The Best of Us (9 page)

The jingle of the bell over the front door had Carly turning her head to see who had come in. Mike walked in with a couple of brown paper bags from the diner down the street.

“
Hey Carly, I’ve got the burgers.” Mike said.

“
Great, I’m starving.” Carly and Mike went behind the counter to have lunch.

The bell over the door chimed again and they both looked up. Carly groaned, Glynna.

“
Carly? Oh hi Mike.” Before Mike could respond, Glynna zeroed in on Carly, “Carly, I need to speak with you.”

“
I’m having lunch right now.” This was the first time Carly had seen Glynna since that fateful night so many years ago…my how time could change a person. Glynna had been a cheerleader in high school, and had the, “I’m better than you” attitude that made Carly dislike her from the beginning…well, that and she had dated Daniel. But the last eight years hadn’t been kind. She was now bell shaped. She had filled out in her face, but still looked the same. She wore her hair in a short, sleek style, but after that, it went downhill. She had, what some would call, thunder thighs. When Glynna set her purse on the counter, she turned slightly, giving Jenna a side view…wow, you could balance a plate on her butt! She seemed shorter than she had been in high school, but then, added weight did that to some people.

Glynna was on a mission, Carly could only wonder what it could be. “It doesn’t matter; you can eat while I talk.” Glynna said.

Carly did her best not to roll her eyes, but Mike didn’t have any problem with it. Carly hid a smile and envied him for his freedom of expression. “Can it wait?”

“
Go ahead and eat, I’ll talk.”

“
Of course you will.” Carly muttered loud enough for Mike to hear. He couldn’t help but let out a bark of laughter that he almost successfully hid behind a choking cough.

“
I know you can’t run the store and do the little shopping trips that’ll have to be done, so I was thinking,” Glynna paused and Carly could only imagine what was about to come out of her mouth. “I should run the store while you do your little errands.”

Carly could only sit there and stare. Mike actually looked as shocked as Carly felt; his jaw had literally fallen open a little. “Is she serious?” Carly thought.

“
I know that you don’t like running the store and I, of course, would be fabulous at it. So, what do you think? When do you want me to start?”

Carly just stared at her for the length of several heartbeats. Glynna wasn’t what you would call friendly with any female and when she got something in her mind, she was like the barracuda Daniel had described her as.

“
I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet Glynna. I appreciate the offer, but for right now, I’m doing fine.”

“
Come now, you know this store was Jenna’s doing. She’s the one that had the business sense to run it; you just came into it by luck.”

Okay, she was going too far. Luck? Jenna’s death was luck? Fuming, Carly started to stand up but was stopped when Mike laid his hand on her arm. Carly settled back down, “Actually Glynna, I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it, but I’m going to give it a try. I know I don’t have the business sense Jenna did, but I’ve got to give it a try.” Carly spoke to her like she was speaking to a child, but it didn’t seem to faze her one bit.

“
Oh, I know you
think
you can handle it, all I’m saying is that you would be free to do the things Jenna had to do to keep the store running.”

“
I think Carly is doing fine Glynna. Plus she has me and Daniel to help her.”

As soon as he said it, Carly and Mike knew it was a mistake. Glynna’s eyes narrowed as her real goal became obvious.

“
Yes, well that brings me to another point. Daniel needs to find a good woman and I believe that I’m that woman. As often as he is in here, he won’t be able to avoid me. I know he’s not seeing anyone and that he needs a woman to help take care of him and I am the best woman for the job.”

Carly and Mike looked at each other and then turned back to look at Glynna. “Is she serious?” Carly thought incredulously.

“
I’m not so sure he isn’t seeing anyone.” Mike tried to cover for his friend.

“
Oh I know he’s not.”

“
How do you know that?” Carly hated that she couldn’t help but ask.

“
Why, because he took you to the fireman’s ball.” Glynna acted as though that explained everything.

“
Well, I, uh…” Carly wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She turned to look at Mike.

“
Who did you take to the ball?” Mike asked.

“
Silly, I didn’t go. I had a nasty allergy attack and was in no condition to attend.”

She wasn’t there? Carly was bewildered. If she wasn’t there, what was with Daniel all night? He had been acting weird but she had just chalked it up to the nerves about his speech and that fact that Glynna had been there. But she hadn’t been there at all.

“
I know the two of you went together, my friend Bernice filled me in on everything.” Glynna said breaking into Carly’s thoughts. “She mentioned the dress you were wearing,” Glynna said with obvious distaste, “She told me about how tight it was and how you showed off so much skin.”

So much skin? Her back and leg? What? Carly felt like she had just fallen down the rabbit hole.

“
Oh yeah? I wish I could have been there. Sounds like I missed a lot.” Mike said looking at Carly.

“
Well anyway, if Daniel had been dating someone, he wouldn’t have needed to take Carly. Everyone knows that he would never date you and so it only stands to reason that he’s single.”

“
Why does everyone know that he would never date me?” Carly knew she should just ignore her, but she just couldn’t stop herself from asking. It was like a toothache you just couldn’t help but to poke at.

Glynna gave an unfeminine snort, “Daniel needs a real woman that knows how to treat a man. He needs someone mature and you’re like a kid sister to him. He has known you for years and has never shown any interest so why would he start now?”

Carly and Mike were both left speechless, this woman had nerve. Carly had the ungracious thought that Glynna was definitely more woman than she was…a LOT more! She started to feel bad about the thought, but then Glynna spoke again and Carly changed her mind.

“
Anyway, think about it. Once you realize that you need me here in the store, give me a call.” Glynna turned and left the store without another word. Mike and Carly sat there like bumps on a log and watched her leave.

“
UN-
believable,” Carly finally managed. The woman acted as if she were still the cute teenager, wearing the cheerleading skirt. Carly’s temper flared. “Showing skin? He needs a real woman? More mature?” She turned to face Mike who still looked stupefied. “It isn’t as if I still play with Barbie’s!’ Carly said outraged. “I am a real woman! The nerve of her!”

Carly turned to look at Mike again, and after a moment, they both busted out laughing. The two of them sitting side by side laughing is what Daniel saw when he walked in the store.

“
I didn’t get much of a chance to find anything out. There were some interesting conversations going on though. Apparently the woman that is running the store doesn’t own it. At least she didn’t claim it when I mentioned the new owners. Also, a woman came in about helping out, so it sounds like right now it is just the woman running it. We just need to watch for her to leave so we can get in.”

“
I just don’t think that’s a good idea. We’ve already done more then we should have. We shouldn’t have pushed Jenna like we did. Things weren’t supposed to turn out this way.”

“
Quit whining. We’ve come too far to stop now. We need to watch to see when she leaves. We need to get inside the apartment and search it.”

He didn’t like it, but he knew he wasn’t going to win.

Carly looked up as Daniel walked in, he didn’t look happy.

“
Hey Danny boy,” Mike said still laughing.

“
Hi,” Daniel didn’t look away from Carly. “Can you spare a couple of minutes?”

“
I’m not real busy right now,” Carly turned to look at Mike, “Can you cover the store for a bit?”

“
Sure, not a problem.”

Daniel took Carly’s hand and led her to the door to Jenna’s apartment. He pulled the key out of his pocket and opened the door. He moved to the side to allow Carly to go ahead of him. While he watched her cute butt and worried about their up coming conversation, she was anxiously waiting to see if he would kiss her again.

“
Why don’t you have a seat?” Daniel indicated the couch in Jenna’s living room. Carly sat down and waited.

“
The other night,” Daniel had to stop and clear his throat, “The other night things got out of hand.” Uh oh, this was not starting out as she had hoped. Her smile faltered a bit as he continued. “I don’t know what happened and I have no excuses, I’m sorry.”

No, no, no. This isn’t what he was supposed to be saying.

“
I should never have kissed you like that. I had just started out apologizing and the next thing I knew, I was kissing you.”

“
Did you know Glynna wasn’t at the ball?”

Daniel looked puzzled at the question, “What? I never really thought about it.” He seemed confused.

“
What were you thinking about?”

Daniel didn’t know where she was going with this, neither did she. All she knew was he was ripping her heart out after giving her such joy and hope. She couldn’t understand why he had acted the way he did the other night if Glynna wasn’t there. Now with him dancing on her heart, she didn’t know which way was up.

“
Carly, I’m trying to say I’m sorry. You’re like a sister to me and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“
You know what Daniel; if you tell me I’m like a sister to you one more time…” Carly didn’t know what she would do. “I’ll punch you in the nose.” She finished with a snarl.

“
Carly, it isn’t a good idea.”

“
What isn’t?”

“
Us.”

Carly sat there staring at him, “I will not cry, I will not cry.” Carly repeated over and over to herself.

“
Well, gee, thanks for clearing that up for me. Now if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go back downstairs and relieve Mike.”

“
Carly wait.” But Carly couldn’t stand there looking at him while her heart shattered.

That day Carly accepted Mike’s offer for dinner, it was time she moved on.

Over the next couple of days Mike and Daniel took turns at the store. Mike stayed near Carly making conversation and Carly did her best to flirt and become interested in him. But all she could do was think about Daniel.

When Daniel was there with her they hardly spoke and when they did, it was strained. Glynna seemed to know when Daniel was there and came in quite often, giving Carly a needed break from the strain of having Daniel there with her. Carly never thought she’d be happy to have Glynna around.

“
I told Carly she should hire me and let me run the store for her. I know Jenna was the real sales woman here.” Apparently Glynna never gave up.

“
Carly does a great job with the store.”

“
Oh, I’m sure she gets by, but without Jenna…” Glynna let Daniel take that how ever he wanted.

“
Carly knows what she’s doing Glynna, lay off.” Daniel growled.

Carly doubted that either one of them knew that she was within ear shot, so she stayed where she was and just listened.

“
Don’t go getting all mad Daniel, I don’t mean anything negative. It’s just that she is so young and has a lot to learn about business and about life.”

“
What are you getting at Glynna?”

“
Come on Daniel, you need a real woman and we both know Carly isn’t for you.”

“
Who said anything about me and Carly?” Too late Daniel realized his mistake. He should have gone along with the idea of him and Carly as an item. Maybe it would help get Glynna off his back.

Glynna smiled and leaned forward on the counter showing ample cleavage, “That’s what I told her a few days ago. I told her that you needed a mature woman that knows how to treat a man. But I see she has already accepted that.”

“
What are you talking about?”

“
Well, she and Mike have been out a couple nights this week already. I’ve seen him following her home…”