Miss Lola.

Chapter 15.

Avis leaned against the counter and cradled her belly as if she were in pain and I instinctively knew that something dreadful had happened.

"Ronald asked for a divorce." She said.

"Say what? When did you talk to him?"

"He called and told me this morning."

Poor Avis looked like she was about to fall apart and so I slid a chair out from the table and patted the seat.

"Come, sit down and tell me all about it."

Avis wobbled a little as she moved around the table to sadly plop her bottom onto the chair.

"Apparently, Ronald's been seeing someone else and according to him they're in love and he had the nerve to

tell me, his wife of almost thirty years, and the mother of his children that he's tired of lying to her about our marriage."

"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry."

"Thanks Lola, but the really messed up part is that he's bought them a house and they're planning to move into it together." Avis said.

"That rat bastard...wait a minute. Where did he find enough money to buy a whole house?" I asked.

"Well, he went behind my back and applied for a loan at First National several months ago." Avis said, angrily swiping at her eyes and blowing her nose on the corner of the shawl.

Grimacing, I jumped up and handed her some tissue.

"Hell, he's never offered to buy me anything, not even a cheap pair of bedroom shoes from Wal-mart and now he's gone off and bought his 'hoe an entire house."

So that explains what Ronald was doing at First National on that day when Merlin had seen him.

I felt like strangling Ronald with his own belt.

"What am I gonna do now?" Avis beseeched me as though I had all of the answers.

"Get yourself a good divorce lawyer." I said.

"Divorce lawyers are expensive." Avis whined. "And I don't have that kind of money just lying around."

"Well, we're gonna have to figure something out." I said because I didn't have that type of money just lying around either.

I was still fuming when I drove to work after coaxing Avis into the shower because my girl looked a hot mess and then I'd warmed her up a can of soup, unplugged the coffee pot and had sat with her for an hour.

Hollis called just as I walked through the front door of the Shop.

"Hello there, superstar. What're you getting into today?"

"Hollis? Do you know of any good divorce lawyers?"

He was taken aback.

"Say what now?"

"One of my friends is looking for a good divorce lawyer. Do you know of any cheap ones?"

"Well, not off the top of my head but we can discuss it over dinner tonight." He said.

"Dinner sounds lovely." I said, smiling despite myself and momentarily forgetting about Avis.
It's scary how fast this man can put me in a brighter mood just by the sound of his sexy, tenor voice.

"Tonight, instead of going out, I'd like to cook for you." Hollis said.

"Oh? Well that sounds...interesting. What's on the menu?"

"You'll have to wait and see." He said.

I wandered around, turning the lights on and then headed to the back to find more Lavender scented candles.

"Are you at work?" He asked.

"Yes, I just got here ten minutes ago. Why?"

"No reason. So anyway, I'd better let you go. Dinner is at six thirty. Don't be late."

"I'll see you then." I promised and after swiping "end" I quickly found a new box of the candles on the shelf at the back of the storage room.

The "kids" straggled in ten minutes later and set their work stations up while I was at my desk going over our supply list.

Hmm..we needed more hair product and clipper oil..

"Miss Lola?" Brandy was leaning over my desk, peering at me.

"What's going on, girl?"

"Can I have tomorrow afternoon off? It's my mom's anniversary."

Brandy's mom had been a victim of domestic violence and once a year, Brandy asked for personal time off to do a family memorial and a domestic violence work shop in her honor.

"How many clients do you have scheduled for tomorrow?" I asked more sharply than I had intended.

Brandy's brows knotted as she checked her schedule book.

"I have three but they're all booked for Friday morning and I can squeeze four more in on Saturday which will make up for tomorrow afternoon."

Removing my reading glasses, I thoughtfully scrutinize this young woman who has worked here for the past four years.

Brandy is a brown skinned child with big, innocent candy brown eyes and I notice the dark circles under them and that the whites of her eyes are inflamed.

She's such a sweet heart and one of my best employees and I rarely have to get onto her as much as I do the others except for having to constantly remind Brandy not to take on too many clients.

"That seems like a lot." I observed.

Brandy seemed startled, "It's really not. You know how fast I work and.."

I held a hand up to stop her flow of words.

"I'm not going to say no." I tell her. "I'm just concerned that you're trying to do too much. Do you ever just chill and hang out with your friends?"

She lowered her eyes, "To be honest Miss Lola, I'd rather work. I need the money."

"I hear you. But listen, try to take some time off for yourself and as a matter of fact, I'm giving you Sunday off, it's our least busiest day anyway but you've got to promise me that you'll spend that time doing you."

Her face creased with a tired smile, "Okay. Thanks, Miss Lola."

Sometimes I feel like everybody's mama around here...

After work I stopped by the Piggly Wiggly to pick up some essentials so that Merlin wouldn't starve when he came over this weekend.

As I pushed the shopping cart down the aisles, trying to decide what to buy I spotted Chuck and an unfamiliar woman on the wine aisle.

Humph...so he'd missed me? Yeah, right. What a load of horse apples because it looked like Chuck had moved on and I was surprised by a spurt of jealousy and slowed my cart to surreptitiously size his new bae up.

She was dressed in tight white jeans, a lemon yellow halter top and about twelve coats of blush.
She had long blond hair, a pointed face and long, nails painted yellow to match her halter top.

11/21\21.
12/1/21.