Page 28 of Fish Out of Water

“Yeah.”

“Did you have a good weekend?”

Jake furrowed his brow. Whatever Robbie was trying to do here by being so nice, he didn’t like it. “Good enough. What about you? Did you siphon more money out of your parents so you can keep spending all your time volunteering?” His insult fell much flatter than he would’ve liked.

“Great, you’re in a bad mood again. You know, Jake, we don’t have to chat if you don’t want to.”

“Good.”

“I’m just trying to be nice. I thought that maybe… maybe after the dog last week, you might be more open to…”

“Becoming friends?” Jake raised an eyebrow. “Aw, come on, Robbie, you know we can’t be friends. We despise each other too much for that.”

“Yeah, right.” Robbie looked down at the sand. “I know.”

For a moment, just one flickering moment, Jake actually felt a little bad for Robbie. He seemed genuinely hurt by Jake’s rejection. It was almost like he was a real person with real feelings and a real life, not some sort of floating figurehead of the town like everyone had painted him out to be.

“Do you have any friends, Robbie?”

Robbie looked stunned, like he’d just been slapped in the face. Jake hadn’t meant for the question to be mean at all, but Robbie had certainly taken it that way.

“Of course I do,” he said. “I’ve lived here my whole life. I know plenty of people.”

“No, not know them, but have actual friends in them,” Jake said. He was pushing it, and he knew it. “How many real friends do you have?”

“A few close ones—like you, I’d imagine, or anyone else my age. I’m not unique, Jake.”

Jake snorted. “Whatever, Mr. Moneybags. And you’re sure they’re not just friends with you for some certain, not unique at all, monetary reasons?” Robbie didn’t answer after several dragged-out seconds, so Jake cleared his throat and said, “We should get to work. I wanna be back home before it gets dark. Aunt Isabel’ll worry if I’m gone too long.”

“No, she won’t,” Robbie said, handing Jake a trash bag.

“She won’t,” Jake echoed, outing himself as a liar. “She’s pretty easygoing.”

“I’m aware. Remember, Jake, I know your aunt. Your family’s not an entire mystery to me.”

“Like yours is to me?”

Robbie laughed a little too harshly. “Oh, my family’s not a mystery if you know where to look. Give it another month or so, and then you’ll have heardallthe dirt on us.”

“On your parents, you mean. I’ve got my issues with you, Robbie, but you really don’t strike me as the shady type, unfortunately for me.”

Robbie glared at Jake, his lips forming a thin line. “Yes, my parents, and by extension, me. But you don’t care about all that.”

“You’re right, I don’t.”

Robbie turned around, walking a few steps away from Jake to start combing the shoreline. Jake watched him for a second or two before that annoying seed of guilt began to grow again. He coughed just loudly enough for Robbie to hear, and Robbie straightened up, keeping his back to Jake as he listened quietly.

“So people in Eventide are pretty trusting, huh?”

“Until you give them a reason not to be.”

“Did I do that at the bar?”

Robbie glanced back. “Probably not. You didn’t start that fight, even I know that.”

“Soyoutrust me?”

Robbie stifled a chuckle as he turned around fully, still protected by the stretch of sand between them. “Of course not. But Ricky Solante’s a much bigger piece of shit than you could ever dream of being. I don’t know why Safiya thinks he’s worthy of her. That girl has some of the worst taste in men I’ve ever seen. It’d be funny if it weren’t kind of sad.”