AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sorry, boss man,” he said, tying an apron around his waist and securing his twelve-inch ponytail with an additional rubber band and a hairnet.
“Can you please try harder, buddy?” I asked. “I appreciate you, but we have a business to run, my friend.”
“I gotcha,” he said, grabbing the last order ticket Bodie had hung and began prepping. “What’s Clint doing here?” he asked casually, motioning toward the now-closed back doors.
My heart seized. I must have heard him wrong. “Who?”
“Your ex, dude. Clint,” he confirmed, motioning over his shoulder. “He’s outside at a picnic table. Looking buffer than fuck too, bro. He on the juice or what?”
I hoped he was joking. I stood still, unsure of what to do, or if I was hearing him wrong. The exhaust fans and AC were noisy, plus he’d turned his back to me as he sliced fruit, so I had to yell to get his attention. “Rat!” He turned to face me. “For real?” I asked, furrowing my brow in concern.
His eyes widened, and he nodded. “For reals, bro. The fit fucker is right outside, dude. I’d know him anywhere. Kinda gives me the creeps. He’s so big and shit.”
My focus on the job came to an immediate stop. How long had Clint been there? How’d he find me at the beach? We’d only visited my parents three times when we were a couple, and I’d driven all those times, so how’d he manage to locate me here? There were dozens of questions stampeding through my brain. How? Why? When?
I tugged two of the slips from the twine and sat them on top of the food orders I’d filled. “These are done,” I told Rat. “One more besides the one you have and you’re caught up.”
Rat motioned to the back doors. “Go, dude. I got this,” he said. “You need me out there?” As soon as he spoke the words, he backtracked. “Fuck that, bro. You on your own with that beast,” he added.
I walked by him, but stopped before exiting the truck. “He’s actually a sweetheart,” I said. “Looks are deceiving.”
“Yeah whatever, dude. Good luck with that Hulk wannabe.”
I jumped from the truck and saw Clint immediately. He was facing the doors I’d just exited. I imagined he must’ve figured I’d come out, eventually. I hadn’t seen or spoken to him since I’d discovered the note he’d left, and to say I was surprised he was here would’ve been an understatement of epic proportions.
“Hey,” he said, eyeing me cautiously.
Rat was correct. He was huge. Only eight months or so had gone by, but he was even more massive than before. I spotted his lifted truck parked along the upper ridge of the beach access road. Neon yellow was hard to miss.
Seeing him sitting there felt strange. My stomach flipped while my brain sent my heart the ‘hurt file’ and rewired it to my mainframe. Every emotion I’d managed to distance myself from or bury, resurfaced in an instant. He hadn’t contacted me after leaving the note, not returning a single call or text when I’d wanted to understand or suggest we seek professional help to save our relationship.
“Hi,” I acknowledged.
I didn’t sit down across from him. In fact, I kept my distance. Clint was a teddy bear. I knew that, but he looked unsettled, and I had no idea why he was here. He intertwined his fingers and made cracking noises while his biceps looked like they had their own heartbeats.
He pointed toward the food truck. “Your folks told me you bought a food truck here in town in case you’re wondering how I found you,” he said, not looking at me as he spoke. Typical Clint to avoid eye contact when he was embarrassed or unsure of himself. “I stopped by their house when I got to town. In case you’re wondering ‘bout that, too.”
“Thanks for explaining,” I said, guardedly sliding onto the bench seat on the other side of the picnic table. His voice reassured me he remained the same sweet guy he always was. I loved the contradiction of Clint. Scary as a Marvel villain to look at, but sweet as an innocent boy when you got to know him. Nothing had changed that I could tell, except that my heart hadn’t reported back to my brain yet about how I felt about seeing him again.
“I need you to take me back, Chad,” he stated, finally directing his eyes to mine.
I stared into his eyes, stunned by his words. Clint was a man of few words, and I knew he’d said exactly what he wanted to say by being here.
“Wow,” I whispered, rubbing my neck and looking around. “I guess I wasn’t expecting those words.”
“Made a mistake is all. I know I want to be with you now. Learned my lesson.”
The scene felt surreal. Clint was definitely sitting across from me and speaking the words, but I couldn’t absorb them because my brain was still playing catch up from when Rat announced Clint was there. Coming outside was just to verify what I thought was an error on Rat’s part. The fact that he’d been correct was still being over-analyzed.
“Well… I mean… umm, well, that’s a lot, Clint.” I rubbed my face with both hands, trying to focus on what he’d said. “Wow,” I repeated.
“We’ll finish the house on the beach in Beaufort,” he said, before gesturing to the food truck. “You’ll bring that with us and do your business there.”
I was so shocked by him being here that I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly. My mouth was open as I tried to speak, but I gradually closed it due to the lack of information from my brain making it to my mouth. I looked behind me and at the food truck, buying time as I panicked. He couldn’t rationally believe that his plan was happening?
I turned back around. He was still here. I wasn’t losing my mind. “I’m sorry you came all this way, Clint, but that is not going to happen.”
If he doubted my answer or disagreed with it, his expression didn’t change. “Why?”
