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Yeah. That’s the third thing. He picked up on my Caroline fixation real quick last year, and he taunts me with it.
Ever since I hit Nate last month, she’s been parking at the bakery a couple of nights a week. She doesn’t come in. She just sits out there when she’s supposed to be sleeping.
I saw her at the library today, bent over her notebook, writing something. The sun was streaming in over her table, making her hair and her skin glow gold. She looked fragile. Tired.
I can’t stand her being out there. I want her to go away.
I want to not have to think about her.
Of course, maybe she’s not even out there. Krishna could be yanking my chain. He’s hoping I’ll ask, and I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.
“You know anybody Vietnamese?” he says.
“What? No. ”
“I need to find somebody Vietnamese to teach me how they play tic-tac-toe. I’m working on this combinatorics thing—”
“Is she out there or not?”
He grins. His teeth are blinding. The grin is at least 50 percent of the reason he gets so much tail. “Yeah, she’s out there. ”
“Did you talk to her?”
“You
told me to leave her alone. ”
“Good. ”
I put the yeast away in the fridge and look at the list of stuff I need to get finished before my shift’s over.
I glance at the clock.
Krishna’s still talking about tic-tac-toe.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, see my mom’s number, but the text sounds like Frankie.
What r u doing?
I text back. Working. Why are you awake?
Cant sleep, she writes. Sing 2 me
It’s after ten back home. She should have been asleep hours ago. She’s only nine.
Why not Mom?
Shes out.
That’s what I was afraid of.
What song do you want?
Star one
So I type out the first verse of “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” line by line. She sends me a smiley face.
Go to sleep, Frank.
