Ten After Closing by Jessica Bayliss

Author:Jessica Bayliss
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510732117
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Published: 2018-08-15T16:00:00+00:00

22

WINNY

FOUR HOURS AND FIFTY-THREE MINUTES BEFORE CLOSING

With Scott’s car still idling in her driveway, Winny lugged her painting toward the house, head spinning and stomach churning. With every scrape of canvas on cement, every click of her heels, she chanted a song of guilt: I kissed Scott. I kissed Scott.

Janey was always on her to take matters into her own hands, but even Janey wouldn’t have suggested she kiss another girl’s boyfriend. What the hell had she been thinking? Nothing, that’s what. He’d done something so nice for her, and she repaid him by crossing the line.

That must be her new MO these days.

But under the guilt was something else, a fluttery warmth. Had he felt what she felt? What she’d been feeling all these months since the day they went to the game together?

His gaze burned the back of her neck, and she wanted to look back, to read the expression on his face, and figure out what this all meant. But she tripped again, and now she imagined him laughing at her. There goes Winny with her frumpy bun and her professional suit and the frickin’ huge-ass painting that keeps slipping from her sweaty hands.

Like that girl could compete with a cheerleader. Of course he’d chosen Becky, with her long blonde waves and blue eyes and perfect boobs.

But when they’d kissed . . . The fluttery warmth returned. He must have felt it, too. He had to have.

When Winny reached the top of the steps, the pull to look back won out, but the driveway was empty. He was gone. The fire in her straining neck muscles spread to her face.

She’d waited too long, and now she’d never know. Just like when he asked her out. As far as Scott was concerned, Winny was always too damned late.

Wiping sweat from her brow, she shoved the door open and dragged the canvas inside, where she left it propped up against the coat closet door. No point hiding it now. That cat had shredded the bag to bits. She kicked off her heels and shuffled to the kitchen on throbbing feet. It took more effort than it should have to move her leaden limbs, yet her brain raced, and her nerves jostled together like birds of prey around some choice roadside pickings.

She needed something to help her out of this funk—coffee and a workout or tea and a nap. She could just stand here and stare at the wall, but that would never wipe the memory of her reckless behavior a minute before from her mind or put her in the right mood for Brian’s party tonight.

Okay, tea for sure and probably the nap.

She paused on the way to the stove and the kettle, spotting a sheet of paper lying on the gray granite counter top. When she wasn’t experiencing the most intense adrenaline crash ever, that was the first place she checked when she got home. How many pieces of bad news had she received via notes deposited there

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