Manservant

by Shari J. Ryan

“I’m a horrible person.”

  “You didn’t really cheat on him, did you?”

  She pulls her head back, looking me square in the eyes. “No, I didn’t cheat.”

  “Then why did you say you did, and what could possibly make you a horrible person?”

  Jade drags her finger beneath her eye, wiping away a falling tear. “I’m only twenty-two, and I’m not ready to commit to someone for the rest of my life. God, the rest of my life is like…I don’t know, I hope seventy more years or something. That’s a long freaking time to be with someone who says things like ‘yipes,’ and ‘holy moly.’ I just, I have cold feet so I broke it off.” I reach behind me for the box of tissues on the milk crate she’s using as a night stand. She takes a tissue and continues, “Well, actually, I told him I cheated on him. I figured he wouldn’t want to talk things out and convince me to change my mind if I said that.”

  Holy crap. Jade and I tell each other everything, and she left this out of every conversation we’ve had over the past month. “Is he okay?” For some reason, I feel worse for Chip than I do for Jade at the moment. It’s one thing to break up with someone, but it’s another to break up with someone because you cheated. “You know, if you talked to me, I probably could have helped you come up with a very different reason for breaking things off, one that didn’t include you sounding like a sleazy girl.”

  “He’s fine,” she responds quickly. “It was like he seemed relieved, which just makes this all worse. He wasn’t even jealous or upset. Even if I had really cheated, he wouldn’t have cared.”

  “Maybe that’s what he wanted you to think. People do hide their feelings, you know?” Considering this is one of the most serious conversations Jade and I have had over the years, I can’t begin to imagine what is going through her head right now.

  “I’m selfish,” she says. “As soon as the words came out and I saw his lack of reaction, I felt like I had made a huge mistake, but it was too late. What was I supposed to do? Tell him I was just kidding, testing him to see how much he loves me? It was over. I think it was meant to be over. God, can you imagine, I could have possibly ended up divorced before turning twenty-five. I’d have this black mark on my relationship status for the rest of my life before I should have even considered settling down with someone. I should never have accepted the ring or told him I wanted to marry him. I can hardly live with myself sometimes, never mind a man who forgets to put the toilet seat down and likes to eat fish every night.” It sounds like she’s taken the month to come up with reasons why she shouldn’t be hurting. There was an in-between choice, which would include pushing back the wedding date, but I’m sure she considered the thought and bringing that up right now won’t help.

  “This is why you came out here for the summer, isn’t it?” She told me it was to save money for their wedding, but now it looks as if she was running away.

  “Originally, I told him I needed some time to think, but I couldn’t leave him wondering, so I said what I said before I left.”

  “If you needed time, you needed time.” I still would have left the cheating part out, but I’m guessing she’s figured that out by now.

  “I still love him, Jules. That’s the worst part about this. I was just scared.” I figured that was the case, which explains her behavior.

  “Drinking isn’t going to make that go away.” I stand up, pulling her with me. “You know that right?”

  “I just want to have fun right now. So, have fun with me, okay?”

  I grab the dress she’s lending me and nudge her to the side as I make my way into her hairspray and burnt-hair-infused bathroom.

  It doesn’t take long to make myself up. It’s why I like to keep my hair at chin-length. Within five minutes, I flip my ends into different directions and add a little product to give it the rocker chick messy look, instantly transforming myself from nanny into party-girl.

  “Do you need shoes?” Jade asks as I shut off the lights in the bathroom.

  “Nah, I’ll be okay with my flats.”

  Rather than respond, she skips over to me and tugs at the ends of my hair, admiring it as if she’s looking for a piece out of place. “I like the dark roots and the bleached chunks. It’s very surferish—and you.”

  “My hair has looked like this for two years,” I remind her.

  “Well, now you fit in,” she says through a teasing laugh.

  “You’re dragging me to a place called Lovers Inn for dinner?” I ask as we enter through the door with a glowing heart hanging in the front window.

  “You love me, don’t you?” Jade and all her quirkiness can’t be taken down, unless you’re her ex-fiancée.

  The restaurant doesn’t look much like an inn. In fact, it’s more bar than restaurant. We walk to the end, finding two stools between the side windows and the rounded corner of the bar.

  Within a minute of settling down onto the stools, a waiter reaches between Jade and me, handing us each a menu. “Well, if it isn’t the girl who can’t swim.”

  His voice and accent are familiar, and his joke is as mortifying as it made me feel so early this morning. I swivel around on my stool, careful to keep my knees pinned together in this tight mini dress.

  “Sterling,” I counter. “I thought you were a visitor?” And a surfer.

  “Need to make money somehow, eh? The restaurant needs summer help, and I’m here every summer to help.” His lips curl into his charming dimples that could make any woman blush.

  “So you’re a surfer by day and waiter by night?” I ask, feeling Jade’s fingernails dig into my knee, which she’s now grabbing.

  “Jules here has always wanted to learn how to surf,” Jade interrupts. “Are you really a surfer?”

  “I am, yeah,” he says, chuckling . . . probably at the weirdness Jade and I are conjuring.

  “Oh! You should teach Jules,” Jade continues.

  “Jules,” he says, enunciating the shortened part of my name, “must learn how to swim before she learns how to surf.”

  My hand is over my eyes, totally embarrassed. This conversation may be between the three of us, but I counted at least three pairs of other patrons’ eyes staring with wonder as the words continued to flow between Jade and Sterling.

  Finally, there is silence between the two of them, and I peek through my fingers, hoping the conversation has shifted, but no such luck, of course. They’re both still staring at me. “You really don’t know how to swim, Jules?” Jade asks.

  “It’s because she’s from Indiana,” Sterling defends me, which I didn’t expect.

  But like any good sword fight, Jade counters back. “Well, so am I, but I know how to swim. Everyone should know how to swim.”

  “Okay,” Sterling says, “I’ll give you two a couple of minutes to look over the menu, and I’ll come back for your order. If you want anything from the bar, feel free to order that when Richie comes around.” He points behind the bar to the bartender, who I assume is Richie.

  “Thank you,” I tell him, intending to express my gratitude for more than just the breather he’s offering.

  “Where the hell did you meet him? And how did I not know you can’t swim?” Jade starts in the second Sterling is out of hearing range.

  “This morning at the bakery and because we live in Indiana and it never came up. Kind of like your relationship with Chip ending,” I retort.

  Jade inhales sharply through her nose and takes one of the menus. “Touché,” she says, flipping the menu over to view the specials.

  “While we’re coming out with truths tonight, I’m dying to hear about your Sandwich and Brewster buddies, oh, and the possibility of you and a certain Liam?” I jiggle my eyebrows at her, watching steam pour from her ears as her cheeks darken to a shade of red.

  “If he was such an asshole to you, how did you talk to him long enough to find that out?” Honestly, I’m trying to think back to the conversation today. For the number of times we passed each other and said something snippy, it’s hard to
believe we were able to manage a normal conversation for more than two minutes.

  “I don’t know. It just happened,” I tell her.

  Jade places her menu down on the bar top and a squeamish pout stretches across her lips. “So, you’ll be okay if my three amigos join us here in a bit?”

  “You invited Liam?” I ask, scowling so deeply, I feel premature age lines forming on my forehead. I wanted a stress-free night where I didn’t have to think about assholes or hot surfers, and here we are, about to be surrounded by both demons.

  “He’s just had some bad luck. I promise you, he’ll warm up.” She keeps saying this. I saw it for two minutes today, but those two minutes were overshadowed by the other eight hours of the lovely repartee he provided.

  Sterling returns with his hands folded behind his back in true waiter fashion. “So, what can I get for you two lovely ladies?” The smile returns and it makes my chest tighten. No. Just no. I feel nothing.

  One look into Sterling’s turquoise eyes, and I seem to have forgotten what I was going to order. I lift the menu back up and drag my finger down the center of the list until I remember I wanted the coconut shrimp. How could I forget that? “I’ll have—”

  “Great choice,” he says before I have a chance to finish my sentence. I am pointing at the menu item, and he is looking directly at me. “It’s all fresh catch around here, so it’ll be the best coconut shrimp you’ve ever had. I can guarantee you.”

  Out of my peripheral vision, I see Jade looking between Sterling and me like a teenage girl watching Jacob take off his shirt in one of the Twilight movies. I want to tell her to relax, but I should probably take my own advice first. “I’m sure you’re right,” I tell him. “Especially since I’ve never had coconut shrimp before.”

  “You’re in for a treat,” he tells me.

  “Yeah, she is,” Jade mutters. I elbow her, but miss and accidentally get her in the boob, and of course, she yelps while grabbing her boob as if it were a tiny baby. Jesus, Jade.

  Sterling looks at Jade like she’s crazy. He’s made that accurate assumption very quickly considering he’s now known Jade for a full two minutes.

  After Jade calms down and peels her focus away from her precious boob, she looks up at Sterling with a giddy look in her eyes. “I’ll have what she’s having.” I can’t help but nod at her indirect, not-so-subtle hint to the Harry Met Sally diner scene.

  As if I hadn’t already been charmed enough by Sterling, he replies with, “My twin brother works down the street, if that’ll do.” He’s totally teasing her, but she’s eating it up and blushing like a schoolgirl.

  “Twins? Like . . . there’s two of you? How is that possible?” she giggles.

  Sterling looks at me with a raised brow . . . no smile, but his dimples, oh those are ever so present. “So, you see . . . when a woman has two eggs in her uterus—” he begins.

  “I know what twins are,” Jade snaps out of her delirium. “What’s his name?”

  “Cleary,” he says before looking over his shoulder at a shouted request for his services.

  “Well, I’d love to get a clearer look at him,” Jade jests, nudging me in the shoulder to make sure I picked up on her lame joke.

  “Jade—” I counter.

  “Can I get you two anything else?” Sterling interrupts. The voice calling for a waiter grows louder and angrier.

  “I think we’re good,” I tell him, peering over at the angry man flailing his arm in the air as if he were on fire.

  Sterling walks away, leaving a spell-bound Jade in his dust. “Earth to you,” I tell her. “What is wrong?”

  “He’s fucking hot as hell. Holy shit. This is going to be a good summer.” Thinking back over the past few hours on my self-loathing pity party for one, Jade obviously has a different idea about how this summer is going to go. I suppose if I were to spend a little more time with Sterling, my summer might be salvaged, but it all depends on Liam’s behavior, and the child I haven’t met yet. The way everyone seems to be tiptoeing around the topic has me more than a little nervous about tomorrow. “Okay, you get him, and I get his twin. Then, we’ll get married, and we’ll live happily ever after, and you know what happens then?”

  “I know, Jade, we’ll finally be sisters, right?”

  “Yes,” she squeals. “All of our dreams will come true!”

  I twist around in my seat to face her profile. Taking her arm off the bar, I force her to turn toward me. “Jade.”

  She wriggles from my grip and places her hands on my cheeks. “Jules. No.”

  “Jade,” I repeat.

  She whines and drops her hands. “Whatttt?”

  The bartender interrupts what I was about to lecture her about. “Can I get you ladies something to drink?”

  “Two Sexy beaches,” Jade says without looking away from me.

  I snort at Jade’s request. “I think it’s Sex on the Beach,” I tell her.

  “No, it’s not,” she argues. “Trust me, you’ll like it.” She slaps her hand down on my shoulder and laughs.

  “So, here’s a fun fact,” the bartender says to Jade. “Your friend is right. The real name of the drink is Sex on the Beach, but you know what, it’s totally cool because you two are definitely a couple of ‘sexy beaches.’

  My cheeks burn at the not-so-subtle compliment, but Jade gets fired up in a different way. “What did you just call me?” she argues. The bartender cocks his head to the side with a raised brow and turns for the liquor bottles. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I made up that drink name about three weeks ago because it’s more fun than actually having sex on the beach.” The bartender returns to hear her serious reasoning behind the new drink name and seems entertained by the explanation. Most people are entertained by her flamboyantly ditzy ways. Funny enough, Jade is highly intelligent and smarter than I am in most subjects, but she enjoys the attention, so this is who she pretends to be. It almost always lands us in a fit of laughter, so I just chalk it up to her personality.

  “Oh,” Jade responds. “Well, you’re welcome. It should be a new drink special here, don’t you think?” She winks at the guy, but he’s already making the drink and not paying much attention to her flirtatious attempts.

  “Yeah, I don’t know,” he says, placing one glass down on a coaster. “I don’t think the sound of a dirty beach will appeal to too many people in this town. Other than yourself, of course.”

  Jade rolls her eyes. “You just don’t know what you’re talking about.” She takes the glass, pinches the straw between her fingers, and takes a long sip through her smiling lips.

  The bartender hands me mine and I follow suit, trying out this dirty beach drink. It really does sound horrific. However, it is delicious at the same time. “It’s great, thank you,” I tell the bartender.

  “I’ll add it to your bill with Sterling,” he says, while moving down the bar to help the next person.

  “See?” Jade continues. “It’s amazing, right?”

  “Jade,” I pick up where I left off before we ordered drinks.

  “No.”

  “Do you think you should be moving on so quickly after everything that happened with Chip? You do know you have to go home at the end of the summer, right?” I place my hand on her forearm, trying to show her I’m being serious. She was madly in love with him and I just . . . I understand everything she admitted to me earlier and it’s completely logical, but how can you shut your heart off like that? Jade has a way of working things up in her head to be a lot worse than they actually are and part of me wonders if she’s psyched herself out about Chip more than she needed to.

  “Yes,” she answers truthfully, “but, it’s either drinking, or distracting myself. Both are the same, I suppose, but flirting with men is healthier than drinking. Usually.”

  “I just don’t want you to get more hurt than you are, and from what I’ve seen since I arrived, you have also been distracting yourself by drinking. I know you aren’t okay. How could yo
u be?” I look at her hand holding the drink, remembering she removed her ring, making this end sort of more official than I want to imagine. “How’s Chip doing?” I wonder if she’s still talking to him.

  She shrugs. “I don’t know. We haven’t talked in a couple of weeks. He was completely understanding when I broke things off, more so than I deserve, but I felt like a coward after that and it has been hard to hear his voice.”

  “Well, hello, party animals,” a voice shouts over the growing chatter in the restaurant.

  “Cale!” Jade flies out of her seat and throws her arms around his neck. As he did last night, Jared looks less than interested to be here, but maybe that’s just how he looks all the time. We exchanged less than a dozen words last night.

  The stool beside me, which is the very last one at the end of the bar squeals against the ground, forcing me to whip my head around. I forgot there was an empty seat there, but it’s right in front of the tap, and I didn’t want to be sitting in front of that all night. It’s Liam, straight-faced and miserable looking, which seems to be normal for him. “Long time no see,” I tell him.

  “Mmhm,” he grunts, shooting his hand up, looking for our waiter—Sterling. Liam’s head is bobbing around as he peers over the heads of everyone surrounding us.

  “I’m sure the waiter will be back in a minute. We ordered about fifteen minutes ago.”

  Liam drops his arm onto the bar and scratches at the back of his head with his other hand.

  “Okay.”

  “Cheer up,” I tell him. “You’re out of work and at a bar. Don’t look so miserable. You’ll never find a girl that way.” I don’t know why I said that. It’s rude, especially since I don’t know what his dating situation is. I don’t know anything about him at all, actually.

  “Dude!” I look over to where the ‘dude’ is coming from, and Sterling’s hand shoots past me to shake Liam’s. No. No. Why? How small is this freaking area? “How’s it going?”

  “Can’t complain,” Liam lies. Right. Who needs to complain when you have misery written all over your face? “Catch any good ones this morning?”