Page 33 of Every Heartbeat After

“Yes, sir.” I mock salute him.

He clicks his tongue. “Terrible form.”

I snort. “What are you going to do, punish me?”

His gaze darkens. A thick lock of black hair falls onto his forehead as his gaze drops to my lips and he swallows. Audibly. “On second thought, maybe you do have a concussion.”

ChapterThirteen

Kit

Tess’s dadstares me down. And although he’s smiling, there’s a hardness to his eyes. Like he knows exactly what I did.

“It’s not a concussion. Just a bump on the head. The EMT said she’ll be back to normal in a day or two. I’m really sorry, sir.” I bite down on the inside of my cheek. The iced latte in my right hand is sweating, so much so that condensation pools at my wrist and drips down my arm. In my left hand, a hot mocha hasmesweating. “I didn’t know which kind of coffee she liked, so I got both.”

“Are you expecting the picture to talk back to you?”

“Jesus Christ!” I nearly throw both drinks. Still shaking, I place them on a nearby coffee table, then turn to find the girl from the reception desk standing behind me. Her curly hair is the color of midnight, and her equally dark, carefully sculpted eyebrows are raised. She crosses her arms, expression incredulous, while I work to get my pulse back to its normal rhythm. “You scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” she says, sounding like she isn’t really. Her fingertip joins my gaze on her name tag. “Xiomara. But everyone calls me Mara.”

“Right. Mara.” I push the condensation-slicked hand through my hair. “Sorry, I was just?—”

“Apologizing to Ted for injuring his daughter? Yeah, I heard.” She retrieves one of the beverages from the coffee table and holds it out to me. “She drinks iced coffee. You’re welcome.”

I take the drink from her. “Thanks.”

She grabs the hot mocha and takes a sip, her bright pink lipstick leaving a print on the white lid. With a long, similarly magenta-colored fingernail, she points to the picture. “I was really little when they died, but my parents tell stories all the time. For what it’s worth, he would’ve thought Tess falling like that was fucking hilarious.”

I glance around, like said parents might jump out with wagging fingers at any moment. “Are you allowed to say fu— I mean, the F word?”

“I’m eighteen,” she deadpans.

“Right.” I’m horrible with kids’ ages. From ten to twenty-one, they all blur together at this point. “Sorry.”

Her shoulders bounce in a half-hearted shrug. “So, apology coffee?”

“Excellent guess. Do you think it’ll work?” The whipped cream is melting into the beige liquid. Even with the AC cranked high, a nasty thunderstorm overnight brought with it a wave of particularly thick heat. I can’t even see the pool deck for the dense layer of condensation coating the windows.

“It’s a start.”

Across the lobby, a middle-aged couple approaches the left registration desk. When one of the men offers his wallet to the woman behind it, I have to blink twice. For a second I think I’m seeing double. She looks that much like Mara. But upon further inspection, I realize this woman is older, with a few silver streaks in her dark hair that occasionally sparkle in the light. Mara’s mother, then.

My mind flickers to the man at the bar the other night. Alex, if I remember correctly. He and Mara don’t look alike, per se, but he’s there in her facial expressions. Even the surly ones.

“How long has your family known Tess?”

Another shrug.Teenagers.“Her whole life, I’m pretty sure. At least, I’ve known her for all of mine.” She purses her lips, and her gaze travels the length of me like she’s taking my measure. “You know, if you really want to make it up to her, you should take her to the aquarium.”

“The aquarium?” I snort. “What is this, a fourth-grade field trip?”

She rolls her eyes so hard her dark irises nearly disappear. “Just trust me, ’kay?”

With that, she spins on her heel and waltzes back to the desk, drink in hand. Guess it’s hers now. Her mother glances up from her conversation with the gentlemen. She spots her daughter and then follows the line of her path back to me. Her smile is warm and so contagious I can’t help but smile back.

Well, if these are the people who know Tess best, who am I not to listen? The aquarium it is. Of course, that’s only if I can get Tess to agree to hang out with me again after yesterday’s fiasco.

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