AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” I say.
“You’d think you haven’t eaten in a week,” she chuckles.
“I’m saving some of it for later!”
“So none to share, huh?” She puts her hands on her hips, and I stammer some nonsense syllables before she cracks into a laugh. “I’m kidding — get whatever you want. I’ll have two almond croissants and a lemon slice, please.”
The cashier barely even looks at us as he grabs our goods, carrying that dead-inside look that so many service people share. My father always used to remark loudly in front of that kind of worker, wondering why they didn’t try harder to smile when their jobs were so easy. I never had that kind of job, but I deal with enough people now to know how annoying they are.
I make sure to add to Candice’s tip when we leave, ignoring the way she glares at me. “Let’s go to the lake,” I say, getting ahead of whatever comment she’s going to make. To my relief, she doesn’t protest.
The breeze is stronger when we get to the shoreline, balancing the warm midday sun with endless ripples in the water that crash as tiny waves. As soon as we start walking, I open my bag of pastries and take out a cinnamon bun. My mouth is actually watering at how good it smells.
“You know,” I say around my mouthful, “I have a brother.”
“Really?” Candice says, licking her lips that are covered in flaky crumbs.
“Yeah. Mikey.”
“Michael Fletcher the second,” says Candice with an edge of contempt. No one else has ever understood why Mikey and I don’t really get on, but she might. She’s already closer than anyone else.
“He’s two years older than me. Works overseas now. He was the head of an entire splinter arm of Fletcher Tech, but fortunately he split off from us a while ago to do his own thing.”
“Fortunately?” Candice asks, taking another bite of her croissant.
I shrug. “Mikey was always better than me, and Dad never let us forget it. It was always, ‘Oh, Aiden, why aren’t you running a business empire at school like your brother was at sixteen?’ and whatever. He wouldn’t have let Fletcher Tech get into this mess.” I kick a rock bitterly, watching as it bounces into the lake with a splash.
Candice touches me gently on the arm. “Hey, don’t. You said your dad left it in a bad way, right?” I nod, not trusting myself to say anything else without a barb. “So, how could Mikey have done anything different to you? He might be good but there’s no way he’s a miracle worker.”
“Thanks… I think?” I’m pretty sure that’s a compliment. Candice just smiles gently, casting her eyes down to the ground.
We walk in silence for a while, listening to the water and birds until she asks quietly, “You really think you’re no good?”
I make a strained noise, any words I could say dying in my throat. We pause and stare out over to the houses and trees on the other side of the lake, tiny like a model railway. Other people living their lives. “I’ve always thought you deserved my job more than I do.”
“Really?”
“Cross my heart. You’re right to think I only got here through inheritance. God knows why Mikey didn’t take over — well, I knowexactlywhy. He’s hanging out with princes in Dubai sitting on his own little empire; there’s no way he’d want to come back to Olympus and go down with a sinking ship.” I shove my hands in my pockets, the taste of bile in the back of my throat. I shouldn’t have said any of that. It makes me look like a whining kid.
Instead of agreeing with me outright, though, Candice loops her arm around mine and steps close. “I wouldn’t change a thing. You betraying me meant I got to make Mettie’s and some of the best friends I’ve ever had. In a way, I guess I’m grateful for what you did. It led us here.”
“Me neither,” I say quietly. “Change it, I mean. I wouldn’t. I never stopped thinking about you, all this time. I think I could have loved you then, if you’d let me.”
“And now?” she asks, looking past me to stare out into the lake, her arm still around mine.
I take a shallow breath. Suddenly there isn’t enough air in the world to breathe. I’ve never been as anxious in my life as I am around her. She makes my heart burn like it’s about to set on fire. “I think I still could.”
She smiles again but says nothing. But she also doesn’t let go.
We walk in silence for a little longer, then the conversation turns into commenting on a weird duck splashing about like it’s about to drown, and we don’t revisit any topics any deeper than that. It’s good, I suppose — it means I don’t have a chance to screw this up.
But it does leave me wondering. If she doesn’t have feelings for me, why is she still here?
CHAPTER27
CANDICE
Idon’t want to, but we have dinner at the hotel that evening. As predictably as clockwork, June appears out of nowhere as the server brings us our starters. “Hi, guys,” she says, her singsong tone matched with a playful twinkle in her eyes. “How’s it going?”
