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“Oh, yeah. I was just on my way. These guys are headed down to the hotel,” Liam said. He turned to Lalani. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon?”
“Rain or shine,” she replied, blushing.
Rain. It would definitely be rain.
Liam looked uncertain for a second, like he wanted to kiss her, but then he glanced at me and Nick and thought the better of it. Instead, he raised an awkward hand. “Okay. Bye.”
Lalani giggled. “Bye.”
Nick rolled his eyes, and they walked off together.
“We’re going surfing,” Liam said, staring after Lalani until the darkness swallowed her and her brother.
“That’s nice,” I said as we turned our steps down the alley between the Thirsty Swan and the Crab Shack next door. I had to leap over a puddle the size of a small lake, and Liam followed. “So, crushing on a visitor, huh?”
“Is it that obvious?” he asked.
“Kind of.” We skirted a Dumpster and found the set of stairs that supposedly led up to Joaquin’s apartment. “Just be careful.”
“What do you mean?” he asked as we began to climb. The staircase was slim and rickety, made with whitewashed boards that looked as if they’d been hammered together two centuries ago.
“Just…I don’t want you to get hurt,” I said, realizing in the back of my mind that—considering recent events—I might not be the best person to be giving romantic advice. Or instructions on how to protect his heart. “She’s going to be leaving soon. Moving on.”
Hopefully, anyway, I added silently.
“Oh. Right.” We paused on the tiny landing at the top of the stairs, outside the plain wooden door. He was silent and pensive for a split second before adding brightly, “Or maybe she’ll become a Lifer!”
I knocked on the door, smiling in spite of myself. It was nice to have someone around who was optimistic. I could hardly believe that earlier today I’d half suspected him of being an ax murderer. Joaquin opened the door, and his brows knit. He seemed confused at the sight of me and Liam together, but recovered quickly.
“Hey. Come on in.”
“How did I not know you live here?” I asked as Liam slipped inside.
“We moved here when we left the house on Sunset. Which you also never visited,” Joaquin replied with a teasing grin.
As I stepped over the threshold, I was pleasantly surprised. The living area was long and wide, mirroring the exact space taken up by the restaurant and bar below. A clean, modern kitchen and dining area were separated by half walls and columns from a sunken living room, where couches and chairs were set up in a conversational circle around a coffee table. Candles flickered inside hurricane-style holders, and two doors at the very far end were open to reveal a gray-and-white bathroom and what appeared to be a fairly large bedroom. A hallway led down the right side of the apartment toward the back.
Liam joined Bea, Lauren, and Fisher on the living room couches, where they were chatting as they sipped beer and soda from heavy-looking crystal mugs. Bea’s red curly hair was pulled back in a messy bun, as it had been ever since the rain started, and she wore a black-and-gray henley and jeans. Lauren’s short, glossy black hair was pushed back with a striped headband, and her blue Juniper Landing sweatshirt was so long it allowed only an inch of her khaki shorts to peek from under the bottom hem. Liam had shed his rain jacket to reveal a deep-burgundy T-shirt with some kind of blown-out logo on it and seriously distressed jeans. A trendy boy, definitely. Fisher was in his usual uniform of dark cargos and a light blue T-shirt so tight I could see every single one of his muscles.
“Hey, guys,” I said, handing Joaquin my soaked jacket as he closed the door behind me.
“Rory!” Lauren and Bea cheered.
“Where’s Darcy?” Fisher asked, straightening up to better see the door, as if expecting her to su
ddenly appear.
“She has a shift at the daycare with Krista. She’s coming straight from there.” I glanced over my shoulder at Joaquin. “Is Ursula home?”
He was reaching up into a high cabinet but turned to nod at the hallway. “She’s still not feeling well, so she went to bed early.”
The large metal bowl he was pulling out smacked against the top of the cabinet and let out a clang. The baskets underneath it started to spill out.
I reached up to grab the baskets before they could scatter everywhere, and he put the bowl down on the table, which was littered with bags of chips, plastic containers of dip, and some random vegetables.
“Are we having a party?” I asked. “I thought this was an initiation.”
“Is it weird?” he asked, showing a flash of uncharacteristic uncertainty. “I just thought, if I’m hosting…”
