Page 22 of Here & There

My stomach flips at the sound of her voice. I stand up. I’d convinced myself I was never going to hear from her again.

I tell myself It’s going to be goodbye. to keep my stupid hopes from lifting.

“Hello?” she says.

“I’m here,” I grunt, standing up. Adrenaline pumps through me. “You change your mind?” I croak. I walk out of my office, into the empty bar, unable to stand still.

“What? No. In fact, I’m delighted to be up here for two months…helping you.”

I freeze as relief washes over me like a wave. Even though I haven’t done one since I was ten years old, I swear to God I feel like doing a full-on fist pump.

I don’t know why. My life would be a fuckload easier if things carried on as normal.

But then I register the stilted way she said that. “Is everything okay?”

A beat passes. “I’m not sure, honestly. I feel like they might be. But I wanted to let you know my parents dropped me off in town. I got a room at the Oceanside Inn for a few days until I find something more long term. My phone’s toast, but I’ll let you know when I’ve got a number. You can reach me here if you…change your mind. I’ll be in town for the next couple of months, regardless.”

I pace the bar. “I haven’t changed my mind.” I thought about changing my mind. I thought very much about it. But in the hour since she’s been gone, I’ve felt something dangerously akin to hope.

I badly want to ask how it went with her parents, but it feels intrusive. So instead, we talk about the job. I ask if she wants to start next week.

She hesitates, and I say, “Or the week after?” I get the sense she needs some decompression time. I’m about to tell her I don’t care when she starts—I don’t even care about the promise she made me to triple my business. If I’m being honest, even though it doesn’t make any sense to the logical part of my brain, I just want to see her again.

Shelby lets out an audible sigh of relief. “Yes. Please. I think I just need to catch up on about five years of lost sleep. Is that okay?”

“I’m really not in any rush, Shelby.”

“Shelby,” she whispers like she’s trying the name on again. She lets out a small laugh. “Okay. That’s great. I know time is tight, but once I get started, things will move quickly. And we’ve got plenty of time before the festival.”

She’s talking more to herself than to me. But I happily listen, leaning back against the wall, enjoying the up and down of her voice.

While she’s hammering out details, my weekday server Lana comes in, along with my cook.

I stand up straight, turning my back to them. I lower my voice as I respond to her questions, then remember I’m on the cordless and make my way back to my office.

“Okay, I think that’s just about everything,” she says, stifling a yawn.

“Okay,” I say. “No problem.” I feel stupid.

“Thank you,” she says. “For everything.” There’s a pause where we should probably hang up. Then she says, “Hey, Mac?”

My heart does a little double beat at her saying my name. This is not fucking good. “Yeah?”

“You didn’t happen to see a piece of jewelry anywhere around the sink, did you?”

“What’s it look like?”

She describes the item; a blue glass pendant.

I mopped up the floor after she left and didn’t see anything; I tell her as much.

“Okay.” The disappointment in her voice is palpable.

“I’ll keep my eyes open.”

“Thanks. It’s not valuable or anything, just…kind of irreplaceable.”

She sounds almost like she’s going to cry.

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