Chapter Three
One Month Later
“So, what is this, date sixteen?Seventeen?”
“I am not keeping count,” Hawk said, packaging up the pasta salad he’d made, along with the pieces of fried chicken that were cold from the previous night’s meal.
Sarah was hanging out at their parents’ again.He had a sneaking suspicion that between her and their parents, Sarah had an agreement to constantly check on him.She seemed to stop by way too many times for comfort.
“They are not dates.”
“No, you just go and hang out at Palmer Gifts for fun?”Sarah asked.“Come on, everyone is talking.If you’re not at the shop, you’re at the diner.People are talking.”
“People can fuck off,” Hawk said.
“Don’t get that temper up.”
“I’m not angry.Look, I like hanging out with Katie, and you know, the shop is pretty cool.”
“I even heard you sold some kind of owl lamp the other day.”
“That I did.There was a guy who wanted to take a memento home with him, and he talked nonstop about how an owl kept him up the first couple of nights.So, an owl lamp would be a perfect reminder that he quit real life and took an experience in nature.”
“Wow,” Sarah said.“You know, I was thinking this might have something to do with the fact that growing up around Katie, you became tongue-tied.Isn’t that why you often slapped her books down on the ground?Isn’t that why you bumped into her as well?You didn’t know how exactly to talk to her, so bumping into her kind of broke the ice, even if she only looked at you with a glare and said, ‘Hey!’”
“Don’t you have a life?”Hawk asked.
“Yes, it’s meddling in my big brother’s, and you know what, this is a lot of fun.”His sister had that taunting grin.
“Go away,” he said.
“That didn’t work growing up, and it’s not going to work now.So come on, am I close, or were you just a dick in high school?”
“I was a dick.”And he was not about to admit to his sister that when it came to Katie, he didn’t have the first fucking clue what to say to her.He had been tongue-tied.
Katie hadn’t even been out of his league.He had cheerleaders falling all over him, lining up around the corner wanting to ride him and all that shit, whereas Katie didn’t even give him the time of day.She gave him nothing.She was never mean, but he also knew she didn’t notice him.
“Yeah, you were.”
“And I’m not a dick anymore, and I like hanging out with Katie.She doesn’t make me feel like I’m sick.”
The smirk left Sarah’s face.“Hawk, come on.”
“No, you think I don’t know what our parents’ game is?You think I don’t know you’re stopping by to keep an eye on me?”
“They’re worried about you.We’re all worried about you.”
“You don’t need to be, okay?”
“Hawk, honey, you died.”
“But they brought me back.I’m back, and I didn’t argue with Dad.I’m taking a break, and I’m not getting involved in my company.I’m reading the fucking emails giving me the rundown of everything that is happening.I’m doing what is asked of me.I don’t need a babysitter, and I don’t need people to make me constantly remember how bad it fucking was.”He grabbed the bag he’d packed his and Katie’s lunch in and stormed out of the house.
He still hadn’t purchased a car for himself, and was still taking out the old truck he used when he was a kid.Putting the lunch box on the seat beside him, he turned over the ignition and pulled out of the driveway.The moment he cleared the main road, he couldn’t help but slam his hand on the steering wheel, feeling a little pissed at himself for arguing with his sister.
He was not going to forget that kind of pain anytime soon.It had been the worst feeling in the world and was going to be impossible to forget.
