“No, she’s nothing like her.” I said it quickly. “Other than this one blip, but ... I think it was bad wording. She doesn’t know about high school.”
“Then is it fair of you to assume that she’s gonna do the same thing?”
I blew out a breath. “No.”
“Exactly. You know I’m right.”
And I did know that he was right. Still, there was a fear simmering under my skin that I couldn’t explain. I would need to tell her eventually. It would be better for both of us if I did, but it set me on edge.
It didn’t make sense, because I knew she was different. Grace was kind and understanding. Even if she turned me down, it wouldn’t be with such cruelty.
It was feelings like this that made me turn away from love in the first place. I hated feeling powerless. I hated feeling pain. And that’s all it had done for me.
“How about this: You hide out until this job’s done. Maybe I’ll let you take one more on, but then you’re gonna go back and you’re gonna fix this.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
“I’m gonna do one more thing that’s probably gonna ruin your night too.”
“If you call me out one more time, I think I’m gonna leave. There has to be a limit to how many times you can be right in one night.”
He laughed and stood. “No, it’s not that this time. Normally, I would pat your shoulder and move on, but I don’t think that’s enough for this.”
Clyde opened his arms and I knew he wanted a hug. I didn’t think I’d ever hugged him once.
But I couldn’t deny that I needed it.
He didn’t linger or make it weird, but it was nice to get support from him.
“Now I’ll let you drown out your problems with some cards. But can you please kick my ass this time?”
“Shuffle the cards and you’ll see.”
“That’s the kid Iknow.”
We played for a good few hours, and now that my mind was clearer, I did kick Clyde’s ass many times.
As we played, I told him some of the stories from Strawberry Springs. I told him about Tammy and how I was pretty sure she hated me. I told him about Hugh, who should have hated me, but didn’t. And then I told him about Grace, finally giving him all the context as to why she was on my mind.
He listened to all of it, not judging me for halfway liking some of these people, and only interjecting to say that he’d like to meet them someday.
By the time it was midnight, I could tell he was tiring out. We’d had a long day at work and both of us needed rest. He said his goodbyes and headed out, and I went to the restroom.
When I was on the way out, I ran into a woman.
Actually, “ran into” was a strong phrase. I would have collided with her if she hadn’t seen me first. The second she realized I was only inches from her, shejerkedaway from me like I was on fire.
“Sorry,” I said holding my hands up in mock defense. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“N-neither was I,” she said, keeping her hands close to herself. “Um, having fun?”
“I was just heading out. Areyouhaving fun?”
“Debatable,” she said. “Actually, no. I’m not. I don’t even know what I’m doing here.”
“Bars aren’t your scene?”
“Leaving my house isn’t my scene ... for reasons. Sorry for being weird, by the way.”