The Broken Lake by Shelena Shorts

irritated when we hung up. But for some reason, I was still slightly amused. I slipped the phone into my back pocket and turned to get to work, when I bumped into a rather hard chest that didn’t budge.
    “Oh,” I said, ricocheting off of it.
    “My bad.”
    “Chase,” I greeted him, wondering why he was dipping into my conversation.
    “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Mr. Healey wanted me to put these back. Any idea where they go?” He was holding
Green Eggs and Ham
and
Put Me in the Zoo.
    “Yeah, the children’s section is about ten aisles the other way.” I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to move. He didn’t.
    The trying-too-hard smile appeared again. “Right, I’ll remember that. I see you broke your hand. I didn’t notice that before. Does it hurt?”
    “Oh, it’s nothing. Just an accident.” If he was hoping for some long, drawn-out story where he could swoop in and make it feel better, he didn’t know me very well. Not one for sympathy. “I have to get back to shelving,” I said, trying to drop the hint and be polite.
    As if a 120-watt light bulb went off, he quickly moved aside. His dirty blond bangs were covering his blue eyes and he shook them off with one quick shake of the head. “Sorry.”
    “No problem.” I walked past. “And don’t forget. They go in the children’s section.”
    “Right.”
    Once I finished shelving, I wheeled the cart up front. By then it was almost time to close. Danny had been working the register, and Chase had been sucking up to Mr. Healey all evening. They were actually in the back while Mr. Healey was counting money for the deposit. I finally had two minutes alone with Danny.
    I pulled up a stool next to him. “So why did you rat out your sister?”
    “What?” he spit out as if it was ridiculous. “Dawn rats herself out.”
    “Come on, Danny. You guys are like my best friends here. I don’t want to see you two fighting.”
    “Don’t worry. Dawn will figure out how to get herself out of this. She always does.”
    I wasn’t convinced, but was distracted by a flash of headlights as a vehicle pulled into one of the parking spaces out front. My smile overpowered any confusion I had with what was going on at the store.
    “Looks like your ride is here,” Danny said.
    “Yep.” I hurried to the back to grab my purse, which was not where I put it. I specifically remembered putting it into my cubby. I looked around and Mr. Healey and Chase were chatting away, ignoring me. Frustrated, I stood on my tiptoes and found it two cubbies above where it had been.
    That’s when Chase spoke up. “Oh, sorry, Sophie. Your purse fell out and I wasn’t sure which cubby was yours.”
    “Thanks.” I skeptically put it on my shoulder, checking to see if it was zipped. “See ya tomorrow, Mr. Healey.”
    “Oh, bye, Sophie. Have a good night, and be safe.”
    “Yeah, be safe,” Chase added.
    I turned and nodded, not sure what to say back to the new guy. Nothing came to mind, so I walked out into the presence of the only person who made sense to me. Waiting for me by my door was Wes.
    My Wes. Yummy, yummy, and yummy. The weather had warmed up, so he wasn’t wearing a coat. He had on a long-sleeved, buttoned-up, collared shirt that he wore untucked. He had just the right amount of bagginess to his jeans and bright white tennis shoes that screamed clean. What I couldn’t take my eyes off of was his collarbone peeking out from the few buttons that he had neglected to close. I gave him a huge hug.
    Wrapping his arms around me, he gently lifted me off the ground in a strong, perfect squeeze. “I’m going to have to pick you up every day if this is how you always greet me.”
    I smiled. “Let’s get out of here.”
    He set me down and opened the door. Knowing him and his patience, I knew he anticipated my spilling every detail of my mood as soon as we got into the car. Which I did. I told him all about Dawn and Danny and, of course, the new guy. Wes didn’t