I could call the realtor and tell him to sell it all. Auction it off and donate the rest to the community at large. But my mind flashed back to that old, beat-up car in the garage. At the very least, I owed it to Anton to take care of that myself. Make sure the seller taking the car would take better care of it than I did.
Sliding my phone out of my pocket, I sent off a message to my pilot. I needed my jet gassed up and ready to go in the next couple of hours. Taking care of that car meant going back to Illinois, and it was the least I could do after destroying it with my selfishness. And if I ran into Michelle by chance, then it presented an opportunity to apologize for the way I had acted that day.
The day I yelled after her to come back as she walked blindly across the road.
Chapter 2
Michelle
I wiped the sweat off my forehead as I unwrapped the half-apron from around my waist. This Wednesday had been one of the busiest we’d ever experienced, and the tips were to die for. It was almost as if everyone in the damn town didn’t feel like cooking themselves dinner. I’d been working at the diner for a little under a month, and things were going smoothly. I was still trying to get the hang of some things, since Brad was updating the place a little bit, but other than that I was making better money than I had the first time around.
Apparently all the place had needed were some more comfortable booths and an all-day breakfast menu.
It still wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but having a job was better than not having one. And after I got this second paycheck of mine, I’d have enough for first month’s rent, a security deposit, and some furniture of my own. Having my own bank account felt great. Looking at my deposit receipts and seeing the amount of money I had slowly tick up was a wonderful thing. And after adding all of that to the pile of money Grayson tossed at me that day, I had more than enough to make myself comfortable once I could find a place that made me feel safe.
I leaned against the wall in the bathroom and sighed. Just thinking about Gray brought me down. As much as I hated to admit it, I missed him. Despite the argument, his swift departure and the anger in his eyes that day, I missed him. A lot. I wondered what he was up to. If his vineyard was keeping him busy, and if he was jetting off around the world erasing the memory of me with someone else at his side.
The idea alone brought tears to my eyes.
I splashed some water in my face and turned my mind to the idea of living on my own for the first time. I felt my spirits buoy at the idea. I’d never lived on my own before. I was either with my mother, with a friend, or with Andy. And while the idea of settling down in Stillsville and chancing a run-in with him every so often wasn’t appealing, the idea of having a place to call my own was. A place where I ruled the nest. Where I called the shots. Where I could kick people out instead of being the one kicked out.
I could only hope that living alone wasn’t as lonely of an existence as it sounded.
Drying off my face, I drew in a deep breath. Luckily, the extended-stay motel in Stillsville had cut me a massive break. Only one hundred dollars a week if I promised to not use the television, use the lights only when I had to, and make very little use of the hot water. All rules I could live by for four hundred dollars a month. I paid it all up front and unplugged all of the electronics in the room, then suffered through cold showers until I could no longer stand it.
I couldn’t wait for my second paycheck to come in.
A hot shower would feel so good against my skin.
Wrapping my apron back around my waist, I walked out of the bathroom to get back to work. But the second I did, I heard a noise I knew would haunt me for the next two hours. A rowdy group of teenagers came into the diner, whooping and hollering, and cracking jokes so loud the other patrons were staring with their softly crinkled-up faces. And of course, Cecily ushered them to my section of the diner.
She always stuck me with the shitty customers.
I didn’t want to complain because Cecily was the reason I got my job, both the first and second time around. Plus, she had let me crash on her futon at her place whenever I worked the late shift. Cecily’s place was only a block and a half from the diner, versus the motel where I was staying, which was almost a mile and a half away. I found myself knocking on her door many times to crash, and never once had she sent me away.
Cecily wanted me to come stay with her permanently after she heard about Anton’s place no longer being available, but I couldn’t stomach that much time around there. Being with her increased my chances of running into Andy, and I wanted to minimize that as much as possible. Still, she made me promise that every late shift evening would be spent on her futon instead of me walking through town at two in the morning, and I was grateful for the offer.
Especially since Stillsville didn’t have many public lights to illuminate the sidewalks at night.
But not living with Cecily full-time didn’t mean I didn’t see Andy at all. I’d caught more women then I cared to admit doing the walk of shame out of his place in the morning. It made me sick, how easily he had replaced me. Had I really meant that little to him? The idea that I uprooted my world to move here with a man like that made me question everything I was.
Maybe Gray had been right that night.
Maybe I didn’t really know myself at all.
Staying with Cecily came with its own downfalls on her end as well. She always seemed a little too eager to talk to me about Gray. She quizzed me about my time with him and openly admitted that the two of them attended high school together. Her, Gray, and Andy. Three peas in a twisted pod I didn’t belong in. She seemed all too eager for details about us, and whenever I refused to indulge her further she got upset with me. She always claimed it was because she was curious as to what Grayson was up to now with his life after he had ‘ditched them and ran off to play football.’ But I wasn’t sure I believed her.
The anger she displayed at these times never stuck around for long, but I didn’t understand why it upset her in the first place.
It took me forever to get rid of those rowdy teenagers, and all they ordered were some sodas and a plate of fries to share between the six of them. The tip was lousy and it made me upset, but thankfully my shift was done. I took off my apron and cashed out my tips, sticking the money in my back pocket so I could make a run to the bank.
“Hey, Michy!”
I cringed at the nickname, as
Cecily came bounding up to me.
“Hey there. What’s up?” I asked.