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“I’m not,” I reminded her. “He’s been my best friend all my life. There’s never been a point where I saw him as anything else. Besides, I met a guy in the grocery store.”
“I bet he was a real winner.” Her tone was so monotone all the time that I had a hard time telling when she was actually excited about anything. The problem with Lee was that she was in a perpetual state of mourning. About what, I was still unsure.
“He was really hot,” I told her as I unloaded the groceries. “Like...one of those guys that’s really a man’s man. Totally hot and knows it, but doesn’t use it as a weapon.”
“He sounds great.”
“Anyway, he didn’t ask for my number, so I doubt I’ll hear from him again.”
“Like you would anyway.” She grabbed the asparagus from my bag and sniffed it. “Men are all the same. They sleep with you and then leave you, making you feel worthless and sad for years to come. He would have only broken your heart.”
“Not every guy is like that,” I pointed out. “Some of them are really great.”
“Name one man that hasn’t made you want to rip out your own heart and eat it just so you could leave this lifeless existence behind.”
“Um… I can gladly say none of them have.”
“Then you’re lucky.” She tossed the asparagus down and slumped in a chair, chugging the cold coffee. “I guess you want me to find someplace else to stay tonight.”
“That’s not necessary. Andrew isn’t staying. He’ll probably go to his mom’s house.”
“I won’t be around anyway. I’m working at the bar tonight.”
That perked me up. Lee hadn’t left the house in over two weeks. She got like this every now and again. The only way I knew she still existed was that she left her room to apply new black makeup to her eyes. Occasionally, she would ask me to help her replace one of herthirty body piercings. It wasn’t something I liked to do, mostly because I was squeamish and piercing something through skin seemed unnatural. She knew I hated it, but I was pretty sure she got some morbid thrill out of seeing me squirm.
“That’s great!” I said a little too cheerfully. When she stood with a weary sigh, it was clear that nothing was going to break that depressing exterior.
“I need to change.”
“Oh, are you going to wear something…colorful?” I asked hopefully.
“No.”
That was the only answer I got as she walked away. Lee always dressed in black no matter what the occasion was. Her boots and socks were black. Her cargo pants were black, as were all her shirts. Hell, even her hair was black. However, she did wear red lipstick, which I was still trying to understand.
But none of that mattered right now. I had a meal to prepare and hardly any time to do it. I laid out all the ingredients on the counter, then started cleaning potatoes for dinner. I was just about to wrap them in foil when the doorbell rang.
“Shoot!” I muttered, dropping the potato. I wiped my hands on a dishtowel and rushed to the door, praying it wasn’t Andrew already. I hadn’t even had time to clean up yet, and I smelled like a three-day-old sock.
Thankfully, it was only Edith, the woman I rented the house from, and my surrogate mother. Although, she would never allow me to call her anything but Edith. She didn’t want to be thought of as old in any way. “Edith, hey!”
The older woman smiled at me, leaning in to give me air kisses. “How are you, Laura?”
“Uh…great.”
She stepped back, holding my hands out as she examined me. “Hmmm, you’re never going to find a man dressed in sweats.”
“I’m at home. I’m not looking for a man.”
“What if there was an emergency?” she asked. “Did you ever think of what you would look like if you had to be hauled out of here by afireman? Lingerie, Laura. Always wear lingerie around the house. It’s perfect for any occasion.”
“Except comfort,” I muttered under my breath.
Even though she was sixty, she moved like she was thirty. With flaming red hair piled on top of her head and a dress that was way too tight for any sixty-year-old woman to wear, she shoved her way inside in her high-heeled shoes. After years of knowing her, I still couldn’t believe the woman walked around in those all day.
“Don’t mind me. I just came by for the rent.”
“Right, it’s on the fridge,” I said, hustling into the other room. I snagged it off the fridge and handed it over to her. “There you go.”