by Colee Firman
All I could think as I sat on the bed holding her note was that she’d overheard my parents talking about what happened at Princeton. I played and replayed the conversation over and over again, trying to see if enough was said for her to piece it all together. I didn’t think so.
After what she’d told me about her dad, I had a tough time believing she’d run even if she had figured it out. Either way I was done with her. I wasn’t chasing after her or running to her door when I got home. I’d sworn off dealing with girls for a reason and her taking off was a good reminder of why I didn’t want one in my life. I didn’t need the hassle and bullshit that came along with them.
With her gone, I’d have a little time alone to get her out of my system. The reason my parents were trying to get in touch with me in the first place was because my lawyer was finally able to get my passport situation cleared up. That meant I’d be leaving for Japan to work soon. It wouldn’t have been right to start something with her and then go out of the country anyway. The way things played out was probably for the best.
Thirteen
Brantley
Livvy turned around and looked at me. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Nothing,” I said, forcing a smile. “Masonville was just a serious drain on my life-force. The only time I had alone was when I was in the bathroom. At one point, David’s sister asked if I had a bladder infection because I was hiding out in there so much.”
“Well, I didn’t drive all the way over to Masonville to pick your ass up so you could be a total downer the entire ride back to Baylor Grove.”
“You didn’t drive anywhere,” I said, pointing to the driver’s seat. “Tom did.”
“Same thing…” Livvy unfastened her seatbelt and twisted around, throwing her leg over the center console. “For the last week you’ve been dodging my questions about why you went to stay with David’s family.”
“C’mon, Liv!” Tom shouted as she began climbing into the backseat.
“I—we scooped you up, so now you owe us some details,” Livvy said, plopping down in the back seat next to me. “So explain—did relations go south with the neighbor?”
“Things got weird so I baled.” There was absolutely no way I was saying more than that with Tom three feet away.
“Weird like handcuffs and safe words,” Livvy said, “or panty-stealing weird?”
I cocked my head to the side. “It surprises me you’d find all those things weird.”
Tom laughed. “She doesn’t.”
Livvy squeezed his shoulder and smiled. I immediately felt a pang of jealousy. “So Masonville was better than being in Moore Lake?”
“It wasn’t better…” I watched out the car window as we passed the big Welcome to Baylor Grove sign. “It was just necessary.”
After taking a cab to the bus station a week earlier, I got on the first bus out to Masonville. I’d stayed cooped up at David’s sister’s house for the last seven days. They were nice people—a little too nice. They came across as phony, which was something that grated on my nerves.
As soon as I got word that the water issue and the utility outages in Baylor Grove were resolved, I was immediately on the phone calling Liv to come rescue me.
The only thing on my mind the entire week was Myles. I had so many questions about what Jake told me. I felt guilty for finding out something so private behind his back, even if it was sort of accidental.
“Your house is coming up,” Tom said, glancing at me in the rear view mirror. “Do you wanna go home or are you going straight to Pucks with Livvy?”
“Home.” I definitely wanted to go home first.
My car was parked in the street right where I’d left it the day we left for Moore Lake. Myles’ truck wasn’t there. There were a couple of other vehicles parked in the driveway though—one belonged to our landlord. When I climbed out of Tom’s car I saw workers on the roof. It looked like Lou must’ve still been trying to get the house repaired.
“Puck wants us there at four,” Livvy said, opening the front door on the passenger’s side. “I hope we don’t have to clean out the freezer. Just to let you know, at the first sniff of rotten food I’ll puke.”
“Thanks for the heads-up,” I said, slinging my bag over my shoulder.
After a quick good-bye I headed inside, pretty bummed that Myles wasn’t home. I knew even if he’d been there, actually seeing him was a long shot anyway since he was usually asleep in the middle of the day.
The front door was wide open and the screen was propped. I stepped inside and looked around. The window that broke during the storm had been replaced, but the masking tape where the frame was painted hadn’t been peeled away yet.
I turned to go upstairs when the door to the downstairs apartment was pulled open suddenly. I gasped and took a step back. I thought he wasn’t home yet, but I found myself frozen in place by Myles’ blue eyes. He looked almost as surprised to see me as I felt to see him.
“I didn’t see your truck outside.”
“My brother-in-law is borrowing it.”
Seconds passed and neither of us spoke. I just stood soaking in every detail of him. His messy dark hair, scruffy cheeks, piercing blue eyes—I’d missed all of it. All I wanted right then was to be close to him—to hear his voice and laugh, feel his fingers on my skin. There was no denying the truth—I had it bad for him.
I’d wondered all week if I’d feel any differently about Myles when I saw him because of what Jake told me. The pounding in my chest and swarm of fluttery insects banging around in my stomach was my answer. Something had definitely changed—I wanted him more.
Myles opened his mouth, but the voice I heard came from behind me. I turned around and watched Lou come through the door.
“Ah, Miss Prescott,” he said, wiping the beads of sweat off his forehead. “Are you moving out?”
“No,” I said, smiling at him.
Lou went to the window and began peeling away the tape. “When do you plan on moving in then?”
I caught Myles moving closer out of the corner of my eye. “I am moved in.”
“I had to get into the attic yesterday,” Lou said, pointing up at the ceiling. “The access is in your bedroom.”
“Ok…” My lunch started creeping up as he spoke. I knew exactly what was coming next.
“I just thought it was odd that you don’t have one single piece of furniture up there,” he said, giving the last bit of tape a hard tug.
I could feel Myles’ heavy stare as Lou spoke. “It’s a work in progress...”
“I see,” Lou said, standing up and moving toward the door. “I have another place over on Fifth that just opened up. It’s smaller, but furnished. I’d be willing to keep the same deal we have here and knock the price down a bit if you do the lawn there.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s really nice of you.”
Lou nodded at me and went out onto the porch. “Think about it…”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely let you know.” I was completely mortified by the exchange. Livvy teasing me about having an empty apartment was one thing, but Myles finding out I lived up there without so much as a chair was entirely different.
Once we were completely alone Myles stepped up next to me. “So Lou knocks money off your rent for doing the lawn?”
I nodded, keeping my eyes locked on a spot of paint that had dripped on the floor near the new window. “Surprise—I don’t do it to be an ass-kissing super tenant like you thought.”
“When you’re not working at the pub,” he said, “you’ve been busting your ass in the yard just so you can live in an empty apartment?”
“It's not completely empty.” I lowered the bag I had on my shoulder to the floor while trying to think of what to say. “I just moved in—I haven’t really had time to get stuff.”
Myles muttered something under his breath and began pacing. “Every time I start to think you’re just not worth the fucking trouble, you do something that makes it impossible for me to
drop you on your ass.”
In about two seconds the meaning behind his words registered. That was all it took for me to go from being embarrassed about my apartment to seething pissed.
“I’m not sure why you feel some sort of responsibility for me,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “We’re just neighbors. You said it yourself—we barely know each other!”
Myles started toward me, making me move backwards until I had no further to go. One of his hands was planted against the wall on each side of my body and he leaned down close to my ear.
“When’s my birthday?”
The answer came without any thought. “November second…”
“Yours is May twelfth,” he whispered. “You eat the hell out of ramen noodles, you can’t explain why, but your guilty pleasure movie is The Fast and the Furious, and you pick all the fucking marshmallows out of Lucky Charms.” He pulled back and looked into my eyes. “That last one I found out yesterday.”
“Sorry,” I said, smiling slightly. “They really are magically—”
The words got caught in my throat as Myles let his fingers glide down the bare skin on my arm. That was the sensation I’d been longing for all week. I never knew what being weak at the knees really meant until right then.
“If you were just some chick that lived upstairs, I wouldn’t be standing here,” he said, “I wouldn’t be so goddamn pissed off at you for walking out on me…”
Myles reached behind me and slipped his fingers into my back pocket. I thought he was going to pull me against him—that’s what I wanted. Instead, he pulled my phone out and turned his back to me.
“Hey…” I moved over and saw he was making a call. “Myles, give me my—” Another phone start ringing. I realized it was coming from inside his apartment. “Did you just call yourself?”
Myles tossed the phone back to me and went into his place, slamming the door behind him.
Myles
Getting any kind of sleep with the workers hammering on the roof was impossible. I was stuck lying on my couch mulling over the situation with Brantley. Every bit of my resolve to stay away from her was gone.
I wasn’t sure if I was angrier at myself or her anymore. I was still mad at her for leaving Moore Lake. And now I was pissed at myself for not even realizing she’d been living in an empty apartment.
The week without her had been hell. I was constantly fighting an internal battle to go find her. I hadn’t gotten any work done. Pete was hardly speaking to me.
The only thing that got me off the top of his shit list was that I’d finally made my travel plans. In three days I was leaving for Japan. I had an open ended ticket because I didn’t know when I’d be back.
My plan had been to leave Brantley alone until I left. Once I saw her standing in the foyer I just couldn’t stay away. For the first time in years I felt something for a girl that wasn’t distain or simply lust. I’d never been in love before or anything remotely like it. I knew the second I had her against the wall I was headed in that direction.
Fourteen
Brantley
I sighed when I pulled into the parking lot of Puckett’s Pub and saw the cars of everyone who worked there in the lot. That probably meant the place was a wreck and they needed all hands on deck to get it back in order. It was going to be a long night.
The confrontation with Myles in the foyer had my head all messed up. I hadn’t expected him to be mad at me for leaving Moore Lake. At least I’d managed to level up from neighbor to friend. If I could find a way to see him more than just once every couple of weeks, maybe I’d be able to build on that.
The other nine employees were seated along the bar when I got inside. Livvy had a chair saved for me next to her in the middle. Puck and his wife Maybell were behind the bar chatting with everyone. Once I was seated with the others, Puck got everyone’s attention.
“Thanks for coming in,” Puck said, looking at each face as he spoke. “The last ten days have been pretty dicey around here, huh?”
I nodded along with everyone else. Dicey barely covered it.
“During our time off, Maybell and I went over to Philadelphia to stay with our son and his family.” Puck reached over and took his wife by the hand. “It was the first time I’d been away from Baylor Grove in years. It was good to spend a little time with the kids.”
“While we were gone,” Maybell said, “we realized how fortunate we’ve been to have this place over the last forty years.”
“That’s what makes this so tough.” Puck paused and took a breath. “—we’ve decided to retire.”
Livvy and I exchanged nervous glances.
“When?” Livvy asked.
“We’re not going to reopen the pub,” Maybell said. “Selling it or letting someone else run it for us doesn’t feel right.”
Puck held his hands up and motioned around the bar. “Tonight your only job is to help us say goodbye to all this.”
“These are your last paychecks.” Maybell walked down the bar, handing out envelopes to each of them. “And a little something extra to help get you through until you can find something else.”
I took the envelope Maybell held out to me and gave her a weary smile. It felt like I’d stepped into a bad dream. I’d expected to be working, not getting let go.
“So now the only thing left to do is see how much of this we can get rid of,” Puck said, grabbing a bottle of tequila and placing it on the bar. “We’re going to open the doors and let our friends and neighbors join us—drinks are on the house.”
Livvy turned sideways in her chair and leaned close to me. “Hell, we just got canned.”
“Yeah…” That was pretty much all I could come up with. The last three minutes had left me reeling.
“C’mon,” Livvy said, stretching over the bar and grabbing a bottle of Jameson. She picked up two glasses and dropped back into her chair. “Have a drink with me.”
I leaned down on my elbows and watched Livvy pour drinks. “This is unbelievable….”
“Here,” Livvy said, sliding a glass in front of me. “Drink and chill. It’s not the end of the world.”
“Guess not…” I swirled my drink around a few times before taking a sip.
It may not have been the end of the world, but it felt like it. Working there had been the most consistent thing in my life since I’d lost everything. The idea that Puckett’s Pub wasn’t going to be around anymore was tough to accept.
Finding another job wouldn’t be too difficult. I knew I was a good employee. The part I was scared to death about was any type of background check. If my new prospective employer dug too deep, they may not like what they found.
My Aunt Jen was coming into town on Friday. That was only two days away. Her bachelorette party was that night and then Saturday we had the last fittings for our dresses. The wedding was a week after that.
I knew once my aunt found out I was jobless the pestering to just come to Boston and work as her assistant was going to start again. There was no way I was moving anywhere. One way or another, I’d figure something out.
“Tell me what the hell happened in Moore Lake with the hot neighbor,” Livvy said, topping off our drinks. “I need a distraction.”
The thought of Myles made my anxiety about finding another job evaporate. A tingle went up my spine right where his fingers had been inching up my back the day they were on the boat. I sighed as I remembered how close his lips had been to my ear just hours earlier.
“Oh my shit,” Livvy said, gaping at me.
I snapped out of my Myles daydream and sat up straight. “What’s wrong?”
“You.” She pointed at me with the top of the bottle. “You just got all love struck when I mentioned Myles. You’re crushing on him…”
“We’ve literally just made it to being friends,” I said, running my finger around the rim of my glass. “Besides, he’s mad at me right now…”
“Make him get over it. He’s a guy—use your feminine wiles.”
; I cut my eyes at Livvy. “I told him about my dad.”
Livvy’s jaw dropped. “You really are hung up on him. Did you tell him anything else?”
“No. He asked about the scars on my hands but I didn’t tell him.”
Livvy frowned. “You lied?”
“No. I told him I couldn’t talk about it yet.”
After a little more prodding by Livvy, I whispered the entire sordid tale of what led to me being in Masonville. I hadn’t planned on it, but I even ended up telling her about the girl Myles got pregnant. What would’ve shocked most people just rolled right off Livvy. She didn’t even blink when I told her the girl was sixteen.
“Just because the girl was preggo doesn’t mean he has a kid,” Livvy whispered as she peeled open the envelope containing her check. “Adoption, abortion… anything could’ve happened.”
“I hadn’t thought about that. Still, he was twenty-one and she was sixteen...”
“Listen, Brant.” Livvy leaned in closer. “He probably didn’t even know how old she was. When I was that age, I rocked my share of older guys. Most of them never knew I was jailbait.”
I thought about what different lives Livvy and I led. It seemed so odd we could be such good friends. “Hell, when I was sixteen the thought of even making out with a guy a couple of years older than me seemed gross.”
“The guys already out of school had money and cars,” she said, pulling out the check. “Not to mention their own place to—damn…”
I leaned over to see. “What is it?”
Livvy lowered her voice. “They gave us an extra thousand bucks…”
“Oh my god…” I folded my envelope and tucked it into my pocket. “I’m thinking that means we should probably get off our asses and do something.”
Puck propped the doors open and slowly patrons who’d been fixtures at the bar for years started trickling in. Someone turned on loud classic rock music and before too long the place was packed. Even the police chief and mayor of Baylor Grove were there.