"Honey, are you okay? You look a little flushed."
"I'm fine. Just thinking."
Her mother nodded, smiling knowingly. "You should get on the road soon. It's ten fifteen. If you don't leave in the next five minutes, someone will park you in."
"I'm on it. Thanks, Mom." She grabbed her mother's keys from the hook by the door. Purse over her shoulder, sunglasses on, she hugged her mother and left.
Her jeans were just the right fit. Slung low on her hips, the weren't too tight. She couldn't abide overly snug jeans. Her white peasant blouse was gathered under the bust and decorated with lace and pintucks. The long sleeves could be tied close around her elbows, but she preferred keeping them loose. Her favorite red suede chunky heel boots completed her outfit.
Adjusting the mirrors, she saw the first guest coming down the road. She zipped out of the driveway before the other car could park behind her. She'd been stuck like that once before, and had to be stay for a meeting because the other woman refused to move her car. There was a pecking order to who arrived first, left last and got to park behind the hostess. It was ridiculous, and Blythe couldn't keep track of it, but woe to the woman who broke the rules, or deviated from the norm. She would be shunned.
Blythe took the slow way to Port Orange, via US-1. She couldn't face taking the interstate yet. Yes, the sky was sunny, but she didn't think she could handle going past the places she had seen in her dreams. The weather was lovely, the traffic minimal. She enjoyed driving her mother's Impala. Alec and Jason said, the car had balls. She preferred to say it had legs. She loved the fact that if she touched the accelerator, it responded quickly. The brakes were sure, without grabbing, and it had a roomy interior. In some ways, it was an old lady car, but she liked the luxury of it.
Her mother had a wide variety of CDs in the car. One thing most people didn't know about Charlotte Donovan, she listened to everything from the Beatles to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Rammstein, Pink Floyd and Gary Moore—and everything in between and beyond. At the next red light, Blythe chose a CD at random, grabbing what came to hand without looking at it. The opening chords of Instrumental Illness by the Allman Brothers, filled the car. This CD was a mix of Allman Brothers, Creedance, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dickie Betts, Gov't Mule with Warren Haynes, and Joe Bonamassa. Blythe lost herself in the music as she drove to Panera.
Turning into the parking lot, she spotted Jessamine's car. She had just arrived and had found two parking places next to one another. Blythe pulled into the spot beside her new friend. The two young women hugged when they saw one another.
"You look much better than last time I saw you," Jessamine said with laugh. "Nice wheels!"
"My mom's. I could never afford this car."
"What is it you do?"
"I'm a virtual assistant, and I write novels and short stories, edit and do research."
"Busy lady!"
"Yes, but I love it. I can spend most of my day in my pajamas on the laptop. I don't get out a lot."
"I'm always on the road. I'm a social worker."
"Really? Do you see private clients, or work for a shelter?"
"I do independent therapy, some of it contracted through the state. Coincidentally, I work with people who have suffered the loss of a loved one. Many of my clients are the family members of military men and women lost in the war." She watched Blythe's expression carefully.
"I see. Well, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me. Mom and Dad sent me to counseling after Alec's death."
"I also work with accident survivors, or the families of people who have lost loved ones." Her expression changed subtly.
"You must have lost someone you loved very much," Blythe said as they took their place in line.
"My family has more than the usual number of car related incidents," Jessamine admitted. "We've lost three people in car accidents in the last five years. And my former fiancé is in a coma due to one."
A cold shiver ran up and down Blythe's spine. She tried to cover up what she felt.
"That's why I had to stop when I saw your accident. It brought back all the nightmares I had after his accident. We'd just broken up, my doing entirely. We wanted different things from life. Or I thought we did. It turns out, he was right and I was wrong. But I never got a chance to tell him."
"I'm so sorry. I'm lucky that Alec and I were very close when he passed. But I wish we'd been able to have a baby before I lost him. I'd like to have a part of him with me."
Jessamine nodded. "I know what you mean. We were talking about getting pregnant. Well, he was. I was just starting my career, getting established, so I could set up my own practice. I didn't want to lose that momentum by having a baby. Such a silly argument. I said horrible things, and I can't take any of them back."
"Maybe you can. Have you gone to see him since?"
Jessamine shook her head. It was their turn to place their orders. She insisted upon paying for Blythe's coffee and cinnamon roll. They found a seat in a private corner of the outside tables. Once they were settled, Jessamine picked up the conversation.
"Our breakup was loud, angry and very public. His parents don't want me around. I've tried to talk to them, but they say I have no right to see him. He was my first love. I still care deeply about him, but how can I tell him that?"
©2022 Dellani Oakes
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