Adrift

by Robin Wainwright

Foghorn tying one on and crying.”

  Burying her face in her hands she mumbled, “And the part about Daniel?”

  “Well, why else would you be crying?”

  “Yes, why else?”

  “I’ve got to tell you that the villagers are pretty pissed at Daniel.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Well the village has adopted you and he is an outsider, so of course they’re going to be protective of you.”

  “I need you to tell them that it’s not Daniel’s fault.”

  “Okay, so why were you crying?”

  “Because I’m a spoiled brat that’s why! I was depressed because Daniel has been too busy to spend every waking moment with me. I was being a selfish idiot! Tell them that!”

  Jennifer stared at Heather dumbfounded by her outburst but then a smile slowly spread across her face.

  Heather was confused, “What? Why are you smiling?”

  “You’re in love.”

  “What?”

  “You’re in love! Have you told him?”

  Heather looked anguished, “No.”

  “Ah waiting for the perfect time huh? A romantic evening, perhaps?”

  “No, I’ve decided I’m not going to tell him.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because this is just a summer fling remember?”

  “Now Heather, don’t go throwing my words back at me. I didn’t know you would fall in love.”

  “Me neither.”

  Heather’s day was a blur of customers and orders. Many of the villagers came by, “to see if you’re all right,” to which Heather merely nodded and thanked them for their concern.

  Daniel, on the other hand, found his reception around the village a lot colder. People weren’t exactly rude, but they didn’t treat him with their usual openness. They interacted with him as little as possible and when they wished him a good day, it was out of habit not from their heart. He couldn’t figure out what had changed, but by lunch, he needed to see a friendly face. He headed for Java Junction.

  The reception at the Junction mirrored what he had been experiencing all day. When he entered the café, everyone was polite, but reserved. He waited patiently for his turn at the register and then smiled broadly at Heather. “Hi darlin’, you feeling better today?”

  “I am. I’m sorry I was so short yesterday.”

  “No problem. I know you weren’t feeling well.”

  The lady behind him snorted and he looked at her in confusion. She just rolled her eyes and looked away with a look of disgust on her face.

  “Okay…” he said as he turned back to Heather, “I’m kind of swamped because of the city council meeting tomorrow night but I should have some time on Thursday. Do you think you could get away for lunch?”

  “Lunch would be kind of tough, we’ve been really busy.”

  “Okay, what about dinner?”

  “Why don’t you give me a call Thursday and I’ll let you know how it’s looking?”

  Daniel looked at Heather in confusion, “Okay, I will.”

  “So, what can I get you to drink?” Heather asked.

  “I’ll have a Spicy Scuttlebutt.”

  Jennifer laughed and Heather shot her a warning glance. Heather gave Daniel his change and then focused her attention on the next customer, dismissing Daniel with barely a smile.

  Leaving Java Junction, Daniel felt worse than he had before he’d gone in. He sipped his coffee and wondered what was going on—the way the villagers were treating him made no sense. It couldn’t be anything that he had done. Heck, he’d been too busy to do much of anything.

  Trying to shake off the weirdness of the morning he returned to Sarah’s to put some last touches on his proposal, but he found he couldn’t focus. Feeling restless, he wandered down to the kitchen and found Sarah cooking some peanut butter cookies.

  “Hi Daniel, want a cookie?”

  “I’d love one.” Daniel pulled out a seat at the kitchen table and let out a big sigh.

  “What’s the matter? Did you run into a snag with the proposal?”

  “No, that’s just about done. Thank you Sarah for being such a big help.”

  “It’s been fun! I love that old lighthouse, and it’s going to be exciting to see it getting fixed up. So, if it’s not the lighthouse project that has you down, what is it?”

  “I’m not sure what’s up, in fact it might just be my imagination, but it seems like the villagers are a little pissed at me.”

  “Ah,” Sarah nodded. When Sarah didn’t say anything else, Daniel looked at her suspiciously.

  “Sarah, what do you know?”

  “Ah well, you know, the Scuttlebutt.”

  “Yes, I know of the Scuttlebutt, but I’ve been too busy to do anything that should make me one of its topics.”

  “Well, it wasn’t you, not directly.”

  Daniel continued to look at Sarah without saying anything until she squirmed under his scrutiny and cried out, “Okay, okay! It’s about Heather. She was seen drunk and crying in the Foghorn.”

  “What? When!”

  “Monday night.”

  “Oh man, is she okay? Do you know what she was crying about?”

  “The Scuttlebutt says she was crying about you.”

  “Me? But I haven’t done anything.”

  “I heard from Maggie, who took care of her by the way, that she was crying because she hadn’t seen much of you lately.”

  “I’ve been busy Sarah, you know that! I mean it’s not as if I’ve been avoiding her. Hell, I’ve missed her too. I have a deadline. She should have understood that! Argh! I don’t have time for this right now. But I guess I have no choice,” Daniel started to stand up, “We’re going to settle this right now!”

  Sarah rushed over to intercept him and pushed him back down into his chair, “Hang on Daniel.”

  “No Sarah. How could she think I didn’t want to be with her?”

  “I’m sure she knew that you wanted to be with her on a logical level, but emotions have nothing to do with logic.”

  “Argh, women!” Daniel cried.

  Sarah cocked an eyebrow at Daniel and he laughed rubbing his face in his hands mumbling, “Sorry.” Taking a deep breath, he turned to Sarah, “Okay, so if I can’t go rushing over there and confront her, what do you suggest I do?”

  “Daniel, she misses you and wants to know that you miss her too.”

  “Well I do!”

  “I know that, but she doesn’t. You need to do something to apologize for neglecting her.” Daniel started to protest but Sarah held up a hand to silence him. “No matter how justified it was, you have been neglecting her. Remember, emotion not logic.” Daniel nodded his head tiredly.

  “Alright, so I’ll give it some thought.”

  “Good,” Sarah handed him a plate of cookies and a fresh mug of coffee. “Now get up there on your computer and do your magic.”

  20

  The next night, Heather closed the Junction with a heavy heart. She hadn’t seen Daniel all day, and although she knew his big presentation was tonight, she had expected at least a phone call to see how she was doing. When Jennifer had asked her if she was planning on going to the council meeting tonight she had told her yes. Not only did she not want to end up on another committee, but she also needed to be there to support Sarah. She waited until the last possible minute to leave for the Foghorn and then drug herself all the way there with a heavy heart.

  She joined Sara in a booth in the back room, and giving her a wink, Maggie placed before her a big glass of white wine. Even though her stomach was saying no, her spirit was begging for a little liquid courage. Her spirit won and she took a sip as she settled in to wait and see Daniel.

  One booth at the end of the room had been blocked off for a large projection screen and computer set up, but the loss of that one booth didn’t explain the lack of available seating. The attendance for this meeting seemed much higher than the last one. When Heather pointed this out, Sarah told her that
a lot of those in attendance weren’t actually council members, but were villagers who were there to hear Daniel’s proposal. Sarah hoped their response would be positive and that the weight of public opinion would help sway the council members to approve the proposal.

  Sarah saw Heather looking around and leaned over to whisper in her ear. “If you’re looking for Daniel, I asked him to wait in the bar until it was time for me to introduce him. I felt that would be more professional.”

  “That makes sense,” Heather said as she allowed herself another sip of wine. Inside, her emotions were in turmoil. She was both relieved and disappointed that her next face-to-face with Daniel had been delayed.

  The meeting was called to order and everyone settled in for the minutia that organizations must go through: roll call, approval of the minutes from the last meeting and so on. When it was time for committee reports, Sarah stood up to represent her committee.

  “Thank you Mayor Shue. During this past month, we have made dramatic progress toward the reality of a renovated lighthouse station. I was able to contact one of the premier restoration companies, 1906 Restoration. They sent us their lead project manager, who is also one of the owners, Daniel Bradford.” Sarah gestured for Daniel to enter the room and take over.

  Daniel smiled at everyone gathered. “Hello. First, let me thank Sarah and the city council for considering 1906 Restoration for this exciting renovation. We are a family owned business that opened its doors in 1906.” Daniel smiled at the chuckles that the explanation of the company name always brought, and then he began listing the large projects his company had completed. He did this to generate a feeling of trust between those gathered and his company.

  “Maggie, would you mind lowering the lights?” Daniel asked as he