Page 67 of Clash

If she was offended by swearing, she didn’t show it. She just smiled and kept rocking in her chair.

“Because I’ve changed my mind,” she informed me, her smile widening.

“How so?”

She shrugged, taking a small sip from her own mug. There was wisdom in those old frail eyes, and a lot of questions too, questions I wasn’t sure I could answer, seeing as I had no idea why she wanted me here.

“I think you’re good for her after all.”

That was shocking. “I am?”

She nodded. “Every day since you walked back into her life, you’ve been outside my door. Even when you’re busy, you always show up to watch over them. A man wouldn’t do that unless real feelings were involved.”

“I just met the girl.”

She laughed. “I knew my dearest Roger three days before I said I do. Three days. You wanna know why I said yes so quickly?”

“You’re a glutton for punishment?”

Her lips quirked up ever so slightly. “No, you silly man. I said I do because he had a cock that could rival a walrus wang.”

Coffee sputtered out of my mouth, coating her floor and couch cushions. “Shit, I’m sorry.” Immediately, I went into clean-up mode, too dumbfounded to process what she just said.

Hysterically, she got up from her chair, laughing like a loon until she threw a cold rag at me. “It’s just furniture,” she said nonchalantly. “No use fussing over it when I’ll probably be dead in a few years, anyway.”

Not believing her, I kept dabbing at the stained couch, stealing awkward glances the old woman’s way as she settled back in her chair.

“As I was saying. Roger had a god-like dick. That’s why I said yes to the dress. But it was the way he made me feel inside—protected and loved despite his ornery undertones, that kept memarried to him all those years after. I see a lot of you in him, Clash. You love Gina. You may not be able to admit it because you’re not used to that kind of emotion. But you do love her.”

“Love is a harsh word, lady.”

She smirked. “It’s the hardest word in the English language to say, but once you actually feel it, it seems so effortless, don’t you think?”

“What are you? Aristotle or something?”

She waved me off. “Just an old woman who knows what she’s talking about. Anyway, now that I know your feelings are real, I find myself silently rooting for you, Clash. So, I set you up with a fifty-yard pass.”

“Excuse me?”

“A way back into her heart.”

Confusion rotted my brain. It was like this old woman liked to speak in cryptic codes, ones my tired brain couldn’t quite comprehend in that moment.

Scoffing, I started to laugh, enjoying the idea that she actually thought I needed her help in order to woo Gina. “Lady, women fall at my feet. I don’t need a seventy-year-old wing woman to help me.”

Bessie shook her head, chuckling like I said the funniest thing in the world. “The fact that you actually believe that, Clash, says you’re even stupider than you look. Gina fucking loathes your existence. She almost hates you as much as she hates her ex-husband. That’s saying something. It means you fucked up big time.”

Little did she know. I was about to fix that shit.

“Yeah, well, I can fix that. I just need her to sit down with me for five minutes so I can prove it to her.”

Bessie nodded. “You got her money back, didn’t you?”

A little shocked, I nodded my head.Was this woman a mind reader?

“That’s good. It’s the least you can do after everything you did to fuck up her life. But I assure you, money’s not enough.”

This woman was really getting on my nerves. “No, but it damn sure can help.”