“Because you did,” I reply, bluntly. “Did you know she’s dating that douche canoe trying to kiss your brother’s ass?”
Aspen smiles, but even in the dim moonlight I can tell it’s not her usual smile. Aspen is hard as nails and passionate. Everything from her smile to her laugh to the way she speaks is no holds barred. But not tonight. Tonight she’s reserved, uptight. “I knew she had a boyfriend. I mean, she didn’t tell me but I heard she had met someone who was from out of town. And Mrs. Green told me he’s rich. Family money. They own camp grounds all over New England or something. It’s Ocean Pines, Jake. People can’t fart without someone talking about it.”
“Yeah … I didn’t miss that,” I reply.
“You know we’re lucky no one’s talking about what happened with us…” Aspen says, her voice significantly lower than it was a moment ago. She walks closer, basically taking over Terra’s position, against the railing next to me. Her blue eyes are so pale they look almost white in this light as she stares at me, willing me to know exactly what she’s talking about. “You remember that … right?”
“Aspy I was drunk but not that drunk. Of course I remember,” I reply. “And thankfully no one was hanging out in the Wagon Wheel Motel parking lot at four a.m. that night so they didn’t see our unexpected walk down memory lane.”
“Yeah… we were discreet. I’m still kind of amazed out of all the bars in Scarborough you walked into the one I was working an undercover case in,” Aspen says in awe and something in my stomach tightens uncomfortably. If she starts talking about fate or something… But then her expression gets serious. “And just for the record I’m still on the same page I was then. It was a one-time thing.”
“No strings attached,” I agree. It’s what I said then, before we got naked, because there was no way I was doing it if we weren’t both emotionally on the same page. “So we should probably stop talking about it.”
“Sure thing. After I tell you this one thing,” She turns to face me. Her expression is serious. “I’m pregnant. Full disclosure, there’s a fifty-fifty chance it isn’t even yours. But I’m telling you because … well there’s a fifty percent chance it is, and even though I won’t ask a single solitary thing of you financially or emotionally, I thought you should know. Because like we said earlier, it’s Ocean Pines, and people will start talking when I start showing, so that means you’ll find out eventually anyway.”
I … what? She did not just say … She can’t be. Is she? Oh my God this isn’t a joke. “Okay. Great. You know. Tick that one off my To-Do list,” She starts to walk away. I reach out for her but miss. I’m moving like I’m up to my neck in quick-drying cement “Oh, and tell anyone and I’ll kill you. This is my news to share, okay? Thanks! Later Jake.”
“Aspen, wait!”
“No. Later, Jake.”
She disappears back inside. My eyes follower her through the plate glass window as she weaves through the remaining guests to the front door and then out, where she disappears from view.
Holy shit. What the hell just happened?
3
Terra
Tom is morehandsy than I would like in the back of the Uber – AKA Jay’s nineteen ninety-nine Toyota Corolla. He’s tipsy and affectionate. This should be every girl’s dream, I think for the hundredth time. But I have never been one for PDA.
To be fair Jay has probably seen worse. He is literally the only Uber driver in Ocean Pines. No joke, you pull up the app and you’ll always only get his little icon, parked at the trailer park he lives in. Luckily he’s a great, reliable driver with his eyes always on the road and not glancing in his rearview at his passengers. Still, when Tom kisses my neck I pull away. “Busy night tonight, Jay?”
He shrugs. “Not especially. I guess for Ocean Pines it’s been a little busy. Mostly people coming and going from Jake’s little welcome home bash.”
I nod. “Yeah there were a lot of people there.”
“He’s a popular guy,” Jay replies. “Even got Abbott Barlowe to make an appearance. That says something.”
“You drove him to the restaurant?”
Jay shakes his head and he turns left onto my street. “No. But I drove Aspen home from the party. She was fighting with Abbott on her phone the whole ride because I guess she wasn’t supposed to leave without him. Anyway, she was upset about more than that. No idea what though.”
Huh. Aspen left before I did? It took me about twenty minutes to say goodbye to my family members and peel Tom from Abbott but I assumed Aspen would have still been outside with Jake.
“We have arrived at your destination,” Jay declares in a robot voice like he’s a human GPS as he pulls to the curb in front of my building, which is an old, massive Victorian house that was converted into apartments in the seventies.
My apartment is on the top floor, accessed by a very long staircase on the side of the building. The outside of the house, which was constructed in 1881 when Ocean Pines was founded, is weathered blue-gray shingles with white-framed windows. There’s only five apartments in the whole three story building and I’m the only one on the top floor and the only one with a balcony, tiny as it may be. I have enough space for a suspended rope chair and a tiny table which is all I need. And if I stand up as tall as I can and look to the right, I can see the ocean on a clear day. The males in my family and Tom complain about the sloped ceilings because it’s technically the attic, but at five-foot-three, that never bothered me much. Lately it’s the stairs that bug me. So much climbing and I’m always exhausted. I dread them even now, just thinking about them.
“Jake have a good time?” Jay inquires as we unbuckle our seatbelts.
I nod. “Yeah. I guess.”
Jay chuckles. “I heard he won some big fancy medal over in King’s Hill or wherever the hell he was.”
“King’s Rock,” I correct. “It’s on the border with New Brunswick Canada and yeah, he saved a baby in a big fire when he was actually off-duty. He was given the medal of Valor. Youngest firefighter in the State to receive it in the last forty years.”
“Wow. Who would have thought that fucked-up little orphan kid would turn into a hero?” Jay says and he means it as a compliment but it bugs me. Still, I know Jay is essentially a good guy so I bite my tongue and nod as Tom opens the door, climbs out, and reaches out his hand to help me. I wave at Jay, who calls out, “Five-star ratings are always appreciated!”
