Page 48 of Happy Harbor
“So, how are you doing now?”
“I’m good. Once my teachers and classmates understood me better, things improved. My grades are good, and I don’t feel so anxious anymore.”
“That’s good. I’m happy for you, Scotty.” And she really was happy for him. She knew what it felt like to feel different and even less than everyone else. She didn’t have autism, but she’d struggled in school just the same.
“I used to get in trouble for what my teachers called ‘monologues.’”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, they’d ask for an answer to a question, and I’d basically recite the answer plus a long explanation. I try not to do that anymore. I have trouble reading facial expressions sometimes too. I’m just telling you in case you think I’m being rude or too intrusive or something...”
“Scotty, it’s fine. We’re cool,” she said, stopping him from the impending monologue.
“Good.”
She took a bite of her pizza and wiped her mouth. “Does your girlfriend go here?”
“Girlfriend?”
“The one you mentioned the other day?”
His eyes widened. “Oh, right. No, she lives in Canada.”
“Canada?”
He hung his head. “Fine, I don’t have a girlfriend. See how I don’t read social cues well?”
Kendra chuckled. “Why did you tell me that, then?”
“Because you thought I liked you, and I didn’t want you to think I was some freak who was flirting with you?”
She looked at him for a moment. “Were you?”
“Maybe.”
“Was thatyourpen, Scotty?”
He bit his very adorable lip. “I plead the fifth.”
* * *
The last few days had been pure torture. Never in her life had Josie planned to work in the restaurant business, and certainly not with her mother.
Everybody seemed to love Diane, or Dee Dee as they all called her. Josie spent most of her day gritting her teeth as people chatted and laughed with the same woman who ruined her entire childhood. It drove her nuts.
On top of that, there were the new rules she’d made. Basically, they weren’t working. Juanita had threatened to quit twice, Bear wasn’t speaking to her, and even Tabby seemed angry.
Trivia night hadn’t been so bad, but closing late on the weekends hadn’t resulted in more money, and it had done nothing but make her exhausted. Still, she had to give it a chance. Not having restaurant experience left her with few workable ideas, and she wasn’t about to ask her mother for help.
“Yikes. You look positively worn out.”
She turned to see Walker standing on a nearby boat. This was her break time, which was very short because she was afraid the employees would sneak out the back door while she was gone. Lunch rush had been insane, and she just needed a moment to look out over the river and breathe.
“There isn’t even a word for how tired I am.”
He walked closer and sat down on the edge of the boat. “Things aren’t going well at work?”
“If you consider everybody andmymother hating me, then yeah, it’s going fantastic.”
