Chapter 18
I”m at the diner, scrubbing the long counter that is perpetually greasy, no matter how many times I clean it. It was busy, up until 12:45. Now the diner is vacant, silent except for the hum of the running dishwasher, and the whoosh of the dish sprayer being used to prepare another load of dishes. Diego is listening to some Cuban big band music in the back. Gem is here too, probably out chain-smoking on the patio while she calls vendors.
I give up on trying to remove a stubborn stain, and grab a silverware basket and a pile of cheap white napkins from the kitchen. I start mindlessly rolling up silverware, placing a knife, fork, and spoon together and covering it with one end of the napkin. I roll in quick motions. Doing silverware as side work has an almost-pleasing mindlessness to it. My body knows how to do it without much thinking at all.
As I stare out the window, my mind wanders. I”m thinking about whether I should go to the GCUFOs gathering tonight. God, GCUFOS meets once a month. I can’t believe all that’s happened between me and River since the last meetup.
Bishop will probably be there, dragging Anitta around like he”s at an amusement park and she”s the huge stuffed bear he won. Boo.
Bishop seems to bring out River”s worst side. And because River now technically lives with me, it would be rude to go to the meetup and not invite him along.
The doorbell chimes, saving me from my thoughts. I look up, ready to greet the customer coming in the door. To my surprise, Lucy and Savannah enter.
“Hey girlie!” Lucy says, grinning and launching herself at me.
“You’re skinny!” I chastise her. “Are they feeding you at Agnes?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” she assures me.
Sav gives us a tired look and gives me a half a hug. “Hey, Pearl. Sorry, it’s been kind of a day.”
Her expression is withdrawn. I suspect that she is tired. I also suspect that her tiredness will soon be revealed to be baby-related. But since she hasn”t told me anything, I don”t ask.
She might be worried about announcing her pregnancy too early and then miscarrying. I know it”s a fear of mine, anyway.
Instead, I pivot to Lucy. ”I”m so excited to see you both!”
”I know. It”s been a while since it was just us hens in the henhouse.” Lucy looks around and sees that there are no other customers. ”Do you think we can visit for a minute?”
I grin and point to two barstools at the counter. ”Grab a seat. Are you eating?”
”Nah,” says Sav. She sits down. ”We”re just coming from that little farmer”s market that sets up at the end of the main strip.”
”You didn”t find anything? Not a single asparagus stalk or a solitary tangerine?”
Sav laughs and shakes her head. ”Nope. I think we were both just getting a little stir crazy and wanted to enjoy the weather.”
”It is beautiful outside,” I agree. ”What”ll you guys have to drink? I just made sweet tea. Or you could try some hot ginger tea. I finally talked Gem into carrying it.”
”How about a coffee? With a little creamer and a pound of sugar, please?” Lucy asks.
”You got it. Sav?”
Sav wrinkles her nose. ”I”ll have a cup of ginger tea.”
”No problem.” Their drinks take less than a minute to gather together. I set the coffee and tea down, then I push a large glass sugar shaker across the counter to Lucy.
She proceeds to pour a ton in her coffee, snaking a spoon from the basket of clean silverware.
”So, what”s been going on with y”all?” I ask. I start rolling silver as I talk, but I look at them attentively.
Lucy slurps her coffee. Sav smiles and rolls her eyes.
”Not too much over here. Charlie learned that rocket ships exist. So our whole house is full of model rockets now. It”s...” She pressed her lips together. ”A lot.”
”And you?” I ask Lucy. ”How”s Agnes Glen?”
”Did you have Dr. Blatt for English Comp?”
I squint. ”I don”t think so. I remember Dr. Hensu running that department with an iron fist.”
She sighs. ”Dr. Hensu retired, I think. Dr. Blatt just assigned me so much reading that I”m about to be buried in textbooks.”
”I remember that feeling,” Sav sighs. ”This too shall pass.”
”We came here to talk to you about the wedding planning,” Lucy says. ”Not for you guys to tell me that my reading crisis isn”t a big deal.”
”Sorry, Luce.” Sav”s lips twitch with humor. ”Pearl, tell us about your wedding! I’ve done so much planning for my own that I think I’m planned out.”
I point a roll of silverware at them both. ”Y”all are cute, thinking that I have anything planned yet. I didn”t even know that River was going to propose.”
Sav looks at me with a concerned expression. ”Are you two okay? I mean, if Cole had proposed to me without us talking through our plans for the future first, I would be livid.”
Lucy snorts. ”Yeah, that would be a bonehead move. But it’s something River would pull though.”
I swallow, trying to control my expression. I”m immediately transported to the conversation I had with River about lying to his mom.
What did he call it? Embroidering the truth?
I do not want to do that. So I am very careful about what I say to my friends.
”River and I are totally fine. But again... I haven”t thought about wedding plans. It wasn”t completely out of left field. But I am not really super interested in having a big wedding.”
”Uhhh... you”d better tell my mom that,” Lucy says. ”She is fully losing her mind over getting to plan another wedding.”
”Sarah’s planned like seventy percent of ours,” Savannah chips in. ”She was on cloud nine. If she hasn”t called you personally yet, I bet River is blocking all of her wedding planning energy from you.”
”Wedding planning energy is like big dick energy, but wayyyy more gay,” Lucy cracks.
”You two are a regular Abbott and Costello over here. You should start charging for tickets.”
Sav laughs but Lucy just screws up her face. ”Who?”
I wave away her confusion. ”Sweet summer child. They were a comedy duo from the 1940s.”
”Oh.” She shrugs. ”Okay. You know, I’m not that much younger than you.”
“Don’t tell me. Tell Abbot and Costello,” I say, grinning.
“Y’all are too much.” Sav checks the time on her phone and slurps her tea. ”We have to get going, Lucy. I promised your mom I would be back to take Charlie by 1:30.”
Lucy holds up a finger and guzzles her coffee. I laugh and shake my head.
”I”ll get you a to-go cup,” I offer.
”Nah. This was the perfect amount.” She pulls out her wallet and drops two twenty-dollar bills on the counter.
I immediately grab the cash, take her hand, and force the money into it. ”No way am I ever taking money from you for a cup of Gem”s coffee.”
Sav pushes herself up from the counter with a smile. ”Especially considering that y”all aren”t just Agnes Glen sisters anymore. You”re about to be literal sisters-in-law.”
That thought hadn”t occurred to me. But I find myself nodding. ”Plus, I know how expensive living in the city is. Agnes Glen makes you live on campus, but you still have to pay for almost everything else.”
Lucy makes a face. ”My parents pay for almost everything. Let”s not get carried away.”
I hurry around the counter to hug them both. On the way out, we make vague plans to hang out in the future. Sav waves as she ushers Lucy out, and I see the two of them head off in the direction of the family mansion.
Twenty minutes later, I cut the last lemon wedge. Gem comes out from the back and looks around the empty diner. ”Has it been like this for a while?”
”Yeah. I had side work to do, but it”s all done now. Do you think I can go early?”
Gem jerks her chin out at the parking lot. ”Looks like you”re just in time. Your husband-to-be is here.”
I turn and spot River climbing out of his big truck. He”s dressed up in a light blue button-down, and dark slacks. His top button is undone, revealing a perfect triangle of tanned throat and sparse dark hair.
For some reason, that little triangle does something to me.
Specifically, it makes me horny. I bite my lower lip and imagine the crazy sex we”re probably about to have.
God, I”m like a teenage girl, waiting on her crush.
”Pearl?” Gem says.
I look at her, flushing. ”Oh, yeah. Uhh... what were you saying?”
Gem shakes her head and sighs theatrically. ”Go, honey. I”ll handle the midday lull.”
I am ashamed to admit that as soon as my brain processes her command, I turn back to River. ”I”ll see you soon...” I utter, completely distracted by his approach.
”Don”t forget your tips. And your jacket. And your freaking purse, for God”s sake.”
I quickly grab the aforementioned things and rush to the door, putting on my warm jacket as I step outside.
River immediately grins at me. ”I was just coming to see you.”
”Well, here I am,” I say, striking an awkward pose. ”Gem told me to am-scray.”
”Good. I was planning on sitting down and ordering some food, because that way I could tip you. But it”s so nice outside. I”m glad you got sent home early.”
I shove my hands into my jacket pockets to keep myself from reaching out to touch him. There”s no one looking right now. Therefore no need to act like we”re in love. ”Do you want to go walk on the beach with me?”
”I”d love to.”
We walk down to the beach, making small talk and enjoying the feeling of the sunshine on our faces. Winter is really over and the sunny, hot days are right around the corner. Today is the best of both worlds, sunny without the heat biting at its heels.
”How was work?” I ask, looking at River out of the corner of my eye.
He stops and takes his shoes and socks off, sinking his feet in the mix of sand and soil. As the treeline breaks, the soil disappears and leaves nothing but sand under our feet as we walk out onto the mini sand dunes. It”s low tide now and the beach is gloriously huge and empty.
”It was okay.” River looks toward the sun as I take my shoes off. We leave our shoes there and start to meander down the beach.
”Do you care to elaborate?” I ask. ”I actually don”t know what you do all day.”
”I should take you by the office on the way back. It”s on the pier near the lighthouse.” He spots a piece of sea glass and picks it up carefully, avoiding any edges it might have. It”s perfectly blue-green, just a few shades lighter than his eyes. I have to bite my tongue to keep from blurting out some drivel about how they match.
When I don”t say anything, he continues, ”I spend most of my days looking at blueprints and construction contracts. It”s pretty boring to outsiders.”
”I don”t think it”s boring. Or at least, not any more boring than rolling silverware and carrying plates for a living.”
River stuffs his hands in his pockets. ”Can I ask you something that might sound a bit rude?”
My eyebrows rise. ”Now you have to ask, because I am curious.”
”Why are you waiting tables? You have a fucking college degree. You could be doing so many other things.”
I prickle, feeling defensive. It’s a question that I often ask myself, but coming from River it sounds haughty. Sighing, I consider his question for a beat.
”Gem hired me when I was still in college to work part-time in the summer. When I graduated with a poli-sci degree, I didn”t know what my next step would be. Gem offered to hire me full time.... and I just sort of fell into it that way.” I pause, deciding my next words. ”Plus, it pays pretty well. Better than any of the other opportunities that I had in front of me. On a good night, I make four or five hundred dollars.”
He glances back toward Gem”s. ”And what about the less good nights?”
I shrug. ”There”s only one a week. Some weeks, I pull in three thousand dollars.”
”God. That”s more than I thought,” River admits. ”But that”s it. There”s no chance to make more, is there?”
”Not without starting my own restaurant. Which I have no real desire to do.”
”Gotcha.” He looks at me, as if appraising my value. ”I was just curious. You don”t have any secret ambitions?”
”Going to college and graduating with a poli-sci degree was the ambition. Now I’ve set my sights to the future. I want to start a family. Having kids and carrying on my family line will really fulfill my soul.” I suck in a breath. ”It sounds like you don”t approve of that.”
River holds his hands up in surrender. ”I”m just trying to get to know you better. That”s all.”
”So you”re not secretly judging me and thinking how unworthy I am to have a Bennett-Taylor baby?”
He stops cold. ”I thought we were clear on the point of you not needing my financial assistance or last name. You signed a contract--”
”Whoa. Whoa, now. I was just kidding. I just meant that you were trying to figure out if I was dating material or not. Aren”t you? And I thought we were both very much in the ”no thanks” camp.”
His eyes narrow on my face but he doesn”t say anything for a long moment. ”We”re on the same page.”
I choose this very moment to step on something sharp. Yelping, I lunge forward to keep from cutting my foot any deeper. Before I know it, I”m tumbling forward....
And River, the dashing man that he is, actually catches me.
He hauls me to him, and I”m suddenly staring into his gorgeous sapphire eyes. There is warmth there, a playful twinkle. I step forward again, pressing my hips against his. He surprises me then, because he”s half-erect. I know all too well what his long, proud cock looks like.
I”ve only fantasized about it every night since I saw it.
Looking into River”s eyes, there is a moment of connection. He seems to know what is on my mind.
I press up on my toes to meet his lips. He makes a muffled sound of surprise but he responds, his warm, soft lips against mine.
Then he pulls away and looks down at my foot. ”You”re bleeding,” he says gently. ”I think you stepped on something that cut your foot.”
I pick my foot up. Sure enough, there is a decent amount of blood seeping out of a gash just below my toes. Now that I am focused on it, there”s a very mild burning sensation. ”Fuck.” I grimace.
In the next second, River shocks me by sweeping me up in his arms and carrying me back toward where we left our shoes. He leans down and whispers in my ear, “Now I’m going to take care of you. Just hold on and enjoy it, Pearl.”
So I take his advice and try to feel cared for.