I Shouldn’t Love Him (Book 2) – Chapter 67
manning
The sunny and dusty days outside passed too quickly. Spending a week in the fresh air was exactly what I didn’t know I needed. For the first time in years, I wasn’t surrounded by hardened men and I wasn’t exhausting my body so my mind wouldn’t wander too far down the wrong path. I felt like I was part of the living. The children’s enthusiasm was exhausting and contagious. Tiffany had relaxed. Lake made me feel like a man again just to have someone to watch out for.
I didn’t want it to end, but like all good things, it had to. We were leaving in the morning.
rty for the campers at dinner, then sent everyone under twent
ry.
-three hundred and sixty-four days, it wouldn’t matter. You are a minor.
– she had just recapped the first three seasons of 90210
ade.
I approached, Bucky was play
r parents, is she?
e shots in this relationship,” Bucky said. “Whe
the youngest in construction – the older ones always made me do the hardest shit. I couldn’t take the kind of bait Bucky was throwing in front of me. My father had a temper that could switch at any moment and I knew, deep down, that this
o, man.”
hat?” Bucky aske
pened my be
ou
ottle cap at Bucky
op it. Seriously. You’re an a*****e.
havior. I planned to stay in touch, maybe even come back next year. “
ked.
Once upon a time, we ran out of beer.”
meone said.
here’s more in the kitc
e.” “
Who the f**k hid it?
it out too.
I get a DUI, I’m screwed.
ing eyes towards me.
ter.”
do much more than have a beer, two max, and go to bed. The days here were long, hot and grueling. But every
a car.”
gray-haired man who worked full-time as a janitor for the campground, turned to put hi
about forty minutes to town and back.”
ine and it wasn’t worth talking about. Even though I wasn’t going to drink, I was the new guy and th
e main boulevard,” Vern said. “If it’s closed, stop at any dive around there and slip them some
staff parking lot. Gary caught up with me after a few meters.
bout not accepting it, but I didn’t have a dollar to spend on other people’s alcohol, so I put it in my
this week.”
ea
rom the ’70s that looked like it weighed as much as a whale and probably moved just as fast.
worried about having Tiffany here,” Gary said. “She looks like she’s breaking the rules. But as far as I know, you two kept it clean
.
“How l
nths, I guess
Is this serious?”
s. If things continued like this, with Tiffany letting her guard down, Lake being out of bounds
” Gary rocked back on his heels. “You’re too young to settle down, but I know how these girls can get
as I loved Gary, I wasn’t used to talking about my personal shit with anyo
the back.
ou in a few minute
ho was right in front of me.
might hit her. I slammed on the brakes.
t-shirt that was too small, she approached the passenger side and
e you doing?” I asked
u. I waited at the pool, hoping you would come since it’s our
over my shoulder to make sure no one was there.
me in.”
he door creaked and moaned, closing heavily.
ess, watermelon or something, and chlori
st my feet.”
r on her upper thigh glistened in the dome light. I didn’t know where to start. The little outfit? Sneaking around in the dark ? Unsupervised swimming?
u can’t be here, L
ow. But it’s our
the light.
night.”
even bother to look out the windshield.
you going?” she asked.
ning over the steering wheel, I looked between her and the road. The seat was a long three-seater bench, made of Caribbean tur
unning.
h.”
problem if I come?”
it. I adjusted the rearview mirror.
?”
“Yes.
ous.
er is deceiving you. He looks cal
Vern’s visor. Lake picked them up.
r smoke in front o
.”
too fluid as it was going to be in this future junkyard. I relaxed into my seat.
for you.
for you?
n a situation. I would have killed for a cigarette at that moment.
een the seats.
you you said the other nig
she said.
“How?”
has to be a way.
not like t
k flanked by shady trees. The shine of a moon waxed full again.
if you’re okay.”
call me whenever you feel like it.”
appen? After camp?
I graduate.
Tiffany?” »
had two options. Stop seeing
“LAKE.”
on the subject I am going to major in.”
will.”
ve time for anything else.
ipped my h
“Are you panicking a li
all this anymore. I don’t understand why everyone decides for me.
’t know either. Maybe I wouldn’t if I didn’t continue with Tiff. The truth was that I had little control over the situation, and Lake had even less.
books,” I promised h
in?”
up to your father if he tries to force you to do something you don’t want to do?”
I don’t want to go to school at all?” »
not the case.
just planned for me before I was eve
is where you want to go and what you want to do when you get there.
oftly.
USC, Lake. It doesn’t have to be what anyone else says.”
as hoping that she was starting to see that she had options. She wasn’t going to figure it out tonight, but it was a start.
ve in Long Beach,” I said, hoping that might calm her down a little. “I have a roommate and a kitchen that barely fits two people.”
.” “
tes by car.
not really one thing or another.
n. It took me a minute to decide where to park. There were people out front and I didn’t want anyone to see Lake in the car. I chose a space to the side, farthest from the building. “Why are
e.
or, smoking, and my mouth was watering for a cigarette. “I’ll only be a minute. You can’t come in, so lock the doors and wait, okay? Don’t go out under any circumstances.”
e didn’t know yet that one minute could change your life. That if I had left baseball practice a minute earlier, things might have been different for Maddy. Lake was intuitive but overconfident. She hadn’t hesitated to let me into her parents’ house that day, even though I was three times her size and carrying tools that could kill an adult with a single blow. She
ned jeans, cowboy boots, tank tops, hair stuck to your forehead. “Hello,” said one of them. “Looking for a dance partner?”
asked the bartender.
nstead?”
ars.
He nodded
e. I had a pack in my shirt pocket, but cigarettes cost money and money was limited. I only spent it on what intere
ed everything below her knuckle. . I looked closer. Maybe it was glass and hunter green, not black stone.
s that?” I a
.”“Damn. Yes, I remember now. Mady had one. My mother bought it in the 70s and passed it down to her. Sometimes when I was moody, Madison would force it on my finger and ask me to make it change color from dark to light. To make him happy. “What does green mean?”
e that.” She looked up. “Where are you from?”
“Not here.”
nymore. Not as good as I could have Lake.
re before.”
Can I buy this for you?” I asked. “The ring?”
slid it onto the bar. “Take it. I’ll go get another one.
and I gave him the money. I put the ring in my pocket and I I thanked the cowgirl. Maybe I owed her a little more time than I gave her, but I didn’t have any to waste. I didn’t want to stray from the t
ke.