Much more approachable.
Graham waved his hand, a thin black cord wrapped around his wrist. A man-bracelet of some sort. I’d never thought about a man-bracelet before, but now I loved them. At least on Graham. “Did you have any trouble finding the place?” The annoyed expression he had often worn in our youth was absent, but he still gave off the appearance that he had an edge I couldn’t define. Maybe it was the stress of life, but something was unsettled.
“No. Not at all.” I tried to find a safe place to focus. His eyes had this immobilizing effect on me, and I couldn’t dare look directly at them. I fixed on his forehead. “It was right where you said it would be. Middle of town.”
Letting an exhausted sigh fall from his lips, his shoulders visibly fell as if he was letting go of the day’s stress. “Sorry you beat me here. I had to close the store,” he explained, “I have a few minutes before Hadley's class is over if you want to walk this way.” He tilted his head toward the vendors. “There are some food trucks we can check out.”
I’d never been shy, but this whole experience brought me back to being an awkward sixteen-year-old. Only now, I had hindsight to see so much more. We synced into step, perusing the boardwalk, and he started the conversation, “What kind of food are you hungry for?”
Hungry.Who’s hungry? I had been fighting theI’m-going-to-throw-upjitters, and eating was extremely risky right now, but I couldn’t tell him that. “Anything, really. Some place that has Cherry Coke.” I forced the most agreeable smile I’d ever worn.
“Always Cherry Coke.” He smiled at me before tacking on, “I say we grab some burgers from this place.” He pointed to the truck a few yards from us. “We can sit in the park. That way, I can keep an eye out for Hadley.”
I’d already slid my foot in that direction, forcing myself to ignore the fact that the food truck looked as if I would need a triple-boosted tetanus shot to eat there. I wasn’t high maintenance. At this point, I’d do anything to spend this time with Graham. I eagerly replied, “Sure.”
When we got our order, Graham led the way back through the town square to a park nestled in between two brick buildings. We shared plenty of polite smiles but not a whole lot of words. I remembered him being quieter, but I didn’t recall him being this quiet. It was like my other senses were so alert watching Graham, I didn’t have the reserves to talk.
Graham pointed down to the bottom of the hill, where a small group of kids sat in a circle on the ground. All the kids wore matching white T-shirts and seemed organized in that preschooldisorderly way. My favorite kid was the one who refused to sit in the circle. He rebelliously lay on his back, several feet away, just picking his nose. His ability to resist conformity even at this young age was truly inspiring.
I turned my attention to my burger, squeezing it flatter, and took a bite just as Graham started to speak. “That’s where Hadley does her art in the park. Every Tuesday.” We exchanged pleasant smiles, as we both knew I already knew this. “She likes it.” His cadence was slow, almost as if he was making up random stuff. “She takes it with the neighbor’s kid. On nights I have to work at the bar, or like today when I had to close the store, Lacy takes her. It works out well.”
“Sounds like it does.” I didn’t want to make it more awkward by pointing out that we’d already talked about this. Clearly, he was nervous, too.
“So.” He let out his second long sigh of the night. Not that I was keeping count because that would be odd. Sighs didn’t seem like a positive thing. It’s not like a smile, but it could be worse. Maybe?
“Look at us, sitting in a park, like old times.” He gave his signature head shake, sending the wispy strands to the back of his head, clearing his face.
“Wow, yeah.” I checked behind me as if I was making sure I was in fact, sitting in a park. “Sort of like old times.”Except you have a kid.
“Tell me about your life.” He gestured toward me. “You’re obviously still in Florida. Married? Kids? How do you like your job?”
My breath came out in a whistle as I instantly triaged those questions in order of importance, assigning the whole “married” inquiry in flashing neon letters in my mind. “That was a lot of questions.”
“Sorry.” His lashes lowered, hooding all the beautiful sapphire hues under them, the way I had always loved. I marveled at how so much time had passed—ten years—but I never forgot how his somber expression had such an effect on me.“Feel free to ignore any question you don’t want to answer.”
“It’s fine,” I said in my best breezy tone. “Yeah, I'm still in Florida. Not married. No kids. The job is…meh.” I’d never understood how he was the only person who had this ability, like he could see all my secrets with the simplest gaze.
One of his brows took a northerly hike. “Just meh?”
“Well, I get to talk all day, so that helps, but I have a hard time telling people to spend thousands of dollars on a slip of paper that may only net a job that pays fifteen bucks an hour. It works out if they can go to med school or something. Other than that, I don’t know if they will see the reward.”
He chewed, and I kept right on talking. “I get to travel, which is nice. And again, I basically get paid to talk all day. In that sense, it’s a dream job. So, it's your turn. Same questions. College? Married? Uh, you have Hadley, so yes to kids. How do you like your job?” I rushed out all the questions, even faster than he had with no spaces between words.
“No college,” he promptly answered. “I dropped out of high school, actually.” He rubbed his chin with his free hand, letting his thumb roll over his jaw several times. “I…I didn’t do too well after I went to the boy’s ranch. I, ah, ran away.”
“Sorry.” My voice matched his softness.
“We don’t have to talk about that.” His voice ticked up stronger. “And I’m not married. Never even been close. Actually, I own the bookstore, so it’s not just a job. I sort of like it.”
I pinned an impressed smile on my face. “Oh, you do?”
“Yeah, I was renting the apartment upstairs and always brought Hadley down to hang out. The old lady who owned it never got mad when we spent the entire day down there, readingall the books without buying them. She had a soft spot for Hadley. When she was looking to retire, she asked me if I wanted it. I hadn’t planned on buying it, but it seemed to make sense. It’s not a huge moneymaker, but I wanted Hadley to be able to tell her friends her dad did something more than work at the bar.” His voice trailed off, and the energy between us seemed to grow thicker. “It’s complicated…Hadley.”
Sweat coated my lower back so fast, I was glad I’d opted for the breathable swimsuit cover because this conversation was going into uncharted waters. I needed a life jacket. “I’m sure it is,” I managed to squeak out.
He ran his tongue over his bottom lip, dropping his voice so much he was almost whispering, “It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“I wasn’t thinking anything,” I whispered back, not because I was afraid of being too loud. The air in my lungs had run out. I casually placed my palm on my chest, pretending it was comfortable.
