She visibly flinches at my tone. “I don’t believe you.”
“Well, that’s your choice, but that’s all I’ve got.”
Her eyes narrow and her jaw tightens. “Fine.”
“Fine.”
She gives me one more baffled look before shaking her head, whipping an apron off a hook, and all but running out of the break room.
“Whoa,” I hear Luca exclaim in the hallway leading to the kitchen. “Slow down, Eves, or you’ll be wearing maple syrup in about two-point-four seconds.”
He sticks his head in the break room door, his eyebrows cinched in concern. “Who spit in her coffee this morning?” he asks, jutting a thumb in Eva’s direction.
“Me, apparently,” I say, digging my fingers into my eyes.
“You?” He frowns, setting his backpack on the small metal table.
“I thought you were supposed to start an hour ago,” I say, ignoring his question. I drag a hand down my face as though I can wipe away this whole cluster of a day.
“Oh. Well, yeah, about that. Mom pushed back my shift.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say she was not amused when she found out what we did last night.”
“What? How’d she find out?”
“Mrs. Latham came in for breakfast at the crack of dawn, apparently.”
“Oh. Oops.”
“Yeah, oops. So I had to go back and put the gnomes in their rightful and pure positions.”
“Spoilsport.”
“Right? Though I swear to god, Mom was trying really hard not to laugh while she chewed my ass out.”
I smile and take a deep breath to steel myself for three more hours of dodging Eva in a very tiny restaurant.
“Hey,” Luca says when I’m on my second deep inhale. “Don’t forget, July Fourth party on the boat.”
Every year, for as long as I can remember, Luca and Macon take out their boat—?their dad’s boat, which he left as a sort of pathetic consolation prize and is huge and beautiful and fun as hell—?and anchor it a few miles off the coast. They invite whoever they happen to be dating—?until Macon roped himself to Janelle for life, that is—?a few of their less annoying guy friends, and me. We drink beer and eat hot dogs and Cheetos and watch fireworks kaleidoscope over the sprawling sky, their reflection a sparkle of color on the water.
“The Fourth is two weeks away,” I say.
“Yeah, but last year you and Maggie had just moved and you couldn’t find your swimsuit or any of your summer clothes. You came in sweatpants. Remember how bitchy you were the entire time because you were so hot?”
I scowl at him. A big dramatic glare that I hope covers up the tightness in my jaw and the ache behind my eyes from the fact that my life is a total effing mess and has been for years. Sweatpants because I couldn’t find my clothes? Christ on a cracker, it sounds so ludicrous coming out of his mouth.
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I’m just reminding you so you can start looking for your swimsuit now.”
“Not like I’m going to swim in deep water anyway. Hello, water beasts.”
He rolls his eyes several times to let me know how ridiculous I am. “Just find it.”
“Fine. Who all’s coming?”
“You, Kimber and me, Macon and Janelle, and Eva. Going simple this year.”
