Page 47 of Happy Harbor
Diane cleared her throat and quickly wiped her index finger under one eye. “Of course.”
There was a long pause before Josie looked at her. “Was there anything else?”
“I suppose not,” Diane said, turning and walking toward the kitchen, her shoulders slouched forward. Josie felt a tiny pang of guilt, but it quickly passed. This woman wasn’t her mother. She’d done nothing but wreck her life since she was a kid, and trusting her again wasn’t something Josie was prepared to do, hurt feelings or not.
* * *
Kendra stood in the middle of the bustling cafeteria, a tray in her hand holding the prized slice of pizza she’d been longing for all day. School was just as boring in Happy Harbor as it was back in Atlanta. Teachers droning on and on about things she would never use. Kids either not paying attention or being total nerds and asking tons of questions. All of it was a snooze fest, and now she was going to be forced to eat alone as usual.
“Hey.”
She knew that voice. She turned to see Scotty standing beside her, holding his own tray with a hamburger and a side of fries. “Hey.”
“Need a place to sit?”
“I don’t need anything, actually,” she said, being defensive for absolutely no reason.
He chuckled. “Got it.” As he started walking away, Kendra realized she was doing what her mother did—shutting people out. The last thing she wanted was to end up bitter like her mother seemed to be, even when people were just trying to be nice.
“Scotty, wait.”
He turned around. “Yeah?”
“I guess I could use a place to sit.”
He smiled. “Follow me.”
They walked out of the cafeteria and through a couple of double doors. She was surprised to see they were walking directly onto the theater stage.
“What are we doing?”
“I’m involved in our drama department. Mrs. Downey lets me eat lunch in here when I want to. The cafeteria is too much for me sometimes.”
“Too much?”
“I’m ‘on the spectrum,’ as they say.” He did air quotes, which was one of her pet peeves.
He pulled two chairs over to a small wooden table right in the middle of the stage. Even though nobody else was in there, it felt weird to be on display. She sat down and put her napkin on her lap.
“What does that mean?”
“You’ve heard of autism, right?”
“Yeah, but I don’t really know what that means for someone like you.”
He laughed. “Someone like me?”
“Well, you know... I mean, you seem like you’re okay...”
“Not everyone on the spectrum has the same symptoms. We didn’t even know I was until a couple of years ago. Until then, school was really hard for me.” He took a bite of his hamburger.
“How so?”
“Well, I had problems reading people’s social cues. I mean, I chased you home to hand you a pen. Can you see how that’s a little unique?”
She smiled. “I thought so at first, but then I figured you were just being Southern. You know, chivalry and all that stuff.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “There might’ve been a little of that too.”
