Delilah was at the register and the store was nearly empty when I arrived. Waving to her, I made my way to the back office where I found Navy reviewing the tapes from the morning.
“Hey,” she said to me when I rapped my knuckles on the door.
“You good?”
“Yeah, sorry you caught me early. I should be done soon.” I lingered at the door a bit longer to gauge her mood, but she seemed hyper focused more than anything.
“K. I’ll just bug Delilah then.”
Delilah was ringing up a customer, so I wandered around the store, checking out the little ukuleles and guitars before abandoning them. Didn’t want to break shit while Navy was on duty. When the bell rang above the door, signaling the customer’s exit, I moseyed my way to the front of the store.
“Nice of you to show up for your shift,” I said to Delilah as I browsed the colorful display of Amber Lake postcards.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she looked toward the back, where Navy was, and I tucked my tongue in my cheek. I shouldn’t have said that.
“Hey, how’s B-Rad?” I unwrapped a mint in the bowl next to the counter and flipped it in the air, catching it in my mouth. “He still seeing what’s-her-name? Felicia?”
The color drained from her cheeks. “Alicia. And no. I mean, they’re not even serious. It’s just friends.”
“Oh, yeah. I heard they were real friendly on their trip to Vail.”
“They didn’t go to Vail.” But her voice wavered. “He and I went skiing in Utah in February. We’re going to get back together. He even bought all my gear.”
“Right.” I waved a hand in front of my face. “The blue and pink striped ski mask? I saw it on Facebook.”
“Yes.” She straightened. “How’d you see it? We’re not friends on there.”
“Oh,” I waved nonchalantly. “Sorry, I saw that ski mask on Alicia’s Facebook. From her trip with B-Rad to Vail in March. Looked like a cute ski mask though, she probably just wanted to borrow it.” I tucked the mint into the pocket of my cheek.
“That’s not the same one.” But I saw the color drain from her face, the flicker of distrust in her eyes as she thought through what I told her. She was right to not trust Brad—he was a scumbag.
Delilah wasn’t my favorite person in the world, but no girl needed to moon after a guy who was just stringing her along. “What do you want?” Delilah asked, popping the sucker she’d hidden during the customer’s transaction back into her mouth. She leaned on the counter, facing me. “We have a policy against loiterers.”
“Do you?” I scratched my chin in mock contemplation. “Don’t see it anywhere.”
“Oh? Never regained your vision after I threw that drink at you last summer?”
“Cinnamon whiskey to the eyeballs.” I pressed a hand to my chest. “Yes, I remember.”
“And you deserved it.”
I didn’t doubt it. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember why I deserved it, though. “You’re right. But I’m a changed man now.”
She snorted, popping the sucker out of her mouth and pointing it at me. “You broke up with my friend in front of all of her friends.”
Ah. There was the source of Delilah’s disdain. “Suzie.”
“Yep. And,” she leaned across the counter, the wet lollipop coming dangerously close to my face, “you didn’t even give her a chance to defend herself.”
“Right,” I said. “I mean, considering she was mid-make-out with that kid from Pine River—in front of my friends—it was pretty inconsiderate to not wait until she’d dislodged her tongue from inside his mouth to have a conversation with me.” I harbored no ill-will toward Suzie for it. I hadn’t been a great boyfriend anyway, though I hadn’t kissed random chicks at any summer parties. Especially not in front of her. Or her gaggle of friends.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Okay.” I didn’t want to travel down this road with Delilah, because I just didn’t care about the whole thing to begin with. The fact that I’d felt nothing when I’d witnessed the make-out session told me just how not-right it was to continue dating Suzie.
“God forbid Megan makes any drunken mistakes. You’ll just drop her before she can defend herself, too,” she said, popping the lollipop back into her mouth.
“You didn’t hear.” I crossed my arms over my chest and relaxed against the counter. “That’s not a thing anymore.”
She snorted again, her eyes rolling back as far as they could go. Given that her eyes were the largest I’d ever seen on anyone, that much white was mildly terrifying. “I guess I’m not surprised. You go through girls faster than you go through underwear.”
“I mean, I didn’t wear the same pair of underwear for six months before changing them, but okay, Delilah. Keep going. What other malfeasants of mine would you like to air out?”
“Are you two playing nice?” Navy asked, coming up to the counter and punching a code into the register.
“Keane? Play nice?” She huffed and turned to Navy. “I’m going to sweep the back of the store, if that’s okay.”
“You can clock out, if you want.” Navy turned to the clock by the door, the dark circles under her eyes illuminated by the harsh overhead lights.
“What about the deposit?”
“Keane can follow me to the bank.” She paused and looked up at me. “Is that okay?”
“Sure.”
“Make sure he doesn’t try to steal the money from you before you get there.” Delilah glowered at me, daggers in her eyes and a clear frown on her face. She looked like she’d just taken a shot of bad tequila. “He’s shady like that.”
“She’s right,” I said, infuriating Delilah more by playing along. “I’m a monster. Might as well hand the cash over to me now before I mug you in the parking lot, Navy.”
Delilah scoffed loudly and turned on her heel toward the back of the store.
“Your fan base keeps growing stronger.” Navy had a small smile on her lips as she changed the till. “What did you do this time?”
“Oh,” I said waving after Delilah’s retreating figure. “Break up with Suzie last summer.”
“Suzie Wagner?”
“That’s the one.”
Navy nodded. “You broke up with her at that party, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Because she was making out with that super-hot guy from Pine River.”
“He was not hot.” I leaned on the counter and tapped the space between her eyes. “Do you need to get your vision checked?”
“No, but I think you do.” Her cheek lifted as she tucked away a smile. “He was pretty hot. Can you blame her?”
“Uh, yeah, I can, especially when I’m dating her.” I stretched my shoulders back. “He wasn’t that hot.”
“Hate to break it to you,” she said, placing a hand on my arm. “But he was hot. And you obviously weren’t even that interested in her.”
“I don’t think that gives someone permission to suck face with someone else.”