Page 28 of Saints & Sailors

“So, what was the highlight of your short time in LA?” I wondered.

The sad smile on Scott’s face almost made me think the whole trip had been an utter failure for him, but then he spoke up. “Meeting your mom.” He took a break from his food and looked off at nothing in particular. “Working at the country club had always been pure hell. Those people and their kids were awful. But Mads was different.”

He was off in his own little world it seemed as he spoke of his encounter with my mother.

“Yeah,” he decided to say next as he sat up, coming back from his reverie. “Your mother was the best part of LA.”

Ironic, she was my worst memory, seeing how she shipped me off.

I didn’t want to talk about “Mads” any more. “So, you’re single?”

Scott’s brows rose as he cut more into his steak. “Uh, yeah, yeah I am.”

He needed someone, and I needed someone to distract him while I lived my life in this godawful town.

“Is Cas single?” I asked.

“Uh, yeah.” Scott poked at his steak, his forehead now creasing. “Her husband left her last year, you’d never know it, though. Cas is strong. She’s always been a fighter.”

“Would you go for it?”

Scott took a long sip of his water, taking more time to respond. “I’m much too busy for a love life, Saylor.”

“Busy? How?” Work couldn’t be that demanding at a grocery store.

“I’ve got work, hobbies, and you just came back into my life.”

Only temporarily. “Don’t use me as an excuse not to get out there. Next year I’ll be gone.”

“Geez.” Scott sat back in his seat. “You’re already thinking about leaving? You just got here. I was hoping this place would grow on ya.”

“It’s not my style.”

“It could be,” he insisted. “This place will ground you eventually.”

“I don’t need to be grounded.”

“Yes,” he disagreed. “You do.”

“Scott—”

“Sex, drugs, and alcohol isn’t the life a seventeen-year-old should be leading.”

“And what, I should sober up and just be dull?” I challenged. “Life happens, Scott. I can’t be a nun.”

“No one says you have to be. Why not make nice friends? Why not meet a nice guy?”

“A nice guy?” I repeated.

“Yeah, hey, Dreux’s a great kid,” Scott suggested.

Not happening. “He’s not my type.”

“Well you’ll meet someone else. The point, Saylor, is that you need structure. That’s what this move is about. Los Angeles has not been good for you. This place can really bring out the Saylor you truly are. You can join a club or start one, excel in school, and just leave all that bad stuff behind you.”

He didn’t know me, and yet he already had plans for me. Plans I had no intention on seeing through.

I shut him out, just like everyone else.