For the Best

by LJ Scar

  “I am. I have an app on my phone that calculates points of almost anything I want to eat,” she answered.

  Michelle just rolled her eyes.

  After lunch followed by a long walk, we returned home to find Michelle absent but a very irritated Jace waiting. Knowing a never ending sibling argument was about to resume, I made for the bathroom.

  As usual, the argument turned towards Michelle. I didn’t mean to listen, but the shouting became loud. I turned on the radio to drown them out.

  With a towel wrapped around my head, and a robe on my body I returned to my room. Both brother and sister were on my bed with the only keepsake I’d kept from my time with Ansel between them.

  “This guy is good,” Jace commented as he leafed through the printed and bound portfolio of both human and nature subjects.

  “The one of you is really beautiful.” Della pointed to me lying prone on a gold metallic surfboard in a matching bikini. My bronze skin sparkled. My eyes stared into the distance with the false color of citrine.

  Jace was examining the photo enough to make me blush. “Did he airbrush it or Photoshop?”

  “I’m not sure how he did it.” I sat down sandwiching Jace between me and Della.

  She turned the page and I could feel a blush coming on. We had hiked to a cove trying to catch seals basking on a lonely stretch of beach. When we arrived it was empty so we swam. I had gotten cold so I was wearing the button up shirt he’d been hiking in over my bikini. He was shirtless in swim trunks with his head resting on my stomach in the photo. A day between us where there was a hint of romance caught on film.

  “What does his quote mean?” Jace asked pointing to the inscription.

  Was it the haze of love, the pleasures of ecstasy, or the naiveté of youth that made you fall?

  “I don’t know. He says crap like that all the time,” I replied roughly. The truth was he was digging at me. All those conversations I’d shared about Tanner.

  “Is this him?” Della gasped as she paused on his bio page. “Wow!”

  I looked at the handsome guy in the jacket photograph. Part of me wanted to end this stalemate I had started with him but the other knew if he found out I’d gotten back together with Tanner he’d tell me I needed to see his old shrink.

  “Why would you give him up?” Della asked still mesmerized with the page.

  Chapter 30

  Hanna

  Tanner and I went to visit Trevor, took him to dinner and a movie. Trevor was hyped one minute, down the other.

  “Was this a happy day?” Trevor asked me.

  “I’m happy. What about you?” I teased.

  “I’m happy. What about you Tanner?” he repeated and redirected.

  “Sure,” Tanner answered sarcastically.

  Something in Tanner’s body language, his tone told me he was unhappy.

  Later, lying in his arms I imagined we were quiet because of Trevor. I could hear the creak of his body weight on the mattress. I voiced my disappointment, “You should be more upbeat with Trev. He doesn’t get sarcasm.”

  “It is hard leaving him there.”

  “You had no choice.”

  “There is always a choice.” I felt his tears against my chest.

  Another promotion, this one to an office job where I worked remotely from home logging onto the company’s server doing spreadsheets most of the day. Della and I were out celebrating my step up the corporate ladder. Not being carded, we’d been served alcohol. Della took advantage of the lack of ID verification. I watched her drunk sing a karaoke duet.

  Five songs later against Della’s slurring protests I brushed off her singing partner’s attempt to take her home. After he finally left we ended up hailing a taxi. I barely got her up to the front door and inside before she collapsed on the floor.

  “Come on Della. Help me out. You are dead weight!”

  From behind her I hooked my arms under her shoulders and half dragged, half walked her to the stairs.

  “That guy was hot. Why’d you tell him to go away?” she slurred.

  “Because any guy who offers to take a drunk girl he doesn’t know home is not decent. You said you wanted a decent guy.”

  Pinkie was licking Della’s face. “I take what I can get,” she whispered.

  I sat down on the steps beside her. “Oh, Della, don’t. Value yourself more.”

  Jace cleared his throat and startled I met his eyes where he stood. “You need me to help you get her to bed?”

  “Yeah, thanks,” I hesitantly accepted wondering how much he’d heard.

  We got her upstairs, to her bed. I took off her shoes and moved her legs onto the mattress.

  Jace stared at his sibling, collapsed on her bed. “If she’d lose weight she might actually get a date not just a one night stand.”

  Angered I defended her, “Della is smart, beautiful and funny. If a guy can’t get past her weight that is his problem.”

  Jace walked to the door and turned. “Maybe but no guy wants a drunken fat slut for a girlfriend. I don’t even like having one for a sister.”

  I had to hold my tongue as well as my fists.

  Chapter 31

  Hanna

  Meandering through a throng of people I didn’t know, I located Tanner. I’d left him stranded by the coolers packed with sodas and beer. He looked uncomfortable scanning the crowd as Michelle thrust her breasts in his body space as she was prone to do.

  “Happy Anniversary Michelle.” I smiled at her as I took my place beside Tanner.

  “Thank you,” she replied. “Tanner and I were just discussing his good friend Benny. He and I go way back, but I didn’t know until tonight you were all acquainted.”

  My stomach knotted in an old familiar way as I followed her pointed finger to see a heavy guy manning the keg. Michelle smiled sinisterly. Humiliation surfaced as I worried what Michelle could do if she became privy to my secrets. Attempting to bolt, I grabbed Tanner.

  “Let’s get something to eat.” I pulled him toward the kitchen.

  Della stood alone at the counter. A filled shot was before her as if she had a premonition of my needs.

  “Thank God.” I slammed the liquor while Tanner rubbed the back of his head.

  Benny appeared. Tanner exchanged an awkward man hug with my nemesis as I contemplated how I could disappear.

  Della drunkenly introduced herself and I wondered if she didn’t remember the bully she’d left behind back in elementary.

  “So who’s up for a little meat?” Benny positioned his hands in a V at his crotch and laughed.

  I swallowed as the shot I’d just consumed threatened to rise from my esophagus.

  Della cracked up as if crass was funny.

  “Della can you come with me to the bathroom?” I didn’t give her time to respond as I yanked her arm.

  I navigated us upstairs leaving Tanner behind.

  “What are you doing?” Della asked as I kept walking.

  “Saving you.” She followed until I shut us in my bedroom. She flipped on the lights startling poor Pinkie out of her nap on her dog bed.

  “Don’t you remember him?” I asked.

  “Of course. He was a year older than us in elementary school.”

  “And we hated him.”

  “People change,” she excused.

  “He was one of the judges.”

  “Judges?”

  “You know. One of the guys who judged that sex tape made of Tanner and me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course, I’m sure. You think I’d forget something like that.”

  Chapter 32

  Hanna

  I’d been at Clay’s for a week while he vacationed. Not in a hurry to leave, I watched as he went through all the mail that had accrued in his absence.

  “If you need me to dogsit again let me know.”

  He glanced up. “Where are you living now?”

  “With a friend and her brother.” I bit at my thumb nail. “Sometimes his gi
rlfriend,” I mumbled.

  “You don’t sound very happy about it.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “What about your job? You like it.”

  “Not especially.”

  He paused as if considering then said, “My parents own a bunch of businesses down in St. Augustine. They’re looking for someone to run a Laundromat. It comes with a free apartment.”

  “Seriously?”

  St. Augustine was America’s oldest city settled on what locals termed the first coast because it was the first European settlement long before the Mayflower arrived. The historic district was a mixture of both old British and Spanish architecture inside a coquina walled bay.

  Clay kept the conversation going as we drove south on the coastal highway. “I always figured you for college bound when you were a teenager.”

  “Back then so did I.” I stared at the sliver of blue ocean visible out my car window. Sand dunes covered in sea oats blocked the view.

  We crested the uphill span of A1A over the Vilano Beach Bridge navigating through the traffic of downtown St. Augustine. He parallel parked on a side street and released Bowzer from the car.

  We walked by all the hotels and restaurants on the bay, down past the ornate architecture to a less pretty part of town.

  “This is it.” He gestured to a faded beige stucco building with generic white letters stating LAUNDROMAT on the façade. Clay pulled a ring of keys from his pocket to open the plate glass door. Inside the white walls were covered - washers on top, dryers on bottom. The long narrow room held little to offer. “Back here is the apartment.”

  I peeked inside the dingy dark room and wondered how a bed would fit. At least it smelled good, like fabric softener and detergent.

  “I know it’s not much but no one will be breathing over your shoulder. Most customers are college kids. Used to be a lot of fun just hanging out. You know?”

  “Can I think about it?”

  “Sure.”

  I came home from a work demo I’d done at a bulk superstore to find Benny sitting on the couch. “What are you doing here?”

  “Waiting on Della.”

  “Why?”

  He smirked. “Big girls need lovin’ too.”

  “You’re an asshole,” I muttered and kept walking. When I got to my room, my bed was rumpled. I wrote it off thinking Pinkie had been on it. When I opened a drawer, it was evident my stuff had been gone through. I turned around and inspected every surface. A disc was displayed prominently on my nightstand.

  I stormed back downstairs and found Michelle sitting beside Benny. Two identical smirks on their faces.

  “Wow! You still keep a copy after all this time,” Benny feigned surprise.

  I didn’t know if the DVD held the footage of a night I wished never happened. I just knew I couldn’t let them get to me. The girl who had fallen victim to depression, dependence and feelings of defeat was now a young woman who refused to play their games. I backtracked to my room, locked the door, and began packing.

  Though I worried I was trading one bad situation for another I called Clay. “If I agree to work at the Laundromat can I move in tonight?”

  “I was going to have the room professionally cleaned maybe throw a coat of paint on the walls.”

  “Thanks but I’ll take care of all that,” I said.

  “You sure?”

  “I’ll be over in an hour to pick up the keys.”

  When I had just gotten the last box in my trunk Della arrived home. “What is going on?”

  “I’m moving out.”

  “I can see that. Why?” she asked wounded.

  “You and Benny.”

  “But…he isn’t my boyfriend.”

  “But you hook-up?”

  She became defensive, “Well, yeah, but I don’t get what the big deal is.”

  I shook my head. “When you realize why it is a big deal, call me.”

  Chapter 33

  Tanner

  It was an hour and a half drive from Gainesville to St. Augustine, farms and run down shacks dotted the landscape. I entered the outskirts, merged with the heavy traffic departing the interstate and crossed to Anastasia Island. Following a procession of cars to the historic district, we all became trapped as the Bridge of Lions, the span that linked the island of beaches to the downtown, rose to allow a sailboat with a high mast to pass. Shutting off my car I got out and stood on the sidewalk, enjoying the dolphins playing in the vessel’s wake.

  When the bridge lowered and traffic resumed I entered the mecca of tourist shops, pubs and restaurants. Coquina and stucco in varying shades of earth and sun covered the buildings. An imposing fort cornered the bay. I veered away from the horrendous traffic in search of limited parking. Zipping down a one-way alley I pulled up at the address she’d provided and shook my head.

  “Not impressed Hanna,” I muttered to myself.

  When I opened the door, on the inside was a vast improvement to the exterior. The walls were loudly painted in azure blue, white machines stacked across most of the room. Several college students were milling around waiting out loads. A big screen TV was mounted and those who weren’t wired to an earbud were entranced. Most had a cup of some sort in their hand.

  The back was a bar area that was a poor version of Starbucks but inside the glass case were several cakes, cookies and muffins on display. An espresso machine, a grinder, a coffee decanter, a convection oven, and a mini-fridge lined the back wall. I leaned over the glass seeing the dark brown head of hair crouched below loading supplies.

  She stretched and her top pulled higher allowing a good deal of skin to become bare on her lower back. I snuck around the counter and reached my hands around her.

  Startled she jumped. “God, you scared the crap out of me.”

  I kissed her soothingly. “You looked so beautiful I couldn’t hold off touching you another minute.

  She leaned back. “So what do you think?”

  “I think when Clay gave you free reign of the business you didn’t hold back. From your previous description, this must be a vast improvement.”

  “Clay bought the kitchen stuff and flat screen, but I painted everything.” She pointed to the display case. “I found this at the rehab store.” She came out from behind the counter and placed her hands on the back of one of several purple stackable chairs. “These came from the community college. They were only $5 each. Those two old leather couches were at a moving sale down the street. Clay gave the guy $100 for both.” She rushed over to two diner booths in metallic silver I hadn’t noticed yet. “These were already here, totally rusted but I buffed them up and now they gleam.”

  “When you were recapping it all over the phone I didn’t quite get all the work you were putting into this place. I was kind of reluctant about Clay pushing off a dilapidated business prospect on you. I figured he was trying to shirk some family responsibilities.”

  She didn’t hide her frown. “Clay isn’t like that. He pays me and I get the apartment for free. He’s even changing the sign out front to Bubbles and Brews Laundromat so people get that it’s a coffee shop as well.”

  I held up my hands in surrender. “I was wrong.” A thought crossed my mind. “Wait Bubbles and Brews Laundromat sounds like the place Glade told us stories about. Where he could get a beer, watch a game, pick up a chick and wash a load all in one night.”

  She smiled. “That’s where I got the idea. Clay said getting a liquor license would be a pain in the butt and expensive. The limited food permit wasn’t difficult to obtain past a mountain of paperwork and a small fee. So I’m testing the waters with coffee, cappuccinos, and pastries on donations.”

  I swallowed. “Donations?”

  “Yeah, people pay me what they think it’s worth.”

  “You’ll go broke. College kids take advantage of that crap. Why do you think they frequent the bars that offer free nachos and pizza?”

  “So far that isn’t the case.” She pointed to the counter jar overflowing w
ith dollar bills. She put her hands on her hips. “Some are so conscientious they bring their own mugs.”

  The front door opened and the rush of air blew stray locks of hair from her ponytail into my face. I pulled her in for a hug. “Don’t be mad. I just worry about you is all.” I inhaled a deep breath of cinnamon wafting off her. “You smell fantastic.”

  When she teased me back, I knew the moment had passed. “It’s my own scent. Downy freshness, vanilla, and cinnamon.” She leaned back and kissed my cheek.

  I heard a deep voice mumble, “Dude, she has a boyfriend.”

  I commented, “So a lot of these customers are male I see.”

  “Some.” She shook her head at me smiling.

  “Well, I’ll concede you to this occupation until I get out of college.”

  The frown was back. “You don’t think this is good enough, do you?”

  I hesitated. On one hand I wanted to encourage her but on the other hand I didn’t. Mostly I wanted her to think of our future and I didn’t want to marry a woman whose aspirations were so limited. I answered, “I think you are very creative.”

  She walked behind the counter, reached down and held up a bun of some sort for me to taste. “I might have a future in culinary arts. At least all my patrons tell me I do.”

  Taking a bite, filling my mouth full of food, I spurted crumbs in my compliment, “That is good. Oranges and caramel?”

  Her hazel eyes sparkled with amusement. “You seem surprised. I get more dollars for these than the chocolate ones.”

  I hesitated, suddenly at a loss for words. I swallowed convulsively. “I didn’t even know you could bake.”

  She laughed. “Come see my bedroom.”

  She led me back into the suite. The floors were polished concrete matching those in the common area. The walls were plum colored and there was no window. An open door showed a tiny bathroom with a small square window for ventilation of the shower.