I Let Love In

Chapter XXXIV: Surfin' UK

"The doctor says I should be fine in a few weeks," Loretta said stocking shelves with new records, her bracelets jingling. Maude listened carefully by her side while I overheard them talking from the counter. I sat there with my arms crossed, gaze downward. "I'm going back to my regular tanning lotion. Fuck that cheap shit."

"Must be a drag to wear long sleeves when summer is coming," Maude said following her back to the counter. 

"Definitely," Loretta huffed, yanking at her sleeves. "The sleeves aren't comfortable on my skin but it's better than sun exposure." She sighed again and looked at me. "Bit down today?"

"The boys left yesterday," Maude said. Loretta nodded.

"Yeah. Bon said goodbye to me at my flat. Tough to see them go, but....it's the life of a band." 

Don't I know it.

"You'll see them again, Hannah," Maude said. 

"Oh, yeah, they don't forget their girls that easily," Loretta agreed. "Angus will find you." I gave a half arsed smile and stood up from the chair behind the counter. "And if he doesn't, there's still four others."

"Mal's married," I reminded her. 

"Oh, right, and Cliff is taken..." Loretta sat in thought. "Bon's schedule might be a bit full but you still got Phil."

"No thanks," I said. "The others feel more like friends to me. It wouldn't be the same." Maude patted me on the back. "At least you have Brett."

"Hey, Brett and I have a long distance relationship," Maude said. "We make it work, you and Angus will do the same."

"But Angus is so beautiful, he attracts millions of gorgeous women every day," I whined. "With huge chests...."

Maude stared at me for a minute in disbelief. "And what's Brett, a banana slug?" she asked. Loretta choke out a laugh. "He sees plenty of bare chested women bouncing around him. Doesn't mean he's interested."

"Why didn't you go with them?" Loretta asked. "I'd have gone if I didn't have work."

Maude and I exchanged looks. "It's a long story," I said twiddling my thumbs. A young customer with bad acne came in asking about the newest KISS release. 

"Oh, that won't be out for a couple more weeks," Loretta explained. "But it's coming, don't worry." The customer hung his head and trudged off to find something else. "Poor guy. Can't be more than twelve." Maude and I got the giggles. "What?"

"Nothing," we said at the same time. Giving us a suspicious look, Loretta shook her head. We jumped when the door burst open and Claire, face red and out of breath, came running in. Her hair was all over the place and her makeup was half done.

"Lori! Lori!" she called looking around the store.

"Over here, Claire!"

Claire came running up to the counter holding a torn envelope and a letter in her hand. "Guess what? Guess what guess what guess what?"

"Uh...." Loretta tapped her nails on the counter. "Punk finally died?"

"No!" Claire looked offended. "How could you say such a thing?"

"Oh, I got it!" Maude jumped up raising her hand. "They lowered the price on petrol, right?"

"Eugh, I wish, why do you think I ran here?" Claire said wiping her face of sweat. She turned to look at me. "Hannah? What do you think?"

I racked my brain for any kind of guess to Claire's excitement. The only thing I knew about her was Alice and her passion for surfing. It had to be one or the other, right? "You....signed up for a surfing contest and got first?" I asked.