Page 28 of Begin Again
“Stay out of this, would you?” Charlie rolls her eyes, but the twitch in the corner of her mouth says the opposite.
“Seems like you need a little motivation.” I walk farther inside and approach Lady, rubbing the bridge of her nose along the white mark.
“And what did you have in mind?”
I shrug, looking up at her from under my lashes with a smirk. From the corner of my eye, I can see Katy looking between us, then at Jackson, and then back at us. Her mouth spreads into a wide smile.
“You’re insufferable. Go back to work,” Charlie says, attempting to swat me away from Lady.
Katy cups her mouth to make sure we hear her loud and clear when she says, “Would y’all like us to leave you alone or—”
“What are you talking about?” Charlie whips her head around to glare at Katy.
“Oh, nothing!” Her smirk says it all.
“I have an idea!” Jackson practically jumps out of his seat.
Oh no, I have a bad feeling about this. Katy must have the same feeling by the way she covers her face.
“If you beat sixteen seconds, Xavier has to take you on a date!”
“Jacks!” Katy hisses.
“What?” He shrugs. “It’s not like everyone doesn’t see it.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, ignoring Charlie when she glances down at me, keeping my gaze locked on the dirt floor beneath my feet. “I’m, uh…I’m gonna go check on the shower.”
“Fuck.” I sigh when a piece of barbed wire slices through the glove covering my hand. The end of the large spike nicks my hand, drawing blood to the surface immediately. That wouldn’t happen normally, but these gloves are worn to hell. I’ve meant to get new ones every time I go into town but keep forgetting. Today has not been my day…First, it was waking up to find we were out of coffee, then a flat tire on the truck gave me a late start, and now…this. “What else could go wrong?”
I probably shouldn’t say that so loud. Who knows what is out here waiting for the opportunity to fuck with the rest of my day.
Ripping the glove from my left hand, I toss it through the open truck window before I open the door and dig through the glove compartment for something to cover my hand. The wound isn’t too deep, but it’ll keep bleeding if I don’t do something. I need to get through at least one section before I go back tothe house and properly dress it. I hope Charlie and Joseph have already left for town.
Tomorrow is the Blossom Festival, and they’re supposed to be in town to help finish setting up. I know I should join them, but I declined the offer when they invited me. I need some space. I need to clear my head after the last few days. Working on the fence offers me that.
When I left Charlie and her friends in the barn last night, I intended to spend the rest of my night in my room, leaving almost zero chance of running into her again. But it wasn’t enough. I needed to get out of the house. I needed breathing room. That’s how I ended up at the small diner at the edge of town, properly named End of the Line Diner. Joseph has recently started giving me a small stipend for my work around the ranch, which felt wrong at first, like I was taking advantage of him when he was already letting me stay here for free. But it’s nice to go out and buy things for myself and feel a bit more independent.
As I walked into the diner, the waitress, Helen, waved to me from behind the counter and motioned to the corner booth. It was my normal spot on nights like that. Nights when being behind the safety of my bedroom door wasn’t enough. Nights when I couldn’t sleep no matter how hard I tried. Nights when my mind went in endless circles trying to make sense of everything. Helen passed a coffee and breakfast platter in front of me before scurrying back over to the counter to talk to the other patrons.
It has been practically a year since I woke up in the hospital and up until now, I’d held out hope (even if only a small amount) someone, anyone, was out there looking for me. Someone moving heaven and earth to find me and bring me home. But the longer I’m stuck in Bezer, the more I lose faith in the idea. Maybe no one cared I was gone. Maybe I didn’t have any friends orfamily to care. If someonewascoming, they would’ve been here by now…Right?
Was I supposed to stay in Bezer the rest of my life? I’d have to. I’d have no other choice. I didn’t know where I’d go. How was I supposed to live when I didn’t know who I was? Should I move on and make a new life? But what if I woke up one day and miraculously remembered everything? Who is the girl that plagues me? And why can I see her but not remember her? Is she the answer to all of this?
The more questions that ran through my mind, the tighter my chest became as I sat there.
“You okay, darlin’?” Helen asked. It was the same thing she always started with. When I came in, Helen would leave me alone for the most part, almost everyone did around here, but she always made sure my cup was full for however long I was there.
“Y-yeah, thanks, Helen.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
That was a first.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Nothing to talk about.”
“Now, I know that’s not true. I get the feeling you have quite the story, but”—she glanced at the door when another customer walked in—“maybe another time.”
Normally, my trips to the diner helped me relax and get out of my head, but it did the opposite last night. Too many things swirling around inside with no idea what to do. This back and forth with Charlie had been going on for a long time, and the longer I’m in Bezer, the more obvious it’s becoming there might be something between us. The thought terrifies me. How am I supposed to jump into something when I don’t know what could be out there waiting for me? There has always been a little voice in the back of my mind and a tug on my heart telling me not to jump in with both feet. But maybe it’s time to test the waters…
