Relentless(13)

“Doesn’t she have a caregiver?”

“Tina doesn’t get there for another five hours and she’s not the most attentive caregiver.”

“Got it.” He pulls me into a hug so suddenly that my face smashes against his solid chest and I laugh as I push him away. “That was awkward,” he chuckles. “The next one will be better.”

I turn my face to hide my uncontrollable grin as I walk behind the café counter.

Linda cocks an eyebrow as I approach. “Who is that tasty young thing?” she whispers as I pass her on the way to the stockroom to clock in.

I could clock in on the register, but I’m five minutes early and I need that five minutes to wipe this stupid grin off my face.

“I’ll tell you as soon as I clock in,” I say, pushing my way through the swinging door.

I sit in the folding metal chair, which Linda refuses to replace with an ergonomic desk chair, and pull my cell phone out of my jeans pocket. I dial Senia’s number because, though I know she’s still sleeping at 8:55 a.m. on a Sunday, I can’t hold in the events of the past day and a half any longer.

She picks up on the second ring. “What?” she groans.

I take a deep breath then spill everything in less than three minutes. When I’m done she’s silent.

“Am I crazy?” I ask. “Is this too fast?”

I’m not asking if this is too fast since Chris left, because he left a year ago. She knows what I’m asking and her silence has me twirling my hair nervously.

She clears her throat before she speaks. “Of course it’s not too soon. I told you last week, you need to stop being so afraid of people knowing.” She clears her throat again and I can hear her taking a sip of water. “Do you need me to fill in for you at the café so you can go on your date?”

I laugh because she doesn’t even work at the café, but she probably could fill in for me. There is very little Senia can’t do. “No. I’ll figure something out. I have a week to think of something.”

“Let’s conspire together, my love,” she says, her voice still thick with sleep. “I’m coming home tonight instead of tomorrow. Eddie is getting on my last fucking nerve.”

Eddie Goodman, Senia’s boyfriend of eight months, nearly drove his car off a cliff when she told him she was moving in with me for the summer. He’s possessive as hell and has serious attachment issues, but he’s also super hot and shares none of the same classes with Senia—a must for her. She hates dating classmates. When they’re not at each other’s throats, they’re sickeningly adorable together. I call them Enia even though Eddie hates it.

After we hang up, I sit for a minute staring at the computer screen before I clock in two minutes late. Now I have to come up with an excuse for Saturday. When I walk out of the stockroom, Joanne is staring at me from where she stands next to the giant espresso station. Joanne is twenty-two, two years older than I, but she’s super timid.

“What’s up, Jo?” I ask as I pull my black apron over my head.

She quickly looks down at the floor. “Nothing. I was just thinking of what I’m going to do on Wednesday.”

I tie my apron strings over my lower back and grab a plastic cup to get myself some water. “What are you doing on Wednesday?”

She looks up at me, somewhat confused, as she nervously rubs her dark hair between her fingers. “I have the day off. That guy told me you wanted to switch days off with me. The one you were just talking to.”

I shake my head as I realize Adam must have come back in after I disappeared into the stockroom. “You don’t have to do that, Jo.”

“No, I want to,” she says abruptly. “I like working on Saturdays. It’s busy.”

I suddenly have a feeling that Jo must have her own memories she’s trying to bury. “Okay. Thanks.”

She smiles and nods as she grabs the plastic cup from my hand and fills it with cold water from the filtered pitcher inside the refrigerator under the counter. She hands the cup back and I’m taken by a sense of concern for her. I wish I knew what it was that made her so shy. Before I can stop myself, I pull her into a hug and I can feel her surprise as she draws in a sharp breath.

“Thanks, Jo.”



When I arrive at Cora’s house at five after three, I only knock once before the lock turns and the door creaks open. Adam is standing before me wearing a soft smile and I know he’s probably been here all day.

“Come on in,” he says, holding the door wide open for me.

I walk inside and Cora is sitting in her recliner in front of the television with Bigfoot in her lap. The apartment is clean and the usual sharp litter box smell is gone. Cora looks up and smiles so big I can see the gap where she’s missing her two back molars.