“Not right now.” Jack tips his head in thanks as he walks out of the room. “By the way, you’re doing well, Wyatt. I see you showing up early for your shifts here and introducing yourself around town to tourists and locals. Keep up the good work.”
Smug, I wait until the door is closed before spinning to face Dubby, holding my hand palm side up. “You owe me twenty bucks. Pay up.”
Dubby chokes on his laughter between bites. “You’re holding me to that?”
“You said I’d be gone in the first three months. Got ya, sucker!”
Dubby reaches into his back pocket, pulling his wallet out and then a crisp, new twenty-dollar bill. “Here, don’t spend it all in one place…unless you plan on spending it on Maisey’s niece. In that case, I’d suggest hitting up the ATM, son, and making sure you can take her to a nice dinner.”
“Who? Freya?” Was he nuts? I shake my head. “In your dreams, Dub. She’s a good friend.”
“Yeah, I know those kinds of friends,” the old man says with a growl, wiggling his eyebrows and treating me to an overly expressive wink.
“Freya’s different. I’ve known her since we were little kids.”I cock my head to one side before leaning over and play-punching Dub’s arm. “You trying to stir up trouble?”
“Well…” Dub screws up his face. “I happened to stop by the Red Bird to drop off something to Jack. I saw your reunion, and now I’m a witness to the look on her face when she saw you. Trust me, she was not looking at you like you were friend material.”
I couldn’t have held my laughter in if I had tried. “You couldn’t be more wrong. I know that girl, and she has never given me a second look, at least not in that way. Why would she start now?”
Dub stands up and lifts one shoulder, as if shrugging my question away. “You’ve got a point.”
Reaching out for ammo, I grab the closest thing, a newspaper, and wing it at Dub’s back as he strolls out of the room chuckling to himself. Only now he’s got me thinking.
Was Freya flirting with me?
I’ve always had this connection with Freya, but to entertain the thought she may be flirting back finally? No way. I shake my head as I polish off my food and make my way out to the main hangar where the trucks are stored. I pinch back a groan. There was so much stainless steel and chrome adorning the two large rigs, all needing to be polished to parade perfection. It’s a big job, but it has to be done. It’s something we have to take care of on a regular basis to aid in the longevity of the trucks, but the July Fourth parade wastheday for the trucks to sparkle and shine.
Walking over to the closest cupboard, I reach in and pull out a cleaning box filled to the brim with rags and products for buffing. Experience has now taught me that this is a time when I can find peace in my day and let my mind wander.
And I know exactly what I’m going to think about today.
Freya Fredericks.
If I’m to be honest, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a small crush on that girl. Of course, I talked myself out of it years ago. Freya’s friendship is way more important than a stolen kiss on a summer night. Plus, she stone-cold stopped me when I did try, and we ended up at the hospital with her getting stitches. Not the best look for me.
However, today after seeing her, I am questioning that choice.
The Freya I remember had a retainer. She was ridiculously clumsy. She could keep up with me when we raced our bikes, but braking was an issue. If memory serves, she couldn’t brake when we were on roller skates either, so the girl has problems stopping. She also has this way about her, where she bites her lower lip when she’s thinking. It’s a little nuance which I’ve always thought in the past made her look pretty. Only today when she did it, I didn’t think it looked pretty at all. Nope, not one bit. In fact, the word pretty wasn’t even on my radar.
It was sexy. She was sexy. Like, the kind of sexy where I wanted to lean in and bite her lip for her…but I can’t. It’s Freya, and she friend-zoned me so fast that night oh-so-many years ago that I think I’m still recovering from the whiplash.
Thinking back now, I realize I’ve had it bad for her for years. I thought by hanging out with her all the time, especially during our summer breaks, it would have shown her I was serious or maybe even gotten me a seat at the table, you know? I even went so far as to take a job at her family’s cafe so I could work with her every day. When she waited tables, I requested to be her busboy so we had the same shift, and Maisey always agreed.
Of course, when I went to kiss her as a young fifteen-year-old (she’s a bit older than me, the cougar), and ended up causing her face to be split open…well, that kind of trauma doesn’t quickly go away. She had to get stitches, thanks to one of my brackets being pulled off from a Now or Later I was sucking on. Want to talk about being embarrassed? Yeah, explain that one to your friends. I went to see her the next day to talk to her about it, but when I brought it up, she simply held up her hand and stopped me. Gave me some line about how being friends is way more important, so I did what any teenager would do. I gave her a six-pack of Cheerwine and a bouquet of flowers as a get better soon gift and we went back to being ourselves the next day.
Except for the bandage on her right cheek, you’d never have known anything was wrong. As luck would have it, my braces came off as soon as summer was over that year. It didn’t matter. I had been shuffled to the spot where good guy friends go to…stay. I’m the friend without benefits.
And because she was the person I liked to hang out with, I wasn’t going to do anything but agree. I didn’t want to lose her, so I decided then and there I was going to take what I could get for as long as I could humanly stand it.
I take the shammy and begin polishing the chrome on the front bumper of the big rig. The repetitive motion is soothing, almost hypnotic, and allows me the chance to zone out. I start polishing like it’s a mission, but I’m trying to getherout of my head. The curves of her waist were perfect, and I can still feel the warmth of her body as she pressed against me. It’s marked on my senses and isn’t going anywhere, like the subtle scent of her perfume that’s managed to embed itself in my shirt.
But I can only see Freya’s face in front of me, smiling. Looking at me like she was seeing me differently.
That could not have been my imagination, could it?
“Yo, probie, you hear me?”
I turn and see Jack standing next to me with a weird expression on his face. “Sorry, Cap. What can I do for you?”
