11. Holly
ELEVEN
HOLLY
The office door slammed open, banged against the wall behind it, and made us all jump.
“You’re having a party and didn’t invite me?” Tracey stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, scowl on her face as she took me in.
That scowl flipped into a flirtatious smile as soon as she noticed the men surrounding me.
And they were definitely surrounding me. I’d been overly optimistic when I thought we could all eat at the circular table. In my defense, it seemed plenty large when I sat at it, or when Caroline and I worked on her payroll together.
I hadn’t quite taken into account the size of Graham and his friends. Their shoulder width and long legs had left me scrunched in the back corner, and with all of our food and drinks, there wasn’t a free spot at the table.
“It wasn’t quite a party,” I told Tracey.
She texted me an hour ago and asked if I was busy. I told her the truth, that I wasn’t, but I hadn’t expected her to show up, too.
“Campus must be really boring tonight,” I said.
Next to me, Graham bumped my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if it was a tease or for lack of space until he muttered, “We’ve already been over this.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned back against him, a move Tracey didn’t miss because she skipped into the office, closing the door behind her.
“No worries. Now…” She tapped her lips with her long and sharply pointed hot pink fingernail. Those things should be registered as assault weapons. “Where do I get to sit?”
Tanner and Eli both widened their spread legs, but it was Tanner who pushed Eli out of the way and patted his thigh. “Got room for you right here.”
“Huh. We’ve met, right?”
“Yeah, Tracey, we’ve met.” Sounded to me like not many girls forgot meeting Tanner, and he wasn’t all that happy about it.
“Huh,” she said again and then plopped her tiny little behind right down on his thigh. His arm had to drape over her back to hold her in place, and he settled his hand on top of her leg.
Guess Tanner didn’t like women forgetting him, but he didn’t mind the second chance.
“What are you doing here?” I asked and swirled my now-cold fry into a pile of mustard, something that had already earned me relentless teasing.
“You said you weren’t busy, I was bored, ergo…” She flipped her hand in the air. Like that explained anything.
“Asher busy tonight?”
“You dating someone?” Tanner asked. There was grit in his voice.
“Talking,” she drawled. “So much talking …”
“What’s wrong with talking?” Eli asked, which reminded me.
“Tracey meet Eli. Eli…Tracey,” I introduced them, and once again Tracey’s smile turned stunning. Man, the girl knew how to work a crowd. If I had half her confidence, I’d have three times as much as I had now.
“Talking is fine,” Tracey said and stole one of my fries as I popped another into my mouth. She flinched, probably from the cold potatoes. “It’s just that, after the talking part, I’d prefer to do other things with my mouth.”
I choked on my fry.
Graham chuckled and patted my back while I grabbed my water and washed it down.
“You can’t just say things like that.”
“I don’t mind.” Eli shrugged and smirked.
“Me either,” Tanner quipped. “What kinds of things are we talking about?”
“Eating. I love eating.” To prove it, she grabbed an onion ring off his plate and crunched down on it. “Mmm. So much better than your fry, Holly. So, what are we really doing back here? Who are we hiding from tonight?”
The fact she knew this was my hiding place was pathetic enough.
“So I take it that happens often?” Eli asked.
Weirdly enough, as soon as I suggested the guys come back and hang with me in the office, none of them mentioned a thing about the girls. The looks or what they’d said before.
“It’s not uncommon,” I admitted.
“Why?”
Tracey tossed a chip at him. “Because they’re small-town people with small minds.”
“I’m from the small town,” I said to Tracey.
“Yeah, but you’re not small-minded. That’s the difference. Who was it this time?”
“Hannah and them.”
“Ugh. Good Lord. You’d think those girls would be so focused on the Spring Fling they wouldn’t have time to do anything else.”
Great. I’d totally forgotten that was coming up.
“Spring Fling?” Graham chuckled as he asked. “Isn’t that a dance?”
“At schools, yeah,” I answered. “But in Deer Creek it’s a town thing. There’s a parade, a carnival, all the things.”
“It’s a big deal,” Tracey confirmed.
“It’s unbearable,” I groaned.
All the people. The looks. Last year I’d hid at Tracey’s apartment all weekend. Considering my dad had only gotten arrested ten weeks earlier, there was no way I was going to it. Hatred for Marvin Jones was at its full height, my dad being blamed for the sudden death of our winter tourism. Considering all the rich city people canceled their reservations following the accident, I couldn’t blame them.
Wild how the bartenders who had served him that night got off with a slap on the wrist and no lingering hatred. If someone had cut him off…
His court-appointed attorney had tried that route to shift the blame.
No one went for it.
Especially the judge, who happened to be friends with the governor. He should have recused himself considering he knew the governor personally. Our attorney had fought for that until we realized every judge in North Carolina knew the governor. My dad had no shot at a fair trial anywhere he went, but that didn’t really matter in the end. He’d killed the governor’s daughter, and now he was paying the price.
“Aw. Come on. It used to be fun,” Tracey said. She grinned at the guys. “She’s dragged me to this both our freshman and sophomore years. For a small town, they do it up . You get free rein to spend the entire weekend being a little kid again. But this year we can also hang out at the beer garden.”
“Right.” I gave her a face. “That’d be fun.”
Her face paled, but fortunately, she kept her mouth shut. Frankly, I was surprised none of these guys had put two and two together yet. They seemed awfully smart. And monied. Definitely Tanner and Graham. Eli came off as a little rougher, a little less Daddy’s money would have paid for my college if I wasn’t playing hockey, and more like he’d be taking out loans with the rest of us.
“Fine. Anyway, you guys in?”
“I like carnival rides,” Tanner said.
Eli smirked at Tracey. “I like all kinds of rides.”
She smirked right back. “I think I like you.”
Tanner abruptly shifted his leg, and Tracey crashed to the floor, shrieking in surprise.
I laughed loudly and freely for the first time in months.
* * *
“It’s late, and I’m guessing you won’t invite me back to your place.”
Graham’s gloved hands were on my cheeks. We were standing outside The Premier Grille, and Tracey and his friends were out at their cars. After most of the customers left, Caroline asked me to come back out and help her close up. To my utter astonishment, Graham and his friends and Tracey all chipped in.
They cranked up music on the sound system, and then they threw Graham under the bus with all sorts of stories of things he did on hockey trips, and in less than an hour, The Premier Grille was spotless, the silverware all wrapped in napkins for the morning shift. The dishes were washed and dried and put away, and everything in our salad bar was prepped and back in the refrigerator for the next day.
Graham and I had even had time to go to the back and chop extra vegetables for morning omelets.
Caroline had locked up and waved goodbye with a relieved smile on her face. “You guys can come visit anytime. Next time I might even give you some tips.”
The guys thanked her for allowing them to hang out, and said the help was no problem.
We’d saved her hours of morning work, which meant she wouldn’t have to show up until nine, giving her precious hours of sleep.
“Not tonight,” I whispered, but man, I wished things were different.
“I’m guessing your dad’s not the kind of guy to allow you sleepovers.”
My dad. Right. Of course that’s what he assumed. My dad wouldn’t have ever noticed if I had company, much less sleepovers in the last few years, but that wasn’t why I wouldn’t let him see where I lived.
My trailer was rotten compared to his own apartment. The only thing we had in common with our living arrangements was that we lived alone.
“You guys need to get back to school,” I said so I didn’t have to mention my dad. He was a topic I wasn’t ready to approach.
“Someday, you’re going to open up more, aren’t you?” His eyes scanned mine, dark pools with tiny flecks of gold I could barely see in the darkness. They peered straight into my soul, like by looking at me this way he’d discover everything.
“Opening up isn’t easy for me.”
“I know, and I get it, I do, but I feel like you have one foot ready to leave, and the other isn’t exactly standing on steady ground.”
I chuckled. “That’s kind of my entire life at the moment, Graham.”
He grinned, but it vanished quickly, and there was no warmth in it. “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like this, Holly. Just…be honest with me? Don’t screw with me.”
A sarcastic retort filled my throat, but I choked it down. This was the time to walk away, free and clear. I couldn’t. His expression was too earnest. His words too honest. I should have…right then. I should have pulled out my phone and blocked him and sent him on his way.
I didn’t want to, despite all the signs being there that I should.
“I’ll be honest,” I finally said. “And I’m sorry. I’m interested. I like you, but we’re also graduating, and who knows where life will take us.”
“Good thing teachers and finance majors can get jobs anywhere, then, huh?”
Oh God. He meant that, too. My heart squeezed with the thoughts of it. That he was thinking of this…our future. “We’ve known each other for two months, Graham.”
I meant it to come out as a tease, but my tone was flat, and there was a bite to it I didn’t expect.
His hands fell from my cheeks, and his jaw worked back and forth. “Right. Good night, then.”
Damn it. I was screwing this up.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and then said it again, louder, loud enough that Tanner and Eli arched their brows in our direction, and Tracey turned to face me. She was frowning, like she knew I was messing this up. Of course I’d mess it up.
I was a Jones. It’s what we did with our lives.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said and reached for his arm. Graham turned, and his sad expression made me flinch. “I mean, it is true, I guess…I don’t know. I was surprised you were thinking that way.”
“I don’t really like messing around. I tend to be the kind of guy who sees what he wants and goes for it.”
“And that’s what you want.”
Me. Him. And man, I could see it, too. A hazy dream flashed in my mind of him teaching kids hockey lessons, me enjoying watching while sipping on hot chocolate in the stands. Us playing house. Living in the suburbs somewhere where my past and my parents weren’t a part of my life.
For the first time in my life, dreaming wasn’t terrifying.
“Yeah, Holly. I think I might.”
“Oh.” It fell from my lips on a heavy exhale, and I shifted on my feet. “Well…that’s a surprise. What do we do now?”
His lips curled at the corners. “Now, you kiss me good night. Like you mean it. Like you hate the idea of me walking away.”
Now that he mentioned it and gave me that speck of a dream to hope for, I kind of did hate that idea. I rolled to my toes and gave him exactly what he wanted.