Chapter Six
chapter six
MAY
The sun burns my eyes as I walk along Main.
Ruby Cove is starting to get busier again. After the peak of summer it died down a bit, but now that it’s coming up to the holiday season there are a few more sets of feet walking the streets.
I’ve got my sunglasses on and my hoodie up over my head, but the sun is still finding its way to my eyeballs. I groan as I push open the door to The Sugared Plum.
“Ah, look what the cat dragged in,” Vanessa says from behind the counter.
“You did this, you know.” I point at her.
“No, I didn’t.”
“If you hadn't told her she can’t hold her drink,” I nod my head to where Marina and Isla are sitting at a table in the corner. “We would not be in this situation.”
“You could’ve bowed out at any point, honey, but we all know that wasn’t going to happen now, was it? Not with your opponent.” She gives me a knowing look.
I roll my eyes, and it hurts. “Ow.” I press a hand to the bridge of my nose. The headache is building right behind my eyes.
“Sit down and I’ll get you a drink. ”
“ Grazie,” I say, and shuffle over to the table. Little bits of Italian have filtered their way into my vocabulary. Most of the people that live here speak a mix of both, so why can’t I?
I plonk my ass down on one of the soft seats and groan as the room spins.
“I thought I was bad,” Marina says.
I flip her the bird, and she just laughs before pressing her hand to her head, making me giggle before I do the same, groaning at the pain right behind my eyes. No noise comes from Isla’s corner of the table. I squint my eyes open to look at her. “And what about you, sunshine?”
“I’m fine,” Isla shrugs. She looks like she went to bed at eight p.m. and had the best night's sleep in the universe. She’s all dolled up with her makeup on and wearing a little sundress like any other day. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here looking like the town's newest hobo.
Isla’s always been like that, though. Even when she drinks way too much, she’s never hungover the next day, not like I am anyway. She usually just needs a good breakfast and she’s fine. Me, however, I need an entire loaf of bread and ten gallons of water before I start feeling normal again.
“Here you go, ragazze .” Vanessa sets three black coffees down in front of us. I can’t say I’m thrilled at the look of them, but at least it’ll give me the kick that I’ll need to get up off this chair when we leave. I take a sip and have to school my expression. It’s so fucking bitter.
“ Grazie ma ,” Marina says. She nods before shuffling back to the counter.
“So,” Isla starts. “Did Heath get you home alright last night?”
“He was an angel before he told me off.”
“Too right.”
I give her the side eye.
“When was the last time you had ten shots in a row?” Isla asks. I take a minute to think. “Exactly, never.” I scoff.
“Don’t you scoff at me. You need to look after yourself. ”
I know she’s coming from a place of love, but the look on her face resembles a parent disciplining their teenager. “I know, but I’m fine. I’m here, aren’t I?”
“With a failing liver, maybe.” She raises her brows to her hairline.
“We’ll never know.”
She rolls her eyes, and I grab her hand under the table. “I’m fine Isla. When did you turn into such a grandma, anyway?”
She mocks offense with a dramatic gasp and nudges my shoulder.
“She’s all loved up now, remember? Grandma status comes from practically being married,” Marina says.
“Alright hold your horses, we’ve been together for what? Three months? Officially?”
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t say yes if he got down on a knee right now, I know you would,” Marina raises her brows in challenge.
Isla just blushes in answer, taking a sip of her coffee.
“Who’s getting married?” Vanessa comes shuffling over.
“No one, Ma. We’re just making fun.”
She places a plate stacked with pastries in the middle of the table, and we all flock to it like ravens to a corpse. Like it’s our lifeline, probably because it is.
I take a gigantic bite of a raspberry tart and nearly melt at how fucking delicious it is. Vanessa has a gift. One I hope to god she passes down to Marina, to any of us. Just to someone.
“You’re welcome,” she singsongs as she walks away.
“Okay, but seriously,” Isla starts up again with a croissant stuffed in her mouth. “You and Rafael need to cut it out before one of you breaks a limb.”
“I’m still not over him interrupting me at Olive&Vine. I’ve got to get back at him somehow.” I shrug.
“And drinking your way into a coma is that way?”
“Maybe not the most effective, but I just need to give him a taste of his own medicine. Marina, is he dating anyone? Or just sleeping with anyone?”
“Usually I’d know who, when, and where, but Rafael has been a lone wolf for a while now. It’s unusual for him.”
“Why, cause he’s usually such a catch?”
“You know he is generally nice to everyone that’s not you,” she says in between bites of a danish.
“Good to know.”
“I’m just saying, usually he’s got a roster, for the lack of a better word.”
“Oh, so he’s a fuckboy?” I ask.
“Considering his age, I don’t know if he’d appreciate that term. Women, they just…really like Rafael,” Marina shrugs.
“They’re clearly delusional.”
She laughs. “Like I said, he’s only this much of a grump when you’re around.”
A small part of me feels bad for that, but I never did anything wrong. If he hates me for no reason, then that’s his problem.
I might be making it everyone’s problem to compensate for the fact that I’m the only one he seems to have a grudge against. Maybe we could tone it down. Maybe I could. I can’t say how the man child will act, but maybe for everyone else’s sake, I could turn the volume down on how much his presence irks me beyond compare. I’ll just talk about it with the little devil on my shoulder instead.
My mind zones back into the conversation in front of me, or the lack thereof, as Isla and Marina watch me, waiting for my next response. But like I said, turning the volume down.
“New subject please.”
I use my body weight to push open the heavy door to The Cozy Corner, my body aching in protest .
“ Buongiorno , May,” Aria sings out from behind the counter.
I wince at her high-pitched voice that rings across the space between us. “Hey, Aria.”
“You don’t look too great.”
I deadpan as I walk up to where she’s standing behind the counter. “Thanks.”
Aria and I have formed somewhat of a friendship in the last couple of months. I stumbled across The Cozy Corner after work a while back. The warm lighting caught my eye in the dark night on my way home from my shift at Marina’s.
When I pushed through the door, I was met with warm, soft lighting, plush surroundings, and tons of books. Rows and rows of fiction. It was like heaven, with window seats and voluptuous couches surrounding the shelves in the middle of the store. I quickly knew this would be a place I’d come back to.
“Busy week?” I ask as I shut the door behind me.
She shakes her head. “It’s been quiet, but ooh! A new one came in that I put aside for you!” She shuffles around behind the counter as I walk up to meet her. She stands up, placing a new release on the table between us. My hand flies over my mouth.
“No way!” I pick it up like it’s made of glass.
“I know.” She waves her eyebrows around in excitement.
I turn the book over in my hands, flicking the pages as I go. I’ve been waiting for this book to come out since I finished the first one almost a year ago, and me and Aria have had enough chats that she’s across all of my favorite authors.
“I thought I’d better put one away for you, just in case.”
I grab her head with both hands and lean in to press an obnoxious kiss to the side of her head. “You’re an angel.”
Her bright green eyes glimmer as she laughs when I pull away from her and back to my side of the counter. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m gonna have a little look around.” I gesture to the shelves behind me.
She nods. “I’ll be here.”
I wander through the store, slowly making my way to the romance section. I always end up here. Even when I pretend to branch out and look at other genres, I always float back to this shelf. It’s like gravity, pulling me right back to where I belong.
I pull a few titles from the shelf, skimming the blurbs before putting them back. Nothing is catching my attention like the book burning in my arms waiting to be read. That is until my gaze snags on a familiar frown through the cracks of the spines of two books just above my eye level.
I strategically pull a book from the shelf to get a better view, and as I do, two brown eyes look up at me. I put the book back in place, because that makes things less awkward.
“Whitley?” Rafael appears at the end of my aisle. “What are you doing here?”
I gesture around us. “Book shopping. The better question is, what are you doing here? Is this how you pick up chicks? Pretending to be intellectual?”
“God, you are such a brat.”
“You love it.” I can’t help it. I know I said I’d tone it down, but as soon as I’m in his presence, the little devil on my shoulder uses me like a puppet. I have no filter when it comes to this man.
He scowls down at me. “So?” I ask.
He holds up a book in front of him that he’s obviously been holding this entire time.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh .”
“I didn’t pick you for the reading type,” I say, tilting my head.
“And why is that?”
My eyes fix on the frown that settles into every faint line of his face. “Actually, I take that back. I mean, you’re old and grumpy. I can see it now—a little pair of glasses right on the edge of your nose, and maybe a dressing gown? Ooh! And some fluffy loafers! Yeah, that’s perfect.”
He just glares at me, and I hold back a laugh at the image in my mind. “I do not wear loafers.”
“What’s wrong with loafers? They fit your vibe. You know the whole ‘get off my lawn’ kind of energy.” Rafael really isn’t that old, but I find way too much enjoyment in acting like he’s already graying.
His face stays deadpanned. I gesture to the popular sci-fi novel in his hand. “I mean, the book really adds to it. You could throw it at the delinquents for emphasis. Don’t tell me you have a gnome.” I’m getting sidetracked here, but I’m enjoying it more and more as I go.
“No loafers. No gnomes.”
“Well, that’s dull, isn’t it?”
“There’s not so many delinquents in my area that I need to deter with garden gnomes.”
“How did that ever become a thing? Like were garden gnomes ever supposed to be cute? Because they’re not. If I saw a garden gnome on someone’s front lawn, I’d be staying far, far away. Anyone who thinks that’s cute enough to put in their front lawn is clearly deranged.”
I swear I almost see a smile crack, but I must have imagined it because in a blink it’s gone. Replaced with his usual frown. “Can I go now?”
“With that?” I look at the book held firmly in his grip.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Oh nothing, it’s just basic.”
“Basic? It’s a book.” I shrug in response.
He squints his eyes as he reads the back of the book I’m holding. “You’re telling me the ‘toe curling smut’ in there isn’t basic?”
“Wow, that’s really advertised on there?” I turn the book over to read the back again.
The answer is that no, it’s not, and when I look back up at Rafael, he’s got a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Ha ha, very funny.” It’s my turn to scowl, but he just raises his eyebrows.
“Me and my basic book are going to leave now. Enjoy that.” He nods to my book.
“Oh, I will.” I wink, and a dramatic shiver racks his body as he turns to walk away. But then I realize I have to follow him to the counter.
He must hear my footsteps following behind him because he turns around to look at me. “Why are you following me?”
“I do need to purchase my toe-curling smut, and to do that, I need to go to the counter, where you are unfortunately heading to get that .” I look at his book once more.
He raises his eyebrows and steps aside to let me go ahead of him. I frown at the gesture, but I don’t pass up the opportunity to get in front of him.
I ignore the fact that he looks absurdly sober. His eyes are annoyingly brighter than normal, even though they’re still black as night. But today the night just has a few stars twinkling in it, and it pisses me off because I can just imagine how dull my own look. How dark and heavy the bags are hanging under my eyes.
I trudge up to the counter and place the book on the counter for Aria to scan up. I squint my eyes as she wraps my book in a paper bag. “Did you get new lights in here? They seem brighter,” I ask quietly.
“You not feeling so good, Blondie?” Rafael says from behind me, and I can hear the smirk in his voice. “Did you have one too many last night?”
I spin around to face him and he’s standing so close to me that I have to crane my neck to look up at him. I scowl, and my headache comes back as my eyebrows pull together. I can’t control my expressions enough to hold back my flinch.
“Aw, you talk a big game, don’t you? But really, you can’t hold your drink much better than Marina.”
I gasp. “That’s rude. I lasted another six rounds after she bowed out.”
He hums. “But you don’t look much better than she does, do you?”
I scoff. “Are you saying I don’t look good, Rafael?” I poke my hip out and fold my arms across my chest.
He surveys me, his eyes rolling from head to toe. An unexpected heat follows in his trail, and my heartbeat turns erratic. I will it to calm but then a throat clears behind me.
“There you go, May.” Aria slides my purchase across to me, and the sound of the paper bag crinkling as it moves across the counter fills the awkward silence.
“Thanks,” I say.
I turn back around to see Rafael and dip my gaze away from his. I slip past him. “Thanks Aria,” I say as I dart towards the door.
Rafael chuckles from behind me. “Feel better, Whitley.”