Page 29 of The Promise Of You

Right on. “So… Justin. Can I pop in and… say hello?”

Her face scrunches. “Um, he’s not in right now… we’re not technically open. Like, we open at twelve?”

I wave like it’s no big deal. “We’ve been exchanging emails, and I figured it’d be easier if I just popped in to introduce myself.”

“Oh. He must have answered from his phone.”

He’s in the middle of something. That explains the curt responses. “You know what, I’ll come back later. It was just a neighborly visit, no big deal.”

Pink tints her cheeks. “We had no idea you were coming, or we would’ve welcomed you.”

I backpedal to my portion of the sidewalk, the one without cute tables and umbrellas. For now. “Is twelve a good time? One?” I really need to get the rent problem crossed off my list of things to worry about for now.

She waves me back to her. “Hold on,” she says, pulling out her phone. “Let me tell him you’re here. I’m sure he’ll—” She puts the phone to her ear, opens the door, and ushers me in. The ‘Sorry, we’re closed’ sign bangs against the glass pane.

“Moose, behave,” she says as the dog I saw yesterday lifts his massive head my way, then gets up slowly and ambles to greet me. He’s not just big. He’s huge. His head is about level with my waist. “Hey, buddy.” He closes his eyes while I give him a skull scratch.

“Hey, so… the lady from the restaurant is here?” Haley says into the phone, looking at me. Then she dips her face and turns around.

I take a few steps away to give her privacy. Moose nuzzles my hand, so I resume my petting while I take in the pub, Haley’s conversation inaudible. Dark wood paneling, shiny brass details, comfy booths, small ambiance lamps, local photographs: everything imparts a feeling of relaxed comfort. The floors are old, waxed wood planks. Behind the long bar, bottles are neatly lined, and there’s not a speck of dust on the shelves.

Haley pockets her phone and turns to me, embarrassment painting her features. I hate that I’ve put her in a difficult situation. She opens her mouth, but no sound comes out. Clearly, Mr. King doesn’t want to talk to his neighbor and tenant.

Clearly, I should be gone already.

I give Moose one last scratch between the ears. “Thanks for trying,” I say to Haley. “I’ll come back.”

I turn around and slam into a mass of muscle. “You need to leave,” a familiar voice says.

nine

Justin

Ilean against Chris’s prep table in his bakery, the cold metal digging into my hips. “What are you doing?” It’s a rhetorical question. I wave my phone to indicate I’m onto him. How do I keep him from totally messing up his life after he and his girlfriend, Alex, had a falling out, when I’m having trouble keeping my own shit together? Truth is, it’s been a week, a whole week of beating myself up for letting Clover go. For my stupid rule: No Name, No Number. A week of wondering.

Does she think about me?

When she falls asleep at night, do I cross her mind? Or am I already just a blip in her past?

How does our one night together compare to her nights before?

To her nights now.

Does she think about it like I do? Like this was the one and only night I felt truly alive.

It can’t be, or I wouldn’t have woken up to a cold bed. To a morning without someone to share my coffee with. I’ve played this in my head over and over. I would have brought her a cup in bed. We would have kissed and cuddled and made love, and then I would have said, or maybe she would have said, ‘To hell with that stupid rule. I want to see you again.’

And she or I would have said, ‘Thank god. I was hoping you’d say that.’ And then we would have kissed again, the kiss to end all hopelessness, and…

My phone lights up with an email from my tenant.

I fire a quick reply and get back to the reason I’m here. Alex left without taking her phone, and Chris has been trying to get in touch with her via his social media. He thinks she’s with her best friend, and somehow a plan formed in his mind to get through to her that way.

It’s not pretty.

The guy knows nothing about social media. The little he does know, he learned from Alex who came to Emerald Creek for an apprenticeship at his bakery.

Now he’s live, insulting his customer base, and he doesn’t even know it.

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