“Fine,” she responds is a raspy voice. This is the same voice that Elle uses when she’s trying not to cry. I reach for her hand and pull it away from her head. She’s got the makings of a nasty goose egg forming.
“What did you do?”
“It’s stupid. I’ll be fine. The shelf and I had a disagreement.”
?
??It doesn’t look fine. You need some ice.” I move her hair away from her face and study her wound as if I’m suddenly a doctor. I’m closer to her than I want to be, but I feel responsible for what she’s done to herself. I don’t intend to flirt with her, but it’s nice to be flirted with, so I inadvertently return the gesture.
“Dad, look who’s…”
My head snaps to Quinn’s voice and behind him is Katelyn. When I look at her, her eyes immediately look down to the ground. Well isn’t this great? I’m in a no-win situation already, so what the hell.
“You should really put some ice on your bump and call me if you need anything.”
“I will, thanks.”
I smile and go back to my cart. Katelyn is still standing there, and for the life of me, I’m not sure why. She made it very clear that we’ll never be anything to each other, so why does she look so down?
“Your teacher bumped her head,” I say to Quinn.
Quinn looks from me to Katelyn. I know he likes her, but I can’t force her to be with me. The look on his face tells me everything I need to know. He doesn’t want me talking to his teacher.
“Come on, we gotta finish shopping.” I set my hand on his shoulder and guide him out of the aisle without a second look at Monica and with nothing said to Katelyn.
Now I know why I paid my mom to do all my shopping. The grocery store is full of drama and confusion.
I fire up my bike for the first time in months. I don’t know why I don’t ride it more often, especially since Quinn likes it. It’s just not practical, unless we are going for a drive, and we haven’t done that in a long time. I drive to the water tower, Liam’s favorite place to sit and relax, except tonight is some type of celebration that he’s invited me to. I’m surprised that the town of Beaumont hasn’t removed the ladder and deemed water tower drinking against the law, but I suppose when your police force are all locals, they turn a blind eye to such a thing.
When I arrive, the party is in full-force. I park away from most of the trucks, the last thing I need is for a beer bottle to hit my bike. I leave my helmet on my seat and look around for Liam or Josie. Music is blasting out of a stereo, a throwback to the 80s.
“Yo, James!”
I look up, shielding the setting sun with my hand. Liam’s waving his arm back forth, trying to get my attention.
“Are you going up?” Josie steps next to me dressed in a shirt that says Liam Page’s Candy. I know he had Luke make it especially for her. If Katelyn was mine, I’d adorn her chest with something like Fuck Calm Do a Drummer or Drummers Do It Better. That thought only lasts for a brief moment because there’s no way in hell Katelyn will ever be mine.
“Yeah, probably. What’s all this for?” I motion to the crowd. There has to be twenty maybe thirty people here.
“It’s Friday night. Most of us will head on over to the school for the game, some will stay here and get the grill going. This has been tradition for a long time and Liam’s first one since he’s been back.”
“Small town living, huh?”
“Oh I don’t know about that. Beaumont isn’t that small.”
I laugh. She has no idea. You can live in Los Angeles and never run into the same stranger twice. “It’s small to me.”
“Well whatever Beaumont is, we’re happy you’re here.”
“Is that so?”
Josie nods. She looks at Liam before turning back to me. “I didn’t know how things would work when we got back together, but I didn’t care because I just wanted to be with him. I told myself I’d deal with the long nights and the travel, just as long as he always came back.” Josie toes the ground before taking a deep breath. I’m not sure where she’s going with this, but I’ll gladly lend her an ear if she needs one.
“Anyway, when you decided to move here, it made his decision easier. So I thank you, Harrison. Because of you, my son has his dad home for more nights.”
“I didn’t do anything. I like it here.”
Josie smiles and leans in to give me a hug. I wrap my arms around her and look up at Liam. He’s shaking his head. Josie steps back, she looks around before looking at me again.