by Nikki Bloom
“Dude, you’ve never flirted so hard with a waitress. What is this? College?” Evan didn’t sound nasty or judgmental, but I still shot him a hard look over the corner of the table. He held up his hands in surrender, grumbling unintelligibly to himself as he picked up his fork.
“...Right.” Oops. I rubbed my jaw and neck and tried to shirk the weight off my shoulders. Clearing my throat roughly, I turned my attention to my appropriately proportioned steak and lobster and unrolled my silverware. “What were we talking about again?”
“The odds of you getting her number.” Irene’s disapproval was clear, and I frowned under tightly knit brows. I cocked my head quizzically, but she tore her eyes off me to sip her lemon water.
“The odds are high.” Breaking the tension, Evan reached over to punch my shoulder lightly with a shit-eating grin. “All work and no play makes Carter an uncomfortable boy.”
5
Madeline
Wolfing down the shrimp salad that Carter unceremoniously declared he wasn’t interested in, my eyelids fluttered closed in bliss. Sitting at the opposite end of the table of my patrons, I snuck out my phone to check my texts.
Really, I was so lucky that Michael was a good kid. He texted me every half hour, and my lips tilted up in a small smile. The time read 8:47pm, and I flopped my head down until my chin brushed my chest. Shoveling another huge forkful between my teeth, I texted Michael to remind him not to play video games all night.
“Eh... he’s not going to school tomorrow...” Mumbling to myself, I deleted my text and simply tucked my phone back into my apron. I’d taken him and Sophia out of school early only to dump them, alone, at my apartment, with the promise my neighbor would poke her head in every once and a while. “He deserves a little stress relief.”
“Everything alright?” I glanced up, flames licking my cheeks when Carter caught my eyes curiously. Clearing my throat, I only nodded and hoped he wouldn’t press. This night was strange enough, and my shoulders sagged in relief when he turned back to his partner. For a long moment, I scanned the other side of the party room.
Obviously, Carter and Evan were more than comfortable with each other, but Irene looked a little out of place and isolated. She’d obviously been brought on for this particular project they were doing together.
Stepping into my apartment, I blinked hard to clear my mind of the downright strange night I’d had. The moment that familiar creak in the floor hit my ears, my whole body sagged, and I rubbed my face roughly. Untying my apron as I shuffled over to the sofa, I frowned slightly as I peeked over the back. Pulling Sophia’s Princess blanket over her, I propped myself on my forearms on the cushion.
She looked so much like my dad that it was almost painful to look at her, and I reached to push back her short, deep brown hair. In the light, it shimmered red, and Sophia hated it long. My smile widened as memories floated behind my eyes of all those times she’d cut her own hair before my mom gave up and let her keep it short.
“Maddie?” My head snapped up, and Michael blushed furiously as he took his wireless headset off. I didn’t have the energy to be mad at him for gaming until almost two in the morning, and his deer-in-the-headlights look intensified the longer I stared at him.
“I’m sorry, Mikey. If you’re gonna stay up, though, you gotta suffer being awake later.” His pudgy face relaxed in relief, and I straightened to cast him a stern look. “You do the dishes?”
“Yeah. Ms. Tan gave me five dollars to do hers, too.” Nodding tiredly, I rounded the sofa to carefully pick up Sophia, and I winced at how my knees creaked dangerously. “I’ll open the door.”
“Trevor invited me over on Sunday.” Shuffling my way around with a 70-pound child through a slender doorway, I ignored Michael to focus on not falling. “I told him to ask his mom to call you.”
“Yeah.” Carefully tucking Sophia into bed, I huffed as a knot formed in my lower back. Blowing out a slow breath, I backed out of Sophia’s room to shut the door and turn to my little brother. “If you want to go, you should. Trevor’s an alright kid.”
“I...I don’t really...wanna go.” My brows rose at that, and Michael’s face tinged red up to his ears. “He said that his mom said that I’m a bad influence because Mom and Dad left, but he doesn’t think I am. It sucked even though he was trying to be nice.”
“Well...then don’t go. Or he can come with us on Sunday, and I’ll tell his mom to maybe not be judgmental where Trevor can hear her.” Irritation tainted my voice, and I cupped Michael’s head to pull him to my chest. “What did you say?”
“I said I was glad he was my friend.” His light, pre-pubescent boy voice cracked a little, and I clenched my jaw hard. Wrapping his arms around me, Michael exhaled a heavy sigh as he slowly regained his composure. Stepping away from me, he pulled his headphones over his ears again, as if that was enough to keep the trouble away. “I’ll go to bed soon.”
“Yeah, we got stuff to do when the sun comes up, but I’m not going out until, like, two o’clock.” Nodding, Michael retreated back to his bedroom, and I leaned against the corner of the hallway and closed my eyes. “God...”
Who says that about a kid? If I wasn’t so damn tired, I’d be raging. Who the fuck does that bitch think she’s kidding? Talking about Michael being a bad influence when she’s the one that was stumbling drunk at parent-teacher night!
“Okay—” Inhaling sharply through my nose, I shook my head furiously of my negative thoughts. Wandering back over to the sofa, I pulled off the cushions and yanked out the bed tucked inside with a grunt. “Just what I need... some Real Housewives wannabe with a Karen haircut and fake Gucci sunglasses judging us.”
Bitterness stained my tongue as I walked over to the closet, and I grabbed the doorknob before slumping heavily against the thin wood. Banging my forehead against the flimsy barrier, I ground my brain against it in the hopes that everything would just swirl together.
“Ah-h...” Gone were the days when I could crawl into my bed without having to make it first. Banging my head again, and again, and again, I ground my teeth hard as my memories threatened to overwhelm me. My eyes stung, and I sniffed harshly as a hard shiver lurched my shoulders. “Why me...?”
That was dumb. I knew why...
“Hopefully tomorrow will be less exciting than today.” Yanking the door open, I blinked hard and shook my head hard. “Probably not, though.”
Tossing a pillow and my blanket onto the pullout sofa, I turned to head into the kitchen. This dinky apartment was so small; just a few steps, and I was in another room. I missed my bedroom at home. I missed the carpet in the living room, and I missed the backyard we used to have.
Grabbing an M&M ice cream sandwich out of the freezer, I licked my lips heavily on my way back to my makeshift bed. Plopping heavily onto my ass for the first time in 12 hours, I put my feet up and winced at the tightness in my legs.
“Ugh-h... I deserve this.” Unwrapping my beautiful, freezing cold sandwich, I smiled at myself as I hunkered down.
My smile drooped a little as I glanced around the living room, taking a generous bite of my sandwich. I could afford somewhere bigger, forsaking my savings for my own room and floors that didn’t creak. In less than eight months, I went from a big house with two loving parents and two snot-nosed siblings to...this.
“This should’ve been mine and Savannah’s first apartment together.” My mumble was soft, and I flopped my head back to gaze at the popcorn ceiling. No television, only internet— the cheap one. Take care with the lights, but heat and hot water was free. Basic school supplies, and thank God my siblings weren’t in high school so I wouldn’t have to deal with class trips.
One day, Savannah and I were planning on making this place a beautiful, happy place together. Now that I was here, I was sleeping on a fucking pullout couch.
“I guess it’s gotta be good enough.” Grabbing the remote to the tv, I winced when the device flickered on. Somehow managing to haul my butt out of bed, I flicked off the
light and threw out my wrapper. Now, I understood what my mom meant by ‘it’s an inner debate.’ Do I stay up and relax, or get the sleep I desperately need? An existential question for the ages.
6
Carter
“What do you think of this?” Turning over my pad to show Evan, I arched a brow quizzically as his drew together. “Not fancy, but I don’t want anything too loud in this town. People don’t come here for beautiful pools on a high-rise right on the beach.”
“It’s a cute archway, Carter.” Satisfaction slithered through my veins, and I nodded as I glanced over the top of the pad. “Last night, you tipped the waitress a lot. You draw this archway for her, too?”
“She earned it, and no.” Flipping my pad around again, I cocked my head at my drawing. The archway was more like a moon-gate, with jagged, thin, square stones that met up at the top. “It does remind me a little of her. Just enough not to crumble. A feat of structural integrity. You don’t think so?”
“How can it remind you of her when you literally took inspiration from her? Jeez, Carter. You’re becoming embarrassingly attached to someone you met once at her job.” I inhaled deeply, the fresh, salty air flooded my lungs, and I cocked my head back over the bench. Pursing my lips thinly, I brushed the edge of the large page as my best friend sighed lightly. “You usually hate tipping waitresses that flirt with you and hang over the table and shit.”
“Well, I gave her a tip I thought she deserved based on her service, compounded by what I knew about the entirety of her shift. I liked that she wasn’t sloppy about the flirting and didn’t do it until I started the ball rolling.” In the back of my head, I could picture Madeline growing more confident as the night went on, her banter becoming more witty and edgy. “Plus, she’s hot. I didn’t get her number, but she was obviously happy with the way the night ended. I’ll take that.”
“Yeah, she does have a set on her. She probably didn’t expect a tip going into it is my guess. There’s plenty of horror stories about rich people so disconnected and shit they find the tiniest bullshit to excuse themselves from a tip. I’m sure she thought, ‘rich developer? Guess I’ll work four hours for less than ten bucks.’” I couldn’t help but chuckle at Evan’s high-pitched tone even as my lips twisted in a frown. “Man, that was some good food the other night, though. She said revolving doors don’t work here, so we’d have to find a way to compete.”
“We’ll be fine. We won’t need to compete if we source out, and if we do it right, we can get a great deal on great service. I’m gonna approach them— those old snow birds that own the House on the Pier.” I was impressed by the food, the service, the craft beer... there was no reason not to send out feelers if the couple was as old as Madeline inferred. She worked gruelingly, but she didn’t seem to mind it. There wasn’t that lingering air of hostility around the waitresses. Which only meant that aside from a boss, who wasn’t that bad comparatively, Madeline was happy to work there.
“Let’s get back. I’m sure Irene is upset we left her behind.” Closing my drawing pad, I stood up to stretch my legs as Evan sniggered to himself. “That’s what she gets for sleeping in.”
“She didn’t ‘sleep in’... she stayed up all night drinking for some reason, so she didn’t go to sleep until sunrise. That isn’t a good sign. We brought her on for this, and I’ll kick her right the fuck off if it becomes an issue. Especially if that was her trying to be discreet about it.” I tucked my pad under my arm as I spoke, aggravation thickening my tone. “If she can’t keep her personal problems out of the way, I’d rather she showed it now rather than when we’re three properties’ deep.”
“I agree. I’ll keep a closer eye on her and let her know why. She’s a power performer. Her job is literally to whip businesses into shape or build them up. She came highly recommended, so I expected a problem of some naughty variety—”
“Naughty variety? She’s an alcoholic, Evan. That’s just sad. Still...” Trailing off as the humor of the phrase faltered under the weight of the topic, I shook my head a bit. “You’re right that it’s not unexpected. The thought crossed your mind that we could’ve gone for someone with something to prove, right? She’s “highly recommended,’ and she knows it.”
“Yeah, yeah. I knew the risk, but we only just got here Thursday... Anyway, today is beautiful. This is a pretty town.” When I breathed, the sea air rushed up my nostrils, but it was different than California or Texas or Florida. There was a crispness to this atmosphere. Just down the dunes were lapping waves, and every beach was different. “Maybe I’ll buy a place here. It’d be a nice change of pace from hotels and planes.”
“Are you gonna try to get Madeline to hook up with you? She put up with a lot, so I wonder if she’s got a kid or something. She got pretty defensive when you asked.” Discomfort slithered between my ribs at that, and I reached to rub the back of my neck roughly. Evan didn’t mean to come off as a prick, but... “I bet she’d be down for a quickie every once and a while, but kids complicate things.”
“Watch out! Watch out! I can’t stop!” The high-pitched squeal from behind us gyrated my ears, and I twisted as a little boy came barreling down the causeway on a skateboard. Panic turned his face red, his arms flailing around as he came closer and closer. “Move out the way!”
Before I could turn around fully, this kid slammed into my side, and I stumbled back as I kept us both from tumbling into the sand. My pad flopped to the floor, and I turned on my heel as the kid’s skateboard went flying into the air. He was panting, his heart beating so hard I felt it rattle up my arm.
“You’re good, kid. You okay?” Planting him on the concrete, I held his shoulders as dazed eyes wandered around before finally finding mine. “You alright?”
“Uh— uh, yeah... T-thank you. I—I’m not good at it.” My lips quirked up at that, and he flushed a deep, dark red as I clapped his shoulders. “Yeah. I’m good. Thank you. A lot.”
“Hey—your board snapped.” Evan held up both parts of the now ruined skateboard, and the poor kid’s face crumbled. Dull, green eyes widened, and he paled to reveal a thick smattering of freckles on his face.
“Aw, man! I’m so dead!” His voice broke in panic, and my cheek twitched when he snatched the board from Evan. “Crap—crap...”
“Where’d you get this board, anyway? I didn’t see any skate shop or anything down nearer to the boardwalk.” It was just a plain skateboard, black, typical of what a kid would get, and I cocked my head. Evan practically oozed excitement that shone in his tone, and the kid huffed a little as he threw a thumb over his shoulder.
“Down that way. It’s a waterboard shack, but they sell skateboards and stuff. I’d show you...”
“You’ll do no such thing!” For a second, I got that feeling— that sense of ‘oh shit’ when my mom caught me doing something bad. The hairs on the back of my neck bristled, and my head whipped up as the kid whirled around with a shocked squeak. Madeline’s fiery hair shimmered in the sun as she skidded to a stop, panting, her face flushed from running. “Mikey, are you okay?”
Surprise rose my brows as a second child popped up next to Madeline, smoothly coming to a stop on her own skateboard. They were obviously related, all pale, all redheads to a degree, and Mikey let out a nervous laugh as he nodded. Madeline huffed loudly, and I licked my teeth a little when she flipped her hair back. It was a lot longer than I thought it would be.
“I am really sorry, I—” Bright eyes met mine, recognition flashing in them, and I waved Madeline’s apology off. “I remember you. Um—Carter, right?”
“Yes. I’m flattered I made a strong impression, Madeline.” Smiling when she tinged red around her cute, little ears, I reached to grab my drawing pad and swipe off the sand. “I was hoping to bump into you, actually. Do you have a moment to talk?”
“Well, we’re on our way to this parking lot up the road. Looks like you’re gonna have to find something else to do, though, Mikey.” Her eyes narrowed on the kid, a frown dragging down he
r face. “You should know better than to take off like that.”
“I was just asking him about that. Can I tag along? I haven’t skated since high school, but if it’s okay with you...” Evan shouldered his way in front of me excitedly, and I shook my head a little as Madeline arched a slender brow quizzically. “Seeing this kid reminded me of the first time I skateboarded.”
“Do you know any tricks?” the little girl piped up, and I saw the moment Madeline realized she couldn’t say ‘no.’ Satisfaction bubbled in my chest like hot tar when she relented with a sigh, and the little girl squeaked with glee. “You can show me some tricks! I’m better at skating than Mikey—”
“No, you’re not! I won the race!” Ignoring the argument that ensued, I walked over to Madeline to hold out my hand, and she shook it with a work-hardened palm. Rubbing the inside of her wrist with my fingertip, a smirk tilted my lips when she sucked in a sharp breath.
“How is your Sunday going? Potential hospital trip aside.” I leaned in, still holding her hand, and Madeline blinked hard. For the briefest fraction of a second, she looked about ready to cry, and concern knit my brows before she shook her head.
“I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” Releasing my hand, Madeline cleared her throat roughly, and I rocked back on my heels. “I guess we can backtrack to the store... come on. Sophia, don’t go too far ahead.”
7
Madeline
“What did you want to talk about?” I glanced over at Carter as we sat on a large block of concrete keeping carts from the deserted lot. He was so hot without all that suit fabric hiding him, and my heart fluttered when he met my gaze.