Not that I had a problem with my job, not really, it was a way to put my skills to use while earning enough money to survive and save. But today, ten days after Olive had sent me packing, everything felt wrong.
I let out a breath thinking of the anger that had flashed in her eyes when she saw me on her doorstep, and the wariness that came right on its heels. How arrogant to assume she wanted me, when she could barely stand the sight of me. Hadn’t even invited me inside her home.
Not that I deserved it, but she was nice girl. Ask anyone in Pilgrim and they would tell you that Olive Jensen was a nice girl, always eager to help out anyone in need. Sometimes you didn’t even have to ask. That’s how nice she was.
Except when it came to me. I didn’t think she would take it easy on me, because I knew I didn’t deserve it. She had tried to do the right thing, the adult thing, by reaching out to me to let me know that my life was about to change in the monumental way imaginable. I was the one who ignored her and now, this was my punishment.
Moping.
For ten days I’d alternated between anger that she wouldn’t even tell me if she was pregnant or not. Angry that she hadn’t even confirmed she was pregnant. Angry that I deserved her scorn, and more. But when I wasn’t angry, I was moping. Over the fact that I hadn’t treated Olive as well as she deserved. Moping because my life as a bachelor was over. Moping because for the first time in my life, there was a woman I wanted to talk to and she wanted nothing to do with me.
No, that wasn’t true. Olive wanted less than nothing to do with me, going so far as pointedly going in the other direction when she saw me coming. In the post office. The Mayflower. The small park in the center of town. Even during my morning coffee run at Bread Box.
Everywhere.
A knock on the front door gave me a good enough reason to stop moping, at least momentarily. A fleeting thought that maybe Olive had decided to skip an impersonal phone call or text by stopping by, had my feet moving double time towards the thick wooden door I’d spent more than a year sanding and carving. “Oh. Hey Stone.”
Stone stood on my doorstep with a wide, too satisfied smile on his face, hands shoved into his pockets. “Good to see you too, man. Expecting someone else?”
Yes. “No. Of course not. I wasn’t even expecting you,” I told him as I took a step back and nodded for him to enter. “What brings you by?”
“Figured we could do some fishing while you pretend you’re not hurt. In more ways than one.”
I groaned and shook my head. “Did Sophie send you here to make sure I die a slow and painful death?”
“Nothing quite so dramatic. So, are we fishing or are we getting drunk?”
I shrugged. “Does it have to be an either or type situation?”
Stone flashed another grin and shook his head. “I got bait and beer.”
“I’ll get my pole and bring more beer. There’s a new spot I want to check out.” Nothing helped clear my mind before a mission quite like a few hours of fishing, so maybe Stone had the right idea. Maybe a day on the water would give me the clarity I needed to figure out what to do about Olive.
“How’s the arm,” he asked once we were settled in the boat, surrounded by still water, fishing lines invisible beneath the surface.
“All right. Healing by the day they say but my shoulder is stiff as shit from weeks in a sling.” It would be a few more months before I’d even get assigned to a new gig and that was only after I rehabbed my arm. “It was a shit show.”
“Looks like,” he said with a quiet sort of smile that was Stone’s way. “But you made it back in one piece. Eventually.”
“My dad got married.” I told Stone all about my new stepmother and the new man my father seemed to be. “I’m not sure it’ll last but it shocked the hell out of me.”
“That she was so nice or that he’d actually changed?”
“Neither. Both, I guess. I’m not sure yet.” It was a nice change but after years of temporary changes, it was hard to believe any of it would last.
Stone fell into a contemplative silence and did the same, watching a few birds play together on the water. The sounds of nature were all around us and I could feel myself becoming calm. Relaxing.
“So, I guess you heard if you’re here.” Who knew Stone might wait before he brought it up, so I figured it was best to do it the same way I did most things. On my terms.