by Glines, Abbi
The voice in my head was saying, If she still has this job in September , and as much as I should feel guilty for thinking it, I was justified.
“Okay, well, if that’s your plan. But I did talk to the lady at Signed Sips, and she’s hiring. That would be a daytime job.”
Tory yawned and sank down onto the sofa beside Cullen. “I don’t want to work at some coffee shop all day with a bunch of books in it.”
I didn’t argue with her that it was a better idea. Maybe it wasn’t. Now, we wouldn’t need to put Cullen in day care during the day. That was more money we would save, so it would be as if Tory were making more.
“And I’m surprised she spoke to you. If it was the owner, her boyfriend is Rio’s best friend. I would think she would’ve recognized your name,” Tory said.
“Henley Warren?” I asked.
“That’s the one.”
Stonies was definitely the better choice then. Once Henley realized who we were, there was no way she would hire Tory.
“What did you do today, kiddo?” Tory asked her son.
I took that moment to go outside and take a walk. They needed to spend time together, and I needed the quiet. Although things hadn’t been easy since we’d moved to The Shores, I was thankful Cullen was here. This was a place he could grow up safely. It was nothing like the home we’d left behind.
The roads were getting busier every day, leading up to the end of May, and more out-of-state license plates were appearing. The summer rush was on its way. I looked forward to being lost in the crowd when I went to buy groceries. Not worrying who might see me and know I was the girl who had beaten Rio March’s Jeep with a metal pole.
More than once, I had been ridiculed for it. A younger girl at the checkout counter refused to wait on me, and someone else had to. The owner of the pizza place that Cullen had always wanted to eat at told me we weren’t welcome there. The most difficult had been the candy store, which Cullen had dreamed of going into, turning us away when I could finally afford to treat Cullen to a trip inside.
Other than that, the town was okay. I was used to people not accepting us and disliking us on sight. Tory had always made enemies. We had left the last town we were in because of her affair with the Baptist minister. His wife stayed by his side, but Tory had been broadcasted as a harlot far and wide. The only day care we could afford for Cullen had told us not to bring him back because of Tory’s affair.
After that, we had packed up and left. As bad as beating Rio’s truck up had been, it was nothing compared to the ostracizing you got when you slept with the beloved minister in town. Not everyone knew or cared about Rio’s Jeep. Everyone loved Pastor Bart.
I didn’t stop walking until my feet touched the sand. I slipped off my sandals, then bent down to pick them up before walking closer to the water’s edge. The crashing waves were soothing, and for a moment, I could get lost in the sight and sound. Worries of what Tory had done to alienate us in The Shores forgotten. Thoughts of my going back to work and what I did for money no longer seemed important.
My past was gone, and the future that lay ahead was vast and full of opportunity. The ocean was healing, if only for that moment you stood before it. I inhaled deeply, closing my eyes, and the sounds of the kids nearby, the music playing, the people talking all faded away. It was simply me and the crashing waves.
“Don’t go back to Signed Sips.” Rio’s deep voice interrupted my peaceful solitude.
My eyes flew open, and I turned my head to see him standing a few feet away from me. Glaring at me as if I were here to annoy him instead of the opposite. I was the one being annoyed. I glared back at him.
“If I w-w-want coffee or a p-p-pa-pastry, I will. Henley didn’t t-t-tell me I wasn’t welcome,” I shot back at him angrily.
Hadn’t he had us banned from enough places in town? Did he have to take away Cullen’s favorite new cupcake place too?
“Tory doesn’t need to work there. Henley needs good employees. Good people working for her. Not someone like your sister,” he said with a slight snarl of disgust.
If I wasn’t so mad about his interrupting my moment of peace, I might agree with him. Tory wasn’t the best employee, and I liked Henley too. She was very nice. But at the moment, I disliked Rio enough that I didn’t care about any of that.
“I don’t s-s-s-se-see how where T-T-T-Tory works is your b-business,” I replied.
His eyes flashed the hatred he felt for me, and a stupid lump formed in my throat at the sight of it. I wished I didn’t care. It would be easier if I could hate him too.
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t get the job. Don’t waste your time,” he warned.
I had no doubt he would do just that. The next time Cullen wanted a cupcake from there, I doubted I would be served. I would be turned away at the door, like the pizza place and candy shop. Sighing, I just nodded. My fight was gone. I didn’t want enemies here. I wanted to fit in and let Cullen grow up somewhere that accepted him. It was a constant struggle to give him everything his mother and I hadn’t had. There were days I felt like giving up and moving us once again. Possibly to Mobile, but then what about when men who frequented the club saw me out in town? I didn’t want to deal with that either. Cullen needed stability.
So, I didn’t respond to Rio’s threat. I believed him, and I knew he had that power. I nodded instead and fixed my gaze out on the water in front of me. I could almost pretend he wasn’t standing there and I was alone. Almost.
“It’s disappointing, you know,” he said then.
I didn’t look at him. I was afraid of what he would see in my eyes. “Wh-what is?” I asked.
“You,” he replied.
I winced, and my chest felt as if someone had slammed a heavy fist into it with one hard swing. Later, I would pride myself on standing there and not breaking down. I would be impressed with my strength and the way I’d handled it. Right now though, I wasn’t sure I could take my next breath. My throat was too tight, the pain inside too intense.
I knew the moment he walked away. I could feel him leave, and I was relieved he had said nothing more. I wasn’t sure I would have been able to stand here without crumpling if he had continued on. I had survived nightmares that most would never know, and I had come out stronger. I hadn’t let life take me down.
The boy I had once adored was gone. Once I got that through my head, I would be able to face Rio’s hatred and not feel anything. Until then, I would suffer. How could someone who had been through the depths of hell and come out on the other side still be affected by something as simple as words?
Rio March was my weakness, and I couldn’t afford a weakness in this life. Life wasn’t on my side. I had been fighting against it since birth.
Chapter Eleven
Rio
Pulling up beside Hazel’s red truck, I parked, pushed open my door, then reached over to grab the bag from Signed Sips and tray of coffees before getting out of my Jeep. I held up the items at the passenger window of Hazel’s truck.
“I brought gifts,” I said since the window was rolled down.
She leaned over and opened the door for me, so I could climb inside.
“Cup closest to you has some caramel shit you like, or so Henley said,” I told her.
She took the cup and leaned back in the seat with a sigh. I was worried about her. She had barely gone home for a good night’s sleep since Pops had been put in ICU. Gramma was the only visitor allowed in the waiting room. Thanks to Covid, we had to wait outside.
“Why don’t you go back to the house and get some sleep? You could also use a shower. I’ll stay here. I promise,” I told her.
She looked at the bag I had instead. “What’s in the bag?”
I handed it over to her, and she opened it, then pulled out a doughnut.
“God, I love Henley,” she said before taking a big bite.
“Eat the doughnut. Hell, eat everything in the bag, then go home and rest. You aren’t keeping Pops alive by sitting in the parkin
g lot. You need some sleep,” I told her.
Hazel continued to chew. When she was done, she shifted her gaze from the massive building in front of us to me. “What if I leave and he … and he—” She stopped because I knew she couldn’t say it. I understood that.
“I will be here, and I will come get you. We can’t go inside. We would just be out here, waiting on Gramma to come out. That’s all we can do. I go home not because I don’t love him, but because there might be a time soon when we are needed. And not because of the worst. But when he gets out of there and when he is strong enough to go home, we are going to be needed. So, I get rest. I continue on with my life daily. I go to work, and I make sure things are running smoothly, so I can update Gramma. That’s what we need to be doing.”
A single tear rolled down Hazel’s face. “What if he don’t come home?” she whispered.
I had thought about that more than once since Gramma had called to tell me he had a massive heart attack last week.
“He’s still alive. He’s strong. He will come home. But if he doesn’t, we’ll lean on each other, and we’ll pull through. We’ll be there for Gramma, and we’ll be strong for her. That is what he would expect of us.”
She nodded then, and I hoped to God I was right and his still being alive a week later meant he was going to live. I knew one day, I would have to face life without him, but I wasn’t ready for that yet. Neither was Hazel. We both needed him still.
Hazel finished the doughnut, then turned to look at me. “You’re right. It’s not somethin’ that happens often, but you are right now. Thanks,” she said with a sad smile.
I shrugged. “Everyone is right eventually,” I replied.
She laughed, and I reached into the bag and pulled out a chocolate chip muffin and a slice of lemon cake, then handed her the lemon cake since it was her favorite. She took it, and we ate in silence while we stared at the brick building in front of us. The evening breeze came through the rolled-down windows, and I felt hopeful. That soon we wouldn’t be sitting here, waiting on Gramma to come out and give us an update. Soon, we would all be back at Pops and Gramma’s house, eating her fried chicken and biscuits in the kitchen while listening to Pops talk about how bad hospital food had been.
“I saw Bryn today,” Hazel said, breaking the silence with the one name I hadn’t wanted to hear.
“How?” I asked instead of just ignoring her comment.
“She was walkin’ somewhere. I waved. She waved back. That was it,” Hazel said. Then, she sighed. “Okay, that’s a lie. I waved. She recognized me, realized I was sitting in a hospital parkin’ lot, and came over to see if I was okay. I told her about Daddy. She said how sorry she was.” Hazel stopped, and I waited because I knew she wasn’t through. “Then, she left and came back with a cheeseburger and fries. She also left me her phone number if’n I needed anything and then asked me not to mention it to you, if I didn’t mind. She said you wouldn’t be happy about her being around me.”
Hazel cut her gaze toward me then. “I don’t think she smashed yer Jeep, Rio. She’s good. The kind of good you can’t fake. It’s in her eyes. She paid you back for the Jeep. More’n your deductible was, and Pops had paid that. The way she argued that she owed you more the time I gave her back the last envelope, that was character. That is a good person.”
When was Bryn going to stop coming around my family? Couldn’t she just stay the fuck away, like I’d told her to? Did she have to stalk everyone related to me?
I jerked open the truck door. I loved Hazel, but I wasn’t going to listen to her praise Bryn. I wasn’t in the state of mind for that. She’d paid me back because she’d bashed my damn Jeep. If she hadn’t done it, then why pay me back? I wasn’t going to argue about this with Hazel though.
I closed the truck door, but Hazel wasn’t done talking.
“I love you, but you can be an ass,” she said, and I turned to get into my Jeep without responding to that comment.
When I was safely inside, she stared at me, and I mouthed the words, Go HOME. I’ll stay , because I wasn’t rolling down my window, so she could keep saying shit to me I didn’t want to hear.
She finally nodded and started her truck. I was relieved when I saw her pull out of the parking spot and drive away. Getting her to leave this week had been almost impossible. I didn’t see how my sitting here in the parking lot helped Pops or Gramma. I lived three miles from the hospital. I could be here quicker than Gramma could get outside if she needed me. Nonetheless, I rolled down the windows and drank my coffee. I’d told Hazel I would stay, so I would stay. Even if I knew Gramma didn’t expect it of us.
My text message alert went off, and I picked it up to see Drake’s name. He had been headed to hear Jack Knife play at Stonies tonight when I left the house earlier. I figured this was him asking me if I was going or not even though I had already told him I was headed to the hospital.
That crazy Tory bitch is working at Stonies. Serving motherfucking drinks.
I read the text twice. I was relieved she had a job. Henley hadn’t mentioned her or Bryn again since I had told her not to hire Tory. Either she’d listened or Tory just hadn’t gone in to see her. Whichever it was, I was just glad Stonies was stuck with her.
I didn’t respond to his text and laid the phone back down in the seat. Taking another drink of my coffee, I looked at the people walking down the street toward the main street in town. Watching the visitors come and go from the hospital doors depressed me, so I didn’t want to look in that direction.
Pops had saved me after my mother’s death. I was difficult when they first brought me here. Seeing their life, I couldn’t understand why they’d left me with my mom for so long. They must have known what she was like and the way I was being neglected. It took some time, but soon, I understood just how much my grandparents had helped us and how much they hadn’t known about my mother. Until her death. In time, it had been easy to forgive them. They loved me in a way I had never been loved.
It wasn’t time for Pops to go yet, and he knew that he was needed. He’d fight to live. It was why he was still alive.
Chapter Twelve
Bryn
Tonight should have been easier, but the two new girls that Marley had hired struggled. That had left me to take up the slack since Trix had been onstage all evening. My head was pounding as I slipped my oversize hoodie over my head. It fell halfway down my thighs, covering my shorts, but I didn’t care. It was comfortable and baggy.
Being covered up after a night of being bare was a relief. I was slipping on my sandals when a knock sounded on the door before it opened. The three solid raps were Saint’s signature. I knew it was him before he entered.
“Hey,” I said. He was normally busy, cleaning the front of house and making sure things were done properly this time of night. “Is everything okay?” I asked him, taking in the scowl on his face.
He gave me a singular nod but said nothing. I picked up my bag and put the strap on my shoulder, waiting for him to speak. He was the broody sort, and I was used to his scowls and delayed talking. I always imagined that he was deep-thinking his words before saying them. I respected that. I, too, had to think about my words but for different reasons.
“We have a rule,” he stated.
I knew the rules. I hadn’t broken any. I just nodded.
“Management doesn’t date the employees,” he said.
I didn’t know of any management dating employees.
“Yeah,” I agreed, unsure of why he was in here, telling me this. He was the one who had slept with some of the dancers and didn’t follow the rule. I hadn’t done anything wrong.
He ran a hand over the top of his head and made a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a sigh. It was his frustrated noise. I had heard it many times before. Even tonight, when Blondie—that was her floor name—had dropped her second tray of drinks, then slipped in the spilled alcohol and landed on her butt.
“I’m considering changing the rules. Just n
eed to speak to Marley about it.”
That was interesting. He hadn’t seemed to care about the rule before. I nodded again and waited.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “Bryn, do you understand anything I’m saying?”
Not really, and I was confused by why we were discussing it. “Uh, you want to change the rule about management dating employees,” I replied.
He let out a low, short chuckle. “Yeah.”
I smiled, glad he was amused. He rarely laughed. He reminded me of a caged lion at times. There was a wildness just there under the surface that he kept tamed. It’d frightened me at first, but over time, I had grown accustomed to it. He was a good man. One I considered a friend, and I had very few of those.
“I want to change the fucking rule because of you,” he said.
My head snapped up then, and I stared at him. My thoughts going in several directions. My first being, I didn’t need it changed. I didn’t want to date management. Then, I realized why he was in here and that he wanted to change it because he wanted to date … me?
Oh no. No, no, no, no.
Not that. Why that?
He was my boss. He had become a friend. I liked him, but not in that way. I wasn’t sure I could like anyone in that way. I had issues with dating. I was damaged, and I wasn’t sure I could be attracted to anyone because of it. I had even opened my mind to see if women attracted me a couple years ago, but I was as numb to them as I was to men. I had never truly felt anything for a guy, except one. Once.
“Oh,” I whispered when I could see in his expression he wanted me to say something.
He gave a short laugh and shook his head. “Why does that response not surprise me?” he said.
Because I had never once flirted with him or given him any reason to believe I wanted to date him or sleep with him maybe? I didn’t say that though. Saint was very handsome, tall, well built, and dangerous-looking. He had that sexy vibe going that every woman in this place swooned over, except me and his sister. Was that it? He was attracted to me because I didn’t flirt? Was he one of those? The one female who wasn’t trying to get screwed in his office was the one he wanted?