He shakes his head and unclips his seatbelt. “No, thank you. My Lilah is just beyond that first pine.”
I hand him my umbrella and after a moment’s hesitation he takes it, a grateful smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Can I give you some unsolicited advice?”
“Sure,” I reply easily, thinking he’s going to give me a tip for my interview.
“Wear the medal when you propose to your girl,” he says and chuckles to himself. “And the uniform. Judging by the look on Terra’s face every time she sees you, you probably won’t need it, but it certainly won’t hurt.”
“Mr. Hobbs, we just started dating,” I laugh.
“Uh-huh,” He nods. “But you’ll need the advice down the road. I’m certain of it. And I wanted to give it to you now, in case I’m with Lilah by then.”
He gets out of my Jeep, shuts the door and pops open my umbrella. I sit there and watch him until he disappears out of view just behind the big pine he pointed to earlier.
I would stay even longer. I’m kind of shell shocked by that candid advice, but I have no choice but to shake it off because I have to get to this interview. So, reluctantly, I back away from the gates of the cemetery and drive off.
My interview is in thirty minutes and I’m only ten minutes away, so I’m mentally prepping myself as I maneuver through traffic on Route One. And then my cellphone goes off. I decide to let it go to voicemail, but it rings again immediately. I take a second to look at the screen. There’s no name shown there, so it’s not a number I have stored in my phone. I ignore it and it rings again. I hit the speaker button.
“Hello?”
“Jake, this is Abbott.”
“Oh. Hey.” What the hell does Abbott Barlowe want?
“Aspen is bleeding,” he says. His tone tight and hard and vibrating with stress. “She is driving herself to Casco Bay Memorial as we speak, and I can’t get there. I’m in Colorado on a fucking road trip.”
“What? What happened to her?” I hit the brake gently but the car still shudders and swerves a bit because there are puddles as big as ponds on the road right now. I clutch the wheel tighter.
“Something is wrong with the baby,” Abbott barks back. “Possiblyyourbaby, so she says, but she told me not to call you. She said she would disown me if I did, but she’s terrified and alone.”
“I…”have an interview my career depends on. “I’ll head there now.”
“Keep me updated,” he barks and hangs up.
I move to the left-hand lane and do a U-turn at the next intersection and let out a loud “FUCK.”
21
Terra
“I am not kidding,”Nova says wagging a finger in my face. “Sit.”
Mom and even Finn are standing behind her with equally stern looks on their faces. I roll my eyes but I know they aren’t kidding around. Doc said no work for another two weeks, so I have to listen. Still, I stick out my tongue at them while I walk around the counter and sit down.
“Take advantage of the fact you get to be served for once,” Patti Gordon says with a smile. She’s sitting next to me at the counter waiting for her take-out order and enjoying a cup of herbal tea while she waits.
We have a deal with Patti; she supplies the ice cream for our milkshakes at a discount if we give her three free lobster roll combo plates a week. She then brings those back to Patti’s Parlor and treats her staff to a free lunch. Patti herself is vegan, so we throw in a roll made with just our garlic aioli, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers just for her.
“It feels weird,” I explain. “I’ve been serving customers since I was twelve. I love it.”
“I know. Me too,” Patti replies and lifts the cup of tea to her mouth, the bracelets on her arm jangling loudly. She is a skinny-to-the-point-of-rail-thin hippie who covers herself in a boat load of jewelry. Today she has on four necklaces, all of various lengths and all made of different colored beads. Her wrists on both arms are covered in wire-thin gold, silver, and copper bangles. About forty on each arm. Her ears have three sets of studs and one pair of long dangling feather earrings. “I would be devastated if I couldn’t work at my little shop anymore, but remember Terra, this is not permanent. Once your body aligns itself with the energy coming off Jake’s kidney, you’ll be stronger than ever and will work until you’re a hundred. I can feel it. You know my feelings are never wrong.”
I smile at her and nod. Patti is also the self-proclaimed psychic of the town and if you ask her just right and bring twenty bucks, she’ll read your palm in the back booth at the ice cream parlor. I’ve never had it done but Nova has. She never did tell me the results.
“Can I take your order, ma’am?” Finn says, leaning on the counter in front of me, pen and paper poised in front of him. He never uses a pen and paper. He’s being dramatic.
“Yeah, first of all, I’d like a fried clam roll, no lettuce, with extra garlic aioli and the bun toasted but only on one side,”
His big blue eyes narrow on me in a glare. Finn hates special orders. He’s been campaigning for us to put ‘no substitutes’ on the menus for ages.
