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“Alex, I can’t ask you to uproot your life for me and my clumsy ass.”
“I can at least come check in on you during the day. I work remotely, it’s really not a problem at all.” She smiled again, that sweet, but knowing smile, and exchanged a look with the doctor. They were winning the argument. I knew it.
“What about evenings? There’s no one else at all?”
“Doc, I just moved here. You and Alex are literally the only people I know. Well, besides my landlord, but he’s elderly, I certainly can’t ask him to check on me.”
“Who’s your landlord?”
“Ah, Bobby Hennessy. Do you know him?”
“Of course.”
“We know everyone.”
They spoke at the same time. I suddenly felt like I had fallen into one of those small town Hallmark movies I watched every Christmas.
“This place really is different from the city.”
Alex patted my knee. “It sure is.”
two
SAWYER
The roarof the bike vibrated through my body, straight to the tips of my fingers. Just the way I liked it. Coming off a closing shift at the bar always made me wired. Riding my Harley normally did the same, but at the end of the night, with the salt air rushing past me, it had the opposite effect. A few minutes of calm to settle over me on the way home.
My apartment was a short drive from the Anchorage, where I worked as the bar manager. I loved my job, was passionate about hospitality. Mostly because it was the only thing I ever felt good at. I might not be the friendliest guy around, but I could make a fucking perfect drink. I had an encyclopedic knowledge of liquors and recipes, and used that to work my way up to a stable position. And I loved it. I loved the atmosphere, I loved the people I worked with. But damn if it wasn’t exhausting sometimes.
Some nights I drove out of my way just to spend a little extra time on my bike. Tonight wasn’t one of those nights. As pumped up as I was from the long shift, my body ached and I was ready to smoke my one cigarette of the day and take a hot shower.
I pulled off the main road onto the gravel drive that winded up the hill to my apartment. I had majorly lucked out getting this rental, and I knew it. I couldn’t help but remember it every time I drove up the hill and saw the ocean spread out before me.
One of my long-time patrons, Mr. Hennessy, had offered me the place to rent for a good deal. The man was one of the best men I’d ever known, but he also happened to be about two hundred years old, and as such, not able to manage stairs anymore. One day, he’d walked right into the Anchorage and told me to come help move all his shit downstairs.
When I asked why, he just responded “How else are you gonna fit your shit in?”
He’d known I’d been looking for a new place and just like that, I’d gotten the keys to one of the best rentals in town. The man was too kind for his own good, but I also think he liked having someone around to keep track of. So I did my best to bother him as much as possible. Which in turn, made me feel better. Because lord knew what would happen if he didn’t have anyone to talk to.
I revved the engine up the last part of the hill and came to a stop at the back of the house. The staircase to the top apartment was on the side of the house, but I liked to park in the back to stay out of Bobby’s way.
But at the moment, that didn’t seem likely, as I glanced up to see him traipse toward me, waving his hands in the air.
“Turn that damn thing off,” he cried out.
I hit the kill switch and dropped the kickstand.
“What the hell are you so worked up about?” I asked him, dismounting the bike and grabbing my dinner from the top box behind the seat.
“You’re making all that racket with this bike and we have a traumatic brain injury going on. The doc said no loud sounds.”
A lead ball dropped in my stomach. “A brain injury? What the hell is going on, are you okay? Why are you out of bed?” I hadn’t seen Bobby in a while since I’d been working overtime the past couple of weeks. Why hadn’t he told me about this?
“Not me, you idiot. Hannah.”
“Hannah.” My split-second reaction was confusion, but a moment later, realization hit. “The new neighbor.” I looked across the driveway to the small cottage that sat on the cliff about thirty yards away. The house was dark, but that wasn’t exactly a surprise for two in the morning.
“Yeah, the new neighbor.” He bonked me on the head with a newspaper he must have grabbed from his back pocket. “If you’d have been around the past couple weeks, you’d know her.”
