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“Fine. Tell her that I’ll come in.”
“Annette?” she spoke into the phone. “She said she’d come in. Oh, six o’clock?” Her eyes shifted to mine in question and I nodded. “Yes, six is fine,” Tayia answered with a smile. “Okay. Bye.” When she pressed end on the call, I immediately started in on her.
“Tayia, how did Annette know I was here?”
“Oh,” Her brows pulled together as she considered my question. “I guess from Jonna. I told her that you’d moved in, she must have said something.” She shrugged, “By the way, Jonna had only nice things to say about you which is crazy because Jonna doesn’t like anybody.” Tayia laughed softly and walked away.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at how fast information travels around here,” I muttered to myself as I went to change. It was almost five thirty and I wasn’t sure how long it would take to walk to Catch from there. My poor feet were going to hate me in the morning.
When I got downstairs Blake was sitting in the living room.
“Hey!” he called out to me.
“Hi, Blake,” I replied. “I’m heading to work. See you later I guess.” When I reached the door, Blake was jogging up to me.
“Hang on, I’ll drive you.”
“No, I’m okay but thanks.”
“Harley, I know you don’t have a car and walking around the island alone isn’t safe. Yes, it’s a small place but things happen even here.” I looked into his eyes and saw nothing but sincerity. It also helped that my creep detector wasn’t picking up anything. Besides, I was about to spend the rest of the night waiting tables, my feet would welcome the reprieve.
“Sure. Thanks, Blake.” I smiled at him and he grinned while grabbing his keys.
“Tay, I’m going to run Harley to work,” he called behind him.
“’Kay,” Tayia hollered back from the kitchen.
Once outside, Blake led me to what I knew was an older model Camaro. He unlocked the passenger side and even pulled the door open for me like a true gentleman. As soon as we hit an opened stretch of road, Blake floored the gas and the engine roared as we sped off. Once I realized that Blake could handle the speed, we made small talk. I had already explained to both him and his sister that I just moved to the island from Charleston and was looking for a fresh start. Blake explained during the ride that their parents had moved back to Pennsylvania to take care of their sick grandparents and left the house for the two of them to share. He told me how Tayia was taking classes online because she didn’t want to leave the island and the closest community college was on the mainland. He seemed like a real good guy who looked out for his little sister. Minutes later we where pulling into the restaurant parking lot.
“Thanks for the ride, Blake,” I said, getting out of the car.
“What time do you get off? I’ll come back.”
“It’s okay...”
“Harley,” he warned, clearly not about to accept my refusal. “Let’s not do this. What time should I pick you up?”
“Okay, fine,” I conceded, knowing it would be dark by the time I was ready to go home. “Give me your number and I will call you.” He grinned at me and we programmed each other’s numbers into our phones. I watched Blake pull away before I turned and walked into Catch. I was greeted by Annette who thanked me a million times for coming in on such short notice. She went on and on about the drama still happening between Petey and Anna, but I didn’t hear a word. My attention was completely focused on Fox and the fact that he had immediately walked into the kitchen the moment he saw me. Things remained like that the rest of the night. He never made eye contact with me. He acknowledged my food orders and that was it. Why did that make my chest hurt?
When the night was over, I sent a text message to Blake asking him to pick me up. I busied myself with restocking in the kitchen as I waited. A noise coming from out back caught my attention, so I peeked through the window in the kitchen door to investigate. Fox was standing alone in the alleyway outside.
“Fox?” I called out timidly. He flinched a little, but he didn’t turn around.
“What do you want?” he asked with his back to me.
“For you to stop being a dick to me,” I answered. Fox snorted in response but didn’t say anything. “Can we get past this? Please?”
“Why?”
I considered his question, but honestly couldn’t come up with an answer. I just knew I didn’t want him to be mad at me anymore. Fox turned around to face me.
“I’m not trying to be a dick, Harley. It’s just that rejection kind of hurts.”
“I didn’t reject you, Fox.” I spun around in a circle, flailing my arms in exasperation. “I don’t even know what the hell I’m doing with my life right now. What right do I have to make promises to anybody?” Fox stared at me for a moment, his jaw ticking.
“So, I should just shut up and accept whatever you can offer?”
All I could do was shrug. I knew I wasn’t being fair, but I had no idea what else I could say. My life was a mess.
