Chapter Fourteen
Chapter
fourteen
WHEN I WALKED IN THE diner with Theo, Max’s smile turned big, Lee’s curious, and Deja’s slipped off her face. She must’ve just gotten off work because her hair was pulled up and she wore a green collared shirt. Even the uniforms at the Purple Starfish weren’t purple. Now that I thought about it, maybe her parents were marketing geniuses.
After Theo and I had finished our training session and headed back to our cars, I’d said, I mean, everyone has to eat.
He’d responded, I’ll follow you over.
I gave Max a small shake of my head now. He had the ability to make this weird with his revenge-dating and make-out talk, and I didn’t want him to.
“ Now how are we going to talk about him?” Maxwell asked when we got to the booth.
“Seriously,” Deja agreed but for much different reasons.
“He doesn’t mind being talked about in front of his face. He kind of likes it,” I said.
“I do,” Theo said. “It’s how I feed my ego, right, Finley?”
“I never said your ego was fed by others. I think you do a good job feeding it yourself.”
Lee’s eyebrows popped up. “Two days in and you already have banter? That seems fast.”
“We’ve had banter since arguing over pool lights,” Theo said.
“When was that?” Lee asked.
I looked at Theo. I honestly didn’t think he remembered that discussion from a year ago. He just stared back at me with an even expression.
“You’re only calling it an argument because I disagreed with you,” I said. “It was probably the first time that has ever happened.”
“Second,” he deadpanned.
“I’m liking this origin story,” Maxwell said.
“An origin to what?” Theo asked, and that knowing smirk of his came onto his face. But I didn’t know what he thought he knew because the only ending our story was going to have was us bringing Jensen down together.
Maxwell and Lee sat on one bench seat, and Deja sat across on the other. It really wasn’t a booth for five, but Deja slid as close to the window as possible as though both Theo and I were going tobe able to fit in the space left. Despite his wide frame, he seemed to think we would too, because he sat down, leaving a small end forme.
I was just about to drag a chair over when he grabbed my hand and pulled me down next to him.
“So how is our girl Finley doing in her training?” Max asked.
I put my hands under my chin. “Yes, how am I doing?”
“She whines a lot,” he said. “Something about sore muscles.”
I elbowed him. “Watch it, or I’ll show you how well I can complain.”
Deja’s mom called a number, and Lee stood up. “Our fries. Don’t talk about anything interesting while I’m gone.”
“We won’t,” I said.
“Hurry, then,” Maxwell said.
We were all silent, as if we really couldn’t say anything at all without Lee present. Out the window to our right sailboats dotted the bay, most anchored in place, one moving slowly in the distance. Lee came back quickly and set down two big orders of fries. It’s all we ever ordered here even though we always said we were meeting for lunch. Fries counted as lunch to us.
Theo wasn’t having it, though. “Where is the real food?”
Deja gasped. “This is real food.”
“Finley needs protein,” he said.
I let out a breathy laugh. “Okay, Coach.”
“No, I’m serious. You should order something else.”
“I’ll eat at home later.”
“Let me out.” He twisted his upper body toward me like I was going to move immediately.
“Why?” I asked.
“I’m going to order you a burger. Which one do you want?”
“I’m good with fries.”
“No, you’re not. You have to take care of your body if you want to maximize our training.”
“I take care of my body. Like I said, I’ll eat more when I get home. Fries are just our tradition.”
“It’s important to get protein within an hour after you work out. Stand up.” He was attempting to move me by pushing his thigh against mine.
I held on to the table and dug my feet into the ground. “We hardly worked out. We kicked a ball around. You taught me about downs and positions and penalties.”
“But you’re still recovering from yesterday—you need to eat.”
“You’re not my boss.”
“You really are stubborn,” he said.
“ You really are stubborn.”
He must not have been trying before because after my statement he put real effort into his force and I slid down the bench, barely getting my feet under me, saving myself from falling.
“Ouch,” I hissed, my muscles protesting the effort. I wanted to rush the register before he got there, but I’d only brought a few dollars to contribute to the fry haul. I hadn’t brought burger money.
“Hey, Mrs.Patel! Don’t serve him!” I yelled to Deja’s mom behind the counter.
She thought I was kidding and just laughed in my direction.
I huffed and turned my attention back to my completely silent friends, who were all staring at me with wide-eyed expressions. “What?”
“Really?” Max said. “I didn’t know all my dreams in our revenge plot were possible. You really are going to fall for your ex-boyfriend’s nemesis, and it isn’t even going to be that hard.”
“No,” Deja said. Then, under her breath, with a glance toward the register, added, “Is he always that controlling?”
“I wouldn’t call it controlling,” Lee said. “He was worried.”
“And protective,” Max agreed.
“What would you call it, Finley?” Deja asked.
“I…” My first thought was to defend him. Agree with the guys. But maybe I had let my guard down a little. I couldn’t do that. Wouldn’t. Not when I’d just been burned by someone so bad that I could still feel it in my chest. Someone who I thought was nice. Theo didn’t even pretend to be nice. “He’s stubborn. Probably too stubborn.” Always thought he was right. Arrogant people weren’t careful. I needed careful.
“Exactly,” Deja said, as if that was all she needed to hear to back up her thoughts.
“He smells really good,” Max said. “Would it be weird if I just stuck my nose on his shirt?”
“Even my grandma wouldn’t do that, and she’s gotten pretty bold lately.”
“Oh, speaking of, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Deja said. “Did you stop posting your podcast for some reason?”
My head whipped in her direction. “Have you been listening?”
“Yes! I love your grandma. And the story was just getting good. Her family moving to California. Her hating its guts. What happens next?”
I scrunched my brows together. Was that where I had left off? “Get this,” I said. “She met a surfer boy and claims that boy was Andrew Lancaster.”
“The painter?” Lee asked.
“Yes! And apparently he taught her to surf and gifted her a painted surfboard. Not only that, she’s the one who convinced him he had talent. Hers was the first board he ever painted.”
“What? Why haven’t you posted that ?” Maxwell asked.
“Because I thought my mom and my brother were the only ones listening, but apparently it’s just my mom and you.” I nudged Deja with my elbow. “My brother is getting a strongly worded textlater.”
“Don’t tell him I tattled,” Deja said. “But do you think it’s true? Do you think your grandma really knew Andrew Lancaster? Was his muse or whatever?”
“I don’t know. My mom doesn’t think so. But Grandma has such a clear memory of her early years that I think it might be true.”
“I need to listen to your podcast,” Lee said.
“I want to see this painted surfboard,” Maxwell said. “Is there a picture online somewhere?”
“That’s the thing,” I said. “She supposedly lent it to a friend one summer, never to see it again.”
“What’s it look like?” Lee asked.
“What’s what look like?” Theo asked, coming back to the table and sliding in next to me. I tried to scoot as close as I could to Deja, but even so, his thigh and shoulder were pressed up against mine, distracting me for a moment.
“Her grandma’s surfboard,” Lee answered for me.
“Right, yes,” I said.
“Your grandma surfs?”
“Well, not anymore, but she used to, I guess. The problem is that I don’t know what the board looks like. We have no pictures.”
“Ask her on your podcast so I can hear,” Deja said.
“You have a podcast?” Theo asked.
“Not really,” I answered, but Deja said, “Yes,” at the same time.
“It has two listeners,” I said.
“A podcast is only real with a certain number of listeners?” Lee asked.
“You know what I mean,” I said.
They all pretended like they didn’t.
“We should try to find the surfboard,” Deja said.
“I don’t have much to go on,” I said.
“Try to get more, then,” she said. “Like the name of this terrible person who borrowed and didn’t return it.”
“Oh! Cheryl Millcreek. She was the terrible friend.”
“Did your grandma go to high school here?” Theo asked.
“Yes.”
“So did mine. Maybe she can ask some of her friends if they knew her. I’ll talk to her.”
“You will?” I asked.
Mrs.Patel brought over the burger right at that moment. She set it in front of Theo with a smile.
“Thank you,” he said, and slid it over to me.
Why was he here? Why did he want to help me? It couldn’t just be that he saw me kick a ball and Jensen annoyed him. He was giving up too much of his time for such weak motives. And it was obvious he didn’t do things out of the goodness of his heart. I’d add that to the list of things I was working on at the moment—find out why Theo Torres was really doing this.