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Lilac’s mouth fell open atthat.
Gyu-ri immediately looked flustered. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried—it’s just, word getsaround—”
“Word gets around?” asked Lilac. “Peopleknowsomething bad about him and he still works here without a care in the world?” Lilac thought angrily of Jillian then, her sly remarks, the way she’d stared Lilac down like she was in on the filth Earl perpetuated. She thought of Christian and how he hadn’t said anything disgusting himself, but how he’d laughed at Earl crossing the line, how he’d let his eyes do some of the talking on theirown.
Then there were the comments about Earl’s assistant managers never lasting long and that fire that took turns coursing through her veins alongside ice and sadness burned her up from theinside.
Gyu-ri almost shirked back. “Just rumors,” she said. “But the guy kind of… I don’t know. I notice it more with the young women than the ones my age, but even with me, he can be belittling—sexist.”
Lilac bit her lip. Was she talking about him being a general jerk or did she know he’d crossed the line from jerk to assaulter on at least oneoccasion?
“You’re not the first girl to lead me on.”It had to have been on more than oneoccasion.
“I…” Something caught in Lilac’s throat. The fire died down and she didn’t even know why. Her voice choked and she shook a little. Her phone buzzed then—just a notification that her mom had liked her Silly Sandgrouse mascot picture on Instagram—but she used it as an excuse. “I should get back,” shesaid.
“I’m sorry if I said anything to worry you,” said Gyu-ri. “I just… wanted you to be on your guard around Earl.”Too late for that, thought Lilac. Gyu-ri gave Lilac a faltering smile. “I’m sure it’ll befine.”
Is that what everyone thought about all those other women in the job before me?Lilac raged then, both at people like Gyu-ri—as nice as she seemed to be trying to be—and even at the people in her own position before her. Why hadn’ttheysaid anything? Why was it up to Lilac? Didn’t they know how scary it felt to face this alone, to not have anyone to back up her story—to go up against a man who’d been in a position of power at her employer for years, if notdecades?
“I’m just saying you can talk to me if you need to,” said Gyu-ri.
“Thanks,” muttered Lilac. “I’ll email you with my proposal for dates and goals to meet along the way.” She shuffled all her papers together, not once meeting Gyu-ri’s eyes as she made her way to thedoor.
She didn’t know if she would have cried or screamed if she’d looked at her again justthen.
Chapter Twelve
Nolan spent almost allof his classes Friday with his mind focused elsewhere. He’d barely seen Lilac all week. Sure, she’d exchanged a few flirtatious texts with him over the past few days, but after that photo op on Tuesday, he hadn’t seen her more often than when he’d caught her racing though the halls on occasion. He was usually in his Silly suit and couldn’t say anything—though he made sure to wave when he did catch her eye—but he’d never gone to find her when on break or out of the suit. For one thing, she was sure to be in the proximity of Earl, with whom Nolan, like most anyone at Tent Tildy, preferred not to share the same air space. Even from their limited interactions, he knew he didn’t like the guy, and he was in no mood to remind the man of what Nolan had said to him the week before. Besides that, she always seemed too busy and he hadn’t wanted to get her in trouble. Assuming his well-intentioned confrontation with the boss hadn’t already done justthat.
Or maybe he’d just been chicken. But how do you flirt with a girl with your sleazy boss, potentially your little brother, and a bunch of cartoon animalsaround?
Today, though, he wasn’t anywhere near that tapir. And one of his classes had been canceled—which meant that he’d have plenty of time to drive down to Cocoa Beach, have dinner, enjoy some sun, and drive the hour back home before his dad really missed him. A once-weekly babysitter picked up Landon from Tildy’s Tots on Fridays after Willow got out of school and stayed with them until their dad gothome.
It was now or fucking never and if she saidno, so what? He’d still have the beach to look forward to. She couldn’t be the only fish in thesea.
Still, as his sweaty palms reached for his phone—despite the lecture he was supposed to be paying attention to—he knew that was something he was just telling himself. He’d force himself to enjoy the beach regardless—it’d been too long since he’d last gone—but it just wasn’t going to be the same withouther.
Have plans for tonight?he typed.What do you think about heading to thebeach?
* * *
Nolan paced backand forth on the spot he’d claimed with a beach towel from the back of his trunk that had seen better days. He regretted remembering to pack swim trunks this morning—he had a hankering to go swimming somewhere, even before he knew class was canceled—while forgetting to pack a better towel. There was no way he was going to stop home after class, though, in case he got caught up with the kids. He’d never leave intime.
He had a good view of the parking lot he’d told Lilac to use; he’d offered to pick her up but didn’t blame her at all for wanting to take her own car. She didn’t know him well, and they’d never been on an officialdate.
Before thisevening.
If this even counted as an officialdate.
He’d have to clarify that at somepoint.
His nerves were getting the better of him now. Cocoa Beach was only an hour east of Orlando proper, pretty much straight down SR 528. Most people had GPS. There was no way she’d get lost, but if it was her first time driving therealone…
He stopped, gazing over the ocean, and took a deep breath. He wasn’t her keeper. She was probablyfine.
He still didn’t know the full story behind last Sunday, but according to both Gavin and Frankie, it had been an oddity. Hell, he could understand feeling sad or angry enough to let loose like that. He had on occasion, before he’d turned twenty-one even—when the heartache of his mother’s passing had been too much to bear. But he’d soon seen that he had people who relied on him and he didn’t have time to dwell on heartache often. Not in such a potentially destructiveway.
But he’d binged at friends’ houses. Poor Lilac had done it alone. If she wasn’t interested in dating him, he at least wanted her to know he would be her friend. She wouldn’t need to get to that point again—do something like that without calling someone first—not here inOrlando.
