Chapter 17

Savannah sipped her martini and looked around the bar. Only the serious drinker arrived when Mabel opened at four. Normalcy was a lesbian bar in the heart of downtown Harmony Haven, which, for years, the residents had pretended didn’t exist. Business men wandering in for happy hour quickly discovered the vibe of the place and went across the street to Stackers Bar & Grill. Heterosexual women would sometimes patronize the bar, enjoying a space without men; however, if someone made a pass at them, most were scared off. Not all of them though.

Savannah wondered what the reaction would be from the woman at the end of the bar. She appeared to be 23 or 24 years-old, was drinking a glass of white wine and trying to look as if she wasn’t surveying her surroundings. Savannah was feeling relaxed now that her brother had given her a cushion until she could find a new job. She was also feeling playful. She grabbed her martini and walked to the end of the bar.

“Are you waiting for someone?” she asked as she sat, leaving one stool between them.

“I’m sorry?” the redhead spoke with a southern accent that immediately set Savannah’s pulse racing.

“I couldn’t help but notice that you were looking around. I thought perhaps you were meeting someone. A blind date?”

The woman blushed and laughed. “Oh, no. I couldn’t imagine meetin’ someone here for a date.” She quickly added, “Not that there’s anythin’ wrong with this place. Or meetin’ someone here to date them. Or bein’ the type of person who was into meetin’ someone…here…I’m sorry, I’m not really makin’ any sense.”

“That’s fine. I have no problem drinking until you do make sense.” There was no response from her new friend so she added, “That was a joke. Not one of my best, clearly.” That at least produced a smile. “I’m Savannah.”

“Carol.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Carol. Your wine is almost empty there. May I buy you another?”

“Sure, thank you. That would be very kind.”

Savannah motioned to Mabel that they’d take another round. “I can’t help but notice the accent. Are you visiting Harmony Haven?”

“Yes.” The woman paused for a moment, then added, “My mother died recently. Breast cancer.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Cancer sucks.” She knocked back the last of her martini so that Mabel could swap it out for a new one.

“I arrived last week for the funeral. I’ll be here for another week or so to help my father settle some things.”

Savannah grabbed her fresh martini. “To your mother. May she rest in peace.”

Carol clinked her glass to Savannah’s and echoed her statement.

There was silence for a moment. Savannah broke it by saying, “Well, there’s nothing like cancer to bring a conversation to a complete stop.”

That elicited a small smile from the redhead. “I’m sorry. I’m not the kind of person who usually goes to a bar alone. We don’t even have these types of bars in Arkansas.”

Savannah almost spit out her martini. “Arkansas?! I don’t believe I’ve ever known anyone from Arkansas.” She looked down at the other woman’s hand to make sure she hadn’t missed a ring. “If you don’t have…these types of bars, then how do you meet people in Arkansas?”

“Oh, well, there’s really no one to meet. We all pretty much know everyone else. Most people have lived in Jasper their whole lives. This is actually the first time I’ve left home.”

“You’re kidding?”

“No. I’ve never had a reason to leave home. Heck, everythin’ I could ever need is right there in my neighborhood. I know all of my neighbors as if they were part of my own family. It’s nice.”

“That must make dating awfully complicated.”

Carol’s entire face turned the same color as her hair. “Oh, I don’t…don’t…”

“Don’t date, I take it. Well, heck…” Savannah meant for the fake swear word to sound as if she was commiserating with her new friend but was afraid it came across as mocking, “…if I lived in a town where everyone knew each other’s business, I suppose I’d never date either. Doesn’t sound as if there’s much chance for privacy. Here in Harmony Haven, you can pretty much do anything you want, as long as you’re discreet about it, and people don’t give you a second look.”

Carol looked around the bar. “I’ve noticed that. There are only a handful of people in here and everyone is actin’ as if there was no one else but them in this place.”

Savannah took this opportunity to move to the stool that had been separating them. “That’s because, to them, there is no one else in the place.” She could feel the martini hitting her. “People here let each other be whatever they want to be and behave however they want to behave.”
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There was no mistaking the hope and the desire that was in the southern girl’s eyes. Savannah had seen it many times before although the innocence was surprising. It drove her wild. She knew she needed to touch that innocence, to get inside of it, maybe meld with it and lose her own cynicism. Even if it was just for an hour. She needed to own that.