Page 7 of Second Chances

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying any attention. Trying to remember everyone’s orders.” The other woman raised her voice above the music and tucked a strand of grey-streaked dark hair behind her ear.

“No, that was absolutely my fault,” Charlotte declared. “You at least have one up on me. I didn’t take any orders, so now I have to guess what my daughter and my friend want!”

“Well, you’re in luck, since your choices are beer, light beer, or beer. My problem is, I’m not sure how I’m going to carry all of mine back to my group. I have two brothers with me, my sister-in-law, and her best friend, who,” the woman conspiratorially confided, “I don’t really care for. Is this TMI?”

Charlotte chuckled. “Not at all. I love gossip, even when I know nothing about anyone involved.”

Fanning herself with her hand, the woman lowered her voice. “Well, I really need to get over my grudge against her. The thing is, she broke my baby brother’s heart years ago, and if you knew him, you’d understand the tragedy.” Before Charlotte could comment, the woman stuck her hand out. “I’m Beatrice, by the way, but you can call me Trixie. All my friends do. We have time to get to know each other. From the looks of this line, we’ll be here for a while.”

“I hope not! We have tickets to the show,” Charlotte informed her. “Nice to meet you, Trixie. I’m Charlotte, but my best friend has always called me Lottie, so I extend that honor to you.”

“Wow, and we only just met. I’m honored,” she said with a small bow. “We’ll be at the concert, too. My older brother got one of those VIP tables this year, so we get to enjoy the show in style. I’m so excited. So, Lottie, where are you from?”

“Originally Sioux City, but I moved to Beverley after my divorce a couple of months ago. Do you know it?”

“Know it? Absolutely love Beverley! My younger brother lives there.” Eyes gleaming, Trixie started, “You know what? I think you would-” but her ringing cell phone cut her off. “Oh, this is my husband. Hello?” Turning her head to give some privacy, a movement across the crowded beer garden caught her eye. Him. Again.

Heart rate rising as the man from the auto shop tilted his head back, laughing at whatever the man next to him said, she fought dizziness as his throat muscles constricted. Drawn to him by an electrical pull, she wondered if she should be bold, just walk over and say “hi”. Maybe pretend to bump into him? Even more outrageously, introduce herself by telling him, “I’ve been looking for you all over town”?

Beside her, Trixie said, “Sorry about that. I guess my party is ready to go to the grandstand. I’ve got to dash, but I’ll look for you at the show, okay?”

As her new friend walked away, Charlotte’s eyes scanned the area, searching for the man, but he was gone. Again. “Mom,” Isobel said, surprising her at her shoulder, “maybe we should just head over to the show and get our drinks there? Aunt Amy said she wants to get a good spot by the stage. Something about bringing a spare bra to toss up to poor Mr. Fogerty.”

“Precisely the reason I got us general admission tickets,” Amy laughed. “We can get close to the stage, even if it requires us to stand for the concert.”

Weaving their way through the crowd, Charlotte, Isobel, and Amy each grabbed a paper boat filled with peanuts in the shell from the table near the exit before they left. “Man, it was crowded in there. I guess everyone wanted to pregame before the show,” Amy stated. “Good thing it’s right next door.”

Before entering the grandstand, Charlotte and Amy ducked into the restroom and were washing their hands when someone said, “Hi, Lottie, fancy meeting you here.” In the mirror’s reflection, Charlotte recognized her new friend standing behind her.

“What? How is someone aside from me calling you Lottie?” Amy joked.

“Trixie! Meet my friend Amy, who’s visiting me from Iowa. I need to add, before she does, that she is not just my best friend, but also my oldest friend.”

“Nice to meet you, Amy. I’m glad I ran into you again, Lottie. Let me give you my cell number, and we can have lunch or something the next time I’m in Beverley. Or do you know where Clover Lake is?” Charlotte and Amy chuckled in unison. “What?”

“I don’t, but my daughter got hit on in the beer garden by someone from Clover Lake, said he owns a grocery store?”

Trixie laughed. “Oh, no, Boyd Timmons? First of all, his dad is the owner of the store, not Boyd. And, second, tell her to steer clear of him! That guy has been nothing but trouble since the day he was born. He’s just like his father. Preys on women who should be too smart for his tricks.”

They were trading information when two women walked up. “Oh, hey, Nora and DD, meet Lottie and Amy. Lottie is a recent transplant to, believe it or not, Beverley. Lottie, Nora is married to my older brother,” Charlotte smiled warmly at Nora, who was a couple of inches taller than herself, with gleaming chestnut-colored hair and gorgeous light gray eyes. “And this is DD, Nora’s best friend.” Taller than average for a woman, DD was striking, with haunting brown eyes and light brown hair streaked with golden highlights. “We all grew up together in Clover Lake.”

“My name is Diadema, actually,” DD stiffly corrected Trixie.

“Pleasure to meet you both,” Charlotte said, taken aback by the annoyed look on Diadema’s face.

“Nice to meet you.” Nora shook her hand before asking Trixie, “Are you ready? George has food being delivered to our table.”

“But we just ate all that chislic,” Trixie protested.

“Try telling him that. You know your brothers are bottomless pits.” Nora looked at Amy and Charlotte. “Do you two have seats tonight?”

Amy replied, “No, we’re standing.” She winked, “I plan to be close enough to the stage to get a convincing selfie with Mr. Fogerty.” Everyone except Diadema laughed.

Walking out in one big group, Amy and Charlotte stopped where Isobel stood waiting for them. “This is my daughter, Isobel.” The women greeted Isobel warmly, even Diadema, to her amazement.

“Hi,” Isobel responded, “nice to meet all of you.”

Charlotte addressed the other women, “Well, have fun tonight. Maybe we’ll see you during the show, but I have your number, Trixie, and I’ll be in touch.”