Midnight Rose

by Dani Hart

  “How was school?” He took a sip of his coffee.

  “It was school,” I said carefully, trying to figure if the school called. I only missed part of first period.

  “How’s the Jeep running?”

  I sighed in relief. I was in the clear. “Good. I love it. I get paid Friday, so I’ll be able to start paying you back.”

  “I already told you it was a gift,” he said, defeated.

  My chest became tight. Something was wrong.

  He rubbed his face hard and mumbled, “Your mother should be discussing this with you.”

  Oh no. It was one of those conversations. “Dad, please don’t. I already know about boys.” I was mortified.

  “It’s not what you think. I assume you know that by now, but it is about Wes. I have a bad feeling about him. Normally, I would trust your judgment.” He straightened his back, sitting tall.

  “Then trust me.” I tossed the banana onto the counter, annoyed. “I have to do my homework before work.”

  “Hey, Peanut?”

  He caught me before I reached the stairs. I spun around. “Yeah?”

  He sighed. “If you trust him, then I will trust you.”

  My dad sounded as tired as he looked these days. His hair was a little

  grayer, and the hallowed black circles around his eyes were more defined.

  “Thanks, Dad.” I headed back up the stairs with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something wasn’t right, and I knew my dad wouldn’t tell me the truth, so I needed to find a good time to talk to my mom when he wasn’t around.

  It was a quiet night at the bistro. Mr. Hunter and Wes were gone, so Ben was filling in. He mainly stayed behind the bar, serving drinks. He didn’t seem to be comfortable around a lot of people. Penelope latched onto him near the end of the evening. It was disgusting how she was drooling over him and in front of Zoe. And since when did she laugh? She barely ever cracked a smile.

  “You okay, Abby?”

  Zoe startled me, and I dropped the tray of dirty glasses I was carrying to the kitchen.

  “I’m so sorry, Abby. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Zoe helped sweep the glass onto the tray. “I’d do my salt trick from the other night, but that might freak out the customers.” She winked.

  “Yeah, probably not the best idea.” I peered up at the bar and was relieved to see Penelope had moved on.

  “Why are you so jumpy?” Zoe asked, concerned. “Did something happen?”

  “No, I was just thinking about my dad.” We stood up, the last of the customers ignoring us again.

  “Is he okay?” She grabbed my arm for support.

  “No. Yes. I don’t know. He just looks really tired lately. I’m just a little worried.” She followed me to the back where I emptied the tray of glass into the trash.

  “Did you ask him about it?”

  “No, he wouldn’t tell me even if there was something wrong. I’m hoping my mom will.”

  “That sounds like a good plan.” She smiled approvingly.

  “I should get back on the floor. Thanks for helping me clean up.” I rushed back to the floor, looking for Penelope. She was helping a customer at the register, her scowl firmly intact again. Zoe made her way to the bar with Ben. I envied them. When they were together, they emitted this soft glow. Their connection was undeniable.

  Penelope fixed her eyes on Ben and Zoe when she was finished with the customer. She was acting so weird today. She turned my way with violent disdain. It was slightly unnerving.

  “Hey, do you guys know much about Penelope?” I sat with Zoe, who was watching Ben adoringly as he wiped down the bar. It was almost closing time, so the bistro was clearing out.

  “Not too much. She started right when we moved back. Why?” Zoe cracked an amused grin.

  “You’d be able to tell if she was with The Order, right?” I pressed.

  “Abby, you’re being paranoid,” Zoe said reassuringly.

  “So, you think I’m just overreacting?”

  They both turned to me and said, “Yes,” simultaneously.

  Zoe took my hand. “Answer me this. Would you have thought something different about Penelope before we had the immortals-live-on-this-Earth talk?”

  I felt kind of silly now that she put it that way. “No, I guess not. You would be a good mom.”

  Ben and Zoe exchanged a knowing look.

  “I’m sorry. I said something wrong, didn’t I?” I buried my head in my hands.

  “No, not at all.” Zoe comforted me.

  Peering between my fingers, I asked, “Really?”

  “Yes.” She chuckled, looking over to Ben. “Having each other is enough. You should go. You have school tomorrow. We’ll finish cleaning up.”

  “Are you sure?” I climbed off the stool, tugging at my shirt to smooth out the wrinkles and running my fingers through my hair to untangle the knots from my bun.

  “We clean fast.” Ben winked.

  “Right. Immortals. Thanks. See you Saturday. I still have Friday off, right?”

  “Yes, I’m going to fill in. It’ll be fun.” Zoe and Ben exchanged conspiratorial glances.

  “Oh, brother.” I rolled my eyes playfully. “Night.”

  By the time I got home, my mom had gone to sleep and my dad was nowhere in sight. They always waited up for me. Things were changing. I just didn’t understand why they were changing at home.

  MY WEEK WENT by impossibly slow waiting for Wes to return. Luckily, I only had to sit through a few more hours of school and then he would be home.

  “Are you excited for the party tonight?” Kendra asked as she took a bite of her sandwich.

  My eyes darted from my plate of barely touched salad up to Kendra. I had completely forgotten about the party.

  “You forgot, didn’t you?” She rolled her eyes. “Figures.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped defensively.

  “As if I even need to say it.” She dropped the rest of her sandwich onto her plate.

  “Sorry. I’ve just been—“

  “Busy, I know,” she cut me off.

  My absence was definitely not going unnoticed. “I might have forgotten, but I’m still going. That should count for something, right?”

  Her pout faded. “Fine, but you better not ask to leave early.”

  “Are you still bringing Elijah?”

  “Yes.”

  I frowned disapprovingly.

  “Don’t,” she said before I could say anything. “You pinky promised to be a good friend. At least try to like him,” she begged.

  “Look, we don’t know anything about Elijah, except that he’s in college and lives in a nice house in Bayview. We don’t know if it’s his or his parents’. Does he even have parents?” I took a bite of my salad.

  “Really? That’s your case? Abby, everyone has parents. He has parents.”

  I turned my head toward the center of the room and clashed gazes with Natalie and her clique. Natalie liked to be the center of attention, so she and her clique always sat in the middle of the cafeteria. “Why is Natalie staring at us?” I chewed on my plastic fork.

  “Because she’s envious of the beauty radiating from our table.” Kendra glowered.

  “Did she see you talking to one of her boyfriends again?” Natalie was a real piece of work, and it took until eighth grade for me to see her true colors. “She’s coming over,” I hissed.

  Natalie swung her hips as she passed by the football players, blowing them a kiss, and stopped in front of our table with a couple of her lackeys standing a few feet behind her.

  “Hi, girls,” she sneered, peeling back her red stained lips to reveal her bright white teeth.

  “What do you want, Natalie?” I sat up straight.

  “I’m sure you heard about my party tonight at the lake house.” She focused on her nail polish rather than us.

  “Maybe.” Kendra’s snotty retort made me proud.

  “Good. Well, I hope you’re coming. You wouldn’
t want to miss it. It’s the biggest party of the year.” Her hazel eyes glared at us.

  “We might be,” Kendra lied.

  We had planned on going all week.

  “Great. See you tonight. Eight o’clock.” She strolled out of the cafeteria.

  I leaned in close to Kendra. “Why does she care if we go tonight?”

  One of Natalie’s followers bent down. “Because the football team refused to go if Kendra wasn’t there.” She giggled and then caught up with Natalie and her group.

  We both looked over at the rambunctious table of boys and shared a winning laugh.

  “Something tells me you won’t have a problem finding a date for the Winter Wonderland dance.”

  “What makes you think I’m still looking?” She raised her eyebrow, testing me.

  “You know my feelings on the subject, so my lips are sealed.” I zipped my fingers across my lips.

  Last period dragged on forever. Wes was meeting me after school, and I was dying to see him. As soon as the bell rang, I raced to my car, but Wes wasn’t there. I scanned the street, hoping he was just late, but I didn’t see him or his car anywhere.

  “Expecting someone?” Kendra walked up behind me.

  “I was hoping Wes was home from his trip, but I guess not.” We climbed into the Jeep.

  “Do you want me to come over? I can help you get ready for the party.”

  Even after blowing her off for work and Wes, she was still my best friend. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine.” I pulled up to her house a couple of minutes later.

  “See you at eight?” Kendra asked before closing the door.

  “Yeah. Eight.” I smiled feebly.

  She shut the door and ran to her house, performing a little leap and blowing me a kiss. I wasn’t looking forward to being in a car with Elijah again, but at least this way Kendra wouldn’t be alone with him.

  I swung by Wes’ house on the way home, but no one seemed to be there. I was disappointed, but I was also getting worried.

  “Mom?” I called.

  “Yeah, sweetie?” She appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel and adorning a knitting needle in her hair.

  “Really?” I chortled and pointed to my hair, mocking the needle.

  She searched for it absentmindedly and pulled it out, her hair falling over her shoulders. “I forgot I put it there.”

  “Is Dad home?” I set my book bag onto the floor.

  “No.”

  “Cool, because I was wondering if I could talk to you.”

  “Sure. Can I knit while we talk? I was just heading back out.”

  “Yeah.” I followed her to the patio, eyeing the large pile of blue

  bonnets on the ground.

  “Something you want to tell me?” I asked, pointing to the pile.

  “Oh.” She laughed. “The hospital asked our knitting club if we would make them for the newborns.”

  “Good, because I was ready to have you committed.”

  He fingers moved hypnotically as she picked up where she left off. “So, what’s up?”

  I sat in the rocker next to her. “Why did you start knitting?”

  “Well, when you started going to school full time, and with your father gone all the time, I got bored. I thought about getting a job, but your dad earned enough money. I took up gardening, but that only filled a few days a season. Then one day when we were visiting Grandpa in Seattle, we took the bus and I became fascinated by this little old lady who was knitting in the front seat. You were about five or six then. Do you remember?”

  It was hard to forget because it was my first time on a bus. “I do.” The memory became vivid again.

  “When we were downtown, I popped into some of the knitting shops, and the rest is history.”

  Until my mom mentioned the old woman, I had completely forgotten about her. When we were getting off the bus, she gave me a charm for a bracelet, and that was where I remembered the infinity symbol from. It was an infinity charm. I kept it in a musical jewelry box that my mother had given me.

  “Abigail?” My mom had stopped knitting and was staring at me. “Where’d you go?”

  I had dazed off remembering that day. “Nowhere. I’m here.” I smiled.

  “As much as I love talking about knitting, I doubt that’s what you wanted to talk about.”

  “Is everything okay with Dad? He seems really worn out lately.” I picked the polish off my nails nervously and bounced my foot.

  “He has seemed a little tired, hasn’t he?”

  I was happy she was open to talking about this. “Yeah, I’ve never seen him with circles under his eyes. I thought being home meant he was slowing down.”

  She rocked in sync with the knitting needles. “Unfortunately, it’s the opposite. He’s had to work longer hours to keep up what he was doing before, but he loves being home, Abby. He wants to be here for you.” She stopped knitting for a moment to pat my hand.

  “So, it’s my fault?”

  “What? No, Abby. He’s fine. Things are fine. Don’t worry so much.”

  “Where is he today?”

  “He had another meeting in Seattle. He won’t be back until tomorrow night. Do you have any fun plans this weekend?”

  “There’s a party at Natalie’s tonight, but that’s pretty much it.” It didn’t even occur to me to ask her permission to go. “Is that okay?”

  “Of course, honey. Just be back by eleven.”

  Heading back in, I paused to listen to my mom humming a tune from my childhood. It was the same one from my music box. My mom had boxed up all of my stuff when we redecorated my room when I hit the tween stage, but the memory of the old woman sparked an interest in seeing that charm again. It couldn’t possibly be related to my grandpa’s key.

  The attic access was at the end of the hall in front of my room, and that was where all my old stuff from my room was stored. I yanked hard on the pull cord, and the collapsible ladder unfolded. I flipped on the light when I got to the top of the attic and located my boxes stacked together in a corner.

  I dragged the box marked Keepsakes over to the light and ripped off the tape. The music box was wrapped in paper safely on top. I unrolled it carefully and held it up. It was just as I remembered, and it still played music, the ballerina spinning with the melody. The infinity charm sparkled among other trinkets.

  “Abigail, Kendra’s on the phone,” my mom yelled from below. I scooped up the charm and squeezed it in the palm of my hand, taking the music box down with me, too.

  “Abigail, what are you doing?”

  “I heard you humming, and it made me want to dig this up.”

  “I think it’s great. My mother gave it to me.” She smiled. “The phone is in your dad’s office.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I dropped the music box off in my room and ran down to the office.

  “Hey, Ken, what’s up?”

  “I can’t go tonight. I got food poisoning or something. I’m sorry.” She sounded miserable.

  “If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t really want to go anyway.”

  “I knew it. I gotta go. I’ll see you Monday.” She hung up quickly.

  I was more than okay with not going tonight. I felt bad she was sick, but it wasn’t like I was looking forward to a night with Natalie and her crew. Or Elijah. As tempting as it was to hop in my Jeep and drive to Wes’ again, I refrained. Instead, I climbed under a blanket and curled up at my window seat. Another storm was due to roll in tonight or tomorrow, and the chill was already seeping through my windowpane. I pulled the infinity charm out of my pocket and held it in one hand while the other held my grandpa’s key. The symbol was unique with one half filled in, the same on the charm and the key. It was too unique to be a coincidence, but what connection could my grandpa’s key have to a charm that a complete stranger gave me when I was six?

  A tap on my window drew my attention. For a moment, I thought it was just the wind brushing a tree branch against my window, but then a lou
der tap followed. I squinted through the glass, twilight fading into darkness, but there was still just enough light to make out Wes standing by my car. Excitement overwhelmed me. I stuffed the key and charm into my pocket and raced down the stairs.

  “Bye, Mom,” I yelled.

  “Have fun, honey.” She had moved into the sitting room to knit.

  I quickly put on my grandpa’s bomber jacket and rushed outside straight into Wes’ arms, pushing him back a step.

  “I missed you, too.” He laughed, digging his nose into my hair and inhaling deeply.

  The wind whipped around us.

  “Did you know you smell like oranges?” He gleamed from his revelation.

  “I did not know that, but we do have an orange grove out back. You have a scent, too.” I looked up into his eyes, transfixed by his beauty.

  “And what is it?”

  “Lemongrass,” I beamed.

  “Well, at least it’s something masculine.” He winked and squeezed me in tight against his chest again. “Can I take you somewhere?”

  I nodded excitedly.

  “I’ll drive,” he said as he interlaced his fingers with mine and led me to his gray convertible, opening the door for me before hopping into the driver’s side. The engine was still running, and the heat blasted from the vents.

  “I was afraid you forgot about me,” I nervously admitted, biting my lip.

  “I could never forget you.” He reached over and took my hand in his.

  I didn’t care where we went. He was back, and we were alone.

  “What did you do while I was gone?” His curious eyes turned to me briefly.

  “Waited.” My answer not carrying an ounce of shame.

  “Me, too.” He lifted my hand and kissed it softly.

  I was a bit surprised when he pulled into the bistro parking lot. I opened my mouth to ask him what we were doing here, but he quickly put his index finger on my lips.

  “Trust me,” he said mischievously.

  “Okay.” I nodded. Excitement was building as we walked hand in hand behind the bistro to the pier.

  “I was worried the wind would ruin my plans, but it looks like it’s cooperating for the time being.”