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“My job is important too, you know?” he said, a little offended. Maybe he should’ve been. I had never given his current employer the respect he did. “I’m sorry. I wish I could go, but Donald relies on me so much. I’ve been employee of the month so many times, you know?”
My mouth opened, and I intended to remind him that was because he was the only one that worked there, other than the owner, Donald, but I shut myself up. I had done enough belittling of his job recently. “Okay. Well, maybe you could accidentally start a fire.” I was kidding, of course, but he dropped his fork, his eyes wide.
“Don’t even joke about that, man. You know how easy it is for me to start fires. Nah, I can’t do any shit like that. Sorry. I wish I could go, but I’ve finally found a job I’m passionate about, you know? And I don’t wanna fuck it up.” He picked his fork back up and took another few bites.
“I get it.” I really did. I took a bite of my fish, and it tasted good, like usual, but I wasn’t hungry. “That’s fine. I guess I’ll just go by myself.”
“Why?” he asked, finishing his plate. I pushed mine over toward him, and he took it, digging into what I had left without missing a beat. “Why not ask that chick you dig so much? She might go.”
I stared at him, not knowing what to say. “Georgia?” I finally asked, as if there were another girl.
“I thought she was from Seattle. Is that in Georgia? Isn’t it in Washington?” He had already finished half of the fish I had left on my plate.
“Um, yeah. She lives in Seattle. Her name is Georgia.” I thought back to how I’d also misunderstood her and didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.
“Oh, right. Right. Okay, well ask her. You liked her, and she definitely liked you.” He shrugged.
“Why do you say that?” He had only seen us together for a few minutes.
“What’s not to like? Good-looking bazillionaire with a fancy house who’s nice enough to let her stay here? Dude.” Finished with my plate, too, he stacked them together and slid them toward me.
“I don’t know,” I said, picking them up to rinse them and put them in the dishwasher. “We haven’t talked since she left.”
“You got her number?”
Turning around, I met his eyes and nodded.
“Well, then, give her a shout. See how she’s been. It might be hard for her to get time off from work since she just went on that cruise, but why not try?” He crumpled his beer can and left it on the counter.
Once I had the dishes in the dishwasher, I took his can to put in the recycling. “She works from home.”
“Perfecto! There you go. Dude, you may as well ask her, you know? Can’t hurt. Worst she can do is say no. Best thing she can do is say yes, and you can have hot sex in your beach house on Maui. Damn, I wish I didn’t have to work, but Donald won’t give me that much time off.”
Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “Okay. I’ll think about it. Thanks, man.”
“Okay then. Well, I’m gonna get going. I just wanted to make sure you were still alive. As far as I can tell, you are. That’s cool. Come by and get me tomorrow so we can head out to the open seas, okay?” Ryan came around and patted me on the shoulder.
I appreciated his support. He might be a bit of a knucklehead, but he really did care about me. “Will do. Have a good night.” I waved as he let himself out, and then I finished my beer and threw that can away, too.
A few minutes later, I found myself sitting in the living room in front of the enormous window that looked out on the sound. The stars twinkled overhead, reflecting off the water. It was a beautiful sight. My eyes went to a picture of Kaylee that was hanging on the wall nearby. I remembered that day. She’d been so beautiful, standing in front of the snowcapped mountains, her cheeks pink from the wind.
I thought I heard a whisper of a voice, “Call her,” but knew it was my imagination. If I was going to say Kaylee wouldn’t want me to, that would be a lie. Of course, she would want me to be happy.
Sucking in a lungful of air, I pulled out my phone and navigated to her name. I moved my finger in an effort to click on it, but it was as if my finger had cold feet and wanted to leave my bride at the altar. It refused to budge.
“You’re being stupid, man,” I said. “Just call her.” But what if she didn’t want to have anything to do with me? What if she had just seen me as a fling, a fun time? She didn’t seem to be that type of girl, but what the hell did I know?
Shaking my head, I tried again to get my fingers to move, to dial her number, to hear her voice in my ear instead of just in my head. A cloud passed across the sky, obscuring the stars for a moment, making the world seem dark and dreary. Was it better to never know how she felt about me or take a chance?
16
GEORGIA
Our favorite restaurant was growing a bit crowded for the early afternoon. It was easier for me to meet Lucy for an early dinner down by where she worked than for her to come all the way over to my house, so I didn’t mind going a bit ahead of the crowds to grab us a table, but I hadn’t been expecting so many people.
Thankfully, the hostess recognized me as a regular. “Two?” she asked with a sly smile.
“Yes, Lucy will be here in a few minutes,” I told her.
