another Tansy Tale

“I don’t think that when Dominic said you should talk to someone he meant me. I think he had a therapist in mind,” Ray, the bartender, says as he pulls my draught IPA.

“Pfft. Therapists are lame. And they don’t know me.”

“Tansy, I don’t really know you either.”

“That’s a good thing? Right? Hell, it would be harder for you to tell me what I need to hear if you knew me.”

Ray shakes his head. “I’m under the impression that with you it wouldn’t be an issue.”

“That’s an insult, right? See. I’m good. I just need to figure out how to clear up this tiny misunderstanding.”

“You call lying about being pregnant a tiny thing? Hell, what’s a big thing to you?”

“Murder. Murder is a big thing to me, Ray. So you’re a guy.”

“Yep. That’s what I hear.”

“How do I get Dom back?”

“You don’t. That ship has way sailed.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Trust is the foundation of all relationships.”

“I don’t believe that either. Trust is overrated. It’s right up there with, I don’t know, pumpkin spice. Sex makes a relationship. Plain and simple. Trust is for wimps.”

“Your mom walked out on your dad and he was left to raise you?” Ray asks.

I frown and eye him. “How did you know that?”

He takes a sip of seltzer water. “Your philosophy sounds like the bitter rant of a middle-aged man.”

“Don’t knock my dad. He’s a great guy. When he hasn’t been drinking.”

“Why are you so fixed on Dominic?”

I prop my elbow on the bar and lean my chin in my palm. “Because he’s the only guy to ever treat me nice. Even when I was being a bitch.”

“Maybe if you acted a little nicer?”

“I’d get him back?”

“No. I don’t see that ever happening. But if you acted nicer, maybe other men would treat you nicer.”

“Ray?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t quit your job as a bartender. You suck as a therapist.”

 

end 10/24/2016

S. Darlington