worse, she could always get a cat. And when Cleo moved out after marrying Tai, she’d be down at the shelter the next day. Being a cat lady was starting to sound inevitable.
Chapter 6- Second Chances
On the way home, Meredith decided to pull in at The Iron Skillet and grab a shrimp salad to go. Cleo would be proud of her for not eating pizza and it would taste good and be light after her run. She glanced down at what she was wearing and grimaced. She glanced at the clock and it was just eleven-thirty. Well before the lunch rush. No one would ever know she’d been there looking like a sweaty, hot, spandex clad mess. She parked and hurried inside, grabbing the first waiter she could find. “Hey, Jason. Do a girl a favor and order me a shrimp salad to go,” she asked, smiling as charmingly as she could. Jason smiled. “No problem. I’ll go tell the kitchen. Sit at the bar and I’ll bring it over, okay?” Meredith smiled in relief and walked over to the bar, choosing the farthest stool next to the wall. She was dressed in almost all black. She’d blend in if anyone glanced in her direction. She sat down and crossed her legs and watched the TV for a while and then groaned in frustration when the commercial turned into golf. How could men seriously watch golf on TV and not want to fall asleep? She hopped off her barstool and walked around the bar, looking for the remote. Everyone was preparing their tables for lunch so no one was paying her any attention. She looked up at the TV and pushed the arrow button to change the station. Automatically there was loud, buzzy gray noise. Meredith winced and glanced around the restaurant as she hurried back to her corner in the dark while pushing all the buttons she could find. She pushed another button and sighed in relief as a program came on. “Thank goodness,” she whispered and sagged against the counter. She had no idea what show she was about to watch but it had to be better than golf. She watched a couple dressed in nice clothes begin to argue and frowned as she tried to follow the storyline. It had to be one of those made for TV shows that were on cable. She glanced at the remote still in her hand and wondered if she dared to try and switch it to Bravo. She glanced up and gasped in horror as the couple was now ripping each other’s clothes off way too fast for a TV movie. Her mouth fell open as she caught sight of lady parts. This could not be happening. She’d somehow changed the station from golf to some kind of erotic, possibly X-rated show. She fumbled with the remote and searched frantically for the power button. “Found a station more to your liking?” Meredith groaned and turned to see Taryn standing behind her looking up at the TV with wide-eyed horror. Meredith decided not to see what was going on. It would only make things worse. She meekly handed the remote to Taryn. “I was just trying to find something besides golf. Sorry ,” she said and stepped back from Taryn whose face had gone pale with shock. Taryn snatched the remote and quickly turned it back to the sports station. Meredith watched as Taryn walked behind the bar and put the remote on a high shelf, far away from her prying hands. “Next time you need help with something here at The Iron Skillet, you could always do what everyone else does and ask ,” Taryn said in a sweet tone of voice that nonetheless felt as sharp as a knife. Meredith rolled her eyes. “You’d think in this day and age a person could walk into a restaurant and not have to be tortured by the golf channel. Women