by Sarah Bates
She made a face. “If he’s anything like his father, I don’t doubt it,” she said as she climbed out as well.
“I’m told by a reliable source that as unpleasant as he is, his sister is actually worse,” I told her as I joined her at the back bumper a moment later. “And judging from my very brief encounter with her at lunch, I believe my source.”
“What happened?” she asked, scowling.
I grimaced, as I hadn’t intended on telling her about what had happened today. Then, since I’d already bungled that plan, sighed and hooked an arm around her waist. “Buy me an order of baklava and I’ll tell you all about it,” I said as we headed for the entrance to the Courtyard.
☼
As I had figured she would be, my mom was very unhappy about what had happened in the cafeteria, but she did promise to let me try to handle it on my own. And I had promised that if my way didn’t work and the Humphrey siblings continued to be a problem for me that I would tell her so that she could take care of it, both with the school and Mr. Humphrey himself.
I sincerely hoped my way – which, for now at least, was to simply ignore them and not engage – worked. I did not relish being known as the new girl who went crying to my mommy because someone was being mean to me.
Jeez, even thinking about it made me grimace. High school could seriously suck sometimes.
Not to sound naïve, but seriously, why couldn’t people just be nice and mind their own business? It wasn’t like it was that hard to do.
I didn’t bother to say any of this to my mom, though, as I knew it would only prolong the conversation, and I really would have rather talk about anything else. So, instead, after my return promise, I did my best to steer our conversation onto another subject.
Given that we’d just put in an offer to buy a house, that wasn’t so difficult, and within minutes I’d had my mom deep in conversation over choices of paint, and flooring.
I, for one, was all for ripping out the dingy orange shag carpeting that seemed to cover every inch of floor space, except for the avocado green linoleum in the kitchen. Seriously, even the bathrooms sported the orange fur on the floor. Which, in my opinion at least, was plain weird. Who put carpeting in the bathroom?
As the floorplan worked fine for both of us – the bedrooms were the same size and sat side-by-side – really all it would take to spruce it up were what my mom called the cosmetic updates. New cabinets, counters, appliances and flooring in the kitchen, along with some fresh paint on the walls and ceiling; new sink vanities and toilets, tile flooring, and paint for walls and ceilings in the bathrooms – along with a new tub/shower combo for the full bathroom.
As for the living room, we both kind of liked the built-in bookcases and entertainment unit, so some fresh paint for those, along with the walls and ceiling, and some new carpet and a new ceiling fan, and that would be it for that. The bedrooms would be the easiest, as they just required new carpet, paint for the walls and ceilings, and new ceiling fans. The closets in the rooms were in decent shape, so fresh paint, some new shelves and new doors all around for the interior of the house, with blinds and sheers for all the windows, and that was that.
The outside needed some desperate attention, but given how much my mom, Aunt Nora, and Lucy all loved to garden, I didn’t foresee this being a problem. The kicker was pressure washing it and then having it repainted, and having an actual designated parking area marked.
All in all, it was still going to be several weeks before we could live there, even after she signed the papers.
Not to mention we’d have to have the rest of our belongings shipped down from Minnesota from the storage warehouse, and that was likely going to take several days, as well.
It was going to be a big project, but at least my mom had experience with such things and knew what she was doing.
After dinner, we picked up some frozen coffee drinks from Cooke’s and took them to Aunt Nora’s boutique, where she and Kat were still working.
“Ooh, thank you,” Kat said, grinning brightly as she accepted the plastic to-go cup I held out to her. She groaned as she took a deep drink. “Perfection.” Sighing happily, she reached out and patted the stool beside her. “So, how did it go?”
“Your mom told you about the house?” I asked.
She nodded as she took another sip.
“Do you know which house?” When she nodded again, I boosted myself onto the stool beside her. “It needs lots of work,” I told her, poking my straw into my cup.
“But?” she asked when I didn’t continue.
“But…they accepted my mom’s offer,” I said. “If all goes well with the inspections, then she’ll be signing the papers on it in thirty days.”
“Wow.” She stared at me in surprise. “That’s fast.”
“My mom says it’s called a quick sale. The current owners are apparently going to spend part of it on an anniversary trip to Europe.”
“Ah.” She nodded and took another sip of her drink as she studied me. “And how do you feel about it?”
“Honestly? I’m still alternating between excitement and dread. It needs a lot of work,” I said again, and I took my phone out to show her some of the pictures I had taken during our second walkthrough.
As predicted, she grimaced over the very same things I did. But she did like the built-ins, too, so that was something.
“You’ll want to go with pale colors for the interior,” she said after she’d swiped through the pictures a second time. “Like cool blues and greens, some white, especially for the cabinets in the kitchen, and the vanities in the bathrooms. Maybe a super pale gray. The lighter, cooler tones will help keep it feeling cooler inside, as well as give it the illusion that it’s bigger than it really is. Warmer tones tend to make things feel more closed in and, well, warmer. What?” she asked when I stared at her. “I like HGTV.”
“So does my mom. She said all of that, too.” I took a sip of my drink and studied a picture of one of the bedrooms. “I think I like the idea of the gray. It’s more neutral, and I can switch it up with different accent colors when I want a change.”
“Exactly.” She grinned and handed my phone back to me when it beeped. “Hayden.”
I ignored the way she wiggled her eyebrows as she made oohing sounds and smiled as I quickly opened the message he’d sent.
Managed to save the Jeep from Davy Jones, but seriously thinking of finding it a new family that’ll give it the love and care it deserves.
Until then, I am now freshly showered and have eaten a hotdog my grandfather (partially) cooked on his grill.
Which is older than I am.
And doesn’t always work.
Want to meet up and do some homework?
Or make out?
Lady’s choice, of course…☺
I blushed as I read his messages, which came in quick succession, and laughed.
Getting late, but I think I could maybe swing an hour free. I typed, then added, does it have to be an either/or scenario?
The door jingled open, and I turned instinctively to see who it was. When it turned out to be Hayden, grinning at me, a box of cookies from Cooke’s in one of his hands, I felt my heart trip a couple of giddy beats.
“Well, it could be difficult to do one while doing the other, but I’m game for trying,” he said, tucking his phone into his back pocket.
“Game for trying what?” my mom asked, folding her arms at her chest as she and Aunt Nora joined us.
“I shamelessly asked your daughter if you’d like to run away and make out for a bit,” Hayden replied, and he held the box of cookies out to her. “She chose both options, the first of which was actually getting some homework accomplished.”
“I see.” She studied him as she reached out to take the box of cookies. “Well, it’s getting late, so have her home in an hour,” she said, and she smiled when he gave her a look of interest. Apparently, he’d thought he’d have to work a little harder for her permission.
Which clearly meant he truly didn’t understand the full power of those key lime sugar cookies he kept buying for her. But if current patterns continued, he’d figure it out soon enough.
I glanced at Kat and she waggled her fingers in that strange little wave she and the others gave, and grinned back at me.
Taking that to mean that she wasn’t offended by being left behind, I hopped off my stool and went around the counter to stand with him. “Meet you at home in an hour,” I said, and before my mom could point out that I didn’t have my backpack with me, as it was still out in her SUV, I took Hayden’s hand and tugged him toward the door.
He chuckled over my clear eagerness and waved to my mom, aunt, and cousin, then, as soon as we were outside, and up one storefront, he pulled me against his side and lowered his head and kissed me.
My belly danced with giddy butterflies, and I leaned into him, enjoying the sensation of doing so as much as I enjoyed the taste of his mouth on mine.
“Jeez, get a room,” someone called out as a group of people passed by us.
I felt Hayden’s lips curve against mine just before he laughed, and I blushed as he pulled back, out of the kiss.
“Perhaps not yet,” he said. “But I wouldn’t mind finding somewhere private for more of that.” He kissed me quickly again, then straightened and slipped his arm around me as we turned toward the parking lot.
“So, how hard was it to save the Jeep?” I asked as we wove our way through the crowded lot.
“It was touch and go for a little while. Ethan – that would be Levi’s dad – nearly gave up and let the sea have it. But just then Levi and I managed to pull it out. We’ll know more about how extensive the damage is in the morning once it’s had some time to dry out. I’m going with it probably having to be scrapped. The entire hood was engulfed at one point, and saltwater can do some nasty things to a car. But Levi’s convinced he can save it.”
He opened the passenger door of his truck when we reached it, then shifted and helped me up into the seat. “How’d your afternoon and evening go?”
I hummed in consideration. “It went well. I had some ice cream on the beach, got dragged around the Courtyard by Margo, then planned a tentative intervention for her with my mom and my aunt, to address her clear addiction to shopping…” I grimaced as soon as the words left my mouth, and I thought of his brother. “Sorry. That wasn’t funny.”
“And I don’t think you necessarily meant it to be,” he said. “Addiction is addiction, Coco. It comes in all kinds of forms. Just because hers comes in the form of compulsive shopping as opposed to drugs or alcohol doesn’t negate the seriousness of it. Besides, to be fair, I don’t know that my brother has an addiction problem, per se. He just really likes pissing me off. I wish I could say I don’t know why, but I’m fairly sure it’s because he still hasn’t forgiven me for nearly getting myself killed not too long after our parents died.”
When I blinked in surprise, he shrugged. “That’s all part of that delinquent past you say doesn’t matter.”
“No. I said it happened before you knew me, so it’s none of my business. Or something to that affect,” I corrected him. “Of course your past matters, Hayden. It helped turn you into the person that you are now.” I reached out and cupped his face in my hands. “You learned from your mistakes, didn’t you?”
“Oh, most definitely,” he agreed.
“All right, then.” I leaned forward and kissed him lightly. “That’s all that matters.”
“Well, that’s not exactly one-hundred percent true. But maybe we can hold off on that conversation a little while longer. What else did you do? You said that you and your mom were having a celebratory dinner. What were you celebrating?”
I still didn’t like that he felt he owed me an explanation for something he did before he’d even met me, but I didn’t bother to tell him he didn’t. Again. Instead, I took the change in subject in stride. “We were celebrating two things, actually. Or three, I guess,” I amended, thinking of tomorrow and my first day of work. “We both got jobs. My mom will be working as the receptionist at Butler International, and I’m going to be working a couple of days a week at my Aunt Nora’s boutique. We both start tomorrow.”
“That’s…good. Right?” When I nodded, he did, too.
“It’s very good, especially since we were also celebrating the fact that my mom put in an offer on a house, and the owners already accepted it. It needs a lot of work done to it,” I added when his eyes widened in surprise.
“You and your mom bought a house?”
“Technically, yes.”
“Wow. I guess that is something worth celebrating.” He leaned forward and kissed me. “Where is it? Can we go see it?”
“Ah…actually, I’m not sure where it’s located. Exactly. I kind of spaced out most of the drive to and from, as I was first wondering how much work it might need, then on the way back my mom and I were talking. I think it’s on a street called Gold Doubloon. Or something like that. It’s not too far from the water. What?” I asked when he hummed.
“The bungalow?” he asked in return. “The formerly pink one, with the sandy yard and the fish-shaped mailbox?”
“Ah…yeah. Wait, so it was pink?” I asked. I’d been trying to figure out what the color had been before the sun had bleached it out.
“It was if the pictures I’ve seen of it are at all accurate. Bright flamingo pink. Used to have a row of pink plastic flamingos across the front flower beds instead of flowers. My great-grandmother used to live there.”
“Your…my mom and I are buying your great-grandmother’s house?”
“Well, I mean, it used to be hers. Long before my time. She sold it back when my dad was still in high school and moved to Cassadaga with the plans of opening her own psychic shop.”
“Where’s Cassadaga…wait, did you say psychic?”
He smirked. “It’s this small community north of Orlando, up by Lake Helen. And yes, psychic. Apparently, the Sight runs strong in the family,” he replied, and he chuckled when I continued to stare at him. “Hey, we’re Southern. We celebrate our crazies and eccentrics, and often even encourage them.”
When I laughed, he grinned. “Believe it or not, she’s actually still kicking around, and still reading palms and telling fortunes at her shop. It was, it turned out, a very lucrative business choice for her.”
“Your great-grandmother is still living on her own?” I didn’t doubt that she was still alive, as my own great-grandmother on my dad’s side was still alive as well, though she lived in a very posh assisted living facility that tended to frown upon anyone under the age of eighteen visiting.
Some old people really didn’t care to be around younger people.
“Much to my grandma’s chagrin, she still lives on her own, yes. Gram would rather she sell her shop and move back, but she won’t. She insists it needs to stay in the family, you know, in case Logan or I start to exhibit signs of also having the Sight and decide to take over for her.”
“Ah, ha.” I cocked my head and hummed. “Nope. I can’t see you in one of those purple fortune teller turban things.”
“It would be blue,” he said, and he rolled his eyes dramatically, then laughed when I did. “I think I’ll leave any chance of following in her footsteps up to Logan. Myself, I’ll probably just take over running the motel someday.”
“Is that what you want to do?” I asked, frowning.
He shrugged. “It’s what I know. Or at least it’s part of what I know. I’ve got a while to decide, as neither of my grandparents are anywhere close to being ready to retire. What about you?” he asked.
I considered his question as he went around and climbed in behind the wheel. “Honestly, beyond my skating I never really thought about it. I guess I always thought that I’d skate professionally for a few years, then teach after. Now, well, I still haven’t found a rink that’s close enough to make that an actual possibility, so I don’t know. I can’t skate professionally if I don’t pr
actice regularly. I’m decent at gymnastics, but I don’t know if I’m good enough at it to give teaching it a try. And again, no local studio.”
“Actually, I might have a lead on the rink,” he said, and he held his hands up when my eyes widened in surprise. “I might. I don’t know for sure, and that’s why I wasn’t going to say anything until I knew for sure, but I don’t like hearing that defeated tone from you, Coco.”
“I don’t mean…for real? You might have found a rink?”
“Might have being the two operative words, but yeah. You could say I know a guy who knows a guy, who might know another guy. If it works out, I can’t promise that it’ll be anywhere close to what you’re used to in way of amenities. But,”
“It would be ice, and I could skate again. Hayden,” feeling completely overwhelmed, I felt my heart take a slow dive straight into the deep end.
Knowing that I was falling for him, the real deal kind of falling, not just in serious like, I felt a quiver of apprehension, low in my belly. I’d always been wary of love, thanks to growing up witnessing what love had done for my mom. Or the lack of it from my dad.
But then I thought of both of my uncles with their wives, and Grandpa with Lucy, and even Scott and Derek, and Delaney and Esme, and I realized that it could be so much more than what I was used to. More than what I’d always known.
Knowing this, fortified by knowing it, I smiled and moved across the bench seat so that I could rest against him.
“This is the best gift anyone could have ever given to me,” I told him.
He shook his head. “I told you, it might not work out,” he said. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up, Coco.”
“I know.” I leaned forward and kissed him softly and rested my hand over his heart as I did. He didn’t need to know just yet that I was referring to what I was feeling in my own heart at that moment, and not actually to the possibility of finding an ice rink. The time would come soon enough for that. Until then, I was looking forward to basking in this wonderfully unexpected gift.
