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“I shouldn’t have agreed to the date so quickly. I just… I’m trying to get my mind off of someone else, you know?”
The waitress pats my shoulder. “Are you sure I can’t get you a piece of cake to go?”
Tears fill my eyes and I shake my head. I quickly sign the bill, leave a good tip, and then hurry out of the restaurant before I break down into tears.
When I get outside to my car, I climb in and rub my hands together. Turning the key in the ignition, I wait for the engine to turn over.
No luck the first try… or the second….
By the fifth try, I am fully sobbing.
What am I going to do? Grandad is at home, but he’s got his hands full with Dex. It’s freezing outside as I call Lucy. Then Pearl. No answer from either.
Seriously?
I blow on my hands and try to make a decision. It looks either I’m going to bother Grandad… or make the one phone call I really don’t want to make.
Sighing, I call the number, holding my breath.
22
Cole
I spot Sav leaning against that rusting hunk of metal she calls a car when I’m pulling up to the curb. Soft rain falls to the ground and she shudders against the weather. For some reason, she isn’t wearing a real coat.
I hop out of my vehicle and hurry to her. Night has fallen over the South Shore sky like a blanket of sparkling stars has been carelessly tossed over the whole town. Sav spots me and her expression brightens. She smiles at me.
“Cole! You came!”
My heart squeezes. I feel like I’ve just been kicked in the chest. I don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to hear those words from her lips.
“Of course I came.” I take off my coat and put it around her shoulders. It’s huge on her; she looks like a kid wearing my coat. “Why didn’t you stay in the car?” My hands button up the jacket while she’s wearing it, but I know that it’s just an excuse to touch her.
“Thanks for the warmth. It’s just as cold in the car as it is out here.”
“Why didn’t you go wait inside somewhere?”
Her cheeks turn the color of strawberries in the summertime. “Because….”
She mumbles something under her breath.
I lean down, putting my ear close to her lips. “What?”
“Auuugh!” She releases a frustrated sound. “I went on a really bad date, and I don’t want to go back in the restaurant and relive any part of the experience. It was traumatic.”
My stomach drops. I swallow.
“A date, huh?”
Sav squints at me. “Yeah. It was horrible. The worst date I’ve been on in the last year for sure.”
Looking off down the street, I try to gather my thoughts. I want to know way more about this date. But Sav is still standing here, shivering.
“Isn’t there a shop around here for ladies’ clothes? Or am I misremembering that?”
She looks behind her toward her car. Probably thinking of whether she should call for a tow or not.
“Don’t worry about the car,” I tell her. I’ll have someone come pick it up and take it to a repair shop.”
