of customers left.
"Yeah, pretty much. Blanche came in this morning... ruined a perfectly good pint of ice cream."
"Oh! I love Blanche! Are you still the devil?"
"No, just a son of a bitch." Cayden chuckled. "I tell you, sometimes I have no patience for her and others I do. Today was barely tolerable."
"Face it hon, they love you. You got that face."
"Well then maybe I should wear a mask." The tall woman said with a scowl.
Jodie frowned at Cayden's bad mood. "What's wrong?"
Cayden sighed and stared at the TV.
"Oh I know! The blind date! Tell me, what was her party trick?"
"She could flex each ass cheek independently of the other."
"Whoa baby!" The brown haired woman whooped then pouted when Cayden didn't even smile. "Okay, talk to me." she said, wedging herself between Cayden and the TV.
"Fine. She was built like Stallone and had tattoos of death."
"So? What's wrong with that? She didn't pull her pants down and piss on the bar did she?"
Blue eyes narrowed.
"Still... was she at least nice?"
"I suppose." The tall woman shrugged, then studied Jodie. "Ohhh, I see. Go for it Jo, you can have her with my blessing. I think you two would get along famously."
"You really think I'd like her?" Jodie asked with interest.
"She has a vagina." Cayden said dryly.
"Hardy har. So, that's what's pissing you off?" Her muscles and tattoos?"
"No, and I'm not really pissed off. I'm... I don't know. Maybe I'm just disgusted."
"With what?"
"Women, dating... everything."
"Oh please, until the next hot woman gives you the eye."
"That's you Jo, not me. I'm really tired of it."
Jodie rolled her eyes and jumped up to sit on the counter. "Hey, what ever happened with that blonde... what was her name... did she ever come back?"
Cayden frowned harder. "Yeah, Brooke. She came back, with "Fred". Forget it, she's straight."
"Oh my god! That's why you're so pissy! You asked her out and she freaked!"
"No! I didn't ask her, but I wanted to. I was really going to do it."
"Then why are you so upset? She didn't shoot you down or anything. Besides, how do you really know she's straight?"
"Her boyfriend simply hates the smell of dog." She said sarcastically.
"Oh." Jodie said sadly. "Well, Cayd, there'll be others. And if you really like this one, remember, we were all straight once? She wiggled her eyebrows.
"Oh no. I will not go there. No way." Cayden protested.
"We'll see." Jodie said more to herself than out loud. Something about this little blonde touched Cayden differently than any others. Jodie had a feeling she'd be hearing if not seeing more of Brooke in the near future.
Grant cleared his plate from the table and brought it to the sink. Since Brooke was in front of him washing her dish, he took the opportunity to wrap his arms around her from behind. He sighed when she squirmed away. "What honey?" He asked.
"I'm not in the mood... please." She said shortly.
Grant pursed his lips. You win some, you lose some . He made his way to the fridge for a beer. "So, I made the doctors appointment for Saturday morning, this way you could meet up with Mom at Lord and Taylor in the afternoon. She hates shopping alone."
Brooke glared at the back of his head. "Um, I don't really want to go shopping."
"How do you know how you'll feel Saturday?"
The blonde frowned. "I just know. I was planning on visiting my mom on Saturday anyway."
"Why? You see her all the time."
"She's my mother, Grant, I should be able to see her whenever I want." She argued.
Grant rolled his eyes. Here we go again...
"Honey, look, I know you can't be bitching because you're tired, I've seen you sleeping lately. So, what's your problem?"
Brooke nearly blushed. Sure she'd been sleeping, but she'd been dreaming too. "Nothing." she snipped.
"You've been crabby ever since this sleep thing started, but now you're just bitchy. I mean, just because I suggested that you go shopping..."
"Suggested? No you didn't suggest anything. I bet you already told her I'd go didn't
Learning to Kill: Stories