by Sarah Bates
Hayden stared right back at him for a long moment, then he hummed in interest and nodded. “Good to know.” He grabbed a chair and settled it beside mine, then sat down, and reached for his lunch bag.
When I gave him a questioning look, he simply rested his arm on the back of my chair, slid his fingers through my hair, and pressed a light kiss to my temple.
The gestures, both sweet and gentle, made me smile, but the look on his face – it was almost sad now, with maybe a hint of worry – caused an ache in my chest, and I shifted closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder.
Though I wondered what it was between him and Neal that caused such strong animosity, I refrained from asking him just then, knowing, somehow, that like the long story he’d mentioned earlier, it was a conversation better suited to privacy, and simply smiled when he offered me a cheese flavored tortilla chip from the small bag he’d pulled from his lunch bag.
After we had all finished lunch, Hayden walked me to my next class, and then the next – and every class after – until the final bell rang. When at last we were cut loose for the day, Hayden met me again outside my class, and smiled as he hooked an arm around my shoulders, and we headed for the front entrance together. Neither of us said anything, but then, we didn’t really need to. Somehow, things between us were just that easy, and comfortable.
A part of me wondered at that, as I didn’t really have much experience in the relationship department. Honestly, I didn’t even know if we were even in a relationship, given our short acquaintance.
Since it was so new to me, I decided not to question it, and to simply go with the flow and enjoy myself.
Outside, we had just started across the parking lot when I saw my mom’s SUV pull in.
Seeing it, and recognizing it as well, Hayden paused and waited for my mom to pull into a vacant parking space, then walked me over to it.
I saw the moment my mom spotted us, and blushed when first she blinked in surprise, then she smiled.
“Hey,” she called out as she rolled down the passenger window.
“Hey,” I said in return, and my cheeks warmed again with a brighter blush.
“Hello, Mrs. Courtland,” Hayden said, his smile easy-going and a little lop-sided.
“Alice, please,” my mom corrected him. “Mrs. Courtland was my mother-in-law.” Though she smiled cheekily, I could still see the hurt under it, and felt a tug of sympathy in my belly. “So, anyway. I’ve got an appointment set to check out a house in fifteen minutes.” She waited a beat, then added, “Would you like to come with us?”
“Thank you, but I actually have to get home and get ready for work,” he replied, even as he reached out and opened the door for me. “I’m working until seven, so if you want to maybe give me a call later on…” he added to me.
“Will do,” I said, and I smiled and kissed his cheek – without any conscious thought of doing so – and blushed when his smile widened.
He brushed a hand over my hair, lingering long enough to twirl a lock of it around his finger before he took a step back. “Talk to you later, then. Mrs.…Miss Alice,” he corrected himself. “Good luck on the house hunting.”
She nodded and simply watched as he helped me up into my seat, then after he had closed my door and headed for his truck, she hummed. “Well,” she said, turning her gaze to me, “things are apparently moving along at a quick pace between you two.”
“Mom,” any protest I might have had ceased when she lifted her eyebrows. “They’re progressing,” I conceded.
“Just be sure they don’t progress too far, too fast,” she said.
My cheeks warmed with another blush – jeez, at this point I must look like I had a sunburn – and I nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” I said. Then, because there was a kind of awkward tinge to the silence that followed, I cleared my throat. “So, we have an appointment to look at a house?”
She studied me for a moment, then nodded. “We do. It’s on the eastern side of the island, so it’ll be a little farther away from town, but the rent was surprisingly fairly reasonable, given its location, and the ad said its available for immediate move-in.”
“Sounds great,” I said, and I pulled my seatbelt on.
And it was great. Except for the tiny fact that the price that the realtor had quoted my mom was the weekly rate, not the monthly. Which the realtor didn’t tell my mom until they were sitting at the kitchen counter going over the rental contract.
Needless to say, my mom was not happy with him after that, and had informed him she’d be using the services of the island’s other agency for now on.
“I can’t believe the nerve of that man,” she said – again – as she drove us back to the other side of the island. “I mean, seriously. He lied right through his teeth when I was on the phone with him earlier, and he even tried to hide the monthly rate from me until after I signed!” She shook her head. “I’m taking this to Hank. He has to know that agency is trying to swindle people.”
Since I agreed with her, I simply hummed and nodded, and continued to watch the scenery as it passed by. Though we’d been on the island for a little over a week now, this was the first time I had been beyond the town, and Uncle Jim’s housing development. It was beautiful. A tropical paradise, just as Margo had claimed.
It, for some reason, made my stomach ache with sadness.
The palm trees made me miss the evergreens I had grown up with, the sand, snow.
I knew it wasn’t logical. Most people would take a tropical paradise over what could amount to a frozen tundra a good chunk of the year, but the cold and snow had been such a major part of my life that for a moment I couldn’t help but wallow in silent misery.
Then I thought of how I had been able to get to know my cousins – Kat especially – and Hayden.
Though we hadn’t known each other long – really, just a handful of days – I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe meeting him was like the universe’s way of saying mea culpa for everything I’d lost when my mom and I had left Minnesota. As consolations went, I thought he made a rather good one. I suppose only time would tell.
“So, what do you think?”
I blinked and looked away from my window, turning my gaze and attention back to my mom. “I’m sorry, what?” I asked.
She frowned and cast a quick glance at me. “I asked what you thought,” she replied.
“Thought about…what?” I asked. “Sorry, I sort of zoned out for a minute.”
Her frown deepened and she slowed down as we came up to a set of traffic lights. When she had stopped for the red light, she looked at me again. “I asked what you thought about maybe buying instead of renting.”
“Oh.” I shifted in my seat as I considered this. “Sure. I mean, I haven’t seen that many for sale signs, but if you think we can find one, then yeah, I guess we might as well. I mean,” I said again, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear, “we might as well, since we’re here to stay. Right?”
She hesitated, then, when the light turned green, looked forward again and began to drive. Somehow, we’d made it all the way back into town, and I hadn’t even noticed.
I guess I really had zoned out.
“Mom,”
“Well,”
“We’re here to stay. Right?” I asked when she didn’t continue.
She caught her lower lip between her teeth, then cleared her throat when I reached out and poked her in the arm. “I’ve been thinking about that,” she finally said. “And while I’m happy to be here, it’s occurred to me that I never actually gave you a chance to weigh in on us moving here.”
“Meaning?” I asked, shifting in my seat to face her better.
“Meaning that I’ve been trying to think of everything from your perspective, and after I realized how much you were forced to give up in such a short period of time, I thought maybe we should talk about…options.”
“Options?” I shook my head and when she pulled into the parking lot of the Courtyard, folded my arms at
my chest.
“Yes, options.” She pulled into a parking space and cut the engine, then shifted to look at me. “I know I’ve foisted all of this on you, and now that I’ve had a chance to clear my head, I want to know how you really feel about it.”
I sighed, but then I took a moment to really think about it.
It was true, yes, that I missed Minnesota, sometimes desperately. And the ache of missing my home, my friends, my school, and skating…well, that was an ache I was sure would stay with me for a long time. But the truth was, I was starting to get used to being here, to spending my days with Kat and the others. With Hayden. And even as much as I missed what had been my home even three weeks ago, I knew that if I got the chance to go back, what I went back to wouldn’t be the same as before, and I wouldn’t leave here without regrets.
“Chloe,”
“I like it here,” I told her, lifting my gaze to hers. “More than I thought I would.”
“But do you like it enough to make a real go of it?” my mom asked, a look of concern on her face.
“It’s only been a week since we got here,” I reminded her. “So, I’m still getting used to it. But,” I added when she opened her mouth, “I think, yeah, it has potential.”
She studied me for a moment, then hummed. “Would your sudden desire to stay have anything to do with Hayden?”
I blushed a little and cleared my throat. “I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t a factor, but he’s not the only reason,” I replied. “Really, he’s not even the main one.”
“And what would the main one be?” she asked, her expression full of curiosity.
“Family.” I reached out and took her hand. “Here, we have family.” I smiled when she did.
“That’s true, and it’s certainly at the top of my list for reasons why I wanted us to come here. But what about your skating?” she asked. “And don’t shrug it off because you want to spare my feelings,” she added, lifting her eyebrows when I opened my mouth, about to do just that. “Skating is important to you, and I should have taken that into consideration before we came here. It’s all you’ve ever wanted to do, and be.”
I hesitated, as this was true. Ever since I was little, for as long as I can remember, really, all I’ve ever wanted to do was be a skater. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure who I was without it, and that was a little scary. “I honestly don’t know,” I finally said after a long moment of silence had passed between us. “It is a huge part of me. And I miss being on the ice. But I know that if we left, I’d miss being here, hanging out with Kat and the others.” I shrugged when she frowned softly. “I know there aren’t any rinks here on the island, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any anywhere else. I mean, people do ice skate down here – they have a hockey team,” I pointed out, and I smirked when she gave me a bland look. “Just because we choose to stay here doesn’t mean I’ll never skate again,” I pointed out, and I hoped in my heart this was true.
“I suppose I hadn’t thought of it that way.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “Are you sure you want to stay?”
I smiled and reached out to place my hand on hers. “I am. This place is kind of starting to feel like home now, so let’s make it home, and look into buying.”
She smiled as she nodded, and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Let’s,” she agreed. “And with that in mind, let’s go celebrate. You pick the restaurant.”
“Zorbas,” I said without even needing to think about it. “They have the best gyros I’ve ever had.”
She smiled and unbuckled her seatbelt. “Sounds great.”
Seven
We started our celebration with dinner at Zorbas and then continued it with key lime sugar cookies from Cooke’s, and a walk on the beach.
It was exactly the right way to recharge after such a disappointing appointment.
When we got back to Uncle Jim’s house later, we had a new game plan worked out for finding our new home, and I was eager to share the news with Kat, and Hayden.
Kat had been thrilled – I think there was a part of her that had been worried we might go back to Minnesota – and we spent the rest of the night lying awake, talking about the pros and cons of the different neighborhoods on the island.
Which was probably why I was so tired the next day. After sleeping in – if one could call sleeping until eight o’clock on a Saturday morning sleeping it – I dragged Kat out for a quick run, since Jamie had already gone out for his. When we got back, I took pity on her and bypassed the weight training, and simply walked her through some yoga stretches.
I was just getting out of the shower when Hayden texted and asked if I’d like to join him for lunch. He had an hour break at work, and apparently the food truck over at Seaside Shopping Center offered some of the best Cuban sandwiches on the island.
I wasn’t sure if I liked Cuban sandwiches – honestly, I’ve never had one before – but I could happily spend an hour hanging out with him while munching on a plate of French fries – apparently they were known for their variety of gourmet fries as well – so my response was a quick affirmative, and I spent the next couple of hours going over my outfit options with Kat.
In the end, I settled on a pretty, floral print sundress she took out of her closet – the tag from her mom’s boutique was still on it – and a pair of my mom’s sandals. My hair I simply pulled back in a ponytail, as it was too hot out to wear it down.
Since Kat had plans to meet up with Aly and Esme – I was supposed to go with them, but they all happily accepted my rain-check – she drove me into town and dropped my off at the appointed time.
Hayden pulled into the parking lot just as she was pulling out.
My heart skipped several giddy beats, and I blushed over how excited I was.
“Hey,” Hayden called out as he climbed out of his truck.
“Hey.” I fought the urge to blush even more when he grinned at me, and cleared my throat as he crossed over to where I waited by the entrance to the picnic area, shells and gravel crunching under the thick soles of his work boots. When he reached me, he rested his hands on my hips, and I pushed up on my toes to press a quick kiss to his lips. I froze just as I did this, my heart skipping again when I realized what I had just done. “Oh. I didn’t mean,”
Hayden’s grin widened and he lowered his head to press a quick kiss to my lips before I could continue. “Hungry?” he asked, slipping one of his arms around me as he turned me toward the food truck.
“A little,” I replied, my cheeks warming a little more with my blush as I slipped one of my arms around his waist in return.
How was it that a week ago I hadn’t even known him, and now here we were, holding each other close, and exchanging kisses? It really was beginning to feel like everything else that had happened before in my life had happened to someone else.
Thinking this, I tipped my head back and studied him for a moment. “I’m glad you texted,” I said, and I smiled when he turned his gaze down to me. “I mean, I know you’re coming over tonight…you are still coming over, aren’t you?”
“I am,” he replied, and his smile widened when I sighed in relief. “But I figured, I have an hour, so why not put it to good use?” His smiled spread even wider when mine did.
“I’m glad,” I said again. I caught my lower lip between my teeth as we moved up in the line. “I really like spending time with you, Hayden.” I tucked a loose lock of hair behind my ear and cleared my throat. “Honestly, I don’t really have a lot of experience with dating.” I grimaced softly when he gave me a look of interest. “Actually, I don’t have any experience. I didn’t have a lot of free time back in Minnesota, between school and training,” I explained when he blinked in surprise. “So, this,” I gestured between us, “is new for me.”
He studied me for a moment, then leaned forward and pressed his lips lightly to mine, even as his fingers brushed lightly at my belly as he pulled me a little closer. “We’ll take things slow and easy,” he said, making it sound like a pro
mise, brushing that lock of hair from my face when the wind blew it loose again. “If there’s something you like, tell me. If there’s something you don’t like, let me know. Communication is the main key to all successful relationships.”
“That sounds like a direct quote,” I said, just as I had at the beginning of the week.
He grinned and moved us up in line again. “It is. Again, my grandmother.”
“She sounds like a wise lady,” I said, then something occurred to me, and I frowned softly. “You’ve mentioned your grandparents a few times, but you’ve never mentioned you parents.”
When he sighed, his expression closing off, my frown deepened.
“My parents died when I was fourteen,” he said, and he shrugged when I made a soft sound of distress. “It was a small plane crash. My dad was teaching my mom how to fly, and there was mechanical failure. It’s all right,” he added when I opened my mouth. “I mean, it’s not all right that they died. Not even a little. I still miss them like crazy every day. But it was a long time ago.”
“Still, I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“Why not?” He shrugged when I frowned again. “It was a perfectly reasonable observation, Coco. I’m not upset you asked,” he said, and his lips curved into that lopsided grin of his. “That’s what people who are getting to know each other do. They ask questions, usually of a personal nature, so that they can develop a better understanding of each other.”