“Fine,” he growls turning around in the opposite direction.
“Fine!” I yell back.
We work from separate corners the rest of the night. A romantic comedy about two high school teachers catches my eye. I’m about to put it in a stack, when I decide to buy it for Summer. It must be the teacher thing, but it makes me think of her. I take it up to the register and check myself out. One last sale before I leave for the night.
“I didn’t take you for a romance kind of girl.”
I rake my bottom lip between my teeth—trying to keep a cool head. “Every girl likes romance, Finn.”
“So, you’re gonna go home and read that,” he makes a face as he points to the book I’ve just bought, “instead of coming to Dominic’s.”
“Yep,” I say, though it’s not exactly true.
He lifts his brows, and the gesture annoys me so much I could smack it from his face.
I shove the book into my bag. “In fact, I can pretty much promise you that I will never go to Dominic’s again. I refuse to go watch you hurt yourself.”
I storm from the building and fume the entire way back to Rodrick’s house. Sitting in my car, I try to force my bad mood to wash off my back. I don’t want to bring it inside with me—not when I feel like I’ve finally made some effort at a relationship with my family.
I step through the door, a false smile plastered to my face.
“Essie!” Harmony’s voice booms.
I’m ready for her tackle and brace myself as soon as she hits my legs. Rodrick and Summer sit on the couch talking, but pause to welcome me home. I need to be alone for a bit though. I need to let this mood melt away, and it’s going to take a little time—and probably a phone call to Cytha.
“I bought this for you today.” I hold the book out to Summer.
She stands and takes it, examining the cover. “Thanks, Esther. That was sweet of you.”
“That’s not one of those love stories with the perfect man who’s going to make me look bad, is it?” Rodrick points at the two people on the cover—the man of course stacked with muscles though he wears a collared shirt and holds a ruler.
I chuckle. “I wouldn’t know.” I ruffle Angelo’s hair as I walk by him sitting on the floor. “I’m pretty tired. I think I’m going to go to bed.”
Rodrick checks his watch—and yes, it’s just past eight. “Are you sure you’re a seventeen-year-old girl?”
“Ha. Ha.” I roll my eyes. “Hi, baby,” I peek at Brayden sitting in his bouncy seat. His eyes go crossed following my small wave and I laugh.
I’m at the bottom of the stairs when Summer stops me. “Hey, Esther, you okay?”
“Yeah.” I sigh. “I just need some alone time. The store was pretty busy.”
She nods like she understands—but I’m pretty sure Summer is an extrovert, and she may never completely understand me. “Well, thanks for the book.”
I’m about to start up the stairs again when Summer folds me into a quick hug.
An hour later, I sit on my bed in my pajamas and stare at Cytha’s face.
“Wow, you let him have it.”
“Someone needed to.”
“Then what are you so upset about?” she asks, but she checks her watch.
“Cyth?”
“Sorry,” she says, making an apologetic face, “Phil’s calling in a minute.”
“Oh.” I shake my head and swallow down the lump that so easily forms. “Well, I’m done.”
“Are you sure? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I breathe out a sigh. “I’ll get over it.”
“You’re seriously never going to go to Dominic’s again? That’s like your one link to a social life in Jackson.”
“Ha, thanks.” I groan. “You know what? I don’t even care. I would rather kiss Lyle Doe than go to another fire night ever again.”
Cytha cringes at my mention Lyle, who attempted to kiss her in the second grade. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but he had a mouth full of Oreos at the time—it scarred poor Cyth for life.
The fire crackles as sparks fly into the air. Red flames whip in the sky while blue blazes amongst the wood smoking and popping in the pit. I stare at the light until my eyes water from the glow and the fumes.
I blink awake, the dream so real I expect to smell the campfire scent on my pajamas. My breaths come out heavy and I groan. “Well, crap.”
19
Six days pass and I ignore the dream. It can bother me all it wants; I am not going to Dominic’s. Besides, things have been mostly fine between me and Finn. We work, we talk, we don’t bite the other’s head off.
I have plenty of time to think as I sort through best-selling books on my phone. I find myself going back to the same thought. I wish that Finn would realize that he can go to college, and have a career. But he’s gone upstairs for another “break”, which means he needs oxygen. It’s the fourth time today, when some days he doesn’t even taken one. When he comes down, the blue beany is pulled down over the tips of his ears.
My eyes rest on his head far too long—I have a small secret obsession with Finn’s sandy hair. It waves over his head and calls to me to touch it—which is ridiculous, I know—but I want to touch it.
“Did you go to Dominic’s last night?”
“Yep,” he rubs a spot on his chest like he might have heartburn or something and walks on by. “Wanna come?”
“It’s the Fourth. You aren’t going to celebrate with Marley and Danny?”
He scoffs a laugh at my affronted tone. “No. The last two years I went to Dom’s and they got a romantic night on the rooftop.” His brows bounce once, but he doesn’t look amused.
My scowl apparently gives me away.
“I thought you’d like that—like a scene from one of your books.”
I tilt my head. I haven’t read a book since I moved to Jackson—which I also haven’t told Marley about—she’d be appalled. “What books?”
He’s eyeing the last three bookcases at the back, they stand in the same straight rows all the others do. I’m not sure what he’s looking for. “That romance novel you took home last week. You’re so busy reading you can’t come hang out, right?”
“Oh. That. I gave that to Summer.”
He stops his study of the cabinets and peers over at me. “What are you doing every night?”
I shrug. “Hanging out with my family.”
“Huh.” I can tell I’ve surprised him a little, but he doesn’t say anything else about it. His arms straighten out in front of him, like a traffic cop. He squints and moves them until they’re right where he wants. “What if we moved some bookcases? If we set this one perpendicular to the other, we could have a bigger space for kids.”
He’s right and I like it, but I bite my inner cheek thinking about Finn and I moving heavy bookcases. He’s already been upstairs four times. “Aren’t they screwed into the ground?”
“I know how to fix that.”