Page 57 of Always a Roommate
The flow of students had slowed considerably by the time I caught sight of the curly-haired kid skateboarding down the sidewalk.
Opening my window, I lifted a hand into the rain. “Trevor!”
He didn’t turn. I tried again, but again, he didn’t hear me.
Cane let out a loud bark, and finally the kid stopped, turning to see where it had come from. He looked confused when he saw me and stopped at my open window.
Water dripped down his face. “What are you doing here?”
“Picking you up. Get in.”
He slid into the back and pulled the big dog onto his lap. “You really didn’t have to.”
“Oh, you’re paying me back. You don’t have anything to do today, do you?”
“Nah, was just going to score some food somewhere.”
I handed the bag back to him. “One of those is mine, so if you eat it all, I might have to kill you.”
“My dad once told me not to get into cars with strangers.” He said it as a joke, but then his eyes fell. I assumed it was the mention of his father. “Where are we going?”
“To help a friend.”
I’d left Drew’s house after lunch, once I’d pried Cane away from him, and had been trying for the last hour to reach Tanner. Finley called me to ask if I’d talked to him. She’d sounded worried.
I figured he was just busy. It had barely been a week since flood waters invaded his business, meaning everything had to be cleaned and sanitized once it was dried out. He could use a few extra hands.
Trevor was too busy eating to do much talking as we drove toward the beach, but I caught sight of him feeding fries to Cane in my rearview mirror.
“He doesn’t need spoiled,” I said. “He’s already had steak today.”
“Steak?” Trevor shook his head. “Don’t go making him expect things I won’t be able to deliver.”
“It wasn’t me.” I laughed. “Blame Drew Stone.”
His mouth fell open. “Wait, so I’ve been stuck at school with a horrid sub—thanks, Mr. Kelly—and Cane has been eating steak with celebrities? Man, maybe I should have been born a dog.”
I smirked at him after we pulled into the parking lot. “It’s okay, Trev. I have something just as good for you.”
His eyes lit up.
“Manual labor.”
That light dimmed, and I laughed.
We walked toward the Hut, shielding ourselves from the rain by pulling our jackets over our heads, and I realized how bad it truly looked.
“Uh,” Trevor started. “I don’t think the place is open. At least, I hope not. I wouldn’t even squat here.”
I gave him some serious side-eye as we stepped through the door and out of the rain. The industrial fans were gone, but it didn’t look like anything else had been done. No cleaning, nothing. The window hadn’t been fixed, and rainwater dripped from cracks in the roof.
Where was Tanner?
The rain had lessened to a drizzle as I walked to the window overlooking the beach. There, sitting on the wet beach that was missing half its sand, was a lone figure.
“Hey, Trevor, don’t touch anything. I’ll be right back.”
“You couldn’t pay me to touch anything in here,” he grumbled.
