Page 5 of Make Me Swoon

“Can I get you guys another round?” Arlo asks as he stops by our table.

The glasses that he’s holding clink together as he shifts them, his eyes straying constantly to Iris who is blushing and can’t seem to meet his eyes.

“Sure, that would be great,” I say as I smile up at him.

He smiles back, taking one last look at Iris before he heads back to the bar. Gavin and a guy that I don’t recognize come in and Flynn waves at them, standing up to greet them.

“I’ll let you ladies get back to your night,” he says as he heads over to a table nearby and takes a seat with his own friends.

Madelyn watches him go and I bite back a smile. She has it bad for him and if the way that Flynn keeps stealing glances over here at her is any indication, then he’s head over heels in love himself.

“Thanks,” I say as Arlo drops off the next round of drinks and he nods before he heads back to the bar, grabbing some empty beer bottles as he goes.

“He’s cute,” I say, nodding at Arlo.

Iris sighs and I grin. It’s true though. Arlo is lean but fit, with sandy brown hair and bright green eyes. He looks like Captain America and he has the same wholesome vibe. I think that he’d be perfect for Iris but I know that I won’t be able to convince her of that.

I take a sip of my martini, relaxing as the girls chat about some town gossip with the mayor’s son and about the new bar that opened up in Lilac Harbor.

“Want to try to check it out next week?” Sutton asks as I finish off my martini and we all agree.

Iris is getting ready to leave and even though it’s only nine-thirty, I’m ready to call it a night too. Normally, I love hanging out with my friends but I’m just not in the mood tonight. I’ve been distracted all day. At first, I thought that I was just bored since work has been so slow but I know that it’s more than that.

I’m just feeling… adrift.

And I’ve been feeling this way for a while. Probably ever since my dad died but I can barely remember those months that he was ill, so maybe it was even before that.

I’m sick of it.

I’m sick of bouncing from one job to the next and feeling like I have no direction or idea about what I want to do with the rest of my life.

I’m lost in thoughts as I look around at my friends and the rest of the bar.

Everyone that I know seems to have it figured out.

Sutton turned down her dream job in her dream city to help Stan run the Mystery Cabin and to be with Teller. Madelyn runs the Falls Market in town and has her friends and Flynn. Even Iris has her career figured out. She’s always loved antiques and the classics and now she’s running her own store in her hometown, doing what she loves, where she loves. Plus, she has a guy that’s obviously into her.

Me? I’m in a town that was just meant to be a blip on my road trip. I’m working in the gift shop of some tourist trap that most people have never heard of. I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life career-wise, where I want to do it, and the only remaining family that I have left is my mom, stepfather, and stepsister, all of whom I don’t get along with.

I stopped being close with my mom when I was nine and she ditched my dad and me for someone better. I haven’t seen her since I was twelve. That was when she married my stepdad and got busy with her new family. She called me a few months ago to inform me that one of my stepsisters, Heidi, was engaged, but that was the last time that we spoke.

The call hadn’t ended on a good note. Dad was sick, in hospice by then, and we knew that he didn’t have much time left. My mom didn’t care about that though and didn’t even ask about him. She was too wrapped up in planning her daughter’s wedding and demanding that I be there. I had promptly told her to fuck off and hung up on her.

I was distraught over losing my only real parent and even if my dad had been healthy, I still couldn’t have cared less about my evil stepsister and her upcoming wedding.

My dad died two days later and I had quickly forgotten about the wedding and phone call. My mom didn’t show up to the funeral. She didn’t even call to ask me how I was doing and if I needed anything. I don’t know why I was surprised by that.

Like every other time I think about my mom, my mood turns sour and I know that it’s time for me to head home before I start to bring everyone else down.

“I think that I’m going to take off,” I say and everyone else nods.

“Yeah, I’m getting pretty tired too,” Madelyn says, covering up a yawn.

“Are you headed to Teller’s?” I ask Sutton.

He had dropped her off tonight and doesn’t live that far from me, so I could drive her home instead of having him come out to get her.

“No, he’s got his volunteer shift at the fire station, so I’m going to call a car and head back to the Mystery Cabin and hang out with Uncle Stan and Bandit.”

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