion about internet safety. Seriously. It’s like he wants me to invite them into my house.”

Thembeing the undefined souls who were apparently watching everyone.

“It’ll be okay, Harry,” she said, clapping him on the back. “Boring, but okay.”

He snuck a look at her as they walked toward the building. “What was your challenge?”

Her mind instantly jumped to Lee—to the hungry look in his eyes when he’d reached for her and the way he’d pulled her onto his lap, indicating that sex with him wouldn’t only be about what one person wanted.

She tried to repress the full-body shudder, a tingling of pleasure and possibility, but a sigh escaped her. “I’m supposed to go on a date with someone who doesn’t fit my checklist.”

He laughed a little at that. “Well, that’s a good thing, because your list sucks. It’s almost as bad as mine. At least he’s not asking you to go on a blind date on Valentine’s Day.”

“True,” she said, shuddering a little more at the thought. Valentine’s Day had never been a favorite for her. When she was with Remy, it had always served as a reminder of how little he knew her. Because each year he’d bought her something expensive but generic, red roses one year, diamond earrings another. One year her freaking car. She didn’t dislike expensive gifts—who did?—but she would have much preferred if he’d taken her to an art show or found a stockpile of the alpaca yarn she loved that had been discontinued, or made any gesture, however small, to indicate her inner hopes and desires weren’t a mystery he didn’t care to solve. “I’m glad Bear made Valentine’s Day off-limits. It’s not like it overlaps with our next meeting anyway. It’s not until the following Tuesday.”

“I’m going to see if some of the others want to get together for an anti-VD party.”

She grinned at him. “Well, I doubt anyone is going to want to celebrate VD. How does David feel about this?”

David being his boyfriend of a month.

He just shrugged as they walked through the door and up the stairs to the bar, which had tables and booths on one side and on the other, a long, polished wood bar decorated in Prohibition-era style. The bartenders were even wearing 1920s speakeasy garb, including bow ties and arm garters, to complete the look. The attendant at the door checked that they were members (Blue was, Harry wasn’t, but he could come in as her guest) and let them in.

“That’s another way they keep tabs on you,” Harry muttered as they settled in at a table.

“Seems like you’re spiraling hard with the conspiracies this week, Harry. Everything okay?”

“No,” he said, pulling off the beanie and scrubbing a hand over his head. “David broke up with me.”

“When did this happen?” she asked.

“Fifteen minutes ago.”

“What?” she said, dropping the menu she’d picked up. “Seriously! And you still came?”

He flushed a little. “I thought it might make me feel better to see you. David said I’m depressing, that I’m a Debbie Downer and I keep trying to drag him down with me. He wants to date someone who’sfun. So…this is me. Being fun.”

“You’re always fun,” she insisted, reaching across to give his arm a pat. “He’s an idiot.”

He glanced over her shoulder at the door. “But I guess I wasn’t thinking about your friends. I haven’t met them before, and it might be…awkward if they’re anything like Lee.”

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