“I just don’t get it. Why move back here, talk to your ex, but not contact your kids? And why not try to make amends with your own mother or sister?” I huff as I sink into one of the oversized reading chairs we have set up in the store’s corner.
“Maybe he’s embarrassed by his behavior. Or maybe he thinks you won’t talk to him?” Clare suggests.
“Or, he could be trying to do something big? Like a grand gesture?” Roxy muses.
“But why? Why now?” I question.
They both shrug.
“I wish I’d just run into him on the street, you know? Like what happened with my mom. And force him to talk to me,” I say, feeling myself getting mad just thinking about it.
Roxy comes and sits in the chair opposite me. “Sorry, Joc. I really am. I wish I had answers for you.”
“That makes two of us,” I state. I pick up my overnight bag and shove it behind the desk.
“Staying the night?” she asks.
I nod. “I have been so busy, I haven’t seen Hutch in two days.”
She smirks.
I roll my eyes. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. He’s had big, sad puppy dog eyes every time I see him,” she says with a laugh.
“Good. I want him only thinking about me,” I tease.
Clare giggles. “Oh, I think he thinks about one other woman,” she says, pointing out toward the park where Hutch sits on a bench. I can just make out a raccoon on a giant boulder nearby, eating peanuts.
“That’s bold of him to be out there. It’s only like…what, three thirty?” Roxy says.
“Yeah. You mind if I go say hi real quick?” I ask.
She shakes her head and motions for me to go with a wave of her hand. I walk outside and down to the trail.
I hear Hutch murmuring to himself or the raccoon as I approach. Cliff sits on a log near the water’s edge, mindlessly eating peanuts and what looks like blueberries.
“You upped your game, huh?” I ask as I walk around the bench and sit down next to him.
“Huh?” he asks as he turns and then smiles when his eyes land on me.
“Blueberries?”
“Oh,” he laughs. “Yeah, I saw some video online where the person was feeding one frozen blueberries, and I thought, why not?”
Cliff eats one, and we watch in silence. The only sound is the water rushing in the nearby stream. It’s peaceful, but also the air seems to be ripe with heaviness.
“You coming over tonight?” he asks, breaking the silence. Something seems off, as if big things are weighing on his mind.
“I can…if you want,” I say, not wanting to force it. If he needs alone time, I can give him that, even if it’s killing me to be away from him.
He frowns. “Of course, I want you over.”
“You seem…deep in thought,” I say carefully as I lean forward to really look at him.
With a sigh, he wraps an arm around me and tugs me against him. I wrap my arms around him and place my head on his shoulder.
“Sorry, princessa. I am deep in thought. I guess seeing my family this week brought out a lot of…things I hadn’t thought about before. I need to process it all,” he explains.
