“So—something other than pizza,” Freddie said, his voice sounding like he was trying to make it cheerful. “What do you think?”
“I think…” I said slowly. I took a breath. “I think that I meant it when I said that it felt like we’d had thirty first dates already. Because that’s how it is for me. I’ve spent all this time with you, and you’ve told me all these stories. I know you really well. And for you—I’m someone you met three hours ago.”
Freddie took a step closer to me, his forehead creasing in confusion. “I mean, technically that’s true. But…what are you saying?”
I shook my head. “I’m saying that doesn’t seem fair, you know? I literally have a list full of facts about you. It’s like I have the cheat codes. And I don’t know if we can…start anything with that kind of imbalance.”
Freddie shook his head, even as I could tell he was processing this. “I don’t…That’s not…”
“I really like you,” I said. “But that’s because Iknowyou. And you don’t know me at all.” I knew this was the truth the moment I said it—it hit me somewhere deep inside.
?“I’m sure we can figure it out, right?” Freddie asked. But there wasn’t a ton of conviction in his voice, and I could see that he’d come to the same realization that I had.
“I don’t think so.” I felt the weight of these words land as I spoke them.
“Cass, let’s go!” I looked over and saw Ms. Mulaney walking past. She tapped her watch. “Bus is going to leave soon.”
“Okay,” I called back. “Be right there.”
I looked at Freddie, and he gave me a sad smile. I stepped forward and gave him a hug. He hugged me back?, and I let myself breathe him in for just a moment—the last time I’d get to do this.
Then I broke away and looked up at him. “Take care, okay?”
He nodded, his smile trying to mask the disappointment in his eyes. “You too, Cass.”
I gave him one last look, then turned and hurried across the parking lot, ready to rejoin my class, and get on the bus—the one that would, at last, take me home.
Cass, can you give me a hand?”
I looked up from counting my tip money to see Bryony heading toward me, tray full of drinks in hand.
“Of course,” I said, tucking my cash into my turquoise apron, the one covered in tiny tridents. “What do you need?”
“Diet Coke,” she said, nodding toward the soda station.
“Got it.” I filled up a glass with ice and picked up the soda gun. I garnished it with a lemon wedge and a straw—this was all second nature by now.
Bryony and I had both gotten jobs at the Mermaid Café after all. And despite the fact that waitressing washard—my feet had never hurt this much in my life, and I had a faint scar on my hand from when I’d had a collision with a fellow waiter and a plate of very hot fajitas—we were also having a blast.
The other servers were a lot of fun, and Bryony and I had been able to get most of our shifts together. Since we were still new to the restaurant, we didn’t have any of the best ones yet; we weren’t going to get a Friday or Saturday night shift unless someone called in sick. Those were the prime tipping times, and not for the newbies. So mostly, we had lunch shifts and brunch—I’d learned the hard way that nobody wanted brunch. But I didn’t mind. I’d even started something called Brunch of Questions!—which was a quiz brunch that had a few dedicated followers who came every week. Greta and Nora had been instrumental in helping with the trivia.
The morning after Grad Nite, my dads and I had sat around the kitchen table in the house and had a big conversation—one that had been a long time coming. I explained how I ?wanted to stay in Harbor Cove, that I’d been moving too much, and I didn’t want to do it again before college.
And after a lot of discussion, we’d worked out a system. The house still hadn’t sold yet, so three nights a week, one of my dads came down and stayed with me—they alternated, while the other one stayed behind in Oregon, keeping that renovation on track. The other days, I usually stayed with Bryony. Her parents were fine with it, and we loved it—it felt like an extended sleepover, especially since we got to hang out at work, too. And because we would be going our separate ways in September, we were trying to soak up as much friend time as we could.
Bryony and Bruce were still going strong, despite the fact that they were long-distance. She was saving up her tip money to fly up to Seattle to see him, and they’d been overjoyed to find out that they would both be going to University of Washington in the fall. So, if it was a long-distance relationship now, that was only going to be a temporary condition.
As for me—it had taken me a while to get used to my non-loop life. Even though it was what I had wanted, being back in the world without a net had been an adjustment. I was now in touch regularly with Reagan and Zach, and Greta and Nora. I wasn’t sure we would ever be close friends again, but every time one of them texted or popped up in my social media feeds, I was always happy to see them.
I had also stayed in touch with Alfie and Doug. It seemed that Niall hadn’t taken kindly to how much better the band had been received with Freddie as lead singer. He’d thrown a tantrum for the ages and gotten fired from Eton Mess. Apparently, he was back in England. Alfie had gone back to Australia, and Doug had returned to Chicago. He was playing in a band called Hot Beef and assured me it was good, even though the name made me have my doubts.
I hadn’t followed Freddie on social media, but I would occasionally look at his page?—until it started hurting too much and I had to log off. But I was thrilled to see that things seemed to be working out for him. He’d left Eton Mess, signed a record deal, and was posting a lot of pictures in a recording studio in LA as he worked on his first album. It was everything he’d wanted, and the fact that his dream had come true—and that I’d been able to help it happen—made me beyond thrilled.
And sometimes, when I would look at these pictures of him, I would feel sharply just how much I missed him and remember just how magical our connection had felt. And that was usually when I forced myself to set my phone down.
Now? I placed the Diet Coke on Bryony’s tray. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” she said, giving me a grateful smile. “You’re done for the day?”
