Boy the summer has flown by. Janet had completed three summer school classes and was getting ready to register for the fall semester. It had been a big adjustment. She would start working part time and taking as many hours as possible. This would mean bringing home less money, and getting less sleep, but she was ready.
Things had been stressful. No sooner had she shut Rooster out of her life that he just kept coming around. She wasn't scheduled to work with him anymore, but every time she clocked in, he would come walking through the door. Always wanting to talk with her, and asking her out. No matter how firm she was with him, he just didn't get it. He even started stopping by her house and showing up at school.
Janet was off one Saturday and she and BillyJo would be joining Hannah and Pizza Girl for a wedding shower. Hannah was marrying Ray in the fall and the girls had planned a nice get together at the Johnson Inn. During breakfast that morning, Janet proceeded to tell BillyJo that Rooster had shown up at school the day before. To her surprise, BillyJo flipped out. "Janet, I realize that he has been a long time friend, but that guy is a creep. Forget about the fact that you guys crossed the line and it ruined your relationship with Eddie, much to his excitement I might add, but you have asked him repeatedly to leave you alone, yet he keeps coming around. And this guy is supposed to be your friend?" Janet knew she was right. "It's just that I feel bad for him. It was my fault too, and he has said he is sorry. Sometimes I feel that we just deserve each other" BillyJo got up from the table and wiped Charlotte's hands off with a warm rag. "Stop right there. That is the old Janet talking. You have come a long way this summer, and that way of thinking is a step backwards." She sat down again and took her by the hand. "Look, I know that this is your life and your house and you are just letting me camp out here, but I got to tell you, I do not have a good feeling about the whole Rooster thing. I don't like it when he comes over here but hunting you down at school? Coming to Sully's when he isn't working? Girl, this is just a bad movie waiting to happen." She paused a bit and looked straight at Janet. "Janet, think about what this is doing to Eddie. You know he is hearing from everyone how Rooster has taken his seat at your bar….Has he said anything to you about this?" Janet pulled her hand away and sat back in the chair. "No. He hasn't talked to me in a couple of weeks. Not that we were conversing every day, but we could at least speak when we saw one another and a few times he did stop by just to catch up, but I haven't spoken to him in a while. The past few times he has come to Sully's, he has pretty much avoided me"
"Hell, I would avoid you too. From where he stands Janet he can't win. He was willing to get back with you after everything, and now he has to sit back and watch while the poster child for hair gel makes a play on his women?" Janet and Charlotte both giggled like little girls.
It was the usual Saturday afternoon routine. Pizza, beer and plenty of air guitars. Sam had even brought Jack by to meet the guys, but they soon ventured off to enjoy the last few days of summer. "Janet's nephew is a good kid." Nick said looking at Eddie. "Yeah, he seems to get a long great with Sam too." Phil added. "Have you talked with Janet lately, Eddie?" Eddie rolled his eyes.."Does this have to be the topic of conversation every time we have Pizza and Beer? "Don't forget the air guitar dude." Ikey piped in. Eddie paused. "No, I haven't talked with her at all the past few weeks. Seems that Rooster is occupying all of her time now. I guess she has found herself." Ikey looked up from under the brim of his hat "What? Found herself? Isn't that a guy thing?" Eddie rolled his eyes again as Nick explained. "Eddie was willing to get back together in spite of everything, and try to work things out, but Janet wanted to work on herself." All the guys just shook their heads.
"You know, I just don't get it." Eddie said "I swallow my pride and want to work on things, but she chooses Rooster?" Owen looked across the room at Eddie. "I don't think she has chosen anything Eddie. She doesn't even work with Rooster anymore." "What do you mean?"Ikey said. "Rooster still works at Sully's." Owen sat up in his chair. "I know that Ikey, but Sully told me that Janet asked him to fix the schedules back in the spring to keep them from working the same shifts together. And if for some reason they are on at the same time, it's not the whole shift." Nick agreed with Owen. "That makes sense. BillyJo was telling me at my Dad's last appointment that Janet was stuck with the bad shifts at Sully's because of school and the whole Rooster incident. Must have been what she meant."
A few days later BillyJo and Charlotte walked through the door of Sully's and were greeted by a pleasant sight. Janet and Eddie seemed to be having a conversation. She saw a few smiles, and knew things were good. Eddie, Nick and Ikey were sitting at a table in the middle of the room. They had met up for a late lunch. "Hey BillyJo, What goes on?" Nick waved as she walked through the door. "What exactly does that mean anyway? What goes on?" She said in her now famous southern drawl. Everyone just laughed as Charlotte raced across the room to Janet. In one quick move she jumped straight into Janet's arms. BillyJo noticed the look on Eddie's face as Janet was holding Charlotte. "Are you ready to go?" Charlotte said with a big grin on her face. "I sure am." Janet said. With that she put Charlotte on her hip and walked to the back room to get her purse. "Yeah, that little girl likes Janet a whole lot more than she likes me." BillyJo said giving Eddie a wink. "You two are just the guys I want to see. I signed on a house today and it is in desperate need to new floors and a few new windows. Any chance you guys could fit me in your schedule so I could get a quote from you this week?" The guys just smiled. "I don't know, we are pretty busy right now." Eddie said and everyone laughed. Best Friend Windows was growing, but it was a slow climb. "Great. I need to email some final paper work to Lance before Friday, so this works." Janet returned from the back room with Charlotte and was ready to leave for the day. "Come on BillyJo, I need to pick up my Jeep by 4:00 and we still have to go by the store." Eddie looked at her "What's wrong with your Jeep?" Charlotte grinned and said "Janet's Jeep is broken." Janet rolled her eyes laughingly "It's ok. Just a bad tire." They looked at each other for a few seconds. "Ok guys. See you later. I will come by tomorrow and set up a time for you guys to look at the house….let's go Janet." With that they waved and headed out the door. No one seemed to notice that Ikey had not once taken his eyes off BillyJo.
As Janet buckled her seat belt she smiled. "So, you talked to him uh?" She nodded."Yes we talked. It was good." BillyJo studied her. "Well, look at you Ms Janet. You actually seem to have a little hope." She smiled even more. "Yeah, I think I do." She realized when BillyJo said it, that it was the first time since the spring that she had hope for anything. "Come on now Charlotte. Buckle that seat belt. We need to get out of here before Stalker Boy shows up."
Eddie sat at his desk that afternoon thinking about Janet. He noticed today that she seemed taller. Then he thought how strange that sounded to him. She was carrying herself differently. Dressing differently. Everything was different. He still didn't know about forgiveness. He only knew that he had to work on it. Starting over would never happen till he had forgiven her.