Page 20 of Fish Out of Water

“With pleasure.” Jake turned on his heel, the soft sand shifting beneath his feet, and marched away. The shoreline was long, but not nearly long enough for him to get as far away from Robbie as he wanted to be.

When the man was merely a speck on the opposite side of the beach, Jake stopped, sighed, and looked up at the clear blue sky. Then he turned on the stopwatch on his phone and got to work.

Time slipped by faster than he expected, and by mid-morning, when the beach was filling up with all sorts of people, he was ready to clock out and leave. He’d lost Robbie at some point, which was all well and good by him. He wanted nothing to do with that prick, and the longer he could avoid him, the better. Maybe, if he was lucky enough, Robbie had already left to open the bookstore, and he wouldn’t have to see him at all again today.

But, as if Mier itself had looked upon Jake and decided he needed to be put in his place once more that week, Robbie appeared from behind a stand of trees in the park.

“Fucking great,” Robbie said. “You’re still here? I thought you left an hour ago.”

“I was on the other side of the beach. I’ll be leaving as soon as you sign this paper.” Jake held out the folder he’d fetched from his car, the sheet Robbie needed to sign half-pulled out.

Robbie took the folder and a pen from Jake and scribbled his name on the line that readsupervisor’s signature. He didn’t even bother to check that Jake had entered his hours correctly. “Good riddance.”

“Same to you.”

“You’ll be back tomorrow, I take it?”

“I have to be if I want to burn through these hours.”

Robbie shook his head. “I should’ve let the cops take you back to the station. They probably would’ve fined you and let you go in the morning.”

“I can’t afford a fine,” Jake said.

“I can.”

“Well, goody for you. I’m sure Daddy would bail you out in a second if anything ever happened.”

Robbie laughed, catching Jake by surprise. “You don’t know my father at all. If I landed myself in jail, the last person I’d see is him. But I was talking aboutyourfine. I could’ve—you knowwhat? Forget it. You’ve finally had to face the consequences of your actions, and now you’re stuck with them. I bet that stings.”

Jake made to walk toward the parking lot, but Robbie matched his stride. “I don’t make it a habit of getting away with things,” Jake told him.

“Really? So you’re telling me you don’t fuck and run?”

“What?”

“The guys you try to meet everywhere you go. That’s not avoiding the consequences of a real relationship?”

“Not everyone wants a long-term relationship, asshole.”

Robbie smirked. “Nice, you’ve resorted to simple name-calling.”

“As if you haven’t,” Jake snorted.

“Only when you were a drunken fool.”

“It still counts.Asshole.”

Jake picked up his pace, leaving Robbie behind. He wasn’t proud of his childish insults, but somehow Robbie brought out the worst in him. He couldn’t even stand looking at him anymore. Howhe’d stomached kissing him when he was drunk, he couldn’t imagine. It must have been awful.

Except Jake didn’t remember it being awful at all. He remembered it being quite nice, at least in the dreamy haze of all the alcohol. If anything had ever been reason enough to never touch a drop of liquor again, that feeling right there was it.

Jake openedthe front door of Isabel’s house and was instantly greeted by the smell of roast chicken. Isabel came from the hallway, a basket of laundry in her arms.

“Oh good, you’re back,” she said, passing the basket over to Jake, who dumped its contents on the couch. “Lunch is in the kitchen, and I’ve already started working on dinner.”

“Great, I’m starving.”

“You can eat as soon as you fold that laundry.”