Chapter 10
Kendra stood in front of the high school and stared at it for what seemed like minutes. “This is it?”
“This is it.”
“How many kids go here?”
Her mother shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe a quarter of how many went to your high school back in Atlanta.”
She’d never seen such a small school. Back home, her high school was two stories with a basement and twenty freestanding trailers, and they were still bursting at the seams. They had a baseball field, a football field, and a fine arts building too.
Happy Harbor High School was one long building, and it looked like it was built before God was born. There was a small stadium, no trailers, and wooden fencing around part of the campus.
“What are the fences for?”
Her mom laughed. “Back in the early days, it was to keep out livestock from the local farm.”
“There are farms here?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Not anymore, but back then there were. The cows liked to roam.”
Kendra was wondering if this whole thing was a good idea. She didn’t fit in at school in Atlanta, but would she fit in here? She wasn’t exactly a small-town girl. Sometimes, she felt as if she didn’t fit in anywhere, like nobody really wanted to be friends with her because she didn’t fit the mold.
Her mother walked toward the school, and Kendra followed, anxious about how her first day would go. As they entered, she was surprised at just how antiquated the school looked with its pale-yellow, concrete block walls and peeling tile floor. It smelled musty, like the old library she used to go to in Atlanta. It was the best place to make out with a boy and not get caught.
As soon as they entered the large lobby, her mom turned left toward a door that said Main Office. Inside were a few chairs and a long reception desk with dark wood and a little bell. Josie nodded toward it, and Kendra rang it before sitting down.
A few moments later, a smiling woman, who was as big around as she was tall, came from the back hallway. “Good mornin’, folks. How can I help you?” She was grinning like she’d won the lottery. Kendra would never understand morning people. Nothing good happened before ten a.m.
“Good morning. I need to enroll my daughter as a new student.”
She nodded like she was remembering something. “Ah, yes. You called yesterday, right?”
Her mother nodded. “Right. This is Kendra.”
Kendra forced a smile. She really wanted to go back to bed. This was one of her problems with school—it all happened in the morning when she was less than personable.
“Hey.”
“You’re a junior, Kendra? Is that right?”
“Yes.”
Her mother elbowed her. “Yes, ma’am,” she whispered.
“What?” Kendra whispered back. Never once had she made her daughter say ma’am.
“They say ma’am and sir here. Get used to it,” she responded through gritted teeth.
The woman, whose name tag said Elma McAvoy, looked down at a stack of paperwork. “We were able to contact her previous school for her records...” Her voice trailed off, as if she was trying to avoid saying something.
“And?”
Elma looked up and smiled sadly. “It seems Kendra had some issues at her old school?”
Her mother sighed. “She did, and that’s one reason we moved back home. You see, I grew up in Happy Harbor. In fact, I went to this high school.” She pasted a smile on her face and tilted her head, sounding as if she was reminiscing.
Elma giggled. “Josie, I remember you. We all do. I’ve been working here for thirty years, after all.”
“Oh.”
“You don’t recognize me, do you?”
Her mother smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I don’t.”
“I was one of the custodians when you went here. Moved up to cafeteria worker for a few years, and now I run the office.” Elma held her hands out as if she was showing off her kingdom. Kendra could tell she was proud, and it was actually kind of cute.
“Congratulations! I do remember you from the cafeteria now. You always gave me an extra scoop of the mashed potatoes I loved.”
Elma grinned. “That was me!”
“Well, it’s good to see you again.” Kendra could tell that was her mother’s fake nice voice. She was just making small talk to get her daughter enrolled so she could get the heck out of there. After all, the restaurant was open, and her grandmother was running it at the moment.
“Nice to see you, dear. I do remember so many of your antics, though...”
“I’d love to reminisce, but I’m sure you know I’m running my nana’s restaurant now. Got to get there for the breakfast rush.”
“Oh, yes, I heard about Adeline. Such a sweet soul. You sure ran her ragged back in those days.”
“I sure did. Now, how quickly can we get my daughter registered?” Again with the fake voice and plastered-on smile. Her mother might’ve gotten away with that in Atlanta, but in a small town like this where people knew her, that was going to be hard.
“We have a few forms to fill out. Do you have her immunization record?”
As they continued chatting, and her mother continued filling out forms like a madwoman, Kendra walked around the office. The walls were filled with various pictures and awards the school had gotten over the years. Most of them were tacky trophies with shiny gold on them. Others were simply framed certificates. None of them were overly impressive.
“Now, Kendra, I understand you were suspended from your previous school?”
Her face flushed. “Yes, ma’am.”
Elma pursed her lips. “Normally, we wouldn’t make an exception to allow you to come here, but since we know Josie, we allowed it. Of course, her own reputation precedes her too...”
“Kendra will not cause trouble here, Elma. I assure you.”
She assured her? Kendra wasn’t even sure how she would behave herself. She always had the best of intentions, though. Well, most of the time. Okay, some of the time.
“Okay, I think we’ve got everything we need,” Elma finally said after a good twenty minutes. Thankfully, Josie had dropped some of the paperwork off the day before, just so they could hurry the process along. Even so, Kendra was dreading being the kid who walked into a class full of students and had to be introduced. The new kid. Who wanted to talk to the new kid?
“So, she can join class today?”
“Yes. I’m printing out a list of your classes, along with times and room numbers. Our school, as you can see, isn’t very large, so you should be able to find them easily.” The paper finished printing, and Elma slid it across the counter toward Kendra. “Now, class started about ten minutes before you got here, so you’ll be joining it in progress.”
“Yay,” Kendra said under her breath.
“You’ll be fine,” her mother said, looking over at her.
A few moments later, they were back in the school’s entryway. Her mom smiled at her.
“What?”
“I feel like you’re five years old, and I’m dropping you off for your first day of kindergarten again.”
Kendra rolled her eyes. “My elementary school was bigger than this.”
“Remember, you wanted this.”
“I know, I know. It’s just school. All school sucks.”
“Kendra!”
“I’ll see you afterward,” she said, turning to a set of double doors that led to the classrooms.
“Should I pick you up?”
She turned around and laughed. “Mom, our house is like two blocks over. I think I can walk.”
As she made her way toward the double doors, she could see her mother’s reflection in the little panes of glass. She hoped she could start fresh at this school because she didn’t want to let her mother down again... or herself.
* * *
Josie stood around the corner from the restaurant and sucked in a sharp breath, blowing it out. Today was her second day running the place, and she still had no idea what she was doing. She’d never worked in food service at all, and she’d never been forced to play nice. It didn’t come naturally to her.
“Hiding from someone?”
She turned to see Walker standing against the building opposite hers. The way he was leaning made her shiver a bit, but she quickly shook off the feeling. Who cared if he was probably the most handsome man she’d ever seen? Who cared if he had one of those lazy smiles that made a woman want to curl up with him on a pile of pillows in the bed of a rusty pickup truck under a moonlit sky? That was oddly specific.
“I’m not hiding from anyone,” she said, trying not to make eye contact. She looked enough to notice he was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a baby-blue T-shirt that hugged his muscles in all the right ways.
“Josie, your back was pressed to the wall like you were hiding from... well, probably your mother?”
She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Okay, fine. I was just taking a moment to do some deep breathing before I go into the restaurant and argue with her all day.”
“You know, there is another choice.”
She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “Oh yeah? What is that?”
He slowly walked closer to her, closing some of the space between them. She knew she shouldn’t want this perfect stranger to just suddenly kiss her, but wasn’t life about surprises? Just as she was about to embarrass herself and close her eyes, he spoke.
“You could just decide not to respond. You know, be civil. Don’t react,” he whispered. He leaned back and just stood in front of her, and for some reason, she felt a weird void.
“That’s not my personality.”
“Sometimes, we need to change how we react to things, not for the other person, but for our own peace.”
She smiled and squinted her eyes. “Where’d you hear that one?”
“In my head right before I said it. I’m not just a lowly boat mechanic, you know. I actually went to college and everything.”
“For what?”
“Mechanical engineering, believe it or not. I went to Georgia Tech for almost two years before dropping out.”
“Too hard?”
He smiled. “No. I had straight A’s, actually. Planned to go into the aerospace or defense sector.”
“Why didn’t you?”
He sighed. “Well, my momma died when I was a baby, and then my daddy died while I was in college. Daddy had a contracting company and a bunch of jobs in progress when he keeled over with a heart attack one day, a hammer still in his hand. I felt like I had to step up, so I did. Been fixing and building stuff ever since.”
“Kind of like me, I guess. Taking over the family business instead of doing what you want to do.” She pushed off the wall and started walking toward the corner. She couldn’t avoid work forever.
“Hey, Josie?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I say one more thing? From my own experience?”
She nodded. “Sure.”
“I was really bummed when I quit college. You’re right. I had big dreams of working at NASA or doing some grand thing, but when I ended up back at home, swinging a hammer and pounding nails into wood... well, that’s when I really found out who I was and what I loved. I was never truly happy until I hopped on one of these boats and started working. You might just find that the restaurant brings out the best in you.”
She chuckled. “Maybe so. Have a good day, Walker.”
* * *
Josie hadn’t made it an hour into her workday before she considered two options.
One: running out of the restaurant and straight into the river, but not before weighing her legs down with a couple of Nana’s heavy Southern biscuits.
Two: running straight to the house, getting in her car, and leaving town. Sure, she’d leave her daughter behind, but she could send her bus money later, right?
Yeah, it hadn’t gone well. It was at times like these that she wished she was a people person. Honestly, people annoyed her. In her unbiased opinion, people were the root of all problems. Money was fine. It was the people that caused all the chaos in the world.
The day had been rampant with customer complaints about cold food and overcooked pork chops. Several people had gotten the wrong order, and God forbid another vegetarian got a bacon bit on their salad. The sound of the bustling restaurant had triggered way more stress than she’d imagined too.
“Here are two more résumés. Have you started scheduling interviews?” Her mother handed her two pieces of paper and waited for an answer. Diane’s forehead glistened from sweat, and her bleached blond hair stuck out on the sides.
“Why are you handing me these? I told you to do all of that.”
Diane put her hands on her hips. “Josie, I can barely keep my head above water. I literally have pancake batter on my apron and bacon grease in my hair.”
“Your hygiene is not my concern,” Josie said, half joking, but then remembered who she was talking to. She would not befriend her pathetic excuse for a mother just because she needed someone to talk to about the craziness that was her life.
“You’re going to have to do the interviews. After all, you’re the boss, right?”
She was the boss. As bossy as she could be sometimes, this wasn’t the management position she’d imagined in her daydreams. She had always envisioned herself sitting in a skyscraper in the middle of any big city, her high-heeled feet resting on her clear glass desk.
She would have a wall of windows behind her, creating an ominous scene for anyone sitting across from her. She’d have people to manage her staff. She’d have people for everything—her laundry, her dry cleaning, her cooking. She’d get a dog just to hire a dog walker.
“Earth to Josie...” Diane said, waving her hand in front of Josie’s face.
“Oh, sorry. I was somewhere else.”
“Well, as much as I can understand transporting yourself away from this crazy place, there’s work to be done. We need more help, and it needs to be quick.”
“Fine. I’ll call these two and get them in for interviews.”
“Today?”
She sighed. “I’ll try. Now, two new parties just walked in, so can you seat them?”
Diane sucked in a sharp breath, put a smile on her face, and walked toward the front door. “Hey, y’all! Welcome to Campbell’s Café!”
Josie walked into the kitchen to find her phone, where Bear was busily cooking. He looked over at her and smiled.
“You know, this will get easier.”
“You think so?”
“The chaos will become normal.”
Josie laughed. “Is chaos supposed to be normal, though?”
He opened the oven and put something inside. It looked like the little pot pies she’d seen in the freezer. “I don’t just mean the restaurant, Josie. That’ll work itself out. I mean the situation with your mother. It can be repaired, as long as you don’t run from it.” Without another word, he disappeared into the walk-in freezer, and Josie was left to wonder if he was right.
* * *
Kendra slowly walked toward the house, taking her time since she knew she’d be home alone for a while before her mother got off work. School had been different, but good. A smaller school meant smaller classes, and she liked that.
Being home alone wasn’t normally a problem, and it wasn’t that she didn’t like Nana’s house; it was that she was sure it was haunted. All old houses were haunted, weren’t they?
Last night, she’d heard creaking on the floor outside her room. There was either a gigantic rat walking around, or it was a Civil War soldier looking for his long-lost love. It had to be one of those two things.
“Hey, wait up!” She heard a male voice in the distance behind her, and her focus changed from worrying about ghosts to worrying about being attacked in broad daylight. Did things like that even happen in Happy Harbor? “Hey!”
She finally got up enough nerve to turn around and saw a boy she recognized from one of her classes. “Are you talking to me?” she asked, stopping in front of the local Methodist church. It wasn’t as fancy as the Baptist church she’d seen, but it had a cool campground with concrete picnic tables.
The boy caught up to her, and then leaned over, putting his hands on his upper thighs. He panted for a few moments, trying to catch his breath. “Are you deaf?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve been yelling behind you since you left school.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m from the city, so I’m used to noise. I tune it out.”
“I can see that.”
“So, stranger, why are you chasing me exactly?”
He chuckled. “I’m Scotty,” he said, reaching out his hand. Kendra looked at it for a moment and then figured she’d better shake it. Southern code called for that.
“I’m Kendra. And, again, why are you chasing me?”
“You forgot this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue pen.
“Dude, that’s not even mine.”
“What? It’s not?”
Kendra turned and started walking again, laughing. “That was lame.”
Scotty walked beside her. “What was lame?”
“Your pickup line.”
“Um, that wasn’t a pickup line. The pen was beside your desk. I figured it was yours.”
“So you chased after me?”
“I have a favorite pen, and I’d hate to lose it. I thought maybe this was your favorite.”
“And you’re still following me now because...?”
“Why are you so defensive, new girl?”
She stopped again. “I told you my name. Why are you calling me new girl?”
“I don’t know.”
“Look, Scotty, I appreciate the effort, but I’m not interested.” She started walking again, hoping he’d give up. He didn’t.
“Not interested in what?”
“Dating you.”
Scotty burst out laughing.
Kendra stopped and put her hands on her hips. “What’s so funny?”
“You, apparently. I’m not trying to date you. I was trying to be nice. Besides, I have a girlfriend.”
“Boys are never trying to be nice to girls. They always want something, and I think we both know what that is.”
“Maybe where you’re from, but not here. I was just being friendly and trying to do a good deed.”
“Like a Boy Scout?”
“I have the patches to prove it.”
She smiled. “I’m sure you do.”
“Listen, back where you lived, I’m sure people are different. But here, we look out for each other. We help when we can. That’s all this was.”
He was cute. She’d give him that. Tall, muscular, sandy-brown hair, green eyes. He was more of the boy-next-door look, which she didn’t usually go for, but he was attractive.
“Fine. I’ll take you at your word. Enjoy the pen,” she said, walking toward her house.
Scotty said nothing else, but she could feel him standing there, watching her as she walked away. He could say he didn’t want to go out with her, but she knew boys. They were all the same. Boys wanted one thing, and she was determined to make a new start here. She would not get distracted by a boy, no matter how cute he was.