The answer should have been easy, but by the time I put my board away, stripped out of my wetsuit, and wrapped up in a towel, I still hadn’t come up with one. I climbed the stairs to find Daddy right where I knew he would be, sitting at the kitchen table with the Los Angeles Times, toast, and oatmeal laid out in front of him.
“There’s my girl,” he said and held out his cheek for a kiss. “How was the surfing? The wave report said they were big. I was worried.”
I put my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “You worry too much. I can handle the waves.”
“You can handle anything,” he said.
“Hmm. I’m glad you think so.” I broke away and handed him the business section he pointed to.
“I know so.” He put his glasses on and spread the paper open, ready for his morning routine: sip of coffee, bite of toast, spoonful of oatmeal, check the headlines, starting with the business section. He liked his mornings predictable and quiet, but I needed his advice.
“Daddy, what do you think makes a good friend?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen to make my breakfast. I could always count on my dad to build me back up when I was feeling down about myself.
He set the paper down and took off his glasses. “Hmm. I suppose a good friend is someone who shares the same interests you do and someone you can rely on.” He put his glasses back on and picked up the paper. “That’s an interesting question. What’s prompting it?”
“I don’t know.” Not entirely true, but his answer hadn’t really done what it was supposed to. Now all I could think of was how few things Hailey and I had in common. And she could for sure rely on me, but did I consider her someone I’d call if I needed something?
I opened the fridge and pulled out all the fixings I needed for a smoothie. Then I got to the kale and changed my mind, opting for something that would cheer me up. All the healthy stuff went back in the fridge, and I grabbed the milk instead. I hip-bumped the fridge door shut and got my Lucky Charms out of the pantry. Grabbing a bowl and spoon, I carried everything to the table and sat down next to Daddy.
By this point he’d forgotten about my question and was engrossed in his paper. The problem was, I still didn’t feel any better.
“Parker said something that made me think maybe I haven’t been a very good friend to Hailey,” I blurted. I had to say something to really get his attention. “I guess that’s what made me ask the question.”
“Parker hurt your feelings?” The paper went down again. Daddy looked like he’d been slapped. He may have thought I could do no wrong, but Parker walked on water. “What did he say?”
“It’s not that he hurt my feelings, he just said some things that made me think I could be a better friend to Hailey.” I patted his hand then filled my bowl.
“How could you possibly be a better friend to her?” His voice registered as much shock as his face had. “You’ve taken a girl who had no prospects in life, given her a job, helped her with her baby, encouraged her to go to college, invited her for dinner . . . What more could you do for a girl in her circumstances?”
“I don’t know, Daddy.” I blinked and stared into my bowl. He made Hailey sound an awful lot like a project. “Maybe I should treat her like someone I can rely on instead of like someone who can’t take care of herself.”
The marshmallows floating in my already discolored milk didn’t seem so appetizing anymore. I pushed the bowl away, no longer hungry but more than ready for a hot shower and some beats to drown out the voices in my head.
Neither one worked, but listening to all the voices actually helped me work some things out. But it also meant I got to the shop later than I’d planned. Promptness may not have been high on my list of personality traits, but usually when it came to work I could make it on time. Not today. Not when I had a long list of apologies and making up to do with Hailey.
When I finally walked in, I was relieved to see her with a customer. As much as I wanted to get “the talk” I needed to have with her over with, I was grateful for the few extra minutes.
I shut the door behind me and flipped the sign from Closed to Open. I guessed she’d forgotten to do that. Again. Any other day I would have been annoyed, but not that one. The voice of the customer sounded familiar, and judging by the conversation going on between them, she definitely knew him.
He leaned over the counter on one arm with the sleeve of his dark-blue work shirt rolled up to his shoulder.
“It looks good,” Hailey said, rubbing her hand over his bicep. “Oh, hey, Eliza!” she said and jumped back from the customer. “You remember Ashton?”
He turned around, smiled, and stuck his hand out. “Good to see you again.”
“He was showing me the tattoo he just got.” Hailey’s voice bounced nervously as I shook Ashton’s hand.
“Oh, that’s nice.” And weird. He just popped in to show off a new tat? Like he doesn’t have an armful already? I moved my head half a millimeter to shake loose the negative thoughts. If Hailey liked this guy, I needed to be supportive. He wasn’t Blake, but maybe Blake was more my pick than hers.
“Can I see it?” I plastered on a pageant-winning smile and looked at the spot Hailey had been ogling minutes before.
Ashton turned his arm toward me and whipped up his sleeve to show off a molar with a nail sticking out of the top of it that covered his whole bicep. His face beamed with pride.
“That’s nice work.” I’d heard other people say that about tattoos. I hoped it was the right thing to say then because I had no idea why someone other than a dentist would get a giant tooth permanently inked onto his arm.
He looked at it and lovingly rubbed his hand across it a few times. “I got it because I’ll fight tooth and nail for what I love—my family, my business . . .” He glanced at Hailey. “My friends.”
“Oh.” I guess that makes sense. “But . . .” I almost stopped myself from asking the question burning my tongue, but sometimes my brain has little control over my mouth. This was one of those times.
“Doesn’t that mean tooth and fingernail? Not”—I made a hammering motion—“nail?”
Too late, I realized I’d done it again. I’d been totally judgmental. Who cared if he’d tattooed the wrong nail on his arm? Wasn’t it more important he’d defend who and what he loved? That kind of devotion was admirable. And, unless I was wrong, Hailey was on his list of loves. Or at least likes.
“Yeah, I know.” His smile widened. “But a nail”—he pointed to his tattoo—“looks a lot cooler.”
I laughed with him. “It really does.” I liked him. I liked anyone who could laugh at himself and, more importantly, had permanently inked his commitment to loyalty and love on his arm for the world to see. I leaned closer for a better look. “It’s cool. And very cool you’ll fight for what you care about.”
“Thanks,” he said and snapped his fingers. “Which reminds me why I came here in the first place. I need flowers for my mom.”
“You came to the right place, then, right, Hailey?”
“More like you came to the best place,” she answered. “Eliza can do anything with flowers.”
“That’s sweet, but you should make an arrangement for Ashton,” I answered and walked behind the counter. “Show him how good you are now.”
She nodded okay, but when she didn’t move, I pulled out a receipt pad to write down what he wanted.
“First of all, what’s the occasion?” I asked him and picked the pencil with the sharpest point from a cup on the counter.
“No occasion. Just to tell her she’s the bomb.” His eyes wandered to Hailey, but not to see if he’d impressed her. I think more because he couldn’t help it. Her eyes did some wandering over to his too, but not with the same intensity.
“That’s really sweet,” she said then dropped her head.
“It is,” I nodded. “So we want to make it special. What kind of flowers does she like?”
“I don’t know.” He looked in the cooler at some of the prepared arrangements we had. “She likes pink. I think she likes roses.”
“Everyone likes roses,” Hailey interjected. “Mostly because that’s what they know. They used to be my favorite until I started working here. Then Eliza showed me all kinds of different flowers I’d never even heard of. And there’s about a million shades of pink.”
“That’s true.” I’d said what I had about her being good with flowers to be nice, but obviously she’d learned something. I just wished she was learning things faster. A lot faster. But I figured Ashton would like whatever she did, so I’d risk letting her do the arrangement for his mom. “What kind of flower reminds you of a bomb?” I asked her. “Something that looks like it’s exploding.”
“Oh! Those flowers you used for Parker’s party and for Elton’s thing!” She waved her fingers back and forth searching for the name.
“Yes! Mums! That’s perfect. I’ve got some in the cooler.” I headed to the back of the shop, passing a sleeping Xander on my way. When I got there, I decided to give Hailey and Ashton some time alone. If she liked him, I wasn’t going to interfere. I’d misjudged him the first time around.
More than misjudged. I’d been a snob about her dating a mechanic with tattoos. But he seemed like a good guy, so why get in the way of her happiness? And she must have been happy, because she’d mentioned Elton without tearing up.
I slipped on the sweater hanging next to the cooler and pulled open the heavy steel door. A dozen different scents hit me as I walked into the cold. I closed my eyes and breathed in the gift my flowers offered and thanked them for it. Every living thing deserved gratitude.
My eyes popped open as I realized I’d never thanked Hailey for everything she did to help me in the shop. One more thing to add to my growing Ways-to-Be-a-Better-Friend list.
I took my time finding exactly the right flowers for Ashton’s mom, carefully inspecting each petal on the pink chrysanthemums to make sure they didn’t have any brown spots. After I’d found the perfect blooms and some interesting greenery to go with them, I figured I’d given Hailey and Ashton plenty of time alone. Plus, my sweater had fallen down on the job of keeping me warm. My teeth were starting to chatter.
I cradled the flowers in my arms and walked carefully to my work table, expecting to see Hailey and Ashton still talking. Maybe even flirting. That would have been okay. Instead Hailey was on the computer.
“Hey, where did Ashton go?” I set the flowers in a bucket of water then looked over her shoulder at the computer.
“I told him it would take a while, so he’s going to come back in an hour.” She stared intently at the Saddleback College website, her leg bouncing up and down.
“Oh. He could have hung out here.”
“Why?” she continued to scroll through the website without looking at me. “He had stuff to do.”
“I don’t know . . .” I hesitated, not wanting to be nosy but also not wanting to miss the opportunity of telling her I thought Ashton was a good guy. “It seems like you two are kind of into each other.”
Suddenly Hailey jumped out of her seat with a cheer. The metal folding chair hit the floor with a loud clang, startling Xander out of his sleep. His crying didn’t stop Hailey’s cheering, which had gone from a simple “Yahoo!” to full-on jumping up and down and dancing.
“I passed!” she yelled over and over, bouncing her way to Xander’s playpen and picking him up.
“Passed what?” I shouted over Xander’s wails.
“My math test! The one Parker’s been helping me study for!” She spun around with Xander in her arms, which only made him cry harder.
“That’s fantastic!” I rushed to the Pack ’n Play and tossed Xander’s blanket to Hailey then grabbed his paci and stuck it in his mouth. “I’m so proud of you.” I side-hugged her as Xander nestled his head into her shoulder and blinked slowly.
“Isn’t it amazing? I never thought I’d pass that test. But I got a sixty-eight percent! A sixty-eight!”
I stepped back, opened my mouth, then shut it, then opened it again because words needed to come out. “That is great . . . and you’re sure it’s passing?”
“Professor Bryan said I only had to get a sixty-five. I scored two points higher than I had to!”
“Three.” I smiled. Her eyes narrowed, and she tilted her head to the side.
“Three points,” I repeated.
Her eyes and mouth ahhed open. “Right! Three! That’s even better. I can’t wait to tell Parker.”
“Yeah. He’ll be so impressed.” Maybe. He might have expected a better result than sixty-eight after all the studying they’d done for a remedial math test. “It’s too bad Ashton’s not still here too. He’s going to be really proud of you.”
She gave me the same confused-at-math look she’d given me seconds before. “Why would he care?”
I sensed I’d waded into uncertain waters, but I didn’t quite know how to get out of them. “I thought you two were, you know, kind of . . . talking. Or something.” I pressed my lips tight and let my eyes wander to the floor.
“Well, yeah, we talk, but it’s not like we’re talking.” She drew out the word talking to emphasize just how much they weren’t doing what I thought they were doing. I still wasn’t quite sure I knew what the difference was.
“You said I could do better than Ashton.” Hailey boosted Xander back onto her hip as he tried wiggle his way to the floor.
“Did I?” I walked past her, avoiding eye contact and pulled a vase from the shelf. “I didn’t mean to give you that impression. He seems like a really nice guy.”
“He is.” She bounced Xander, who clearly didn’t want to go back to sleep. “But I’ve set my sights higher, like you told me to. I’m not settling for someone whose only goal in life is to work on cars.”
“Hmm.” I was tempted to tell her how wrong I’d been, but then I reminded myself that I wasn’t getting involved in her love life anymore. She was my friend, not my project. If she didn’t like Ashton anymore, then maybe I’d been right all along by not encouraging her. “Have you got someone in mind?”
The sparkle in her eye returned, and she broke into a grin.
“Anyone I know?” I hoped it was Blake. And asking her who she was into wasn’t “getting involved.” Girlfriends talked about boys. It was one of the three pillars of true friendship, along with clothes and makeup. I mean, Taylor and I talked about a lot more than that, but she was a bestie. Besties were special.
“You want me to tell you?” she asked. As if to get in on the excitement, Xander yanked the paci out of his mouth and threw it on the ground with a smile that matched his mom’s.
“Yes!” I set the vase down ready to rush to her, but then came to my senses. “I mean, no.”
“Oh. Okay.” Her shoulders slumped, and she bent down to retrieve Xander’s paci.
“It’s not that I don’t want to know.” I fumbled to explain. “I’m dying to know! But I gave you the worst advice about Elton. Maybe it’s better I don’t know until we see how things go.”
“That makes sense, I guess.” She let Xander grab the paci. He waved his arms up and down like a sumo wrestler attempting a sit-up, and the pacifier flew across the room. “Ugh, this kid’s making me crazy.”
“Here, let me take him.” I held out my arms. “You work on Ashton’s arrangement. I’ll hold him.”
She passed him off to me, and I wished Parker had been there to see me recognizing she needed a break from the baby sometimes. I was already making progress in being more aware.
Hailey went to work on the arrangement. And “work” is really the only way to describe what she was doing. There was no flow to her process, only brute force. She’d forgotten the number-one rule I’d taught her: beauty can’t be forced. I focused my attention on Xander to keep from cringing or, worse, correcting her.
“You know, you could give me a clue about who it is.” I had to think about something besides the damage being done to my chrysanthemums. Arranging flowers is all about picturing where they should be before placing them. Hailey didn’t have the hang of that. After stuffing all of the flowers into the vase, she took them all back out again to start over.
“Who, who is?” She bit her lip and jammed a rose into the middle of the flower arrangement.
“The guy you like. Or you’re talking to. Or whatever it is you call it.” Xander squirmed in my arms, determined to get down. I carried him to the playpen, set him in it, and arranged toys around him. He protested being left, but I ignored his squawks. My flowers needed rescuing.
“Oh yeah.” She giggled and handed me the mum she had in her hand before I even asked. “I don’t know if we’re really talking, but he did rescue me. I wouldn’t have survived without him.”
“I knew it!” I squeezed my fist in victory and almost jumped up and down, nearly dropping the flower I’d saved before regaining my composure. “I mean . . .” I took a deep breath and smiled wide. “I think I know who it is, and I think he’s perfect for you!”
She’d fallen for Blake without me even suggesting it. And his playing the hero that morning was exactly the catalyst they’d needed to get together. I couldn’t have planned it any better. I almost felt guilty taking credit for being their matchmaker.
“You do?” She clasped her hands together then released them and rescued Xander from his imprisonment. “That means so much to me, because he is yum and so good with Xander. I think he could be the one.”
I hadn’t seen Blake with Xander much, so I’d have to take her word for it. Although, I didn’t know when he would have spent time with Xander. And it was a little early to be making long-term plans, but not out of the realm of possibilities.
The thing I knew for sure though? I could hardly wait to tell Parker I’d been the one to get Hailey and Blake together.