“I’ve never been here,” I said with a shrug.
“No shit.” The skintight black dress poured over her impressive Morelli curves and ended at the very tops of her legs. She was sex walking, and I felt stupid in my jeans. In my body.
She walked past me to the jukebox in the corner, and I swivelled on my stool to watch her. It felt dangerous to take my eyes off her.
She held out her hand towards me.
“Quarter?” she said, still looking at the jukebox.
“I... ah... I don’t have any change.”
“Jacob?” Eden said, and the man standing at the door put a hand in his pocket and pulled out some change. He walked across the room and put a quarter in her palm. “You like Dolly?” she asked.
I glanced at dead-inside Jacob and then looked for Abe who wasn’t behind the bar.
“Are you talking to me?”
“Oh my god, honey, yes. I am talking to you. And now you don’t get a vote.”
Eden punched the buttons with a lot of enthusiasm, and within minutesJolenewas coming through the speakers.
“You know, if I wrote music,” Eden said turning away from the jukebox. “I would write a song called Dolly entirely from Jolene’s point of view and it would be like, why do you want such a shit guy? If I can take him, just because I can, don’t you think it’s worth looking for some other dude?”
Eden sat on the chair next to me. Her knee hitting mine. Her fur slipping over my leg.
“I don’t honestly understand why no one has done that yet,” she said, looking at me with her eyebrows up.
“Me neither,” I said, having given this question zero thought.
“You must be Poppy,” she said, filling each glass with Grey Goose. She picked hers up and held it out for a cheers. But I didn’t pick mine up. This was all moving a little too fast. She tapped the edge of her glass against mine before draining hers. “You don’t look at all like those pictures of you in the news.”
“No?” I asked, oddly curious if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
“You look like a human. In the news you looked like a paper doll.”
I laughed.
“Did I say something funny?”
“I was a paper doll. Exactly a paper doll.”
“What can I say? I’ve got a way with words. You going to drink with me, or what?” She picked up my glass and all but put it in my hands. “Cheers Big Ears,” she said and touched her glass to mine and shot down another glass full of vodka. I took a sip and attempted to set down my glass, but she put her fingers against the bottom of it. Tipping the glass so I had to drink or it would spill all over.
“Good girl,” she said as I gasped and wiped my face.
“In any case,” she refilled our glasses. “I’m sorry for your loss. I always thought the senator seemed like a good guy.”
“He wasn’t,” I said without thinking. The vodka and her boldness making a mess of me. Immediately I regretted giving her that information.
“No?” She smiled at me. Like a snake. “In what way?”
“In every way,” I said.
“Isn’t that interesting? Though, probably not so much for you. How long were you married?”
“Two years. But we’re not here to talk—”
“You had two miscarriages? Sorry. That’s not easy.”