corner and blinking behind her glasses. Tia stumbled after her. Tia was not a morning person.
“Do y’all know what happened to that note we were passing around last night?” I asked, trying my best not to sound hysterical.
“No,” Harper said, turning upside down to peer under the furniture herself. Her glasses fell off with a clatter. “Maybe it got thrown away.”
“Didn’t I have it last?” I asked Tia, who stared back at me like she was still in REM sleep and someone had glued her eyelids open.
“Never mind,” I told Harper. “But if you find it, burn it.”
“Okay.” Harper laughed like it wasn’t a big deal. We all washed up and changed into clothes that wouldn’t scare the guests at the B and B. But my mind was racing. Harper was probably right. I could tell by looking around that she’d cleaned up the mess of Tia’s midnight snacks. Her mom might have been through too, tidying up while I was still asleep. One of them had thrown the note away like trash.
Or Sawyer had found it.
And the last thing he’d done before leaving was to kiss me. If he’d read our note about me having a fling with him, the kiss was his way of saying yes.
Over in the B and B, we sat down to a full breakfast with Harper’s mom and her eight guests at the biggest dining room table I’d ever seen, all dark scrolls like the rest of the towering Victorian. That is, Harper and Tia and I sat down. Sawyer kept getting up to check food in the kitchen or pass around a fresh basket of orange rolls.
He used his best waiter persona. He was polite and conversational to the elderly people at the table, offering them ideas for tourist attractions and the best roads to get them there. He was mature like a maître d’ in a three-piece suit at a fine hotel, except that he was still wearing his Pelicans T-shirt and sweatpants. I actually had seen him ingentlemanly waiter mode before, when Barrett and I ate at the Crab Lab with my parents.
Several of the guests went off to start their day. Harper’s mom was deep in conversation with the last two couples. Harper nodded toward the kitchen door, meaning it was safe to make our escape. We took our dishes with us so Sawyer wouldn’t have to bus them. He was methodically working through a huge pile of plates, dumping food in the garbage, rinsing the dishes, and setting them in the dishwasher or dropping them to soak in an industrial-size sink. He was doing the work of probably six people at the Crab Lab.
He looked up when we walked in. “Sorry I flaked out on y’all last night,” he said.
“What’s the last thing you remember hearing?” Tia asked playfully. She winked at me.
Oh God.
Sawyer said without missing a beat, “The girl who had her heart set on a strapless dress, but her mama said she looked like a harlot.” If he’d really been awake when we started talking about Aidan—and him—he hid it well.
Harper grabbed the first pan out of the drying rack and toweled it off. “You don’t have to do that,” Sawyer told her. She ignored him, talking to Tia about our walk to the beach in a few minutes. She turned to him only to ask if he could go with us.
“Thanks,” Sawyer said with a quick glance at me, “but I’m working a double shift at the Crab Lab. I need to make up the hours I’m missing on Friday nights.”
My heart went out to him. I would spend the morning relaxing by the ocean and trying to recharge for more school on Monday. He would be working and apparently needed the cash rather desperately. It didn’t seem right that we both had gotten to play hard at the game last night, but he had to pay for that now, and I didn’t.
“I’ll dry,” I told Harper, “and you put away, since you know where everything goes.” She wasn’t really paying me any attention, but she moved when I pushed her and dragged the dish towel out of her hands. I took her place. Now I stood beside Sawyer.
“So, you’re going to stay at Harper’s house until a room opens
“Do y’all know what happened to that note we were passing around last night?” I asked, trying my best not to sound hysterical.
“No,” Harper said, turning upside down to peer under the furniture herself. Her glasses fell off with a clatter. “Maybe it got thrown away.”
“Didn’t I have it last?” I asked Tia, who stared back at me like she was still in REM sleep and someone had glued her eyelids open.
“Never mind,” I told Harper. “But if you find it, burn it.”
“Okay.” Harper laughed like it wasn’t a big deal. We all washed up and changed into clothes that wouldn’t scare the guests at the B and B. But my mind was racing. Harper was probably right. I could tell by looking around that she’d cleaned up the mess of Tia’s midnight snacks. Her mom might have been through too, tidying up while I was still asleep. One of them had thrown the note away like trash.
Or Sawyer had found it.
And the last thing he’d done before leaving was to kiss me. If he’d read our note about me having a fling with him, the kiss was his way of saying yes.
Over in the B and B, we sat down to a full breakfast with Harper’s mom and her eight guests at the biggest dining room table I’d ever seen, all dark scrolls like the rest of the towering Victorian. That is, Harper and Tia and I sat down. Sawyer kept getting up to check food in the kitchen or pass around a fresh basket of orange rolls.
He used his best waiter persona. He was polite and conversational to the elderly people at the table, offering them ideas for tourist attractions and the best roads to get them there. He was mature like a maître d’ in a three-piece suit at a fine hotel, except that he was still wearing his Pelicans T-shirt and sweatpants. I actually had seen him ingentlemanly waiter mode before, when Barrett and I ate at the Crab Lab with my parents.
Several of the guests went off to start their day. Harper’s mom was deep in conversation with the last two couples. Harper nodded toward the kitchen door, meaning it was safe to make our escape. We took our dishes with us so Sawyer wouldn’t have to bus them. He was methodically working through a huge pile of plates, dumping food in the garbage, rinsing the dishes, and setting them in the dishwasher or dropping them to soak in an industrial-size sink. He was doing the work of probably six people at the Crab Lab.
He looked up when we walked in. “Sorry I flaked out on y’all last night,” he said.
“What’s the last thing you remember hearing?” Tia asked playfully. She winked at me.
Oh God.
Sawyer said without missing a beat, “The girl who had her heart set on a strapless dress, but her mama said she looked like a harlot.” If he’d really been awake when we started talking about Aidan—and him—he hid it well.
Harper grabbed the first pan out of the drying rack and toweled it off. “You don’t have to do that,” Sawyer told her. She ignored him, talking to Tia about our walk to the beach in a few minutes. She turned to him only to ask if he could go with us.
“Thanks,” Sawyer said with a quick glance at me, “but I’m working a double shift at the Crab Lab. I need to make up the hours I’m missing on Friday nights.”
My heart went out to him. I would spend the morning relaxing by the ocean and trying to recharge for more school on Monday. He would be working and apparently needed the cash rather desperately. It didn’t seem right that we both had gotten to play hard at the game last night, but he had to pay for that now, and I didn’t.
“I’ll dry,” I told Harper, “and you put away, since you know where everything goes.” She wasn’t really paying me any attention, but she moved when I pushed her and dragged the dish towel out of her hands. I took her place. Now I stood beside Sawyer.
“So, you’re going to stay at Harper’s house until a room opens
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