Free Southern Belles 4 Blissmas by Amanda Heartley Page A

pedicures for
the upcoming Christmas Party. Mountain View had one every year and
it was a place where the small town could get together, have a
Christmas dinner and dance. The booze was free and the girls could
get all dolled up in their party dresses.
    "Yep, damaged. I mean look at me. I am thirty
years old, married to a man I don't even live with. He's in a
different state, his mom is amazing and he's probably the best
thing that ever happened to me. And I'm in this podunk town getting
ready for a lame ass Christmas party. I could be in Paris or
something getting it on in the Eiffel tower. I tell ya…I'm fucked
up."
    Annie laughed. "You're not fucked up, you're
human. Take it easy on yourself. You can't be everything to
everybody. Have you talked to him?"
    "Yeah, I talk to him every day. He's coming
in this afternoon for the party. But Annie, I would have to sell my
soul to be with him. I mean….he's cool and all but when he's around
Ellie, he's a different person. I think he's trying to hide
something."
    "Okay, you're damaged. He told you there was
nothing there, so you need to give him the benefit of the doubt and
believe that there is nothing there. DUH!"
    Marti sighed, "I know. I just don't know what
to do. I mean we had so much fun and when he was here for
Thanksgiving, it was so cool, but when he's in Memphis, he's just
so….different."
    "Well, he is a working man, gotta keep your
credit cards paid, ya know? Speaking of credit cards, you got your
dress all squared away for tonight?"
    "Yeah, one thing the old man does is keep
those credit cards paid up. I mean he's filthy rich, like a fuckin
gazillionaire. Annie, what to do?" She sighed.
    “I don’t know, hell, paint Christmas
decorations on your toes. That’ll make ya feel better,” Annie
replied, nodding to the gals that were doing their toes. “I really
don’t know Marti, you got me stumped on this one.”
    "Sure," she said, smiling at the manicurist,
it felt good to hang out with Annie, no tension about Tommy or what
they were doing. Just two friends enjoying the little things in
life. Like toes. They had been together for a while now. Marti had
started looking for a place to stay, but Annie and Tommy insisted
she stay at the ranch.
    When the girls' toes were finished and dried,
they got into Annie's Mercedes and drove through town. "Hey, what's
goin' on at Robinsons? Are they remodeling it? I wonder if Mr.
Robinson is around, pull in there."
    Annie turned the car into the parking lot.
Marti lowered her window. "Excuse me? Sir?"
    A tall construction worker walked over to the
car. "Can I help you ladies?"
    "Yeah, what's going on with the store? Where
is Mr. Robinson?" Marti asked.
    "Well ma'am, some company from out of state
bought it and we got the bid to have it remodeled. Redoing the
whole store. It'll be closed till after Christmas. They moved
everything over to Krogers on Main. You're going to have to shop
there for now."
    "Oh my gosh, he sold this place? Poor guy. I
bet that was hard." She paused, looking over him at the store.
Smiling at him she waved, "Thanks a bunch and Merry Christmas!"
    He tipped his hard hat, "My pleasure, ma'am
and Merry Christmas to y'all too!" He walked back towards the
store.
    She looked at Annie, who was maneuvering out
of the lot. "That man has an amazing ass."
    'Marti! Why you lookin' at his ass?"
    "'Cause I can." She laughed. "How sad,
though. I wonder who bought this store… I hope it's not one of
those stupid corporations. I loved this store. Damn it!"
    "Well, girl, things change, times change; I
just hope Mr. Robinson is okay. He's such a nice man. I felt so bad
for him when his wife died, they were a perfect couple. I sure hope
they gave him a lot of money for this little store."
    "Yeah, they were a perfect couple…like you
and Tommy." She sighed.
    Annie chuckled. "We are nowhere near perfect.
We have our days, you just have to learn to pick your battles. Now
let's go get ready for this party. I've got do my hair