Chapter 19
BILLIE
Jacob ends up being the one who’s a charity case. I keep expecting this bubble to burst any second, but it doesn’t.
He stays at my house, in my bed, and says please and thank you. Acts like I’m doing him a favor by letting him stay. When I do things for him, he’s polite. He doesn’t complain when we go out anymore.
The first day he stayed, I couldn’t stop worrying about how he was going to react to things, how he was feeling about everything, and if he was going to decide me and the town were stupid after all. But he didn’t.
Then days passed. And he’s still sleeping in my bed and taking me to heaven every night.
Yesterday, I even forced him to spend some time with me at the cafe so I could make sure everything was okay. It was, of course, but Jacob barely even complained about sitting there while I dealt with stuff.
He’s suddenly someone completely different. He really did need to get out of his old life. The sea air and island life are doing something wonderful for him.
Today, I’m doing something else I haven’t done in the longest time, taking another purposeful day off.
This makes it four straight days I haven’t worked, if we don’t count yesterday.
I don’t remember the last time I took this much time for myself.
Usually, I work uncountable numbers of hours in the cafe to make sure everything’s running the way it’s meant to.
For the first time in years, I feel like I don’t have to worry about it at all.
Maybe Jacob is doing something good for me too.
We spend a languid morning in bed, relishing each other’s company, then decide to go out for a lunchtime ice cream.
I know just the place, I tell him. They make the ice cream themselves, and it’s so good.
He tells me he’ll believe me when he tastes it, but I see the sparkle in his eyes. I know he trusts me.
When we finally drag ourselves out of bed, we head to the beachfront, and as I expect, Haven Creamery is jam-packed with people. We get in line and argue about what the best flavor is. Jacob calls me basic for liking cookie dough. I call him a snob for liking pistachio.
“So, what if I am?” he says. “At least I have good taste.”
“Lucky for you, every flavor at this place is to die for, so I won’t even judge you too much for being stuck up.”
“High praise, indeed.” He laughs.
When we get to the counter, he surprises me and orders a cookie dough and tells Millie, the waitress, that he’s been specially recommended this flavor. She’s only sixteen, so she has no idea how to act when a billionaire is making jokes with her.
I go for the double-choc-chunk and ignore the look Jacob gives me about it.
We fight over who’s going to pay, but when he insists, I let him. I can’t say I’m not glad to be enjoying the benefits of a billionaire’s wallet, but I also don’t want him to think I’m taking advantage of it. I can look after myself.
I don’t think I’ll ever get done proving that.
Millie hands us our ice creams, and we head back out into the sunshine. Jacob manages to grab a table on the patio, and we sit. He sighs loudly as he sinks into the plastic chair, and I shoot him an amused look. “I’m just enjoying the sunshine,” he says.
“Not the only thing you’re enjoying, is it?” comes a voice from behind us.
We both turn. Willow stands there, one hand on her hip, one hand holding a cone of mint ice cream. “Is this seat free? Or is the table reserved for lovers?”
“Shut up,” I say, flapping my hand at her.
Jacob gestures to the seat, and Willow sits down with a grin. “That’s not a no, is it?”
Much as I want to lie and deny that me and Jacob are anything, there is no point trying to keep secrets from Willow. She knows me too well not to see straight through it. “We’re just having fun,” I say as mildly as I can, forcing my face not to make any expressions. “That’s all.”
I don’t dare look at Jacob’s face. I don’t want to know if I’ve got the wrong idea.
Willow hums suspiciously but sits down all the same. “Cafe closed today?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No. Lantigua’s in charge over there.”
“Lantigua’s running the place? Feels like only yesterday that he was a teenager.”
“He’s not that much younger than us,” I laugh. “He just turned twenty-two, and he’s perfectly capable of running the place that he’s worked in since he was fourteen.”
“Okay,” says Willow disbelievingly. “Why are you here anyway? Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’m having a day off,” I say, knowing exactly how many more questions that’s going to invite.
But to my surprise, Willow doesn’t question anything. She just smiles. “You both look happy.”
Not for the first time this week, I curse myself for my tendency to blush hard whenever someone embarrasses me or is nice to me.
Trying not to just makes it worse. And not for the first time, I envy Willow’s beautiful brown skin and the fact that her face never turns blotchy red whenever she gets out of breath or even slightly humiliated in public.
“We are happy,” says Jacob. “Or at least I am. Billie’s really changed my mind about this place.”
“Good,” says Willow. “I was worried she was going to have to take you in a back alley and fist fight you.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” I scoff.
“You would win,” says Jacob.
“I would,” I say. “But that’s not the point.”
“The point is,” says Willow, “that it’s good to see you looking out for yourself for a change. Taking some time just for you.”
“I always look after myself,” I huff, too quickly for the denial to stick.
Jacob’s eyes narrow. Despite the fact that he can be a complete prick sometimes, he is observant. He pays attention to everything.
“What do you mean?” he asks Willow. I bury my face in my hands.
“Billie doesn’t do things for herself. You probably noticed this. She’s always way too busy looking after other people.”
“That’s not true,” I mutter, even though my insistence is a lost cause.
“Uh-huh… Sure, she showers and tidies up and looks after herself, but this girl never takes a sick day. If she has to work late to help someone out, she does. She participates in every community event. She’s never taken a vacation.
This is the most days off I think she’s taken in the last ten years. ”
“Thank you,” I say with a groan. Through my fingers, I see Jacob nodding.
“She works hard,” he says, and I think it’s a compliment.
“She does, but I’m always telling her she needs to learn to play hard too.”
“I somehow don’t think that’s in her nature,” Jacob says.
Willow grins. “You’ve got billionaire friends, right?”
“Kind of,” says Jacob, his face crumpling in confusion.
I groan again, knowing exactly where this is going.
“Well, just so you know, I’m single, and if you know any other single billionaires who wouldn’t mind a date with an island girl who wants to travel the world…”
She leaves the sentence hanging, and I peek through my fingers again to see Jacob’s brow furrowed as he processes what Willow is trying to say to him. He’s being endearingly slow about it.
“She wants you to set her up,” I hiss through my teeth.
“Oh,” he says, nodding in the way people do when they don’t want to be annoying and ask for clarification again, even though they definitely don’t understand. Then, as realization strikes, he says more loudly, “Oh… I’m not sure if I have any friends like that. Sorry.”
“Damn,” says Willow. “Just my luck. Billie gets the rich guy, and I have to keep on pining.”
“Willow, stop it,” I say weakly, flapping my hand at her even though it’ll have no effect.
She’s always been restless like this. She loves the island as much as I do, but she wants to spread her wings and fly like a bird migrating for the season. She’d come back, I have no doubt, but she’s not a homebody like me. She wants to live life out there in the big, wide world.
“Aren’t you meant to be at work today?” I ask her, changing the subject as quickly as I can.
She shrugs. “It’s not busy, and I promised Mickey I’d bring him an ice cream.”
Jacob looks at her, then at me, confused, and I quickly explain. “Mickey owns the local bookstore where Willow works.”
“Oh,” he says again, quietly. “We should check it out.”
“You like books?” I ask. I don’t know why that surprises me, but it does. I guess I hadn’t taken him for the kind of guy who has a lot of time for reading. I guess, in my head, a billionaire is the kind of guy who parties every night and goes to movie premieres every day.
Noticing my expression, Willow mutters under her breath. “Some date this is.”
I kick her under the table, but it doesn’t stop the smug look on her face.
She’s been saying for years that one day I’ll fall into a relationship and realize that I am capable of love, and I’ve been missing out all this time.
I’ve always rolled my eyes at that. Of course, I’m capable of love.
I adore romance. It was always something I was going to do, eventually. When I had time. When I felt like it.
I hadn’t been expecting it to smack me in the face this much. Not that I love Jacob. Not exactly.
Maybe not yet.