FOURTEEN
Laia
“I’ll have an iced latte, please,” I smile up at the waitress as I pull my new cell from its packaging and lay it onto the small wooden table of Clua’s Coffees. Turns out there’s one in every town on the island, including Clua Town. And I love them.
Huge-leafed cheese plants border the terrace giving a sense of privacy even though we’re right in the middle of the town’s busy main street.
“Make that two.” Kenzi hands her back the menu then leans back in her chair. “And a chocolate muffin, please.”
“Thanks for coming with me to pick this out.” I lift my new smartphone and swipe my finger across the screen.
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t go on the same call plan as me.”
Contracts. Names on contracts. Paranoia about having names on contracts. The list of reasons I picked a pay-as-you-talk cell goes on. I open my mouth hoping that a plausible excuse will come to me. “I don’t like to have things in my name.”
My eyes widen as hers narrow. What the hell kind of excuse is the truth?
“You don’t like to have things in your name?” she repeats slowly.
I shake my head. “I mean, I just like to pay things as I go.”
“Right.”
I can tell by the way her lips have pursed that she’s not buying it. The truth tickles the tip of my tongue. I could just tell her. I trace the grain of the polished wood then meet her curious stare. “It’s just…” A simpering giggle draws my attention to the entrance of the coffee shop’s terrace.
Flappy Eyes.
And Felix.
Mylo’s there too, but the only thing I’m seeing is Felix’s forearm and the hand that’s rubbing it.
Kenzi’s head turns to them then back to me. “Man, that woman is clingier than a fungus. You know he’s not interested in her, right?”
I force a smile and tear my gaze from the faraway look on Felix’s face as he listens to whatever Flappy Eyes is laughing about. “It’s got nothing to do with me.” I lean back and stare at the woven canes that shade the tables from the heat of the sun. “It’s not like we’re … anything … not really.”
“Hold the bus.” Kenzi covers my hand with hers. “Not really? What not really? The not really thing that happened the other night? The thing that neither of you will tell me about?”
My shoulders drop and I just about resist the urge to bang my head on the table.
“Start at the beginning.” She presses her lips together like she’s barely containing her excitement. “Did he ask you out? Invite you for dinner? Breakfast? A quick boink behind the bike shed?”
“Shh.” I sink lower into my seat, my gaze flicking over to where Felix and Mylo now thankfully have their backs to the terrace and Flappy Eyes is still flapping at Felix. “We kissed. That’s it.” I gnaw at the inside of my cheek. “Nothing serious.” She doesn’t need to know about the other kisses. “It won’t be happening again.” I avoid her curious stare, feeling like an addict who won’t admit there’s a problem. And after twenty-four hours without his lips, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what I am.
“There’s more.” Kenzi leans across the table until there’s a real threat that she might end up in my lap. “Tell me.”
“Okay, fine. He took me to Tenting Falls yesterday, and we may have kissed some more.” I sag back in my chair and press my hands to my hot cheeks. “That’s it, though. Nothing else is going to happen.”
Kenzi’s mouth forms an exaggerated O and she flops back into her seat too. “We seriously need to work on your storytelling, lady, but wow. He took you to Tenting Falls? How did that even come about? Because I know he didn’t call you.” She stares pointedly at my shiny new cell.
Elbows on the table, I cover my face and peek through my fingers to check that the man in question is still safely on the other side of the terrace. “What’s his deal, Kenzi? What’s wrong with him? Why is he still single?”
“His deal?” She glances over her shoulder then back to me, all traces of the humor that usually sparkles in her eyes gone. “Felix is a good guy. The best…”
“But?” My stomach knots. I knew it. Nobody is all good.
Kenzi opens her mouth. Then closes it again. Then opens it again. “With Fee, it’s complicated…”
I drop my hands from my face and lean in closer. “Don’t you dare tell me he’s married.” Or maybe do. Then I might stop fantasizing about kissing him all the time. Cut it out cold turkey.
“No—no, not anymore.” For the first time since we’ve met, Kenzi’s lips turn down, a crease forming across her forehead.
Not anymore? He’s divorced? There’s an ex-wife? I puff air into my cheeks and rake my fingers through my hair, attempting to arrange my features into something less shocked. “What happened?”
The line across her forehead deepens and she leans in even closer. “Rosa and Felix … they were … she?…”
“It’s been ten years, Zi … She’s not coming back.”
We jump apart at the roughness to Felix’s interruption. His jaw is clenched?. Heck, his whole face is clenched.
Kenzi’s eyebrows do some sort of lopsided arch when she looks at him.
His face settles to carefully neutral, his head shaking so slightly I’d have missed it if I weren’t looking for it.
I look between them and my stomach sinks. Whatever happened ten years ago wasn’t good. Whatever happened ten years ago, Felix doesn’t want me to know about it.
A second later, Kenzi slouches back into her seat, shoots him another side-eye then shakes her head. “He’s right. Rosa’s not coming back.”
“Nice cell?” Mylo tilts his chin in the direction of my phone still sliding his wallet into his back pocket as he comes to stop beside Felix. “What did I miss?” He takes in our little group. Our epic awkwardness is obviously pretty hard to miss.
“Nothing.” Felix slides his hand over the back of his neck and turns to Mylo. “You wanna tell them, or should I?” He smirks at his friend, but his eyes stay curiously crinkle-free.
No more Rosa talk then. I force myself to pay attention to Mylo and whatever it is he’s saying.
“…And so, it looks like I’ll be needing a Clua number too.”
“What? You’re staying?” Kenzi’s jaw goes slack. “In Clua?”
“Yup. We’re heading to check out an apartment this morning.” A look I can’t quite place flips between Mylo and Felix before Mylo’s mouth stretches into a wide grin.
“That’s really great.” I spin my glass between my hands and smile up at him trying in vain not to let my gaze shift to Felix. He has an ex-wife. He didn’t tell me. Why would he? Why do I care? It’s no good, I look. I can’t help it.
“We should get going.” His gaze drops from my eyes to my lips before he blinks it away. “I’ll see you around?”
I nod, unable to drag my stare from him until he spins his keys on his fingers, lifts his chin towards Kenzi and turns to go.
“Laia.” Mylo winks at me then pins Kenzi with a blinding, white-toothed grin. “Kenzi.”
Eye’s wide, Kenzi turns back to me. “He’s staying?”
“Looks like it.” I snort out a weird, breathy laugh. “Is that a bad thing?”
“How am I supposed to keep my man ban with something like that sauntering about town, all muscles and man buns.” She drops her face into her hands.
“So…” I venture when she lifts her head again. “Felix … married?”
Kenzi pauses for a second, then lets out a long sigh. “Laia. I heart you. You know I do, but this is Felix’s story to tell.”
I nod. Too fast. I get it. They’re friends. More than friends. Practically family. I twist my lips to the side in an attempt to hide the little stab of hurt. Or sadness. Or whatever it is that’s stinging my tear ducts. Whatever happened, it was big, and bad enough that it clearly still holds weight, even all these years later. I, of all people, get not wanting to stir up a shitty past.
“Do you know what we need, Laia?” Kenzi grabs my hand, her grip only tightening when I do my usual, knee-jerk flinch back.
I puff my cheeks out. “A bullet to the head?”
She chuckles, and her grin lifts her shoulders as well.
I hold my breath and wait for whatever crazy is about to leave her mouth next.
“No bullets. Or men. We need a girl’s night.” The twinkle’s back in her eye. “Wine. Chat. Dancing.”
“We do?” My thumb sneaks to my lips, my teeth picking at a little tag of skin at the corner of my nail. The last proper girl’s night I went to ended in a black eye and bruised ribs. My gut twists at the memory but I push it back into the box hidden in the back of my mind, force my hand into my lap and nod resolutely. “We do.”
“That’s more like it. Just us and a couple of my closest. Oh, and one more thing.” She grins even wider. “We’re meeting Simon, the head chef in the Castle tonight to talk about your pies.”
“Wait, what? Kenzi, what did you do?” Panic snakes up the back of my neck and I pull my hands from hers. “Why does he want to talk about my pies?”
Her grin falters when she takes in what I’m pretty sure is horror creasing my face. “I let Simon taste the pie when he came around to my place the other night. He loved it. Like really loved it. He wants to talk to you about putting it on the menu.” She leans toward me, a confused frown creasing her forehead. “I thought you’d be happy.”
“I don’t…” It’s hard to swallow, it’s hard to even breathe past the insecurity and doubt engrained right to the very core of me. I can’t. I’m not good enough. It won’t work. “Wait, he said he loved it?”
“Yes.” She watches me warily. “But I can tell him you’re not interested if you want.”
“No!” I press both my hands to my mouth and try to get my stupid nerves under control. “No, don’t do that.”
I’ve got this.