Defiant Hearts by Lee Lynch

Author:Lee Lynch [Lynch, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2022-09-01T21:29:32+00:00

Friday

The sky seemed to glow over the city, as if storing great quantities of white snowflakes for a special occasion. Tons of snow insulating the world, thought Sally, as she decided it was warm enough to walk to work.

She reached the bar later than usual. Dee was in the doorway, huddled as if she’d drawn the bitter cold of previous days inside herself. Sally unlocked the door.

“It’s not what you think,” Dee said. “I didn’t quit.” She hugged herself and shivered uncontrollably as Sally turned the heat on and pushed a shot glass toward her. “Why does everything go wrong as soon as your period starts?” She downed the shot. “Yuck. What was that?”

Amused, Sally informed her, “Blackberry brandy.”

“I don’t drink that shit.”

“It’ll warm the cockles of your heart.”

Dee raised a gloved hand to the general vicinity of her heart and seemed to test the area for heat. “If you don’t gag on the taste,” she conceded, “I guess it does the trick.” She’d stopped shivering. “I never was able to sleep till Willa was home safe. With her not there, I barely sleep at all. And the cramps this morning.”

Sally poured another shot.

“No,” said Dee.

“Shut up and drink it.”

Dee eyed the glass with suspicion but drank the brandy. “This stuff works on cramps?”

“Absolutely.”

Sally stayed busy behind the bar.

After a while, Dee took off her jacket. “So Benny, the boss, was riding me today. I don’t know, maybe he had a clue I’m having a hard time—maybe his wife gave him a hard time last night. But he’s pushing and pushing and I’m trying and trying till something in me goes snap. I start yelling at him. Telling him what sons of bitches they’ve been to me. Telling him what a creep I think he is for the way he treats me. And on and on. After a while I notice it’s very quiet in there. I notice the guys are working real slow, completely cowed. I didn’t know it bothered you, Benny finally says. Didn’t know? I yell back. Aren’t women human, too? Go cool off, Benny says. Take a walk. I won’t dock you. We’ll talk after you come back. So here I am.”

Sally nodded in understanding as she polished a glass.

“Maybe I’ll be canned. Maybe they’ll keep me on till the end of the season. They sure won’t call me after this.”

“I don’t know,” Sally said. “Sometimes the truth is the best magic there is.”

Dee pursed her mouth sideways, as if puzzled.

Sally picked up her grandmother’s world and shook it. “You shake people up,” she said, “and they can see more clearly.”

“What is Benny going to see all of a sudden?” Dee asked. “That I’m worth two of some of those guys? I only want to make a home with Willa she doesn’t have to be afraid of losing. Why won’t they give me a chance?”

“You have the capital. Why don’t you give yourself a chance with the store?”

“Because if I did, Willa would never come back. Listen, I made a choice, Sal.

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