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I shrugged.
“What are you hiding?” She looked at the shelf and grabbed a box of peanut butter cookies. “Are you here to get these?”
“Maybe.”
“Oh my god. It was you, wasn’t it?”
I clamped my mouth shut.
“You loosed the squirrels on Preston’s job site. That’s what the peanut butter is for.”
“If I loosed the squirrels on the job site, why would I need peanut butter now? That already happened.”
She practically threw the box of cookies into my cart. “The Fiona method.”
“How do you know about the Fiona method?”
“Everybody in Tilikum knows about the Fiona method.”
“I didn’t until yesterday. Why am I always the last one to find out everything?”
“Zachary, look at me.”
I kept my eyes firmly on the ground.
“Look at me. Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn’t fill Preston’s construction site with squirrels.”
Lifting my eyes to meet hers felt like trying to lift a car over my head. “I did, but the goats were Gavin’s fault.”
“Goats? There were goats, too?”
“Gavin brought the goats. I didn’t even know he was going to do that.”
“So last night was a setup. You made sure Preston would have to cancel and then just happened to call me. I’m such an idiot. Of course I fell for it.”
“You didn’t fall for anything. I just wanted a chance to spend time with you.”
“This really is just a game to you, isn’t it?”
“No. This is not a game. I swear.”
“Next you’re going to tell me you cut the power to the restaurant the other night.” Her eyes widened. “You did, didn’t you? You turned off the power so we’d have to leave.”
“To be fair, it was only out for a few minutes. It’s not my fault your date was that impatient.”
“Zachary, I can’t believe you. Why would you try to sabotage my dates with Preston?”
“Because you shouldn’t be with him. You should be with me.”
She stared at me for a long moment and I couldn’t read her expression. The raw honesty of what I’d just said hurt like hell. I wanted to take it back. Not because it wasn’t true; it was. And I’d even said it to her before. But somehow this was different. It was too true. I wanted to wrap it in sarcasm and make a joke and pretend like I was untouchable. But I’d blurted it out and now I couldn’t take it back.
“I don’t know what to say to you right now.” She took a step back. “This is a lot and I need to get to work.”
She turned around and I watched her disappear around the corner at the other end of the aisle.
It wasn’t just a lot—as in, the situation. I was a lot. That was what she meant.
And maybe I was.
