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And three weeks later, I stood in a hospital room while my mother was diagnosed with cancer.
You know what they say:when it rains it pours.
And I’m living in a perpetual monsoon.
THE BEST PART ABOUTthe weekend is that when the bar is busy, it’s easy to distract yourself. People come in after spending the day in the sun and want to get a drink to cool off. It’s not even that hot out, but the sun can be brutal, and the ocean is still too cold to swim in.
Over the first few weeks of the summer last year, we underestimated the amount of bottled water we’d be selling. Needless to say, we corrected that for this year. At least half of our summer sales are non-alcoholic.
My mind wanders as I try to brainstorm ways to make some extra cash to cover the rise in my mom’s expenses. Turns out, I should’ve looked at that paperwork. Not that I would have had a different response to what kind of care she should receive, but I would’ve been a little more informed of what I was agreeing to. A couple grand more per month might not be a lot to some, but to this broke bar owner who is already paying almost ten grand for her room alone, it matters.
The added bill won’t be easy, but I’ll figure out a way to make it work.
“That’s a sick bike outside,” the surfer that just walked in says. “That yours?”
I nod, smiling to look friendly. “Sure is.”
“Sweet. I wanted a motorcycle, but there’s nowhere to put my board.” He extends his hand toward me. “I’m Finn.”
“Hayes,” I reply. “Yeah, surfboards and motorcycles don’t make a good team.”
“I know. Fucking sucks. But if a shark ever bites off one of my arms and I can’t surf anymore, I’m getting a bike.”
Mali looks up with a blank expression on her face. “If you’re missing an arm, how the fuck are you going to ride a motorcycle?”
He checks her out, his eyes glossing over as he realizes he has the attention of a beautiful girl. “I’m Finn. And you are?”
“Someone who doesn’t have patience for stupid.”
She goes back to flipping through her magazine like she can’t be bothered, and I’m not the slightest bit surprised by it. If I didn’t know she was hopelessly hung up on my best friend, even after he fucked it up, I’d think she’s asexual. But I’ve heard enough to know that’s not the case.
“Mali,” I say quietly as I step up next to her. “What did I tell you about insulting the customers?”
She hums. “Babes, you don’t pay me enough to bite my tongue. Actually, you don’t pay me at all.”
She’s right, we don’t. She comes over to hang out and pretends like she’s helping, when really, she’s just bored on her days off. And after everything she went through, she doesn’t trust anyone else. Not that I blame her. We all have our issues that stemmed from that summer.
Riley and Cam walk back in, laughing about something, and I don’t miss the disgusted sound Mali makes. She and Riley have never gotten along, and she doesn’t make a good attempt at hiding her disdain. At first I thought it was because Riley may have had a thing for Cam. But that wasn’t the case. Instead, it’s because Riley has a thing forme. And Laiken might be gone, but Mali’s love for her runs deep. She’ll always look out for her best friend, even as I try to tell her that Laiken has no claim on me anymore—which we both know is a fucking lie.
I watch as her lips purse when she gets an idea, and I’m afraid of where this is going.
“Riley!” Mali calls like they’re the best of friends. “This is Finn. Finn, this is Riley. You two would be great together.”
Riley looks skeptical while Finn smiles at her. “What makes you think that?”
“You’re both embarrassingly senseless.”
Cam chokes on his water while I chuckle. “Way to sugarcoat it.”
She raises her brows at me. “Do I look like Willy Wonka to you?”
God, she’s going to kill someone with her sass one day. I just hope I’m there to see it. Then again, the person might very well be me.
Riley crosses her arms over her chest and glares at Cam and me. “Are you kidding me? You’re not going to yell at her for speaking to me that way?”
Cam and I look at each other, then at Mali, who knows she could get away with just about anything in this place, and we both shake our heads, looking anywhere but back at Riley as we find busy work to do.
“Bitch,” Riley grumbles.
