Anyway, the place was a lot more expensive than what I had. Furthermore, Mom was getting on her feet a bit. She’d never get the use of her arm back but her leg was moving and she was beginning to get around on her own. So, to keep that good work going, I had to pay for physical therapy and occupational therapy, twice a week each. That’s a lot of cabbage to be coming out of the bank account on a weekly basis when there’s no insurance to help. So I had to get a second job working nights at Smithie’s; good money, lots of headaches from customers and exhausting because I was on my feet the whole night.
Then, I had to quit the Credit Union three months ago because I was fal ing asleep at the drawer. I needed a stress-free, flexible job. Yeah, right, you say. But I had my first stroke of luck and found the coolest job in the world. It was working during the day at Fortnum’s.
Fortnum’s is a huge, old, musty, used bookstore (in the back) and groovy coffee shop (in the front). The owner, India Savage, known to everyone as Indy, is cool and hip.
She’s a Rock Chick, gorgeous, with a lot of red hair and a kil er body. She’s absolutely hilarious and one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever met. She inherited the store from her grandmother several years ago and she put in the espresso counter. She has a bunch of characters working there and she had some big drama happen to her and her boyfriend Lee Nightingale a couple of weeks before she hired me. Though, if you paid attention, you’d realize that Indy’s past was littered with big dramas, this latest one was just the biggest.
Smithie’s is a strip joint, better known as a titty bar. I don’t dance; I’m a cocktail waitress. The tips aren’t bad; they’re better for dancers (for obvious reasons). Though they’re good enough to keep Mom in OT and PT
appointments. Smithie is a good guy and takes care of al of his girls, including me (though I kinda drive him nuts).
Surprisingly, he wants me at a pole, dancing. He keeps trying to talk me into it but I just tel him he’s crazy and he laughs at me. Working there is relatively safe (considering) because Smithie invests in excel ent bouncers. Smithie says, “Doesn’t do me no fuckin’ good to have my girls quittin’ every few weeks. It’s like anything in life, you take care of it, it takes care of you.”
At Fortnum’s I work with Duke; a Harley guy, Tex; a crazy guy, Jane; a quiet lady and sometimes Al y; Indy’s best friend. Al y is also a Rock Chick and Indy’s boyfriend, Lee’s sister. They have a long history, Indy, Lee and Al y. I envy them that, they’re al real close, including Duke, Tex and Jane. Indy also has other family and friends who come by al the time. Lee’s a private investigator and al the boys who work for him and his friends come into the store too, including Lee’s best friend Eddie.
*
Eddie is where my life gets interesting, even if it’s only in my dreams.
*
See, the minute I clapped eyes on Eddie Chavez, I fel in love with him. Not that he’d ever notice me if I wasn’t under his nose. In fact, watching him (which I do, a lot), I think he has a thing for Indy.
At least I thought that in the beginning. He doesn’t look at her like that so much anymore.
Anyway, sometimes, I’d catch him looking at her in a way that made my insides feel funny. Sometimes, in the middle of the day (between shifts at Fortnum’s and Smithie’s, one of the only times I can get any decent sleep) while I was trying to catch some z’s while Mom watched soaps, I thought of Eddie looking at me the way he looked at Indy.
Sometimes, trying to sleep, I thought of Eddie doing a lot of different things with me and to me, but that didn’t exactly help me sleep.
*
I kinda screwed things up with Eddie. No, that isn’t true; I really screwed things up with Eddie.
Though not intentional y.
*
See, he’s hot. Not hot . Hot. He’s so flipping handsome it burns your eyes to look at him. He has to be six foot maybe six foot one, tal for a Mexican-American, olive-skinned, with dark hair and even darker eyes. He has a lean body made up of compact, defined muscles and he’s one of those guys who makes whatever he wears look the bomb, instead of one of those guys who looks like he was trying to be the bomb in what he wears.
Eddie’s a cop and from what everyone says, he’s a good one, though not a conventional one. He kinda goes his own way, which isn’t exactly encouraged by the Denver Police Department.
Anyway, when Eddie’s black eyes turn to you, I swear to God, your breath starts burning your lungs, his eyes are so hot.
He’s lush.
Since I’m not lush, there’s no hope and I’m in love with him— I get a little weird around him.
Weird as in, stupid.
*
The first time he spoke directly to me was about a week after I started at Fortnum’s. Eddie was waiting at the end of the counter for his cappuccino. I was re-fil ing the stacks of cups so I had two big columns of cups in my hands. Eddie was talking to Lee (who, by the way, is also hot).