27. Storytime
STORYTIME
“Back when Marcus and I were still new in town, right after we had moved in,” Isabel began, “we were invited to a party at the old Eaton Manor.”
“I know,” Jake said. “You told me about that.”
“Yes, but the reason Robert Sr. held the party and invited so many people was for a fundraiser—the Young Entrepreneurs Foundation, I believe it was called then. Yes, that was it. They raised money for scholarships that went to youth who wanted to start their own businesses.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Let me finish the story, Jake.”
“Sorry.”
“Well, these brothers from Eventide won the very first scholarship that we had all raised money for. They built a gas station in Eventide along with a convenience store. It was really quite nice, actually, until there was a large gas spill. After that, there was a week-long rain and windstorm that tore the gas station apart and, rather surprisingly, did not affect any other buildings permanently.”
“You mean Eaton Gas and Groceries?”
“Yes, dear, that’s exactly the place. Senior bought it out after the storm and renovated it to turn it into a proper grocery store.
He took full advantage of those scholarship winners, and though he paid handsomely for their business, it was all in the name of furthering the Eaton legacy.
Everyone knew it back then, and most people still believe that now. ”
“That’s shitty of him.”
“That’s the Eaton family business. Anyway, several years later, once the YEF was well established—thanks to the townsfolk in large part—they gave out a handful of special scholarships for technologically minded young people.
One of the receivers started up a business in the…
something industry. I’m not really sure exactly what he did, but if I remember his name, you could look him up and figure it out. ”
“Like a tech startup?”
“Exactly. It grew big fast, and its headquarters were in Grayland. They ran it into the ground about five years later, but it left a big mess to clean for Grayland, and it put many people’s water supply in jeopardy.
The sea is more delicate than we give allowances for.
When something endangers it, it lets us know. ”
“Yeah, I know.” Jake sighed. “I spent enough time on the beach picking up candy wrappers and used condoms to figure that out.”
“Do you know why so much refuse continues to wash up on our shores to this day?”
“I’m guessing it has something to do with the Eatons.”
“We used to have a lumber mill here—before even the Eatons were established. When the first Robert was old enough, he got a job working there.”
“Were they not rich then?” Jake asked.
“No, they weren’t. Alistair Eaton was a fisherman, and Martha Eaton was a schoolteacher before she had Robert. Anyway, Robert climbed the ladder until he ran the place and eventually took it over as his own mill when the original owners died. He got greedy, as was typical for him.”
“Clearly.”
“He over-logged and created quite an imbalance in the ecosystem. The sea never really recovered from that, and generations down the line still have to pay for it. My point is that the cafe may have caused even more damage if they hadn’t finally paid attention to the signs.”
“I hope they all burn in Hell, or wherever Mier sends people when they die,” Jake said.
Isabel smiled softly. “Spite won’t help, dear. It’s real action that helps. Why else do you think the town has banded together to do as much as they can against the Eatons?”
“I get it now, but what about Robbie? Genuinely, what did he do besides being born into that family?”
“You just said it yourself. Robbie is the next generation, and one of the infamous Roberts, no less. He was always going to have to pay that price, from the day he was born until the day he dies.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Of course it’s not. At least you finally recognize it.”
Jake bristled. “I recognized it before, I just…”
“You just didn’t want to.”
“Yeah, well, Robbie still fuck—screwed me over. I’m not happy with him, and it has nothing to do with his family.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“Of course n—” Jake stopped himself. He couldn’t lie to his own aunt.
“You should say goodbye to Robbie at the dance on Saturday,” said Isabel. “It may be your last chance to make up.”
“We tried that a couple of times already, and it didn’t work.”
“Well, try again.” Isabel patted his knee. “Just do it, Jake. I know you have it in you, so be the bigger person and don’t go with anything left unsaid that you might regret.”
“That’s easy enough for you to say, Aunt Isabel. I’m just gonna try to avoid him at the dance. It’ll be better for both of us. No reopening old wounds.”
Isabel got up and went into the kitchen. She looked unhappy, and her quietness throughout the evening only proved that.
Jake went back to Sandway before dinner and picked up a few bags of groceries, just throwing whatever looked okay into his basket. Isabel’s words continued to claw at the back of his mind, coming forward again when he checked out.
“Have a great evening, Jake,” the cashier said. “And tell Isabel hello for me.”
“Will do.” Jake smiled, but his stomach twisted in knots.
Isabel had already eaten dinner when he got home, but she’d left a plate out for him. He wasn’t really hungry. He hadn’t been truly hungry in days, but he still ate, if only to keep from wasting away.
He wondered if Robbie was eating. Robbie always seemed to have a more delicate constitution when he was upset, and if he was anywhere near as upset now as Jake had been for the past few days, he probably wasn’t eating at all.
If he withered away, would anyone notice?
And if they did, would they care? Safiya might, Isabel certainly would, and Jake…
He sighed and stabbed at a spear of cold asparagus drowned in congealed butter. If something ever happened to Robbie, Jake would care a lot.
It was a cool Saturday morning that Jake awoke and dragged himself over to his bedroom window to open it a crack. He could hear the noises drifting up from the coast already, early as it was. People—volunteers—were setting it up for the dance.
Isabel had gone, and Robbie was presumably there too. Anywhere there was volunteering in Eventide, Robbie showed up. At least the beach was already clean, no thanks to Jake anymore.
He closed the window and picked up his bathrobe from the floor, wrapping it around himself like a blanket. There was coffee in the kitchen and a note from Isabel saying he could use whatever he wanted for breakfast.
“I’m not a child,” he muttered, crumpling up the note.
He certainly felt like a child with the way he was acting, but he didn’t say that out loud.
If he spoke it aloud, he might have to face it, and if he did that, then his whole narrative about these last several months would come tumbling down.
He couldn’t risk that now, when he was so close to breaking free of this salt-tinged shell of a place.
The rain that many had feared would postpone the dance had stopped entirely overnight. Now, not only was it not raining, but the birds were out chirping and hopping around, and the sky was as blue as the ocean, which was as calm as the sky.
Isabel returned in time for lunch, and Jake realized with burning cheeks that he was still in his bathrobe, never having gotten dressed in all the hours he had been up.
He was lying on the couch when she walked in, and she only gave him a passing glance before striding over to the living room window.
“Never has there been better weather for the dance,” she said almost wistfully as she pulled open the curtains, letting the bright sun wash over them.
Jake groaned and pressed the back of his hand over his eyes. “That’s great for all of you.”
Isabel turned around. “You’re coming to the dance, Jakey.” She put her hands on her hips, staring down at a supine Jake.
Jake put on his best pitiful frown. “I’m really not feeling up to it, Aunt Isabel.”
“Why? Because you’re afraid of who you might see there? You’ve been broken up for almost as long as you were together, dear. I think it’s time to move on.”
“We were never—” Jake shook his head. It was no use anymore. “I think I’m coming down with something,” he said instead.
“I very much doubt that.” Isabel continued to glare down at him, and Jake realized he wasn’t getting out of this so easily. “But if it’s really that bad,” she went on, “I can always call Alex and have her come down to drive you back early. I wouldn’t want you to suffer here for another day.”
“No,” Jake said quickly. If Alex got involved, their parents would hear some version of this, and he would never live it down. “I’ll go.” He sat up, taking a deep breath as he mentally prepared himself for the hardest night of his life.
For so long, he’d told himself he would go to the dance, and that would be it.
Then everything with Robbie happened, and he began to wonder if it was worth going at all.
And then, every time he thought about it, he was overcome with a pit of dread that only grew, and grew, and grew until he was nothing but a dark vapor floating through Eventide.
The first Saturday in December was his breaking point. Isabel had shown him the listing for the Book Nook, dark and sad and empty, a total loss for so-called business moguls. Safiya had been spot on.
That same day, Robbie closed on the house. It was technically his now, and Jake and Isabel were still in it only out of courtesy. Robbie would never kick them out. He hadn’t even stopped by to check out his new home yet.
He didn’t need to, of course. He knew the place intimately; as well as Jake did. Maybe even more, given his entire lifetime in Eventide as opposed to Jake’s six months.
Jake shrugged his shoulders, rolling away the tension in them as he padded down the hall. The pictures that lined the walls were gone; packed away in the same box that held the afghan once draped over the couch and the frames and trinkets that once decorated the built-in.
The bathroom was a wasteland too, with little toiletry bags filled to the brim with their toothbrushes and toothpaste and deodorant and combs.
Both Jake and Isabel lived out of bags now, a sad existence to be sure.
Jake would have been more annoyed if he wasn’t leaving soon anyway, and if the man he was doing it for wasn’t…
Jake gazed at his reflection in the spotless mirror. Isabel had given it one last wipe down last night, and it practically sparkled now, it was so clean. There wasn’t a single streak from the glass cleaner on it.
He looked about the same as when he’d arrived. He needed another haircut, but he didn’t have the wherewithal to go all the way to Grayland again, so his usual waves formed into more distinct curls, framing his face until he slicked them back with a water-dampened hand.
He needed to shave still, something he would do after his shower. His nails needed trimming, too. He’d broken one carrying a box to his car for Isabel, and it still throbbed whenever he pressed down on the nail bed. It was what he deserved for not taking better care of them the past few weeks.
There was something else about him that looked off, though. Something that made him keep staring when he should have been running the water, getting it warm enough to not shock his body when he stepped into the shower.
It had to be the wells under his eyes where dark shadows formed.
Or maybe it was the tightness in his jaw that snaked all the way up behind his eyes.
He’d lost a bit of weight, too, no doubt from all his walking along the beach and his lack of appetite lately.
But that was hardly enough to change his appearance so harrowingly.
He narrowed his eyes, leaning forward. He’d never inspected himself so closely before. Was this what Robbie had seen? How could he have ever loved him?
Jake’s gaze softened as he pulled back. His lips twitched, and for just a moment, he saw what Robbie saw.
He saw both his old self and the man Robbie had uncovered in the time that they were together.
Robbie had always noticed a part of Jake that Jake himself refused to acknowledge.
That was what made him special—it was one of the many things that made Robbie special.
He turned away from the mirror and moved toward the shower. He had to stop thinking about Robbie before it became the death of him. This was what he’d always wanted: to get out of here, no strings attached. Now he finally had his wish come true.