by Sarah Bates
“Um…yes. It’s everything on my mom’s list,” I said, holding it up to show her.
“Yeah, but don’t you want anything to munch on?” she asked, gesturing around us. “With the Butler boys coming over, it’s bound to be a long night,” she added.
I looked into the cart, which was half full at this point, then back to her. “I think I’m good.”
“Really?” When I nodded, she grunted softly. “I don’t know how you do it. I can’t come in here without buying at least three different things to snack on.”
“You really like pork rinds?” I asked, pausing to look at her.
“Hmm? Oh, no.” She shook her head, looking away from a display of pre-packaged snack cakes. “Gross.” When I lifted my eyebrows, she shrugged. “You never know who might have a sudden craving,” she said, then she grabbed the handle of the cart and started forward again, humming a song to herself along the way.
I watched her go for a moment, then, before I could think better of it, reached out and grabbed two boxes of the snack cakes – a box of orange flavored cupcakes for my mom, and a box of purple snowballs for me. I wasn’t even sure if I’d like them, since I’d never had one before, but I thought maybe the name of them would help cheer me up if I were having a low moment.
Kat grinned when I added them to the cart, and bumped my shoulder with hers. “Come on, let’s go see what they’ve got new in the video rental box,” she said, and she tossed a box of microwavable popcorn into the cart along with everything else.
Amazed and entertained by her, I chuckled and followed her as she began to list the pros and cons of big-screen blockbuster versus direct-to-video movies.
☼
After we had made our movie selections and checked out at the register, we took our provisions out to the truck and stored them, then went to the cleaners to collect Uncle Jim’s uniforms. Then, since it was almost lunch time, Kat texted her mom and said we’d bring pizza home for everyone, and we stopped into the pizza place, Pasta and Pie, to put in an order.
Back home in Minnesota, on the rare occasions we ate pizza, we would order a single large one for all three of us to split. Kat ordered four larges, all with varying toppings, and a large side of garlic knots to boot.
I wondered who she thought was going to eat all of that, but when I tried to dissuade her of the fourth, she just waved me off and assured me it wouldn’t go to waste.
Taking her word for it, I helped her lug it all out to the truck when it was finished.
Looking at all the grocery bags in the back, I couldn’t help but feel amazed all over again. I thought Margo was a force of nature when it came to shopping, but apparently when it came to buying junk food, she had nothing on Kat. Deciding it best to keep this observation to myself, I simply climbed into the driver’s seat, already feeling worn out.
“So, you really don’t like anything but cheese on your pie?” Kat asked me, again, as we drove back toward her neighborhood.
I shrugged, keeping a close eye on the road signs. “It’s simple and tasty. Anything else you put on it is just filler,” I replied. “Plus,” I added when she opened her mouth, “I’ve had to watch what I eat for a long time, because of my training. So, on the rare occasions when I do eat pizza, the less that is on it, the less calories it’ll contain, which means the fewer extra miles I’ll have to run to make up for it.”
“Really?”
I chanced a quick glance at her and nodded.
She hummed, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her drum her fingers on her knee. “That’s dedication. I don’t think I could be that self-disciplined.”
“If it’s something you really want and love, you could,” I told her.
“I guess.”
When I glanced at her again, she was frowning. “What?” I asked, looking back to the road, still watching carefully for the sign that indicated the turn off for her neighborhood.
“You really loved skating, didn’t you?” she asked.
I felt a sharp tug in my chest over hearing her phrase it in the past-tense. As though it really was just a memory for me now. “Yeah.” I cleared my throat when my voice caught. “Yeah, I really loved it.”
“So why did you and your mom move down here?” she asked. “I mean, if it was so important to you, and you could have really made a go of it, why leave Minnesota?”
For a moment I wasn’t sure I could answer her, my throat felt so tight. Then I took a breath and slowly let it out. “Honestly,” I finally managed to say, “I don’t think my mom even thought about it. She was just so sad and hurt by everything my dad did, I really don’t think it connected with her, what she was taking me away from. At that point all she could think of was that she needed to get away from everything that reminded her of him. And she needed family, she wanted to feel safe and secure again, and this place has always been home for her, so…One day, just shy of two weeks ago, I came home from practice, and she said that the divorce had gone through, that Dad got the house, and we had to be out of it within a week, so why not go for the full fresh start? And the next thing I knew, she was packing everything we were allowed to take with us.”
“And now here you are,” Kat said, sighing softly. “Stuck in a place you don’t want to be.”
“It’s not that,” I told her. “Really, Kat, it isn’t. I just never had a chance to adjust to the idea of it. One minute everything was status quo – at least as far as I knew – then the next I’m told that my parents’ divorce has suddenly gone through, and I have to be out of the only home I’ve ever known in six days. And from that point on there was no stopping to think.” I lifted a hand and wiped one of my cheeks, then blew out a breath, not wanting to have a replay of my breakdown, especially while I was driving. “It’s just a lot to take in, and adjust to,” I told her. “But I’m happy that we’re getting to know each other.”
“Me too.” She smiled when I glanced at her quickly. “And I’m really glad you’re here. But I’m still sorry, for everything you’ve lost.”
“Thanks.” I cleared my throat and flicked on my directional light when I saw the sign for the road I needed to turn down, but before I could make the turn there was a loud sound, like something popping, but in a loud, explosive sort of way, and suddenly the front of the truck dropped a couple of inches on the driver’s side.
Kat and I both gasped in surprise, but I somehow managed to keep my wits about me, and was able to pull the truck over to the side of the road, and brought it to a stop.
“What just happened?” Kat asked, her eyes wide, her hands braced against the center console and the side of her door.
“I don’t know. I think the tire blew,” I told her. Taking a slow, deep breath to help calm my racing heart, I switched on the hazard lights, then unbuckled my seatbelt and climbed out.
Sure enough, I found the tire blown out, pieces of it lying in the road, the rest still mangled around the wheel. “Just the tire,” I told her, leaning back in through my door. “I don’t suppose you know how to change a flat?”
“Not a clue,” she replied, and she climbed out as well to survey the damage. “Do you have a spare?” I nodded and she did as well. “Then I’ll just call my dad and he can come…ah,” she paused halfway through scrolling through her contacts list when someone in a beat up, old white pickup pulled to a stop behind us.
“Um, Kat,” I looked to her, but she was tucking her phone back into her pocket. “Aren’t you going to,” but that was as far as I got when the other driver pushed his door open and hopped out.
“What’s the problem, ladies?” he asked, coming toward us.
It was then that I realized it was the guy that I had seen on the beach yesterday, when we’d had lunch at Zorbas.
“Um,” I felt my cheeks warm with a blush, and cleared my throat when he pushed his sunglasses – those same aviators – up into his hair, which was kind of shaggy, like it hadn’t been cut in a while, and was the color of melted milk chocolate. His eyes, I discovered, w
ere a mossy green.
My mouth went dry, and my heart began to race again.
He came to a stop a foot or so away from me, and cocked his head. When the corner of his mouth quirked up in that sexy grin, I knew he recognized me, too. “You were at Zorbas yesterday.”
“Mmmhmm.” I nodded, and my belly fluttered giddily.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kat look between us, then roll her eyes, though she was grinning as she did so. “Hayden, this is my cousin, Coco; Coco, this is Hayden Quinn.” She gestured between us as she stepped up beside me, and she subtly, and sharply, poked me in the side.
I barely resisted the urge to jolt, but was glad of her prodding, as it snapped me out of my stupor. “Nice to meet you,” I said, holding my hand out to him, my belly dancing with wild butterflies when he reached out and shook it.
“Nice to me you, too…Coco.”
I nearly grimaced. “Chloe,” I corrected, clearly my throat. “Chloe Courtland.”
“Right.” He smirked, then looked around at the bits of rubber in the road. “Need a change?”
“Ah…yeah. Yes.” Just then I remembered the blown tire, and the fact we had a trunk full of groceries, and four pizzas, to get home.
“Got a spare?”
“I do.” I stepped around him and wiped my hands off on my shorts as I led him to the back. A second later Kat fell into step behind us.
When I lifted the back hatch, he lifted his eyebrows over the groceries – or probably, more accurately, the type of groceries – but he didn’t say anything as the three of us moved them to the backseat, then he lifted the interior hatch under the floorboards, and hauled out the spare tire.
He bounced it a couple of times, I assume to check the pressure, then nodded and carried it to the front of the truck. A moment later he went to his truck and began to pull things from the large silver toolbox that stretched the width of the bed, directly behind the cab. When he came back, he crouched down and used a tire iron to loosen the lug nuts. When he was done with that, he began to jack the front of the truck up. “Hey, Kat,” he said, reaching for his tire iron again.
“Yeah?”
“Can you go grab those pieces of rubber out of the road?” He dropped one, then two of the lug nuts into a container, and looked over his shoulder at her. “Just toss them into the back of my truck. I don’t want anyone on a bike hitting them.”
“Sure.”
“Oh, I’ll,” but before I could finish offering to help her, she grinned and waved me back, then wiggled her eyebrows, and went to clear the road.
I watched her for a moment, then turned my attention back to Hayden.
“So, Coco, what brings you to our humble little island?” he asked, dropping the last of the lug nuts into the container. “Here for a quick visit before school starts up again?”
I wouldn’t have called Treasure Key humble myself, but kept that observation to myself. “Actually, my mom and I just moved here,” I replied.
“Really?” When I nodded, he hummed, then tugged the wheel off and set it aside. And whistled as he took in the sight of how mangled the tire was. “This baby didn’t have a chance,” he said, shaking his head. Then he frowned and glanced toward the back of the truck. “Where did you come from?” he asked, standing up as he dug something out of one of his pockets.
“Minnesota.” I watched, frowning now as well as he went to the back and crouched by that tire. “What?” I asked when he shook his head, a grim look on his face.
He sighed and ran his hand over the tire, then got up and went around the back.
Wondering what he was doing, I skirted the hood and watched him do the same thing at that back tire, then come forward to the one I was standing beside. “What is it?” I asked when he shook his head again and straightened.
“Those three are going to need to be replaced, too,” he said, pocketing what I now saw was a quarter. “And sooner rather than later.” He looked at me and lifted his eyebrows. “Honestly, you and your mom are lucky you didn’t have one or more of them blow out on your way down here. And that one there,” he pointed to the back passenger tire, “has a screw imbedded in the wall. You probably picked it up going through a construction zone. The air’s low in it, and by the uneven wear on all of them, I’d say you need an alignment done, too.” He stepped around me and went back to the other side and began to fit the new wheel and tire on. “When was the last oil change?”
“A couple of days before we left,” I replied.
He hummed and worked the wheel into place, then began to screw the lug nuts back on. “That’s what, a two-thousand-mile trip?”
“A bit over, but close enough, yeah. Why?” I asked.
He finished screwing on the last lug nut, then began to lower the jack. “Not quite ready for another one of those, but might as well have it done while you’re there.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Armstrong Auto and Towing.” He grabbed the tire iron and began tightening the lug nuts, the muscles in his arms rippling and bunching in a sexy kind of way as he did. “I wasn’t kidding about the tires. They all need to be replaced.” He dropped the tire iron and straightened, blowing out a deep breath. “My friend’s dad owns the auto repair shop. He’ll get you a good deal for the other three. And a new one of these.” He reached down and hefted the mangled tire and wheel.
I sighed, but nodded. “I’ll let my mom know.”
He nodded, then headed toward the back of the truck. Except he didn’t stop there, he carried the wheel to his truck and set it inside the back bed. “I’ll drop this off at the shop on my way to school tomorrow,” he said when I followed him. “Levi or his dad will have it reset and balanced by the time your mom can pick it up.”
“Oh, ah,” I wasn’t sure my mom would want to bother with it, then decided she probably would, just in case another situation like this happened. “Okay. Thanks. And thank you, for all of this. Neither Kat nor I had a clue how to do…wait. Where’s Kat?”
We both looked around, then seemed to realize at the same time that his truck was actually running, and looked toward the back window. And there she was, her strawberry blonde head bobbing up and down to whatever it was she was listening to on her phone.
I grimaced and looked back to Hayden. “Sorry, I,”
But he grinned and chuckled, and went back for his tools.
I watched him go, then went to his driver’s side door and tapped on the window.
Kat grinned and waggled her fingers at me, then finished up her conversation, and hung up, just as Hayden set his tools back into his toolbox. “All finished?” she asked cheerfully as she hopped out.
“All set,” Hayden replied. “I’m going to follow you back, though. That’s not my creepy way of finding out where you live,” he said as he looked back to me. “I really am worried about those three other tires. I’d feel better if I knew you got home safely.”
“Oh. Um. Okay. Thanks. I…we, appreciate that,” I said. “And I really do appreciate all of this. You’re a life saver.”
He nodded, and for a moment we simply continued to stand there studying each other, then I blushed, and he grinned, and Kat grabbed my hand and pulled me back to the truck. I saw, once we were back inside it, that he’d waited until then to get into his truck.
“Holy cow!” Kat exclaimed as we both buckled our seatbelts. “That was so…Jeez, I could all but feel the chemistry oozing out of both your guys’ pores.”
“What? No.” I shook my head and started the truck and reached out to put it in gear.
“Uh, yes,” she countered. “I mean, seriously. You guys were like all kinds of steamy and smoldering, and all you did was look at each other. It’s just like yesterday when we were at Zorbas. I totally saw that, and I thought, hey, that’s interesting. But this…” she whistled and fanned herself. “Hot.”
I gave her a bland look, but unfortunately, I also blushed. When she grinned, I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to driving.
&nb
sp; As he said he would, Hayden pulled out behind us, and followed us all the way back to Kat’s house.
When I pulled into the driveway, Hayden right behind me, my mom and Uncle Jim were both standing there waiting for us.
“Are you two all right?” my mom asked as soon as Kat and I got out of the truck.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” I said. I sighed but hugged her back when she tossed her arms around me and hugged me.
“I’ve been so worried since Kat called,”
“Mom, we’re okay. Really.”
“Totally, Aunt Alice,” Kat agreed, her arms filled with pizza boxes. “Hayden came to our rescue.” She grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at me, then simply headed for the front door.
“Who’s…Oh.” My mom blinked in surprise as she pulled away from me, and she got a look at Hayden, who came up the driveway.
“Hayden,” Uncle Jim said, offering his hand to him in greeting.
“Chief.” Hayden nodded to him as he shook his hand, then nodded to my mom as well. “Ma’am.” He offered his hand to her when Uncle Jim let it go. “Hayden Quinn.”
“Alice Courtland.” She shook his hand. “Thank you, for taking care of the truck. I appreciate it more than you know.”
He nodded and slid his hands into the pockets of his frayed cargo shorts. “It was no problem. I just…” he shifted and glanced at me, and smiled when I blushed. “I just thought I’d make sure they got home safely.” He frowned now and glanced between my mom and uncle. “The thing is,” he said, looking back to my mom, “the other three should be replaced, too. I looked at all of them, and they’re all worn pretty thin.”
“Oh, well…I guess I’ll look into getting that done. Thank you. I got the oil changed and the fluids checked, but I didn’t even think of having the tires checked,” she confessed to Uncle Jim, who was checking out the front passenger tire.
He sighed and straightened. “You sort of had your mind on other things,” he said. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of it.” He looked at Hayden again. “Thank you, for making sure my girls got back home safely.”