“I look forward to seeing you at the fair. Thanks for helping out. We appreciate it,” I took my final jab. She huffed, rolled her eyes again, and turned on her heels.
“You need to be nice, Ms. Brimm,” Azmir teased when Lady Spin was out of earshot.
“I am so sick of your people picking on me. What is it? I mean—Spin, I get. But Syn I don’t.”
Azmir hissed, “Syn is a fucking nut case. I was ready to choke her little ass over that table in Vegas. I can only imagine what Kid did when he dealt with her. She is getting bolder with her crassness and her drinking contributes to it all.”
“Yeah, Kim mentioned her drinking,” I murmured contemplatively, suddenly feeling sorry for Syn. “I didn’t know it was that bad.” I still didn’t get why I was a target, but decided to stick with my original plan of simply tolerating her ghetto antics. It’s not like I was unfamiliar with her kind.
“Don’t pay her any mind. She’s not worth your time.” His words were comforting even if they weren’t necessary for Syn. She really was insignificant in my book.
“I need to go relieve myself,” I said to excuse myself.
“I’ll go with you.” Azmir sat up in his seat.
“No, Mr. Jacobs, I’ll be fine. I’ve been drinking all evening and will probably have to go several times before we leave. You can’t come with me every time.” Disappointment settled on his face. “Unless…you wanna explore your exhibitionist side.” I raised my eyebrows.
A bashful smile formed on his perfectly sculpted lips. I watched as he made the decision to stay put. He sat back on the sofa.
When I came out of the stall, I headed to the sinks and washed my hands. I looked up in the mirror to check my makeup and noticed that the red on my lips had dulled before I came upon gaping eyes. They belonged to Tara. What the? She was the last person I was expecting to run into. She looked like a deer caught in headlights.
I casually pulled out my lipstick to freshen up my lips, the way that Azmir preferred. Tara was eventually able to move up to the sink and wash her hands. I caught her giving me a once over on her way. She appeared saddened by my presence. The texts she sent Azmir came to mind and when I matched it against her current disposition, my heart softened to her. No matter my impression of her, I couldn’t help but pity her situation. Yeah, she did her dirt and lost Azmir in the process, but she was now a single parent and oddly that was something I could sympathize with.
“Hello, Tara.”
Her eyes jumped in surprise at my civility. She took a second or two to plan her response.
With furrowed brows, she tentatively asked, “Rayna, right?”
Why do these chicks think that I would believe for one second that they didn’t know my name? Heck, they likely knew my occupation!
“Yes, Rayna. And I think you knew that.” I tried to quiet my sigh. “Listen, we can at least be cordial. There’s no need to be otherwise. Azmir told me you had the baby. Congratulations.” I gave her a warm smile in an attempt to lower her guards.
It didn’t have the immediate warming effects that I was going for, but she did manage, “Thank you.” It was a little stiff, but I applauded her efforts.
“You look really good,” I tried to end our awkward exchange on a good note. It was sincere. She wore a mini black fitted long-sleeved dress. Boa-like feathers ran from the neck and down both sleeves. She accessorized with a gold plated belt with a chain that hung from the side and the same Daffodile Red Bottom pumps that I had on.
After looking me up and down she said, “Great minds.”
I knew that would be the extent of her compliments and really didn’t have much more to say, so I gave her a final gracious nod and walked out.