Sam
With my cellphone against my ear, I waited for Josh to answer. I was about to hang up when he answered on the fifth ring.
“Hello?”
“Josh, it’s Sam.”
“Hey, Sam. What’s up?”
“I wanted to see if you’d be up for grabbing dinner this week, or a beer maybe.” I came right out with it because he was at work, and I was sure he didn’t have too much time to talk.
“Yeah, that sounds great. What night?”
“Any night you’re free. I’ve taken some time off work, which is in part what I’d like to talk to you about.”
“Okay, cool. I’m available tonight if you’d like. I can’t do Friday night because Andrew and I take Brandon out for a beer. Things are just getting back to normal with him, and Andrew and I can’t bail on Brandon.”
I smiled as I listened to Josh talk about Brandon. I understood the situation perfectly and admired Josh and Andrew for committing and not wavering from their Friday night plans with Brandon.
“Tonight would work fine. When and where is convenient for you?” I asked him. Since this was short notice, I wanted it to be convenient for him.
“If you aren’t opposed, there’s a great barbecue place close to the surf shop,” Josh suggested.
“That sounds good. Text me the address and the time, and I’ll be there, Josh.”
“My last lesson for the day is at 5:00, and we’ll be out on the water until 6:00. So, does 6:30 work?”
“Yes, 6:30 works. I’ll look for your text with the address, and I’ll see you this evening.”
Moments after I got off the phone with Josh, his text came through with the restaurant’s name and address. Since I had a few hours to occupy myself until I needed to get ready to meet Josh, I decided to follow up on James’ suggestion of looking into Jolie Mayfield.
As I expected, there were a few entries that came up in the results. Rather than go through each one, I refined my search to the name and the year it would have been thirteen years ago. A few options came up, and I clicked on the first one, which was from theSanta Cruz Tribunein Northern California.
Local Santa Cruz High School student, Jolie Mayfield, found dead at home. She was found by family members in an apparent suicide. Jolie was just fifteen-years-old and was a freshman at the high school.
So, Jolie was Josh’s sister who killed herself. Was she older or younger? If younger, the connection he had with Alison made more sense to me. The brief article mentioned family found her. Had he been the one to find her? I went back to the main search page and opened an article from the Santa Cruz High School. It looked like a tribute type of article. Since it was a school paper, it obviously had the students in mind and lacked much substance. However, I did learn that Jolie was younger than Josh.
Freshman Jolie Mayfield died over the weekend. Jolie was an active member of the marching band and baking club. She leaves behind her older brother, senior Josh Mayfield. Jolie will be greatly missed.
The relationship between Josh and Alison made much more sense now. I thought Josh somewhat saw Alison as his little sister. Big brothers often let the little sisters push at them some, and they’re very protective. It could actually be a form of healing for Josh.
I shut my laptop down, leaned back in the chair, and thought about the two of them. Why was Alison so combative with Josh? James knew, but I would figure it out.
* * *
I pulledinto the parking lot and saw Josh’s new Range Rover and parked beside it. Parking next to it really put into perspective exactly how big it really was. I had a new 4Runner SUV, and Josh’s Range Rover made my SUV look a lot smaller.
As I climbed the weathered white wooden steps to the porch lobby of the restaurant, Josh stood up from a bench he had been sitting on. His blondish-brown hair seemed darker now since it was still damp, though I could see the tips were drying. He wore jeans, a navy t-shirt, and casual sneakers. Josh would have every woman in the place drooling or staring at his simple sexiness. Unlike the women, I already knew exactly what he had underneath these clothes. And soon, it would be mine to touch and pleasure.
“Hey!” Josh greeted me as I approached. “Did you have any trouble finding the place?”
“Not at all. The location is beautiful,” I commented and looked to the right of me. All you could see was the ocean because the restaurant was located atop some cliffs.
“They have a deck, and we can sit outside if you’d like.”
“I’ll leave that up to you. You’ve been outside in the sun and elements all day.”
“We can sit outside. I love being outdoors.”
