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I figure my only other option is to try Henderson’s.
This might be kind of outrageous, but if I’m going to talk to Leah—which I desperately want to do—then I figure my next best chance of getting to do so is by running into her again like I had there.
So, I block out an entire day. I don’t even go to the office or to disc golf.
I head to Henderson’s when they open—which is nine in the morning for some ridiculous reason—and I sit at the bar all damn day. She had seemed like such a regular when she was here before, so she has to come back in eventually. I’ll stay here all day, every day until she does, if I have to.
“It’s not usually like you to be in here this long,” Jane notices. I’ve been pacing myself on the alcohol, at least. This is only my fifth beer and second shot, and I’ve been here all day.
“Just kind of tough being at home right now,” I tell her. I always sit at the bar when I come in, so I’ve gotten pretty close with Jane.
“Yeah, I get that…” Jane trails off. She’s shining some glasses with a clean white towel. “But your entire body is facing the door, and you keep staring at it with a really intense look on your face.”
“So?”
I’m only partially listening. I’m still waiting for Leah to show up.
“So, you’re obviously waiting for someone?”
Damn, she has gotten to know me too well in the short few weeks that I’ve been coming here.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe. I’m not trying to get my hopes up.”
She checks her watch and looks back at me. “Brennan, you’ve been here forninehours. I am going to go on a limb and say you definitely do have your hopes up.” She chuckles a little but is also giving me an incredulous stare.
I sigh. Maybe I should leave, but I’m just worried that the second I do is when she’s going to walk in. I owe it to Derek to figure out what’s happening around here. I want to know why people are saying these things about him.
* * *
It’seleven o’clock when I finally give up and decide to call it a night. I pay my tab, which has racked up considerably because I got hungry and needed to eventually eat.
Jane gives me a sympathetic head shake, and I wave her goodbye and head to the exit.
When I put my coat on and step out into the freezing cold air, there she is.
Leah Olson. She just hopped out of a rideshare and is heading toward the entrance. Heading toward me. She likes to look down when she walks, so she nearly collides with me before she looks up and realizes who the person standing in front of her is.
She gives me a startled, horrified look like I’m the last person in the world she wants to run into. I don’t like it, and I don’t understand it.
“Leah, hey,” I start.
She turns and looks back at her rideshare as it drives away, and I get the feeling that she was hoping she could just climb right back inside of it.
“Brennan.”
I scratch the back of my head. “Uh, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you these past couple of weeks,” I say. “I was hoping to talk to you about something.”
She swallows audibly, takes a deep breath, and raises her chin up a little bit.
“I’ve heard the news, Brennan,” she admits, “and if it’s okay with you, I don’t want to talk to you.”
She goes to step around me, but I block her path.
I don’t like the way it makes her look… afraid of me.
She recoils and steps back.
“I don’t understand,” I say to her. “What have I ever done to you? I only want to ask you some questions about it. You dated Derek in high school.”
