5. My First Clue
5
MY FIRST CLUE
Jake
Pacing the street with my phone pressed to my ear, I used my most soothing big-brother voice to try to calm Kylie. “Everything is going to be fine. We’ll figure it out, I promise.”
Kylie gulped between hyperventilating sobs. “I don’t know what to do. I barely understand a word the physics professor says. It’s like he’s speaking a foreign language. I don’t know how on earth I’m going to finish school without this science requirement. I suck at science. I can’t do this, Jake. I can’t do this at all.”
“You’re going to be fine. If you don’t understand the subject matter, we’ll get you a tutor,” I said as I walked past a surf shop.
“But what if it doesn’t help?” My little sister’s voice shot sky-high with panic. Kylie was a world-class worrier. She was the youngest of my siblings, a teenager when our parents were killed, and her anxiety had affected her schoolwork all through high school and now in college. Talking her through her fears required lots of time and patience, which was why I’d extracted myself from the bar.
The aftereffects of Ariel still lingered though. “You’re catastrophizing, Kylie. You can’t get worked up over what hasn’t happened. Got it?”
“I know, I know. I’m such a screwup,” she said, another sob catching her voice. “You probably never struggled in school.”
“You’re not a screwup,” I said, gentle but brooking no argument. “Stop beating yourself up over this. You just need some help.”
“But tutors are so expensive.”
“Kylie.” I stopped walking. Time for some tough love. “Stop it right now. No more talk of being a screwup, or about money. I’ve got that handled. Your job is to focus on school.” I listened to her take a few calming breaths. “Better?”
“Yes. Thank you, Jake,” she said sincerely. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important, like enjoying a beautiful beach.”
I laughed. “Just talking to someone I met playing darts.”
“A girl?”
“None of your business,” I said.
“Definitely a girl, then,” she teased. I let her rib me, then told her I loved her and said goodbye. By then, the sun had started to dip toward the horizon, pulling streaks of orange and pink across the sky like a tail. My watch said fifteen minutes had passed.
Maybe Ariel was still at the bar. It was a big maybe, but I picked up the pace just in case. On the way back, I passed shops selling jewelry and sundresses, and then the surf shop advertising local tours in their front window. I did a double take at a familiar name on a poster and filed the info in my mental storage banks.
When I reached The Pink Pelican, I scanned the whole place, but the woman I’d pictured taking home was nowhere in sight. I sighed, cursing myself for not grabbing her number.
But the world’s most helpful bartender was calling me over with a mischievous smile.
Maris held out a napkin to me. “A pretty lady gave me this for you.”
I unfolded it, then chuckled when I saw what she’d written. No number. Just a clue.
Hell yes. I loved clues, and this one was especially good. It basically spelled out another chance with her—tomorrow.