Fate Interrupted 2

by Kaitlyn Cross

  Evy blinked blankly and Mrs. Johansen burst into a bellowing fit of laughter that bounced off the walls.

  The rotund lady inhaled a long, wheezing breath and pinched her eyes together. “Pretty girl like you should never settle for a stale muffin.”

  A sheepish grin stretched across Evy’s face but didn’t make it far.

  She winked at Evy and turned for the door. “Thank you, ladies!” she sang out, her hips sashaying back and forth as she traversed the checkered flooring.

  “Have a great day, Mrs. Johansen,” Brooke said, pausing with the broom.

  “And you,” Mrs. Johansen said, stopping at the front door to look her up and down. “You are just as cute as a bug’s ear! Your eyes are so beautiful.”

  Brooke leaned on the push broom, an awe shucks grin stretching from ear to ear. “These old things?”

  Another thunderous laugh burst from Mrs. Johansen, followed by another wheezing breath. “And so is that fine man you got eating up all your profits in the back.” She glanced at Evy. “Hang on to em, ladies, but hold on loosely!”

  The bell rang and they watched her disappear around the corner.

  Brooke turned to Evy, her polite smile quickly faltering. “You didn’t have to come in today, ya know.”

  Evy pulled a half empty rack of peanut butter cup cupcakes from a glass case and began combining them with another tray of the same flavor. “I’m fine.”

  “Okay, but when some bubbly blond takes ten minutes to figure out what she wants don’t bite her head off.” She paused to reflect on it. “Unless it’s Megan, then bite her damn head off. Literally.”

  “I come in everyday,” she said sternly, wiping down the counter and glancing around the empty dessert lounge. “I want to keep busy.”

  Brooke held her hands up in surrender and returned to sweeping. “I’m so hungover I might take the rest of the day off if you won’t.”

  Evy put more elbow grease than need be into the counter, rubbing circles hard enough to wash her troubles away. When it didn’t work, she stopped and looked around, trying to determine what to do next and seeing Dean’s heartbroken face everywhere she looked.

  Brooke came behind the counter with a full dustpan. “There is nothing worse than going to work right after a bad breakup, trust me.”

  “Tell me about it,” Evy murmured under her breath.

  Brooke dumped the dustpan into a nearby garbage bin and looked up with vacant eyes aimed at the front window where people hurried past on their way to work. “Remember when I worked at McDonald’s and that dick Brent Peterson actually had the balls to come in there and break up with me right in the middle of my shift?”

  Evy nodded, remembering it well. It had been Brooke’s first job and, like most people’s first job, had lasted about as long as a cup of coffee.

  “After a quick breakdown in the bathroom,” Brooke continued, leaning the broom and dustpan in a corner. “I had to go back out there and ring up Happy Meals and Shamrock Shakes, wearing this God awful uniform that smelled like grease no matter how many times you washed it.”

  “I thought you quit and came right home.”

  “After about the third or fourth order I did. I couldn’t stand being around all of those people when I just wanted to scream.”

  Evy nodded dully, her mind drifting back to Dean’s office and the words she had said.

  Brooke rubbed Evy’s arm. “Hey, are you sure about this?”

  “No, I’m fine. I want to stay.”

  “No, I mean about you and Dean. Are you sure this is the right thing to do?”

  Evy pulled away from her and poured another cup of coffee that wouldn’t work. “I’m sure.”

  “But…”

  “Brooke, do you want to lose your business over this? There are a million guys out there but if this place goes down, we both know you won’t get another chance. It will ruin your credit.”

  Brooke fanned a hand at her. “You are over thinking things, Evy. You always do.”

  “Really? Did I over think the health inspection? What about Shaun’s practice and our liquor license? Did I over think those, too?” She stared her sister in the eye. “What about the bald guy with a gun?”

  Brooke creased her forehead. “He doesn’t have a gun!” She stepped closer and spoke in a calm voice. “Listen, there may be a million guys out there, but you may never get another chance with the right one again.”

  Evy’s blood began to boil. “I don’t think the right one is supposed to come with a pregnant ex, who is bat-shit crazy. Does that sound like the right one to you?”

  Brooke lifted a shoulder to her ear. “Ben came with a mom who is bat-shit crazy. Lady started doing Hail Marys when she found out we were living together.” She paused, staring off through faraway eyes. “She was so horrified, she tried making Ben read the bible by candlelight in the closet.” Brooke turned back to Evy, her eyes dialing back into focus. “But Christmas is fun.”

  “That’s not the same and you know it.”

  Brooke exhaled a heavy breath that made her chest deflate. “I know it’s not, sweetie, but the point is nobody is perfect.”

  “This is a long way from perfect.”

  Brooke agreed with a soft nod. “You know that whatever you decide I’m behind you one hundred percent but my gut is never wrong, and my gut is saying you two were meant to be together. I like Dean, and not just because he’s super hot and smells like a springtime forest. He’s a good man, Evy, and you know it. Regardless of all the bullshit that has happened, he’s done right by us. He married a woman he can’t even stand just to save our asses.”

  Evy strolled closer on heavy legs, standing a full head above her younger sister. “I appreciate the advice, but what’s done is done and there’s no going back.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  Brooke’s smoky green eyes thinned. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Nothing.”

  “My gut says you’re not telling me the whole story. What’d you do?”

  “Your gut, once again, is wrong.”

  “Then it’s not too late!”

  “It is!” Evy snapped, knocking over a stack of to-go cups.

  Brooke stuck out her bottom lip while soft jazz floated from the speakers in the ceiling. “But what about that big giant cock of his? Are you seriously going to tell me you can live without that? Because I couldn’t.”

  Evy arched an eyebrow, gathering the cups. “You know what? I think I will take the rest of today off after all,” she said, untying her apron and pulling it over her head.

  “Hey,” Brooke said, watching Evy push through the swinging door.

  Evy turned around and stared into her sister’s eyes, using every ounce of energy to hold onto her tears.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Evy smiled thinly. “It’s all right.”

  “But if you’re doing this for me,” Brooke said, looking around the lobby. “For this place…don’t. I’d rather you were happy.”

  Her eyes welled with tears. She started to say something and pushed through the door instead, desperate to get out the back before she could cry again.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The gym smelled like disinfectant and dirty socks.

  “Well, hey there stranger.”

  Dean looked up to find Stacey smiling back at him from behind the front desk, her red hair cascading over her shoulders like hot lava, setting off her eyes. His mouth was dry. He had been working out at his condo’s fitness center - which was like working out in a phone booth - but had decided it was time to get back out into the real world. He could taste the rust on his silver tongue when he swallowed, second-guessing his decision to come. He wasn’t ready for the real world yet.

  “Hi Stacey,” he said, finding himself scanning the large room for a brunette with green eyes.

  Stacey said something in a sweet tone but Dean was too busy wondering if Evy would ever come here again to catch it.<
br />
  “So do you still have a girlfriend?”

  An uneasy laugh slipped out as he swiped his card. “How’d you know I had a girlfriend?”

  A wry grin revealed teeth that looked too white to be real. “A girl has her ways.”

  “I do not have a girlfriend.”

  Her eyebrows rose into the middle of her forehead and a tongue swept across her lips. “I’m having a party Saturday night, you should come,” she said, writing something down while giving him a good look down her shirt. “Bring a friend.” She handed him a piece of scratch paper and he took it with a tentative hand.

  He pulled his Brewers cap down low, desperate to hide beneath its brim. “What’s the occasion?”

  She shrugged indifferently. “Saturday night.”

  An authentic smile flashed across his scruffy cheeks and then was gone. He raised the paper at her and turned for the machines behind him, his eyes immediately going to work surveying the room. His heart stopped dead. His breath hitched. Evy sat on a triceps machine with her back to him, squeezing out one controlled rep after the other. A spike of adrenaline shot through his system, making bells ring and lights pulse like a carnival ride. The room spun in a lazy fashion. It was fate. He adjusted his white cut off and forced his legs to do his bidding, commanding them to take him across the thin carpet despite their severe reservations. The brightly colored confetti pattern unfolded beneath him much too slowly. He screamed at his legs to move faster. They protested, stubbing a toe on the carpet and sending him stumbling forward. He made a quick correction and continued his stride.

  “Dean!”

  He turned, startled by the sound of his own name.

  Stacey trotted up, black spandex showing off the toned muscles shaping her legs. The smell of honey mixed with lilacs as she held out her hand. “You forgot to grab a towel.”

  “Oh thanks.”

  She shifted in her black Nikes with powder blue swooshes. “Don’t forget about Saturday night.”

  “I won’t,” he lied, desperate to look behind him.

  She examined him quietly, trying to read his mind, the sounds of grunts and clanging weights punctuating the air around them. Convinced he was telling the truth, she smiled. “It’ll be fun. I promise,” she said, turning for the front desk and strutting across the room with a spring in her step.

  Dean spun around and the triceps machine was as empty as the spot his heart usually occupied. His eyes darted around the room until he found her curling lightweight dumbbells before a great wall of mirrors, his reflection cowering in the background. He lifted his head up high and took full control of his legs, gritting his teeth and owning the room. Just as he rounded up an opening line, his heart sank with his hope. The brunette with a long pointy nose and brown eyes glanced at him in the mirror and smiled before returning to her set. Dean started breathing again and quickly sat down on a back machine, like that had been his plan the entire time. He shoved the metal pin into the one hundred pound mark and started releasing some aggressions, pulling down on the weight and wondering if he would ever stop seeing her everywhere he went. Over the last three weeks, he had seen Evy at the gas station, the supermarket, and the Redbox machine at least ten times over, and every time it was the same.

  He dropped the weight too hard with a loud bang and let his eyes stray from focus, his chest rising and falling as he stared at the floor. There was only one way to stop it from happening, but the thought of letting go drove the air from his lungs. He inhaled a deep breath and let it out. He had been down this road before and there was only true option. Just keep breathing. So he inhaled another heavy breath and released it before doing it all over again.

  ***

  He came home to find Shaun lounging in one of his patio chairs, a can of beer in his hand and a twelve pack warming up on a small table next to him. Dean grimaced, just wanting to eat an entire Tombstone pizza and take a long nap on the couch he wouldn’t mind never waking up from.

  “How was the gym, baller? Ass soup as usual?”

  Dean tossed his workout gloves and iPod next to the beer. “How long have you been here?”

  Shaun surveyed the empties and their condensation rings on the plastic table. “About three beers.”

  Dean sat down and exhaled a weary breath. He took his ball cap off and ran a hand through his sweaty hair, a cool breeze feeling good against his skin. “So what’s up?”

  Shaun crossed his legs like a girl and brushed drips of condensation from his plaid shorts. “That’s what I’m here to find out. You never answer your phone anymore.”

  Dean pulled a can of Miller Lite from the twelve pack and cracked it open. “Been busy settling into partner mode at work.”

  “Yeah, and how’s that going?”

  “Good. Real good.”

  Shaun nodded, pushing his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. “Liar.”

  They both laughed a little before taking long drinks. A hawk screeched off in the distance as the leaves rustled on a nearby oak.

  “Where’d ya get the cactus?”

  Dean followed his gaze to a beige pot with a tall, thorn-covered cactus sticking straight out of the soil. “Gina gave it to me after the promotion.”

  “Your receptionist?”

  “Our administrative assistant.”

  “Whatever,” Shaun replied, blowing a small bug off the lip of his can. “All I know is you could totally hit that if you wanted to.”

  Dean pressed the cold can against his forehead. “Yeah, because that’s just what I need right now. Screw things up at work, too.”

  “She could literally be the hottest chick on the planet. I mean, those tits!”

  Dean heard a noise above them and looked up to see the elderly lady upstairs peering at them through the cracks in her deck floor. “Keep it down,” he whispered, jerking his chin to the balcony above them.

  Shaun looked up, his Adam’s apple bobbing in the shade. “Creepy,” he whispered, returning his attention to the cactus, half of which in the sun. “Thing looks like a giant dick!”

  Dean hid behind his hand.

  Shaun lowered his voice. “It’s even got two little cactuses for balls and everything.”

  “I thought it was cacti.”

  Shaun waved a hand through the air and took a drink, dismissing the whole thing. “So what’s new, man? You don’t call, you don’t write, I’m starting to suspect a freeze out over here.”

  “Just working, man. How’re Carrie and the girls?

  “They’re good. Carrie took them horseback riding someplace in Pewaukee so I’ve got a couple of hours to kill.”

  Dean cringed, so sleepy he could barely stand it, the small talk draining his energy. “That sounds fun.” He paused, staring at Shaun. “How about you? How are you doing?”

  “Me? I’m good. Real good.”

  Dean nodded, studying him through his sunglasses. “Liar.”

  Shaun laughed. “Well, maybe starting to miss that dentist paycheck a little bit.”

  “I bet.” Dean picked at the pull-tab on the can. He looked up and inhaled a lungful of warm air. “How is Sugars doing?”

  “It’s pretty slow. And my beer sales? Even slower.”

  A heated sighed slipped from Dean’s lips. He twisted uncomfortably in his seat. “Well, that sucks to hear.”

  Shaun shrugged. “Never really picked back up after that whole liquor license debacle. Hopefully, that will change because Brooke and Ben are starting to freak out a little.”

  Dean clenched his teeth, reliving things he never wanted to live again. “And after all that crap they went through.”

  “No doubt. Sucks.”

  “No more surprise inspections or anything though?”

  Shaun shook his head. “I think those are over, but I’m afraid the damage might be done. I just turned an application into the Outback for a bartending position.”

  Dean frowned. “The steakhouse?”

  “All those years of college and I’m going to end up righ
t back where I started my freshman year. Talk about the circle of life.”

  Dean grew quiet and watched two squirrels wrestling in the grass several yards over. His heart beat faster beneath his cut off, anticipating the answer to his next question. But before he could ask it, Shaun beat him to the punch.

  “Sold the Corvette.”

  Dean’s eyes snapped over to him. “Oh no, you did?”

  Shaun nodded glumly, tipping his can back and swallowing with a dejected sigh. “No one likes me anymore without it either. My gas station guy definitely doesn’t look at me the same. May have to switch to a different place.”

  Dean couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed like that. “Good thing you’re already married.”

  “That’s no joke. I’d never get laid driving a fucking mini-van.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Dean whispered, glancing above them. “Will you lower your voice a little? There are kids around.”

  “Fuck those kids, Dean. My life is in the shitter and all you can think about are a bunch of little rug-rats you don’t even know. I will scream the word cock-licker at the top of my lungs right now!”

  Dean stifled a laugh and shook his head, hiding behind his hand as a helpless feeling settled around him - tinged with regret and guilt. This was his best friend sitting here and Dean had ruined him. Evy was right. It had to stop before anyone else got hurt, regardless of the price.

  “Listen, I’m really sorry for the way things ended up working out. I’m sorry you lost your business.”

  Shaun shook his head. “It’s not your…”

  “It is my fault, Shaun,” he interrupted. “And if I could go back and do it all over again…”

  “You would still date Evy,” Shaun cut him off, holding his hand up. “Don’t even try to tell me anything different.”

  Dean furrowed his brow. “No, I was talking about Megan.”

  Shaun stared blankly at him. “Oh.”

  They sat there for a few seconds and then started laughing. A moment of silence settled over them and Dean couldn’t tell if it was awkward or not. His stomach growled and he tipped the can back.