GOOD ADVICE

by JoAnn Baca

The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on.
~ Oscar Wilde

“A lager, please.” Devin sat on the only free stool at the bar, wondering when it was decided that ferns had to decorate drinking establishments. During his own bartending days, the neon signs from various beer and liquor vendors were considered de riguer.  Ah, well, times change.

A cute brunette with wavy hair was sitting beside him, a frown on her face.

“Bad day?” he asked. It was a lame attempt to start a conversation, but since he’d been back in New York, conversation was at a premium. So…he thought he’d take a chance.

Cute Brunette shrugged, staring into her half-empty glass of wine, and said, “Guess I got stood up…again.”

Uncomfortable about hitting a nerve, Devin said, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to make things worse. Some guys are idiots.” Do I mean the guy who stood her up…or myself?!

She looked up at him then, and her frown vanished. “Oh, no! It’s not what you think!”

Relieved that she was still talking to him, he said, “I should try not to think. I tend to get into trouble when I do!”

Her laugh was infectious. He couldn’t help but smile to hear it.

“My girlfriend…my friend who is a girl, I mean!…had said she might not be able to make it, and it looks like there’s no ‘might’ about it. But we’d only planned to have drinks, so…no need to cheer me up!”

“OK good!” He really was relieved. He was feeling down himself and hadn’t relished the idea of making someone else feel even more miserable because of something he said. Sticking out his hand, he said, “Name’s Jeff.”

“I’m Jenny,” she replied, accepting his gesture. “What’s your story, Jeff?”

“Long and tawdry and not fit for polite ears.” Deflection came naturally to Devin after all these years.

She laughed again. He really liked that sound.

“OK, well, are you a native, or just visiting?”

Shrugging, he replied, “Both, actually. I grew up here, but I…left when I was young and haven’t been back in…somewhere north of twenty years.” It startled him to say it out loud; he’d been gone for so long.

“Back to stay?” She was wide-eyed, and Devin caught the hint of hope.

“Probably not,” he admitted. “Though…who knows? I don’t make long-term plans. My life just seems to work better that way.”

“Well, it will probably be fun to revisit your old haunts, catch up with family and friends, right?”

He tilted his head. “I’m not really sure anyone’s still around.” It pained him to say it. It’s what had kept him from trying to find out. He drained his beer, intending to slip away. Here he’d been wanting to have a conversation that didn’t involve cab fare or hotel check-in information, but this one was making him sad.

“Let me buy you one,” Jenny said, catching the bartender’s eye and saying “Another round,” indicating both of them, before Devin could make his exit.

Weirdly, he was grateful she’d done that; he realized now that he didn’t want to be by himself when he was feeling this low.

“Hey, thanks, but you don’t need to…”

She waved off his protest. “I get paid an absurd amount of money for doing what I love, and I can only buy so many outfits. Please…stay and keep me company? I won’t keep you long, I promise. It’s just…I’d wanted to unwind and chat after a long day, and…you know…I liked you feeling sorry for me ‘cause I got stood up! More, please!” She smiled and raised her glass of wine to him.

“You poor, poor thing. How could your friend do that to you?” He grinned and accepted the beer.

“Thank you! OK, so…back to you.”

He groaned dramatically.

“So…you’re not sure anyone’s still around from the old neighborhood, you said?”

He snorted. Old neighborhood…hole in the ground…take your pick. “That’s about the size of it.”

“And just like that, you give up? What’s wrong with you?” She waggled her eyebrows and rolled her eyes at him, undercutting the criticism of her words.

“It’s complicated,” he said, not wanting to delve into his former life or his reasons for leaving it behind with a stranger – even a kind, vivacious one.

“Of course, it is.” She nodded, her brown curls bobbing. “It always is, with friends and family. That’s no reason not to try.”

“I don’t know… I just started a new job, I have a lot of work and…”

“No excuses. You had time to come here tonight to wallow in self-pity, I see.”

He glanced at her and again noted her face was wreathed in smiles, and he couldn’t help but smile in return. “I take your point.”

“I hope so! It was a very pointy point, meant to poke you into doing what you’ve wanted to do but have been afraid to do.” She nodded, as if agreeing with something he had said.

“You know me that well after our long and complicated relationship, huh?” His face looked mirthful but his eyes were serious, taking her pointy point to heart.

“I get…feelings…about people,” she said. Then, realizing that could be misinterpreted, she added, “I can read things in people. Usually I have prescient dreams…just ask my pal Cathy who stood me up…but I can also have, well…flashes.”

“Flashes.” He looked her up and down. “You seem too young to get hot flashes.” Having pretended to be a doctor sometimes has hidden benefits, he thought.

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t joke about it. It’s a thing. Everyone else laughs about Jen and her dreams but…I need you to believe me.”

Devin shrugged, not meaning to insult her, and remembering the strange woman from Below who used to predict such uncannily accurate things. “Ohhh…kay,” he responded.

“I’ll tell you, and you do what you want with the information, OK? Believe me or don’t, but at least I’ll have told you.”

“Fair enough.”

She laid a hand over his. It was warm, but something about her touch sent shivers of apprehension through him. Serious now, he added, “Tell me.”

Satisfied that he would pay attention, she murmured, “You need to go back to where you began. You have…unfinished business, and truths to uncover. You left badly, and it hurt people, one especially…who is like a brother to you.”

Shocked at her words, he pulled his hand away from hers. He stared hard at her, breathing heavily through his mouth. What the…?!?

She turned away from him and shrugged. “OK, so the strange girl weirded you out. I get it.”

“No! I…I just was a bit…startled, I guess.”

She gave him a side-eye look. “Made a little too much sense?”

He nodded. “Maybe a bit more than a little.”

“Then my job here is done!” She gave a sharp nod and finished her wine. As she threw a $20 on the bar, she said, “It was nice meeting you, Jeff. I hope you find what you’ve been looking for.” She leaned over and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. “Maybe someday we’ll meet again!” Then, with a wave, she blended into the crowd and was gone.

Devin checked his watch. It was late. He had an early day at the D.A.’s Office tomorrow. He really should get some sleep.

As he walked to his hotel, he thought about Jenny. Maybe she was right. After all this time, it still might be possible to find what he had been looking for.