Chapter Seven
Margo
Icould still feel his kiss, the hard yet determined touch of his lips, against my forehead.
The burn from Hayes leaving Carrie’s party was still lingering on every inch of my skin. My fingers ran through my hair onelast time before my hand fell into my lap, the other still tightly wrapped around the steering wheel. The light turned green and I took my foot off the brake, turning onto Main Street. The sun was shining today, a rare feat in the PNW during the fall. The trees that lined the downtown sidewalks had turned weeks ago, providing a new sense of life in the town, dotting it with orange and yellow leaves, red mums planted around the bases.
As I drove by the businesses, shops, restaurants, and bakeries, I didn’t feel the warm and fuzzy joy I usually felt during the final stretch of my commute to work. Instead, a heavy sense of dread had taken residence, and I was drowning in it.
Hayes had told me he was leaving.
Hayes regretted leaving my bed.
Hayes still wanted me.
He didn’t tell me where he was going when he left, leaving me shocked and Rossy confused. And when the rest of the Red Snake men reemerged from Grayson’s office, their good moods were gone. The remainder of the evening stretched on as Carrie tried to maintain the good vibes, but after Grayson got that phone call, I knew something was wrong. Rossy noticed that my tears about Carrie asking me to be her maid of honor weren’t joyful ones and had ushered me into the kitchen for a cup of tea, telling me not to worry. But when it came to Mr. Grumpy Perfect Superman, that was all I did, apparently.
As I swung into the alley behind the bookstore, my check engine light popped on. I shifted into park, glaring at the yellow light, nearly at my wit’s end. I leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. “Okay, okay. Listen, I know you didn’t have many years left when I bought you from the used car lot last year,” I began as if reciting a prayer. “But the thing is, you’re my only way to campus.” I opened my eyes, staring at the dash. I brought my hands up, rubbing the steering wheel. “Can you hold out until graduation?” I begged. “Please?”
A knock sounded on my window, and I jumped, letting out a short scream.
Sarah was there, looking at me as if I’d grown two heads, a soft orange scarf wrapped around her neck. She pointed down and mouthed, “What’s wrong?”
I jolted and lowered the window slowly, cringing as it made an unpleasant squeak as it went. “Jesus, Sarah,” I griped. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
She winced, tucking a chunk of her shiny light brown hair behind her ear. “Sorry, babe. I’m on my way to the bank and saw you freaking out. You okay?”
“I wasn’t freaking out,” I lied instantly, pulling my hair over one shoulder and reaching for one of the hair ties in my cup holder.
Her lips thinned. “You were stroking the steering wheel and talking to yourself.”
I made a face. “Don’t say stroking like that.”
“Margo.”
“What?” I asked, irritated, my fingers braiding my hair.
Sarah tilted her head to the side, her features softening.
Shit.
She was giving me one of her mom looks.
I sighed. “Nothing is wrong.”
“The check engine light blinking on your dash says otherwise,” she noted.
I looked at it and then back at her as I tied off my braid, tossing it over my shoulder. “Yeah, it’s fine. I probably just need to bang the radiator with a hammer or something.”
She looked downright horrified. “Please don’t do that. Michael can take a look at it when he stops by this afternoon.”
My skin felt prickly. “No, that’s okay. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Margo—”
“Look, my shift just started. I need to get in there before Rossy has a meltdown about the line. You know how he gets when there’s a line,” I rushed out, rolling up the window. I gave her my back as I reached into the back seat, covering my backpack and spilled textbooks up with a blanket. Astoria was a safe town, but this was a habit I couldn’t bring myself to break. Once that was done, I grabbed my purse and opened the car door. Sarah stepped back, holding the deposit bag to her chest, watching me as the breeze hit us, shifting her hair and her scarf. I shivered, pulling my red wool coat together. “You think it’s going to snow tonight?” I asked conversationally.
“Margo.”