“Why should I? I mean, it’s not like his house is a swingers club.”
“Oh, my dear, sweet, clueless friend. If you only knew.” Gwen lifts my coffee cup out of my hand and takes the last gulp. “Knoxthrows the heaviest parties.”
“Super,” I mumble. We’re both quiet for a moment then I add, “Were you ever there?”
She raises her eyes and hesitates. She runs her tongue absentmindedly over her lower lip while her little nose curls. “Yeah,” she says finally. “Back in the day. But that’s all in the past.”
Kate rushes past our table and fills up my coffee. “Gwendolyn, dear. The coffee beans are empty. I asked you yesterday to bring some more.”
Gwen makes a face. “Whoops.”
“Super.” Her mother sighs and places the coffeepot back on the counter. “I’ll go over to Woody’s and get some. In the meantime, you’re in charge.”
Gwen raises her hand and salutes. “Yes, ma’am.”
Kate just shakes her head, hangs her apron on the hook by the back door, and disappears outside.
While Gwen takes a look around the diner to see that all the tables are taken care of, I bend toward her, “Why are his parties a thing of the past for you? Did something happen?”
Gwen frowns and casts her glance at a table with two women who are so made-up, it’s as if they were just coming from a party or had it in mind to tear someone apart at seven-thirty in the morning. “It’s not that thingshappenat Knox’s parties, Paisley, it’s that full-blown catastrophes come together.” She looks at me. “Nuclear catastrophes.”
“Now you’re exaggerating.” Actually, her words shouldn’t make me so curious. What Knox gets up to in his life should be of no interest to me. But I have to admit that my curiosity is gaining the upper hand.
“You’ll see for yourself soon enough,” she replies, her eyes drifting over my shoulder to the large display case. “Speak of the devil,” she mumbles. Her brown eyes go dark. “Don’t turn around.”
Naturally, I turn around immediately to see Knox walking intothe diner. With Wyatt right behind him, who however is having a bit of a hard time getting his hockey bag through the door. Knox’s brown hair is disheveled, as if he had difficulty getting it together. Our eyes meet and I don’t know what I expected after last night. Maybe a smile. Maybe just a simple, “Hey.”
What I didn’t expect was him to immediately turn away from me and…ignore me. As if I didn’t exist. As if looking at me was worth less than looking at a thick cockroach.
A roach…
Voices make their way into my head. Voices that I have tried to drive out for years.
“I’m not going to play with her. That’s Paisley, the trailer roach.”
“Look out! Get away from her! Mom says that they’ve all got lice over there.”
“Why do your pants always have holes?”
“Well, it’s obvious. Her mother is one of those junkies who hang around the old drive-in getting high. As if she had money for clothes!”
“Why are you staring at Alex Woodley? He would never like you. You’re a trailer roach!”
Trailer roach, trailer roach, trailer roach…
“Paisley?”
I look up. “Yeah?”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” Getting up more quickly than I’d intended, I bang my thigh against the table and my coffee…
Oh, dear, my coffee!
It falls right off the table. Right when Knox walks past. And the brown liquid lands right on his jeans. Or rather…his crotch. The mug shatters on the floor.
Gwen just stands there, halfway up from the booth, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the floor. And Knox, he… He doesn’t react. No idea if it has to do with hisI-am-the-hottest-snowboarder-in-the-world-and-every-chick-likes-meschtick, but hedoesn’t even let an angry snort escape. Instead, he raises his head, real slowly, and…grins. A grin that digs deep dimples into his cheeks and makes my legs weak. For a second my brain short-circuits, and I am incapable of doing anything but stare. It’s a good two seconds until I’m able to get myself back on the ground of facts.
