Chapter 6
RAQUEL
Against my better judgment and my own desires, I met up with Miley at Novo after Avery had invited us both. Despite the fancy-ish name the old owner’s son had given the place when he’d taken over from his dad, it was still just a local dive.
The scent of fried food and whiskey had soaked permanently into the floorboards probably around forty years ago and the lights flickered over the bar like the dead were trying to communicate with us.
Pool balls cracked together from the tables in the corner while country music played through tired speakers.
Just like the cafe, Novo could be counted on to remain the same, with the same people taking up the same spots at the same bar they always had. Quartz Pass never really changed much, but that was one of the things I loved about it—even if we did desperately need some rejuvenation.
“I really think he might be the one,” Miley said, her voice breaking into my thoughts. “I’m serious. Ethan is amazing.”
She sat across from me, nursing a margarita with stars in her eyes and her skin practically glowing. It made me want to hug her and throw a peanut at her forehead at the same time. “Didn’t you say the same thing about the guy with the eyebrow ring?”
“That was different,” she insisted, sighing like she couldn’t possibly understand why I didn’t see it. “Josh was just so super physical that he made me feel like I could spend the rest of my life having sex with nobody else. With Ethan, it’s like, a spiritual connection.”
“Spiritual?” I frowned. “You mean, like, church?”
“No.” She looked at me like she was about to throw a peanut at my forehead now.
“It’s like, when we’re together, I can see the rest of our lives playing out before my eyes.
I can see our wedding and our kids. I can see myself baking a cake for his retirement party fifty years from now and moving into the old folks home together. ”
“The old folks home, huh? Now that’s romantic.”
She waved me off dramatically. “It is. What even is love if you can’t imagine still sharing it when you’re old and gray?”
I sighed, hating that she kind of had a point, but hating the bitterness that rose up from deep inside even more. Here she was, with a new boyfriend—not a loser, this time—who taught history at Quartz Pass High and coached the baseball team, and I was still… stuck.
There was this knot in my chest nowadays that I couldn’t seem to get rid of and it just kept winding tighter. Everyone else was moving forward, planning their futures and putting themselves out there. They were moving on in life, but without me.
And I didn’t blame them for it. I was genuinely happy for Miley and all our other friends who were on the marriage-and-babies train. It was just that I felt a bit left behind.
On the other hand, it wasn’t their fault I wasn’t trying to meet someone. Frankly, I had the ick about humanity in general these days. After Hunter and Farrah, I wasn’t sure I would ever fully trust again, and until that changed, I would be where I was now—stuck.
“You’re right,” I finally conceded. “Yeah. No. Of course, you’re right. If you’re thinking about the old folks home, it means you can envision every phase of your life with him and that’s awesome. I’m happy for you, Miley. Really.”
She gave me a soft smile, but then her eyes went wide and movement near the bar caught my attention at the same time, both of us turning as one to watch Theo walk in. My heart gave that same, annoying little leap it’d given earlier at the hardware store at the sight of him.
The ends of his dark hair seemed to be slightly damp, curling a little where it brushed against the collar of his T-shirt. Once again, he was in dark-wash jeans with motorcycle boots on his feet and that easy, confident half-smirk on his lips.
Miley gasped at the sight of him. “Who is that?”
I took a sip of beer, suddenly hyperaware of my own posture. “Did you really have to gasp?”
“I did,” she said slowly, finally spinning back to face me. “Someone who looks like that deserves to be gasped about. So, who is he?”
“What makes you think I know?”
She gave me a look. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because he’s obviously here with your brother.”
I glanced at the bar again, and sure enough, he was sauntering up to Avery, the two of them smacking fists and exchanging a bro-hug as soon as Theo reached Avery’s group. I sighed. So much for not thinking about him around her.
“That’s Theo,” I said after taking another sip of my beer. “His bike crapped out somewhere close by, so he’s staying in town for a bit while we work on it.”
Miley stared at me like I’d found a sexy, shirtless werewolf wandering the desert and had decided to just let it go instead of investigating its appearance. “Are you serious?”
“Yes?”
Theo leaned in beside Avery at the bar, talking to both the bartender and my brother like they’d known each other for years, but then suddenly, he glanced over and caught my eye. I swallowed hard past the sudden dryness in my throat, my ears heating when he gave me a nod in hello.
Without making it weird, he returned smoothly to his conversation, but I just sat there, my heart practically buzzing over the small, non-meaningful gesture. Miley made a soft, distressed noise. “My God, every woman in town is going to lose her mind over him. They’re probably drooling already.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s just a guy.”
A guy whose mere existence gives other people arrhythmias, apparently, but still. A guy.
“Come on.” She reached across the table to poke my arm. “Even you have got to admit that he’s more than just a guy. That makes it sound like he’s not the hottest creature to have ever set foot in our little town and he definitely is. Did you see those eyes?”
I shrugged. “Congratulations to him, and yes. I did see his eyes. He has eyes. That’s great.”
She scoffed. “You’re not fooling me with this whole pretending-you’re-not-interested thing. I know you, Ms. Raquel Thompson, and I saw even your ears blush when he looked over here.”
“I’m not interested and my ears weren’t blushing. They’re flushed because it’s hot in here.”
“Mhm.”
I stood abruptly. “Don’t read into this. I’m just changing the music, is all.”
“You’re escaping to the jukebox?”
“I hate this song and Ethan will be here in a minute, so this will give you some time to make googly eyes at him while I do something about the music situation.”
She shook her head at me as I left our table, but let me go. No doubt she’d continue her teasing as soon as I got back, but at least this would give me a few seconds to get my head on straight.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t even picked a single song yet when I heard my name from behind. “Raquel?”
Internally, I stopped dead, dread rolling down my spine. I would know that voice anywhere. Franklin had been Hunter’s best friend since high school and he would’ve been the best man at our wedding.
I turned slowly, a rush of ice flooding my veins when I realized it wasn’t only Franklin but a whole group of Hunter’s friends behind me. Three of them were crowded near the arcade machine, so uncomfortable that they looked constipated when I was finally facing them.
Franklin smiled awkwardly. “Hey. How have you been?”
“Fine,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
He nodded. “Cool. Cool.”
God, this is painful. Yet, the conversation kept going.
“How are things at the shop?” David asked. “I saw you guys had some wrecks there. That’s good.”
My eyes narrowed. “How is that good?”
He shrugged. “Not for the people, I mean. I hope they’re okay. I just meant, uh, for your business.”
“Have you heard that Hunter and Farrah are having a baby?” Franklin asked, a smug, shitty grin on his face. “They’re due in the spring.”
I had not, in fact, heard, and the news hit me like a crowbar taken directly to my spine. Thankfully, I managed to keep my expression neutral as I nodded. “Good for them.”
“Yeah,” David said. “Yeah. Totally.”
As he nodded, silence fell between us and I decided I’d rather have a fist fight with a Transformer than to keep speaking to them, so I jerked my head toward the pool tables. “I’ve actually got to go. I owe my brother a game.”
It was a complete lie, but none of them said a single word about it as I spun on my heels and wound my way through the crowded bar toward Avery, who was standing around one of the tables with his friends and Theo, who seemed to have become one of them.
Avery looked up as I joined them, smiling. “Are you playing?”
“Yeah. One game. Then I have to get back to Miley.”
Theo held a pool cue loosely in one hand, watching me like he knew I was on the verge of biting somebody just as Avery tossed me a cue of my own. “It’s you against Theo this round, then.”
“Poor guy,” I muttered.
Theo grinned, flashing those perfect, pearly whites that said he was more than just a drifter on a motorbike. “I’ll survive. You don’t have to take it easy on me.”
“Trust me,” Avery said. “You might not want to tell her that.”
Theo gave me a curious look, but Avery and I had already started racking the balls. Three shots in, Theo groaned as I sank another stripe cleanly into the corner pocket. “Okay, I should’ve taken Avery’s advice. Please take it easy on me. Where the hell did you learn to play pool like this?”
I lined up another shot. “My dad used to have a table at the shop. Before they expanded and had to get serious.”
“They?”
I took the shot, sinking another ball before I glanced up at him. “They, as in, my parents.”
Theo leaned against the cue, watching me with that annoyingly attentive expression on his face. “That’s cool that you all work together.”
Avery gave him a sad little smile, serving our history up on a silver platter to his new friend. “Mom doesn’t work there anymore. She died when we were teenagers.”
“Oh.” Theo grimaced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”