by Jamie Begley
“How do they bother you?”
“They make me sad.”
Gianna gave her the remote back. “I was just joking around to show you that some marriages are very successful.”
“Gianna, I don’t have anything against getting married. I didn’t mean to give you that impression. I know that there are happy marriages. I’ve seen them firsthand.”
Ginny saw her give her the side eye. “Go ahead, ask.” Why did people always assume she was sexually confused because of her lack of desire to engage in meaningless relationships?
“Is it men?”
“I like men,” Ginny assured her. She found some men attractive; she just didn’t want to touch them.
“Do you like women?”
“I like women, just not sexually.”
“Do you like men sexually?”
“Gianna …” Ginny started to warn her nicely that she was becoming too personal, but then she couldn’t bring herself to hurt the woman’s feeling. “When you look at a dark sky and see the stars, they’re all beautiful. There’s over one billion-trillion stars in the universe and there over seven billion people on earth—not everyone gets to find the star that makes them whole.”
Gianna regarded her somberly, as if she was trying to decide whether to agree or disagree with her. “Stars are too far away; how were they supposed to meet anyway?”
“They fall to Earth every day; you just can’t see them or they don’t land near you.”
“So, your star could be among people you have been near and didn’t recognize, or they’ve never been where you can meet?”
“Yes.” Ginny knew her way of thinking was her way of explaining to herself the forlorn hopelessness that she felt each day she awoke and every night she went to sleep that the one meant for her was out of her reach.
“Which one do you believe?”
“The third option.”
“The third option?”
“That my star came to Earth, and I didn’t find him in time.”
“Girl, that’s some deep shit. Too deep for me without a glass of wine.” Gianna tossed the magazine aside. “You want a glass?”
“I can get it. I don’t want you to ruin your nails.” Ginny went to the fridge to take out the bottle of wine that they had been working on. Pouring out two glasses, she carried them into the living room to give Gianna hers.
“Can I ask you another question?”
Curling back up on the couch, Ginny took a sip of her wine. “Since you introduced me to this wine, go ahead. But the next bottle is on me.”
“Don’t worry about it. I keep several bottles on standby for when I have a bad day at work, or when I want to strangle Penni. The wine mellows me out and keeps my ass out of jail.”
Ginny could relate. When Penni focused on something, nothing stood in her way. Sometimes it worked out great, like when she had offered her the job with Mouth2Mouth and hooking up with Gianna as a roommate. Then there were the instances when she wanted something and would harp on you until hell froze over.
Penni had offered to help her move into Gianna’s apartment, but Ginny didn’t have much, just a few boxes of small trinkets that she had collected when she’d traveled with the band and a few of her personal belonging. She had rented a small storage unit to keep her things, and Penni had helped her empty the unit out.
Ginny had carried one box out as Penni was lifting two of the smaller ones. When she had come back, one box had spilled its contents on the ground, and Penni was reading one of the pages that was loose.
Bending over, Ginny had grabbed the sheet of paper from her, shoving it back inside the notebook.
“I’m sorry the box was heavier than I thought,” Penni apologized.
“Dropping the box may have been an accident, but reading my private papers wasn’t,” Ginny snapped. Gathering the rest of the papers, she put the notebook back inside the box, then closed the flaps.
“No, it wasn’t,” she admitted apologetically. “I was putting it back inside when I realized it was a song. You’re very gifted. I could ask Kaden—”
“Stop, Penni. I don’t want you to ask him to read my music.”
“Why not?”
“I just write music when I’m bored, so don’t make more out of it than there is.”
“But—”
Ginny took the boxes out of her arms. “No buts. You can slide the door down; these is the last of my things and we’re done talking about this.”
“I get you.” Penni raised her hands in surrender. “I won’t say another word. Let’s go grab some lunch.”
Ginny hadn’t believed her for a second. They had been in the drive-thru of a chicken restaurant when Penni had started hounding her about letting Kaden read her songs. That had been a month ago, and Penni still brought it up when she saw or texted her. Penni’s spirit animal is a bulldog, Ginny thought ironically, taking another sip of her wine.
“What did you mean when you said you didn’t find him in time?”
“I think he’s gone—returned home.”
“You think he’s dead?”
“Yes, that’s why I don’t watch unhappy or romantic movies because they make me sad.”
“Watching murder shows doesn’t get you upset?”
“No, they teach me how not to make mistakes that could get me killed.”
Taking a sip of her wine, Gianna started coughing, lifting watery eyes to hers. “You think someone is going to murder you?”
“Not really. But if they try, I want to be prepared.”
“Do all Kentuckians think like you?”
“You know how Kentuckians say good-bye?”
Ginny saw the muscles in Gianna’s throat work as she swallowed a gulp of frightened air.
“No. How?”
“They say, ‘Be careful.’ We always expect something bad to happen and are happy when we see that nothing did.”
“O … kay …,” Gianna drawled out. “That’s just weird as fuck. No one expects something bad just because someone leaves.”
“Kentuckians do.” Ginny nodded seriously. “They’re very superstitious. At least, the smaller, mountain towns are. Here’s another one: on Halloween night, look in the mirror on the cellar steps, and you’ll see the man you’ll marry.”
Ginny burst out laughing at Gianna’s expression.
Her roommate laughed, too, going to fridge for the wine and bringing the bottle back.
“Marry a man in January, you’ll always be poor; February, you’ll be wed again; March, you made a good catch; April, you’ll be crying soon.”
Their giggles filled the apartments until they were wiping of tears of laughter away and the wine bottle was empty.
Searching for a movie they both could enjoy about scatterbrained cops battling a zombie apocalypse, Gianna looked toward her before pressing Play. “Don’t give D’mon my number.”
“I think that’s a wise choice.” Ginny saluted her with her wineglass.
“Why?”
“Because you love mayo; that’s kind of a big thing to overcome.”
“Maybe so, but if mayo doesn’t cough up a diamond nugget, I’m switching to mustard.”
“Any luck?”
Ginny closed the car door, letting Gianna accelerate back into the flow of traffic before answering. “They told me that they would be in touch.”
She released a sigh of frustration. She needed a job and soon, positive the fast food restaurant with the Hiring Now signs posted throughout the store next to Gianna’s bank was a slam dunk. They’d given her a maybe, and I’ll get back to you.
Turning her blinker on, Gianna turned down a side street. “I wish you would reconsider applying at my bank.”
“No, thanks. I don’t have any experience working at banks.” Ginny had refused the offer since the second week she moved in with Gianna. Her roommate was as persistent as Penni when she wanted to push her in a direction they wanted her to go.
“Are you sure it’s not out of your way to
let me drop off my key card to Penni?” Changing the subject, Ginny hoped to divert yet another round of Gianna’s assurances that it didn’t matter she had no experience since the bank offered training. She was too wary of the required background checks to put her neck on the line needlessly. She would find another job. She just had to be patient and not make a reckless decision.
“I told you I didn’t mind. I’m free for the rest of the day. Besides, it’s just a few blocks away.” Turning into a parking garage, Gianna raised her hand to flash a finger at the driver behind her. After a loud honk, a large sedan flew past, nearly taking out Gianna’s bumper.
“You didn’t use your blinker,” Ginny reprimanded as they parked.
“He shouldn’t be going so fast,” Gianna countered.
Gianna’s driving skills reflected her personality—she took no prisoners.
Pressing the elevator button, Ginny waited to press the floor number until Gianna walked into the elevator with her. “Are you sure you didn’t want to wait in the car? I’m only going to be a few minutes.”
“If you go in there alone, you’ll be all day. Penni’s going to talk you to death, and I’m hungry. You’re going to love my favorite restaurant. Chris hates seafood and won’t go with me.”
“I love seafood.” Memories of her and Trudy eating fresh fish as they watched their mother prepare what their father or Manny caught brought a pang of sorrow mixed with anger that those memories had been irrevocably damaged by their actions. It was like looking at a cracked mirror; one part seemingly normal, the other distorted, showing the ugly that she had been too innocent to know was there until it was too late.
Leaving the elevator, they walked down the hallway to Penni’s office. As Mouth2Mouth’s tour manager, she was responsible for hiring the support crew. Each hire was given a badge that acted as a pass to get through venue doors, so employees had access to come and go during events. All of the band’s workers had been asked to return their badges until Mouth2Mouth went back on the road. Ginny didn’t see that happening anytime soon. Penni had already informed the staff that Kaden planned to take a year break to write songs for their next album. Penni had told her in confidence that he had been offered several contracts to perform in different states and was seriously considering the offers.
Penni’s office door was wide open. Smiling at the attractive woman behind the front desk, Ginny moved farther into the office.
“Hi, Grace, how are you doing today?”
Grace returned the smile. “Fine. Penni told me you would be coming today. You girls look ready to take on the world.”
“I don’t know about that, but we’re ready to take on Harry’s Seafood.” Still feeling the pang of disappointment at not getting a job, she disguised her worry with false cheerfulness. “Is Penni around? I need to turn in my badge.”
“I’ll get her for you and the paperwork you need to fill out.” Grace rose elegantly from her desk.
Ginny watched admiringly as the former model made her way the short distance to Penni’s office to knock, then go inside, leaving her and Gianna alone in the front office.
“Why does she make me regret that bottle of wine and pasta we ate for dinner last night?” Gianna muttered under her breath enviously.
Ginny shot her a surprised glance. “You’re just as beautiful. I’m the one who should be regretting that extra helping of linguini.”
Her roommate was next-level gorgeous. She was almost as tall Grace, and her warm, brown skin tone was flawless. While Grace’s features gave the impression of remoteness, Gianna’s high cheekbones gave her a haughty beauty; both women could pull off their air of aloofness because they were so gorgeous. They both wore dresses that showed their bodies to their best advantage while being casually elegant, making men aware there was more to them than just their physique. The only real difference she could see between the women were their boob sizes. As an AA, Ginny felt like a thirteen-year-old compared to Gianna’s voluptuous breast size, which had her wishing she could at least be a good B like Grace.
“You’re lying through your teeth.” Gianna nudged her with a shoulder to show that Penni and Grace were coming back. “Lunch is on me for making the effort. I don’t think I can do without my pasta.”
Ginny shook her head at the offer, seeing the sneaky maneuver Gianna was trying to do to lessen the load on her non-existent income.
“We’ll discuss it later,” Gianna hedged.
“No, we won’t.” Taking out her badge, she handed it to Penni as she approached the desk.
“Sorry. I was on the phone with Kaden.” Penni placed the laminated pass in a yellow envelope that Grace gave her.
Penni scrawled her name on the envelope first, then Grace slid the paper across the desk. “Can you sign this? It just says that you returned the badge, and you’re no longer employed by Mouth2Mouth.”
Signing the paper, Ginny was relieved to hear a chipper voice from the hallway break the awkward silence. “Anyone want to get lunch?”
Laying the pen down and giving the paper to Penni, Ginny turned to see a woman standing in the doorway.
“I was ready about ten minutes ago,” Penni answered, then turned to Grace. “You can file that in the cabinet and check Ginny’s name off the list. There are two more to go, and then we can give them all back to Alec. He’s been calling me for the last week to send them to him.”
“I won’t miss his calls every morning.” Grace went to the file cabinet, using a key attached to a bracelet on her wrist to open it up, then she locked it back after putting the envelope inside. “As head of Kaden’s security, I know he takes his job seriously, but you told him that you would have them to him this Friday.”
“I should have brought mine by sooner.” Ginny was familiar with how OCD Alec was at protecting Kaden, not only physically but anything that could harm him and his family.
“It wouldn’t have mattered. I’m having to wait for Nick and Kimmy to come back from their parents’ funeral.”
Anguish filled her at the reminder of her coworkers’ losses. The brother and sister traveled with the band longer than she had and they’d taken her under their wings to show her the ropes. In their late twenties, they still remained unusually close to their parents. It was a nightly ritual that they FaceTimed their parents together and discussed their day. Often, they would drag others on the bus into the conversations. When Penni had told her that their parents had been killed in a freak accident while they were hiking, Ginny had felt their sudden loss and had reached out to the siblings to express her sympathy.
Penni was just as saddened. “I didn’t want to pressure them to send the badges back. They get back tonight and are going to drop them off Friday.” She turned to the woman who’d walked in. “Sorry, Zoey. I didn’t mean to drag you into my drama with Alec. Let me introduce you. This is Gianna and Ginny.” The women shared smiles as Penni continued, “Zoey just rented the office across from us. She’s a life coach and is getting a big following on Instagram. You should check her out.”
“What do you coach people to do?” Gianna asked.
“Depends on what they want to achieve.”
Ginny didn’t know what a life coach was supposed to look like, but if she did, she would have imagined someone more exuberant like Gianna or Penni, not the woman who had an almost Zen-like quality about her. She was dressed in a colorful, airy gauze skirt and a filmy top and made her feel calm just staring at her.
“She coaches me to live a healthier life. I have to admit to having a caffeine and processed food addiction.” Giving the coffee machine in the corner of her office a longing look, Penni sat down on the corner of Grace’s desk.
“She coaches me to deal with Penni,” Grace joked.
“Can you coach me on how to get my boyfriend to propose?”
“I could.” Zoey smiled. “Or I could coach you to propose to him.”
“You’re hired.”
“Good luck getting an appointment.” Grace grabbed her purse
off her desk. “So, where are we eating? Penni’s the only one starved.”
“Gianna and I are going to Harry’s Seafood, if you want to come with us?”
“Sounds good. We could drive in my car,” Penni said. “And I can bring you and Gianna back after lunch.”
“Is that okay with you, Gianna?” Ginny asked.
“Works for me unless it’s too superstitious for five people to go in one car,” she readily agreed.
The small group filed out of the office, then stopped in the hallway as Grace locked the door where they eyed Gianna questioningly.
“Ginny was telling me some of the superstitions that Kentuckians believe in,” Gianna explained as they went to the elevator.
“Not everyone, just a few of the older mountain people.”
Zoey pressed the button. “Like what?”
“For instance, if two women dress a bride, one of the three will die by the end of the year.”
“I’ve never heard that one, and I go to Kentucky regularly,” Penni chimed in. “What’s another one?”
Ginny had to think for a minute, then came up with one that she hadn’t told Gianna. “If you count the number of rings of the women you’re with and recite the alphabet, that’s the initial of your future husband’s name.”
Stepping out of the elevator, the women circled around her to hold their hands out.
“It won’t work with us; Gianna and I are both unmarried.” Ginny tried to cut between Zoey and Penni, wishing she had chosen anther one to entertain them.
“Zoey isn’t married either.” Penni took a step sideways, blocking her. “We just count it differently with each of you.”
Hungry, she knew it was quicker to play along, so she stuck her hands out and showed her ringless fingers.
“Each of us have to do our own counting. It’s bad luck for Penni or Grace to. If they count, it’s how many years before they get divorced.” Ginny nodded at the woman across from her. “Gianna, you go first.”
Her roommate counted the five rings on Penni’s hands. “E so far, right?”
“Yes. Go ahead,” Ginny encouraged her.
Gianna switched her gaze to Grace. She had two on each hand. “I. I guess that leaves Chris in the dust.” Then she went to Zoey’s hands. “You really like rings, don’t you?” She had stacks of delicate rings on both hands.