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so hard I would pee. I smiled as I watched them, wondering if my own mother felt the warmth I was feeling when she would hear me giggle as a child. I knew the girls would be safe and have fun while I was gone though I wasn’t so sure how I would fare. I took my sister’s car, so Chris had the car seats, just in case there was an emergency or suddenly something fun to do in town. I was sure they would play tickle bug until bedtime.
     
     

Chapter Three
    “Nikki Jackson Ford in a Mercedes Benz! Get your tight ass in here, and do it quick! Do you want wine, beer, or a hurricane? Howya doin’, doll? I knew ‘dat dern boy’d get married some day. I just knew he‘d breaka your heart. You doin’ okay? Lemme make ya a hurricane, I make ‘em strong, honey. Strong enough to give any cheatin’ heart a makeover.” Liza’s voice filled the humid air around me, and I instantly felt a headache coming on. Each year since marrying, I got a different car attached to the end of my name, but it was seldom my actual last name, Ford. Liza was very southern and very smart, but with her, for some reason, the smart often got lost in the southern. The southern was a bit much; I could tell she had been drinking for a while now. Without the help of rum, she could lose her drunken southern drawl. With the help of rum, it always seemed to get a little worse. But it did provide some good comic relief.
    “Just a beer, thanks, Liza,” I said after putting my sister’s car keys in my coat pocket and finding a chair to drape the coat over. “Will didn’t cheat on me, Liza. We broke up years ago. I am married with two wonderful children now. Will and I have remained good friends, and I’m happy to see him happy.” Smiling and saying it out loud, I really did believe it. Or I thought I did, anyway.
    I’m not sure what happened to the beer I asked for, but next thing I knew I was drinking a bright red drink resembling what I remembered of hurricanes but with tons of rum and an extra shot of vodka. Within minutes, Liza was explaining her cheatin’ heart comment, but instead of a cheatin’ heart makeover, she now had mascara smeared across her cheeks. She told me all about the boy who broke her heart after a year of dating and promises of marriage. I could tell all the talk of Will’s wedding was upsetting for her. I had no idea she was going through so much pain. I knew they broke up, but I hadn’t expected tears and heart wrenching stories of dreams being ripped from her soul.
    After dumping the rest of my drink down the sink drain and grabbing a Corona from the fridge, I realized I was in for a night of consoling and listening, and I needed to stay sober to get through it all. This was not a girls’ night for us to laugh, have a drink, catch up, and talk of old times. This was a vent about men night. I didn’t have anything horrible to say about men. I had a wonderful husband who was sitting in the house where I had grown up, taking care of our children, and listening to my father talk about politics while I sat here listening to broken dreams. All the while my ex-boyfriend from many years ago was down the street getting ready to wed a woman I’d never even met. Not that it really mattered much, but my secrets included wondering who she was, what she looked like, and if she was anything like me.
    “Dreams. Shattered dreams, I tell ya. He took my dreams away from me there. In my heart I knew he was gunna break it. I knew it in my dern heart. Knew I shouldn’t a loved ‘im like I did. Shouldn’t a let him think I was ready for a house. Kids. Marriage. Nik, how are the girls? They doin’ good? We were gunna have kids a our own. Did I tell ya that? Yep, he was gunna marry me. I should a gotten knocked up. Then where’d he be? Tell me that, Nik…just where would that dern bastard be then, huh, if I were knocked up?” Liza wasn’t stopping. I guessed she didn’t really want to know about my children, even though she had asked.