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MY EYES SPRANG OPEN, to the morning light pouring through the window, and I knew at once I was late.
“Shit!” I exclaimed as I sat straight up in bed. I looked over to the clock on my bedside table, and, sure enough, it was nine already. Even if I got out of the house in the next ten seconds, I was going to be late.
I rolled out of bed, threw myself in a shower, and got dressed as quickly as I could—cursing as I had to re-button the shirt I had managed to put on wrong the first time around. I didn’t have time to get breakfast, I would just need to get out of there and grab something once I got to work. I poured my coffee into a to-go cup, and rushed out to my car.
How had I slept through my alarm? I never did that. Had I somehow forgotten to set it the night before? That wasn’t like me, either. Something else was going on here, something strange.
I pushed it to the back of my mind. I didn’t have time to think about it much more, I needed to get to the clinic and think up a few excuses to explain why I hadn’t been there when I said I was going to be. Rita would have every right to be mad at me. Maybe I could tell her I was busy last night taking care of Ewan—but she knew I wouldn’t have been there for long.
I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me today. I felt groggy, my head still throbbing and aching to lie back down on the pillow. I turned off my street and on to the main thoroughfare that ran through the Maple Valley township, whatever passed for a high street somewhere as small as this. I was still getting used to the fact there were barely more than three shops open at any given time, especially since I had come from New York where you could get almost anything you wanted any time of the day or night just by leaving your apartment.
I noticed, to my surprise, a couple of kids tagging along with their parents on the high street; that didn’t make sense, they should have been at school. At it didn’t look like it was just one or two being pulled out for an appointment or something, no, there were at least a half-dozen wandering around with their parents. What the heck? Had I missed something?
I ignored it, and continued on my way to the clinic. Maybe they were wandering around because they had an appointment with me and I had yet to turn up. I felt a twist of annoyance in my chest as I thought about it. I hated being late, hated letting people down. It hadn’t been my intention, of course, but sometimes, I didn’t get to make the call. Sometimes, the universe just laughed in my face, and told me there was nothing I could do but fail dismally that day.
I pulled the car to a halt outside of the clinic, and I was about to climb out, my coffee in hand, when I noticed the shutters were pulled down. I stared for a second, trying to make sense of it—and that, of course, was when it hit me.
It was Saturday. That was why my alarm hadn’t gone off, that was why all the kids were milling around on the high street, that was why the shutters were pulled down on the clinic. It was Saturday. My day off. And I had just turfed myself out of bed for no good reason and turned up here as though it was the most natural thing in the world. I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me. I was doing too much, most likely, and my brain had been so convinced I needed to take care of something I didn’t have to.
I sat there in the car, sipping my coffee and wondering if there was any point driving back home and trying to crawl back into bed. I was awake now, and I was sure I would have just laid there and stared at the ceiling and fucked up my sleep schedule if I tried to go back. I needed to do something now I was up, even if I should have been lying in bed and pretending nothing else in the world mattered.
What else was there for me to do? My mind ran through the few tasks I had yet to take care of, and landed on the one which made me smile—doing what I could to help Ellie and her mother. I knew I should have probably called ahead to let them know I was coming, but even if they weren’t in or taking visitors, I could at least take a look at the outside of the house and see what was going on there, what repairs needed to be done on the outside.
I switched on the radio, and took the scenic route down to Ellie’s place. Ellie’s place—I was already thinking of it in those terms, even though I knew Celeste was the one who had lived there longer. I liked Ellie, more than I thought I would. She had an interesting energy about her, as though there was so much she wanted to say, and she was having a hard time working out how to put it into words. I knew just how she felt. Sometimes, there was so much you wanted to share with the people around you, but finding the right way to do it felt too close to impossible to bother trying.
I pulled the car to a halt outside the house and waited for a moment before I got out. I was really just turning up on their doorstep with no warning at all. Yes, I had said I would come down here to help in any way I could, but normally, I would call ahead instead of arriving first thing on a Saturday morning.
I considered turning around and getting out of there. The two of them had just reunited after so many years apart, they probably needed time to work through a lot of stuff and didn’t need the likes of me causing trouble hanging around right now. But, before I could turn the car around and get out of there, the front door opened, and Ellie stepped out.
She smiled at me as soon as she saw me sitting there and lifted a hand in greeting. Her hair was pulled back under a bandana, and she was wearing a pink tank top and a pair of cut-off jean shorts. She looked gorgeous, the vision of the girl next door, and I swallowed hard before I got out of the car to say hello. The last thing I wanted was for her to see my desire, to think there might have been some other reason to come out here and see her.
“Hey,” she greeted me, tipping her head to the side. “What are you doing here so early?”
“Sorry to disturb you,” I replied. “I thought I would come around and have a look at what needed doing on the outside of the house. If now’s not a good time, I can leave.”
“No, it’s fine,” she assured me, smiling. “I just didn’t expect you so early, that’s all.”
“I thought today was a weekday,” I confessed, shaking my head. “I was at the clinic by the time I worked out it was Saturday.”
She laughed, a bright, sunny sound that filled the air around us.
“Oh, I’ve been there,” she replied, shaking her head. “Worst feeling in the world, isn’t it?”
“Close to it,” I agreed. “I thought I would come down here and check things out, since I was close anyway.”
“You want to come in for a coffee?” she asked, pointing over her shoulder. “I just made a pot.”
I hesitated. I could have told her I was just here to check out the house, but I knew it would have been a lie. A part of me wanted to get to know her better, wanted to find out what it was she had going on, what had driven her from this town in the first place, and just why her mother’s injury had been enough to pull her back in.
“I would love that,” I replied with a smile, and she beamed at me.
“Come on in, then,” she told me. “I’m going to need breakfast if we’re going to talk about everything that needs doing in this house.”
I followed her up the steps—making sure to skip the broken one so I didn’t take out my ankle in the process—and made my way inside the house. Doing my best not to let my gaze fall to her long legs in those cut-off shorts.
