Page 10 of Lovingly Restored

If I crawl under the table, I wonder how long the baristas will let me stay curled up under there.

“Ashlyn, sweetie...” She takes my hand.

“It’s stupid. He was grumpy, anyway.”

“That’s always the way.” She scrunches up her nose in distaste.

“It’s not like we’re gonna see each other again…”

We could if he calls.

The thought creeps into my mind like a wisp of campfire smoke that I try to blow away before it stings my eyes. We fall into a comfortable moment of silence for all the hookups that never happened. May they rest in peace. It must have been the adrenaline of the near accident that provoked my body’s reaction to a man I knew for all of one hour. I haven’t lit up like that over anyone in ages.

“Hey, one more thing?”

I refocus my attention.

“How did you get your car back so fast if you didn’t tow it last night?”

I watch the gears turning in her crafty mind.

Screw you, Isaac Whoever-You-Are. Saying goodbye to people is hard, but you won’t be one of them.

Chapter three

Isaac

Mybreathmixeswiththe steam of my creamy coffee in the crisp morning air, but I settle deeper into the plastic Adirondack chair on my tenth-floor balcony anyway. The coastal winter breeze on my bare arms is refreshing. It’s waking me up after an almost sleepless night. West Isle stretches out below me, ending at the shore of the Pacific. A Maersk container ship floats in place, white caps playing around its rusty hull, and the dense dark clouds threaten more rain. The historic downtown core, most of the stone buildings over a century old, is surrounded by sprawling residential areas and higher density modern condos, like mine. I glower at the pretty city I grew up in all the same. I tossed and turned, replaying the conversation in the boardroom, thinking up all the satisfying ways I could have told my dad to get fucked. The air smells fresh after the cleansing rain. I want that for myself. A pressure washer to my brain to flush out all the emotions clogging everything up. My phone buzzes on the glass patio table next to me, and I’d be lying if I said Ashlyn isn’t the first person that comes to mind. Until I remember she doesn’t have my number. I wonder if she’s already noticed that I had her car towed to her place last night. A mechanic buddy of mine owed me a favour from when I helped him fence his yard last summer.

“Hey, Chris,” I say, trying and failing to inject some levity into my voice.

“Morning. Making sure you’re okay after last night.”

“That’s very sweet,” I deflect before sighing and choosing honesty. “Not great. But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“No. But the ball’s in your court now.”

Yeah. But what am I supposed to do with said ball?

“It caused quite the stir,” he says.

I glance at my watch. “It’s been twelve hours. How can something ’cause quite the stir’ that fast?”

“You know how gossip spreads at work.”

“Aside from my dad and I, you’re the only other person who knows. Is the gossiper on the phone with us?”

“You wound me. I can keep secrets, thank you very much. It was probably your dad’s assistant.Sheknew about it ahead of time because of the paperwork. She probably mentioned it to someone in the office and then it got back to Berg who told Dean and, like I said, a stir.”

Berg and Dean are two of our good friends who also work at Forward. I’d have told them today. Probably. It’s fucking embarrassing.

“Good. I hope it pisses him off when everyone starts talking.”

I slide open the glass patio door and step inside.

“People aren’t impressed. Not that they’d say anything about it to him.”

I drop my coffee mug in the stainless steel sink. “No. And they shouldn’t. I don’t want anybody else losing their jobs.”

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