Page 122 of False Start

“What did she just say?” Sean asked.

Lana laughed as Zach swept her up in his arms. “It’s story time.”

“Is she okay?” Zara asked.

“Maybe she shouldn’t be drinking that,” Rory said.

Lana smacked her thighs. “My legs don’t work, but the liver is tip-top. Now get me on that bar.”

“Lana, honey, what in the hell do you think you’re doing?” Patti asked, tossing her bar towel over her shoulder as Zach scooted her onto the gleaming wood.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Lana said despite Patti’s warning look. “I just need to borrow this section right here for a minute, maybe two.”

“I do mind, dammit.”

“Yeah, but you love me. This will just take a sec,” Lana promised as she nudged Milton’s glass. “You don’t mind moving down a scooch, do ya?”

“Sure, it’s the least I can do if you’re going to provide some entertainment,” Milton said, raising his glass.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Lana’s mother squeaked, her widened eyes slowly narrowing to angry slits. “Get down off there.”

Lana raised her glass, and her voice, ignoring her mother’s demands. “I’m not even going to waste my time introducing everybody. My mom has probably been in all y’alls business here more than once. And if she hasn’t, stick around, she’ll eventually probe your orifices too.”

Her mother’s face turned red with anger. She sucked in a breath, puffing out her generous chest. “Young lady—”

“My dad will let her, of course, because he doesn’t say shit. Just lets my mother railroad over everybody. Me, him, Priest.”

The energy in the room shifted and popped. Priest straightened, his mouth a thin hard line.

“You sure you’re okay?” Gerald asked as he leaned across Milton, earning a swat from his longtime rival.

“I’m great!” Lana said as she took another sip of her drink and slammed the glass down, liquor sloshing over the side.

Priest approached her and took her hand. “You don’t have to do this,” he said quietly.

“Oh, but I do. I have a life waiting for me and I want it. And you have something waiting for you too, but you won’t reach for it. Maybe after this you’ll find a way.”

“Lana—”

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “I love you, but no.”

“If you don’t get off that bar—” her mother began, but she cut her off and pretended she never even spoke.

“So…a little story…” Lana started, plunging the bar into absolute silence other than the Stevie Nicks song playing in the background.

“There was this young girl, smart, funny, a bit of a wiseass…and she had a favorite movie…Whip It. God, it sounds so cliché now,” Lana said, picking up her glass to take another sip. “Something even the best whiskey clearly can’t shake.”

“You get down from there right now; you’re embarrassing yourself.” Fists clenched, Lana’s mother stomped her foot.

I almost felt sorry for the woman. To be reduced to foot stomping when your kid decided “the fuck with your bullshit” and decided to finally give you as good as she got had to be a solid eight on the humiliation scale.

Lana’s gaze snapped to her mother’s, a flash of temper breaking free. “Ahhh, let’s unpack what you just said. First, can’t really get down…my legs don’t work,” Lana said, staring down at them and I’d swear she was trying to make them move, the subtle hurt on her face stabbing straight into my heart.

“Second, young lady implies that I’m still a child. I’m not. I may be your child, but I’m fully grown and make my own decisions. Like Zach…he’s a decision I made. Zach, this is my mother, Marsha and my father, David. Marsha and David.” She hiccupped and giggled. “This is my boyfriend Zach.”

“We raised you better than—”

“No, you didn’t,” Lana snapped. “Now as for that embarrassment you’re so worried about. You’re only worried I’m going to embarrass you. And you’re right. I am.”

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