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during conversations with customers. Personal relationships however…not her strong suit. Whatever she ended up doing, she was going to be a piranha. I was nervous around her now. I noticed she’d been making bitchy comments here and there so something was definitely bothering her.
    I stood up, opened the door and made my way toward the kitchen.
    “Hey, Lisa. You gotta minute?”
    “Yep. What’s up?” Her bright blue eyes darted at me as she placed a pen in her book as a page marker.
    “I just, I wondered if everything’s okay with you. You just seem a little…” I thought I’d let that hang out there for a second and see if she had anything to add.
    “Pissed?” She returned.
    “Yeah, a little bit.” I said quietly. I really hated confrontation. This was mostly due to the fact I was able to hold it together for only so long until I blew my top.
    “Look, everyone is all lah-lah happy and I get it. It’s wonderful. I’m really happy for you and Evan and Aimes and Gus but dude, what the fuck happened with that guy yesterday, Ink?”
    So this has nothing to do with Lisa and everything to do with me? Great.
    “What was that all about?” She asked, more like demanded. Again, not at all what I was expecting.
    “I really have no idea what you’re talking about, Lisa.”
    “I think you do. You would never let a customer touch you like that. I’ve never seen you even hug a customer. I have a pretty good idea why you’re not big on being touched like that. But then this strange guy comes along, not a regular, not even an acquaintance, and he’s holding your hands and singing to you and you don’t even flinch? You don’t think that’s weird?”
    “Well, I guess I didn’t give it much thought. Maybe it doesn’t bother me like it used to. Why is this bugging you so much?”
    “Because you’re engaged ,” she stressed. “The little thing with that guy was not okay, not for you and if Evan had seen it, I don’t think he would’ve been cool with it either.”
    “Is that why you ratted me out to him?” My voice becoming more terse. “I didn’t hide anything from him, Lisa. I wasn’t sneaking around. I was right there in the bar where everyone could see and, by the way, when it was happening I didn’t really have it in me to stop and say, ‘hey, ya think you not help me while I hyperventilate?’ I’ve wanted to be with Evan for years. I waited to be his and watched him fuck every other girl around me. You think I would screw that up for some guy I don’t know who happened to help me? Help I didn’t ask for? You know me better than that, Lisa. I’m not some helpless little broken bird. I’m not that girl.” I felt my shoulders rising up and down, trying to wrap my head around what felt like an attack from Lisa.
    “Look” she made her voice more level, attempting to diffuse the situation, “calm down, Ink. I just think you need to ask yourself why you reacted the way you did to him, because that guy left this for you.” She handed me an envelope.
    “What is it?” I asked calmly. “I know you read whatever’s in here so what is it?”
    “His name is Cole by the way. He just said if you ever need him, to call him and made sure to add that in case you lost his number, he put another business card in there.”
    Oh, fuck, I forgot about that. The business card and the c-note. That’s why she was suspicious. Deep breath, Ink.
    “Lisa, I know you and Evan are friends, good friends and I assure you I would never do anything that would screw up my future with him. Not ever. I forgot about his card. He left it with his tip and I never gave it a second thought. Is that what’s been bugging you? Really?”
    “Well, kind of. But it’s not important. I’m just trying to look out for you and Evan and Aimes. Maybe I’m just a little jealous, that’s all.” She looked away, over me. I knew there was more to it, something she wasn’t telling me but as usual, I would not be getting anything more