by Jaycee Ford
Finally putting the intrusive cowboy behind me, the need to explore this little town crept upon me. I threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and hiked the strap of my laptop on my shoulder to check out the café and the all needed Wi-Fi. I headed downstairs, and as I passed the counter, Mrs. Ethel looked up from her book with her pink frames low on her nose.
“Oh, good afternoon, dear. I thought you were out this afternoon?” Mrs. Ethel asked with her brow scrunched in confusion.
“No, ma’am.” A blush flamed my face as I remembered my cowboy encounter. “But I guess you thought I was.”
“Did my nephew catch you at a bad time? I’m so sorry about that. Was he able to fix the faucet?” she asked with sincere innocence.
“Um… no, but I’ll be out all day tomorrow, so he’ll have the whole day to fix it at any time,” I muttered, heading toward the door as fast as I could.
“Okay, dear, have a good afternoon!” Mrs. Ethel hollered after me.
I decided to explore down toward Main Street, assuming that direction would be the place of greater population in this small town. During my walk toward the little café that Mrs. Ethel told me about, I embraced the slow, simplistic town surrounding me. The aroma of the livestock still lingered, but my sense of smell seemed to numb over time and I started to get used to it. As I peered into the storefront windows during my walk, I came across a little boutique with cute sundresses, shoes, and purses arranged behind the glass. Some magnetic force or a touch of fate guided me to grab the handle and take a step inside. Barely one second through the door, I was welcomed by a chipper, bubbly redhead behind the sales counter.
“Hi, welcome to Ellie’s. My name is Ellie. Are you looking for something in particular today?”
I smiled at her and glanced around the store, attempting to find the first area to conquer.
“Not really. I was just passing by your shop on the way from The Inn, and I saw the shoes in the window. A girl can’t pass up shoes.” Shoes would be a good place to start.
“Oh, are you vacationing here?” Ellie asked, walking around from behind the counter.
“No, I just moved. I’m currently staying at The Inn, but I’m not sure if it’ll be a permanent move.” I turned toward her as she approached.
“Well, welcome to the area. My name is Ellie Caldwell. This is my store… obviously,” Ellie said with a cheerful grin. “Did you move here for a job?”
“Yes, I’m Jordan Hawthorne, the new history instructor at the community college.” I extended my hand to meet the new acquaintance.
“Oh, that’s fabulous!” she replied as she shook my hand in greeting. “Well, let’s get you some new clothes for the role, then.”
I needed to spend money like I needed a hole in my head, but with all of the drama I had endured these past few months, I deserved some retail therapy. Ellie continued to talk while she showed me various dresses and skirts, and all thought of saving money vanished with no question. They all were adorable. New wardrobe pieces wouldn’t hurt at all.
“Okay, so, what size are you?” Ellie asked while she flipped through the clothing racks.
“An eight.”
“Honey, if you’re wearing an eight now, then you need to go down a size or two. Those clothes are engulfing you.” She studied my frame and eyed my attire.
My eyes shifted downward to look at my clothing choices, and Ellie turned me around before I could question her sizing notion. She proceeded to scoot me in front of a three-paneled mirror, grabbing the back of my jeans right underneath my butt and stretching out the fabric.
“Jordan, you can fit an elephant inside these pants. Haven’t you heard of skinny jeans?” She shook her head as I watched her reflection in the mirror.
“Um…” I mumbled, wincing. “These are skinny jeans.”
Ellie’s eyes rose as she shook her head. “March into the dressing room, lady. You are getting a new wardrobe, right now!”
She guided me toward the back of the boutique into a changing room. As she shut the door behind me, she ordered, “Now, strip! I’ll bring you back some clothes to try on.”
On her order, I stripped myself of the not-so-skinny jeans and the navy crewneck T-shirt. The only clothing I had covering me was a bra and a pair of panties. As I stood before my reflection, I studied my apparent weight loss, and I couldn’t help but feel hopeless with the images of the past few months looming over me constantly.
“Jordan, open up. I have clothes for you.” As I opened the door to the dressing room, she handed me a bundle of clothes with a curious look in her eye and a humorous smile. My brow furrowed in confusion.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh nothing.” Beginning to turn away, she added, “Just so you know, there’s some underwear in that pile, too. I think you could use it.”
After glancing down at my white cotton bra and granny panties, I looked back up at Ellie, and she winked as she pulled the door closed behind her. I shook my head at my lack of fashion sense and hung up the clothes she had handed me. Excitement began to fuel my senses while I sifted through the dresses, skirts, and shirts. Before I allowed myself to get too worked up, I glanced at the tags to check the prices, but found myself instead gasping at the size numbers.
“Um, Ellie?”
“Yes?” Ellie bubbled from the other side of the door.
“These are a size four,” I reasoned.
“And?”
“These are a size four… like one, two, three, FOUR!”
“Jordan, I know sizes. I own a boutique, remember? Now, put them on!” Ellie chimed as her boots echoed across the hardwood floor, leaving the dressing area.
I let out a grunt and grabbed the first dress from the hanger, feeling sure that the clothes wouldn’t fit. The dress in my hand was black, straight, and strapless with a zipper on the side. When I pulled it on, I immediately turned away from the mirror, not wanting to witness the inevitable. As my fingers grasped the zipper, I pulled it up slowly and closed my eyes as the teeth of the zipper welded together. For some reason, somehow, the zipper found its way to the top. My eyes flew open in shock, and I slowly turned, facing the mirror.
“Oh…” I gasped almost silently as I stared at my reflection. My hand rested on my chest in disbelief. It was the most beautiful dress I had ever put on, and it looked like it was made just for me. The hem hit my legs roughly at mid-thigh, which made them look supermodel-long. The sleekness of the dress flattered my curves with the dark color hiding any imperfections.
“Let me see! Let me see!”
Taking a final calming breath, I opened the door, stepped out slowly, and turned toward Ellie.
“Whoa, you’re an effing model!” Ellie bounced up and down.
My head shook in disbelief, and I pulled on the fabric, trying to find some wiggle room. “It seems a little snug.”
“A girl can’t help it if she has boobs! If you got ̓em, flaunt ̓em, right? I’ll make you a deal. You buy that dress, and I’ll give you twenty percent off all of your purchases.”
“Twenty percent off? What’s the catch?” I said as my eyes remained on the bouncy, bubbly lady.
“The catch is you have to come out to the tavern tonight and show off my design.”
My eyebrows arched in amused shock. I glanced down at the dress and then back up at her.
“Your design? Wait, these are yours?”
“Yep! And you’re the perfect model to show them off!”
My whole body tensed and my forehead furrowed in worry.
“Jordan, it’s just the tavern. Besides, you need to meet some new people in town, and you are officially my new best friend!”
THE SUN FELL behind the mountains and work finished for the day on the setup for the End of Summer Fest. Paul and I wandered across the street and inside Dixie’s Tavern as we continued the conversation about my unusual yet welcoming morning. I walked through the doors as I dropped one important piece of information about it. He stopped midstride, staring at me in e
nvious disbelief.
“Naked?”
I tried to hide my grin and confirmed, “Completely.”
He shook his head, and within two steps, he stopped again. “Hot?”
“You have no idea.” I shook my own head in utter disbelief. The view I had feasted on earlier today was one that I wouldn’t forget in the foreseeable future. I was still totally astonished. It was the absolute hottest thing I had ever seen, and I had seen my fair share of… things.
Paul nudged me out of my vivid memories and pointed toward Lance on the other side of the bar. We approached our dear friend just in time to hear him say, “Betty, I swear, you are the most beautiful woman in this place.”
Paul and I looked at one another, shaking our heads at this person we called friend. Lance was the biggest flirt who charmed anything with two legs and a rack.
“Lance, leave Mrs. Betty alone,” Paul said as we took our regular seats at the bar.
“Lance, I’m old enough to be your grandmother.” Betty chuckled. She was at least old enough to be our mothers, but she definitely was no grandmother. She was pretty slender with short, jet-black hair. Betty was the kind of woman who didn’t take crap from anybody.
“And a hot one!” Lance said with a wink, attempting to charm the pants off anyone within earshot at this point.
Still laughing, Betty turned to Paul and me. “What’ll it be, boys?”
“Whatever’s on tap, ma’am,” I said, nodding my respect, even if Lance showed little to none.
“Coming right up.”
Betty grabbed two glass beer mugs and turned toward the row of taps, standing tall in front of the bottles of spirits behind the bar. The tavern was your typical hole in the wall. Beat-up hardwood floors covered the space. Sports paraphernalia littered one wall, and the adjoining one was papered with license plates from every state. A few dart boards, a pool table in the back, and a small stage in front of the wall of license plates made up the rest of the bar. It was Monday, but kind of crowded for a Monday. The local community college started classes on Wednesday, which meant it was everyone’s last hurrah.
“Fellas, the first round’s on the house, and ya better keep your eye on that one.” She placed the beers in front of us and pointed at Lance as she departed for the other side of the bar.
“So, Tom, are you going to fill in Lance on what you saw today?” Paul said, smirking into his beer.
After taking a sip of beer, I said, “You know how I went to The Inn today to help my aunt?”
“Yeah,” Lance answered as he glanced around at the women in the bar.
“Apparently, a guest had a plumbing issue in their suite,” I added as he kept his eyes locked on some blonde chick.
“Uh-huh,” he replied, without turning away from his stare.
“I knocked on the door. There was no answer so I assumed the guest was gone, and when I walked into the bathroom to fix the sink, the guest was in there.” I tried to divert his attention from the blonde chick.
“Oh shit! Was it some old guy on the crapper? That’d be hilarious,” Lance said as his eyes popped in amused shock, tearing his concentration away from the blonde and back to me.
“Nope.” The vivid memories filled my mind, and I couldn’t help getting lost.
“Who was it then?” Lance still chuckled to himself as he raised his mug to take a sip of beer.
“I don’t know who she was.” I rubbed my hand over my chest, feeling an indescribable ache.
“What was she doing in the bathroom, Tom?” Lance eyed me with that stupid grin of his rising up his face. As Lance took a gulp of his beer, I smirked, reaching for my mug.
“Taking a bath.”
Lance spewed out his beer all over the bar in front of us.
“Holy fuck, you’re kidding!”
“Nope.” I grabbed a few napkins to wipe up his mess. Even though the bar was now covered with beer, I couldn’t help but laugh at his antics.
“Hot?” Lance asked as Paul did.
“Unbelievable.” The visions of her curves continued to blind me.
“Holy shit,” Paul mumbled under his breath while I was still lost in her curves. I looked at him and then followed his eyes over to the corner booth, and I noticed my good friend, Ellie, talking to someone I couldn’t see due to the crowd between us. Paul had always been hooked on Ellie, but she and Lance had dated back in high school, leaving Paul to harbor his feelings for all these years.
“Oh, it’s Lance’s ex.”
“Shit, which one?” Lance ducked.
I laughed at his hysterics and said, “Calm down, Lance. It’s just Ellie.”
“Tom,” Paul whispered, still staring in Ellie's direction. “Who’s the chick with her?”
I leaned back and forth to get a look around the swarm of people who stood in between the bar and the corner booth.
My whole body froze when I laid eyes on Ellie’s friend, and I lost my breath once again. In the sexiest black dress, my water goddess was talking with my friend while she ran her finger along the rim of her wine glass. My blood instantly flooded south with the fantasy of her straddling me, doing to me exactly what she was doing to her wine glass. I was in agony. The desperate desire to pounce on a woman had never been a factor in my life before. I didn’t want to just fuck her. I wanted her… every bit of her.
As if she could feel my stare on her, her eyes flickered up, and they connected with mine with such a force. I had never felt such a pull to any woman… ever. I needed to get close to her, and I rose from my bar stool, heading straight for her. She leaned in close to Ellie and whispered something in her ear. Without a second glance, she rose from the table in haste, and she hurried out of the door.
My heart dropped as she exited the bar. I needed to catch her before I lost her again. Moving quickly toward the door, I was stopped by a firm tug on my arm. I turned around, coming face to face with the most unpleasant thing ever imaginable… Angela Butler.
“Hey, sexy baby! What’s the rush?” Angela purred near my ear, and I held back a cringe.
Angela was a drunken mistake two years ago. Bachelor party… lots of shots… horrible hangover due to the mess of a beast lying next to me in the morning. She was pretty, with long blonde hair and muted blue eyes. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, though. She had a bad reputation in high school, and it still suited her today. She possibly welcomed it, which wasn’t very flattering.
After the drunken night of misguided passion, she followed me around all the time. I sat her down once and explained, sincerely, that she could do better than me, reinforcing that I didn’t have time for a girlfriend. I tried to be nice, but she wouldn’t have any of it. Being a jerk wasn’t my nature, but I got really tired of being relentlessly harassed.
“Hey, Angela. Sorry, I thought I saw someone,” I said, trying not to make eye contact. As I turned to walk away, I added, “It was good to see you. I’m going to head back to my friends.”
“Dude, was that Angela?” Lance asked as I sat back on my stool by the bar.
“Yep.”
“Awesome! See y’all later!” Lance said with a punch on my arm, and he headed over to the leech. Nothing surprised me with Lance.
As I turned my head and glanced at Paul, he was leaning over and talking up close with Ellie, who followed him over from her table. Both of them had that unmistakable horniness in their eyes. They just needed to get it over with already.
“Hey, Ellie,” I said, smiling at my dear friend. She had only ever been a friend to me, and nothing more.
“Hey, Tommy! How are you?” Ellie said, ducking under my arm to wrap hers around my waist. There was only one other person who could get away with calling me Tommy besides my Aunt, and that was Ellie.
“Oh, good. Good.” I continued, “So, who was the friend you were with? I’ve never seen her around before.”
“Oh, I just met her today. She came into the boutique and bought a few things from me. She’s pretty cute, huh.” She winked for good me
asure.
“What’s her name, El?” I inched forward on the seat of desperation.
“Oh, Jordan Hawthorne,” she replied with a hint of a smirk, knowing good and well I wanted every last detail.
“And what is she doing in town, Ellie?” I asked impatiently.
“She’s the new history instructor at the college. Oh, hey! I bet you’ll have her since you’re starting class Wednesday!”
My heart skipped a beat, causing that ache to return, but it accompanied some other feeling I couldn’t identify, and it made me really uneasy.
“Tom?” Paul asked. “Are you okay?”
When Ellie picked up a conversation with Betty, I leaned over to Paul, whispering over the music, “It’s her.”
“Who’s her?” Paul asked, turning his head and looking around the bar.
Shaking my head, I said, “Naked tub girl. She’s Ellie’s friend.”
A shit eating grin rose up his face, and he said, “Dude, if that’s her, then you better mark your territory. She’ll get picked up real quick, especially if Lance sees her.”
Paul leaned in closer to me, taking a look back at Ellie to make sure she wasn’t listening, and he continued, “I mean that chick was pretty hot.”
As I lifted my mug, I smirked. “Can a student get with a teacher?”
Paul laughed, and patted me on the back. “Well, if anyone can, it’s you!”
After sharing another laugh, we clicked our mugs and downed our beers in one long pull.
WHILE MY NEWFOUND friend strutted down the sidewalk, my heels clamored with no grace as we made the pilgrimage down to Dixie’s Tavern. Her red hair bounced with her bubbly smile, exuding the natural country charm embedded within her. She had dressed me in the sleeveless little black dress that she designed with a pair of killer heels, but they would surely kill me if she didn’t slow the hell down.