The Broken Lake (The Pace Series, Book 2)

  He continued. “Normal people have to eat frequently if they want to speed up their metabolism, and if they don’t eat often, their metabolism slows down.”

  “So you’re worried about gaining weight.”

  He laughed. “Oh, my goodness. No. That’s impossible. You can just call me Adonis forever.”

  I smiled and blushed at the same time. It was a first glimpse I’d been given of any sort of self-awareness that he was hot. And not only did he seem to be acknowledging his hotness, he was smiling about it.

  “Or gator boy,” I said. Who’s laughing now?

  “Good one.”

  “Yeah, so anyway.” I bit off the tip of a strawberry. “Seriously, what about your metabolism?”

  He nodded as if remembering the focus of our conversation. Then he leaned over and bit off the rest of my strawberry. “I don’t have to eat for long periods of time if I don’t want to. But if I don’t, my metabolism gets even slower, which makes it harder to manage the time around me. And, in the winter, my metabolism could get so slow I could go dormant. Then time would be nothing because I would miss all of it.”

  “Yikes.” I nodded, getting it.

  If his metabolism got too slow, he could fall asleep for a whole winter? And in those few months, his body might age a few hours while months of activity went on around him? His mind could miss all of it. I shuddered.

  “It’s not that big a deal, really. I just eat regularly. And if I get bored with something, or the daily routine. I just stop eating, and zip, it goes by.”

  Seemed simple enough. Except that ever since I met him, he has been eating. Now would his constant eating be a reminder that he was trying to savor the moments he has left with me? I was starting to feel full.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked, moving our already tilting glasses to a safer place.

  “Nothing.” I looked down. “I just don’t want you to constantly be shifting your life or habits around for me. I just wish you could be you.”

  He tucked my bangs behind my ear. “Sophie. This is normal for me. When I’m not happy, I don’t want to do anything. I don’t want to eat, or drink, or take care of myself. All I can do is hope I can slip into an eternity that I won’t remember when I wake. Are you kidding me? Being me, the person I want to be, means being with you. All the time.”

  He had a way of making me feel like I was a wanted addition to his life, and not a ticking time bomb. I reached over and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. And, knowing how to fully make me forget my worries, he gently pushed me back onto the blanket and softly kissed my mouth, and then my ear, and then my neck. I stared at the blue sky, feeling a tingling sensation spread throughout my entire body. I wanted to cry. I wanted to smile, to sleep, to live. I wanted everything all at once with him.

  I was in complete bliss following that trip and felt like I was on a natural high every day. Until the following Thursday. It was my first day back at work since the funeral. Wes drove me again but not because I really needed him to. My hand was feeling fine, other than the annoying cast smothering it. I had just grown used to him taking me and it meant more time with him.

  Plus, he didn’t like it when we were separated and neither did I, so I let him take me places all the time. My mom was growing concerned that I was becoming dependent on him, but I didn’t care. If I could’ve moved in with him, I would’ve, but my hands were tied. I was eighteen, but still in high school and that meant I was still a minor in my mom’s eyes. It was a fine line, and she was very good at showing just enough concern without pushing me to challenge my adult status.

  When we arrived, Healey’s looked devoid of life. I’m sure it looked exactly how it always had, but on that day, it seemed weird. There were no cars out front. Every crack in the bricks showed, every flaw in the roof, and everything bleak stuck out like a sore thumb, like the building itself was in mourning. It was creepy.

  “Are you okay?” Wes asked.

  I blinked and realized we had been parked a few minutes and I hadn’t moved. “Yeah, I’m just wondering what kind of day it will be.” I leaned over to give him a hug and got out, walking into a bookstore filled with somber air. Mr. Healey was at the counter, as usual, but he looked a little annoyed.

  “Hi, Mr. Healey.”

  I walked to the back where Danny was on break, eating Skittles. “What’s up with your dad?”

  He laughed. “Oh, you mean you haven’t heard? Dawn sneaked out last night and he still hasn’t seen her.”

  “Well, where is she? Is she okay?” I put my purse in my cubby and pulled up a chair next to him. I leaned in intently, to listen.

  He casually responded, “Oh, yeah, she’s fine.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because she called me to call in sick today. She’s avoiding dad like the plague.” He was smiling.

  “Are you serious?” She is so dead. “What is she thinking?”

  “That’s one of Dawn’s biggest problems. She doesn’t think.”

  “What is your dad going to do?”

  “Dad? He’ll take her favorite toys away and then ignore her. She hates that. It drives her crazy.”

  I thought about that for a moment. It seemed so strange to play games like that. I was suddenly really glad my relationship with my mom included communication.

  “Why does he want to drive her crazy?”

  He popped in another piece of candy. “He just doesn’t buy into her tactics anymore. She’s always been spoiled and one day he just woke up.”

  The word dysfunctional bounced around in my head. Between Dawn thinking Danny was the smart apple in Daddy’s eye and Danny calling Dawn spoiled, I was glad I didn’t have any siblings to cause drama. I was thinking of a response when I heard the bell on the front door.

  Danny spoke up. “That’s probably my boy.”

  My boy? Since when did Danny’s “boys” visit him at the bookstore?

  “A visitor? For you?” I didn’t mean for it to come out like he wasn’t popular, but I feared it did. “I mean, since when do your friends come here?”

  “Since they work here now, and since my baby sister abandons her post.”

  “Oh, right.” I remember Dawn telling me that one of Danny’s friends took Ms. Mary’s place. I turned toward the door as soon as I heard it swing open.

  “Wassup, Danny?”

  I recognized the face, but couldn’t pinpoint it. Not wanting to stare, I smiled slightly and turned away. As he walked by, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, like electricity was flowing past me.

  “Nothing much,” Danny said. “I gotta go to work.”

  He hopped up and headed back to the front to resume his shift. It seemed liked perfect timing, because the doorbell started chiming with customers coming in. I wanted to go out there too, but I didn’t want to seem rude by clearing out the room on the new guy.

  “You’re Sophie, right?” He hung up his jacket and turned to face me, reaching out his hand.

  I stood up instinctively. “Yeah, you look familiar,” I prodded, hoping he would fill in the missing pieces.

  “Yeah, we met once at a party, I think. I’m Chase.”

  I took his hand and gave it a shake. That was it. I remembered. “Right.” The guy in my personal space at a party last month. The guy who was still in my personal space, because he wouldn’t let go of my hand. I pulled it back.

  “Oh, sorry,” he said. “I just can’t get over your eyes.”

  Now it was all really coming back to me. Wes and I were broken up when I first met him. He was good-looking, but something was missing. Aside from the fact that I don’t really like guys who purposely look mismatched, his pick-up lines were unoriginal. Flashing his blue eyes at me, he attempted a crooked smile that couldn’t even compare to Wes’.

  Between Chase, Ms. Mary’s death, Dawn’s tantrum, Mr. Healey’s mood, and Danny’s studying, the bookstore was going to be one weird place from now on. I just wasn’t sure how weird, but I was glad that the
Chase part was going to take place on days I didn’t work. That was if Dawn could get her act together.

  I cleared my throat and planned to text her the first chance I got. “I gotta get to work,” I said pointing toward the door, backpedaling.

  With the same unnatural half smile, he replied slyly, “No problem.”

  NOT COOL DAWN. WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?

  I closed the phone and waited in the aisle. Within a minute or two, it started vibrating in my hand.

  OMG. DAD’S ON A KILL MISSION. SORRY. NOT COMING IN.

  WHAT DID YOU DO?

  THE QUESTION IS WHO.

  ??

  JACKSON. AND FREAKIN DANNY TOLD ON ME. HE IS SO DEAD.

  HOW DID DANNY…

  Okay, texting was meant for quick messages, not a soap opera script. I dialed her number and moseyed my way to the farthest aisle. She didn’t even say hello.

  “That little prick told on me. I’m so mad.”

  “Dawn,” I was half whispering. “Why would he do that?”

  “I don’t freakin’ know, but I slipped out to go see Jackson, and at freakin’ one o’clock in the morning my dad comes knocking on the Jones’ door, asking for me. Jackson’s mom comes to his room, I hide in the damn closet, and Jackson lies his tail off that I’m not there. Then dad sends me a text, telling me he’s at my car around the block, waiting for me.”

  OMG, is what I was thinking, but I tried to keep my voice low. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing. I stayed in his room all night. I wasn’t going out there.”

  I was holding back a smile now. “How do you know Danny ratted on you?”

  “Because Dad didn’t know where Jackson lived. Danny had to tell him.”

  “So what are you going to do now?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going to make up something, I guess. He never actually saw me there. My car doesn’t mean anything.”

  Good luck with that, I thought. Dawn was still high-strung and irritated when we hung up. But for some reason, I was still slightly amused. I slipped the phone into my back pocket and turned to get to work, when I bumped into a rather hard chest that didn’t budge.

  “Oh,” I said, ricocheting off of it.

  “My bad.”

  “Chase,” I greeted him, wondering why he was dipping into my conversation.

  “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Mr. Healey wanted me to put these back. Any idea where they go?” He was holding Green Eggs and Ham and Put Me in the Zoo.

  “Yeah, the children’s section is about ten aisles the other way.” I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to move. He didn’t.

  The trying-too-hard smile appeared again. “Right, I’ll remember that. I see you broke your hand. I didn’t notice that before. Does it hurt?”

  “Oh, it’s nothing. Just an accident.” If he was hoping for some long, drawn-out story where he could swoop in and make it feel better, he didn’t know me very well. Not one for sympathy. “I have to get back to shelving,” I said, trying to drop the hint and be polite.

  As if a 120-watt light bulb went off, he quickly moved aside. His dirty blond bangs were covering his blue eyes and he shook them off with one quick shake of the head. “Sorry.”

  “No problem.” I walked past. “And don’t forget. They go in the children’s section.”

  “Right.”

  Once I finished shelving, I wheeled the cart up front. By then it was almost time to close. Danny had been working the register, and Chase had been sucking up to Mr. Healey all evening. They were actually in the back while Mr. Healey was counting money for the deposit. I finally had two minutes alone with Danny.

  I pulled up a stool next to him. “So why did you rat out your sister?”

  “What?” he spit out as if it was ridiculous. “Dawn rats herself out.”

  “Come on, Danny. You guys are like my best friends here. I don’t want to see you two fighting.”

  “Don’t worry. Dawn will figure out how to get herself out of this. She always does.”

  I wasn’t convinced, but was distracted by a flash of headlights as a vehicle pulled into one of the parking spaces out front. My smile overpowered any confusion I had with what was going on at the store.

  “Looks like your ride is here,” Danny said.

  “Yep.” I hurried to the back to grab my purse, which was not where I put it. I specifically remembered putting it into my cubby. I looked around and Mr. Healey and Chase were chatting away, ignoring me. Frustrated, I stood on my tiptoes and found it two cubbies above where it had been.

  That’s when Chase spoke up. “Oh, sorry, Sophie. Your purse fell out and I wasn’t sure which cubby was yours.”

  “Thanks.” I skeptically put it on my shoulder, checking to see if it was zipped. “See ya tomorrow, Mr. Healey.”

  “Oh, bye, Sophie. Have a good night, and be safe.”

  “Yeah, be safe,” Chase added.

  I turned and nodded, not sure what to say back to the new guy. Nothing came to mind, so I walked out into the presence of the only person who made sense to me. Waiting for me by my door was Wes.

  My Wes. Yummy, yummy, and yummy. The weather had warmed up, so he wasn’t wearing a coat. He had on a long-sleeved, buttoned-up, collared shirt that he wore untucked. He had just the right amount of bagginess to his jeans and bright white tennis shoes that screamed clean. What I couldn’t take my eyes off of was his collarbone peeking out from the few buttons that he had neglected to close. I gave him a huge hug.

  Wrapping his arms around me, he gently lifted me off the ground in a strong, perfect squeeze. “I’m going to have to pick you up every day if this is how you always greet me.”

  I smiled. “Let’s get out of here.”

  He set me down and opened the door. Knowing him and his patience, I knew he anticipated my spilling every detail of my mood as soon as we got into the car. Which I did. I told him all about Dawn and Danny and, of course, the new guy. Wes didn’t seem surprised or fazed by any of it.

  “Don’t you think it’s weird?” I finally asked.

  “I’ve seen a lot of weird things over the years. Sibling rivalry and teens not getting along with their dads is nothing new.”

  Something about the reflective tone in his comment made me think back to how Lenny died. I vividly remembered a dream where Lenny fought with her dad over Wes, stormed out, and died in a car accident shortly afterward.

  And all I did was remind him of that by rambling and complaining about the bookstore. Something that had nothing to do with us.

  I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry about what?” He was looking both ways, waiting to pull out onto the highway, but I knew him well enough to know he was thinking back.

  “I’m sorry about reminding you of Lenny. I didn’t realize. Dawn’s stupidity really isn’t that stupid.” Fighting with your parent over someone you love is serious, especially if you’re willing to give up everything for someone. I wanted to take Wes’ mind off of Lenny’s decision to come see him over her father’s wishes. So I tried to change the subject.

  “I don’t know what you’re going to do about Chase.”

  He looked at me for the first time since pulling onto the highway. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Mr. Chase thinks I have pretty eyes.” I batted them trying to be funny.

  Wes smiled. “You do.”

  “Yeah, but that’s your job to remind me. Don’t you think?”

  “Sophie, anyone with a brain can see that. I can’t get mad if another guy notices.”

  “Yeah, but he intrudes into my personal space.”

  Casually, still driving and focusing on the road, he replied, “Now that’s another matter.”

  I smiled. Why is it that girls get a kick out of their boyfriends being jealous? I don’t know, but I liked it. I bounced and shifted closer to him.

  “Are you jealous?” I prodded, leaning over to kiss him on his ear.

  “No.??
? He answered confidently.

  “No?”

  “No, I’m not jealous. But if he violates your personal space again, let me know.”

  He turned toward me and kissed me on the tip of my nose, looking ever so confident and strong. Yum, was all I thought. Well, that’s not totally true. I was also thinking about not wanting to go back to work. Unless Dawn was going to be there, it was going to be too weird. In the meantime, I resumed kissing Wes on the entire right side of his face and neck until he broke out into a laugh.

  Chapter 9

  THE FIGHT

  Amazingly, Dawn managed to get herself out of major trouble. She ended up telling her parents that she and one of her friends, Jenny, met up to hang out with Jackson and his brother, and when she got tired, she just went home with Jenny. She said she never got her dad’s calls because she left her phone in her car.

  It was a ridiculous story, and I’m not sure Mr. Healey believed it, but he only grounded her for a week for sneaking out. He also told her that Jackson was off-limits until she learned to become responsible.

  I was just glad that she was at work. Things were almost back to normal, other than Danny’s strange studying behavior. He started leaving work earlier and earlier, until sometimes he took the whole day off. The story was that he had major tests coming up and wanted to start thinking about grad school for an MBA. None of us could picture Danny in a suit and tie, but Mr. Healey was just tickled pink at the idea.

  Besides making Dawn sick, and making me curious as to what he was up to, I had no problem with Danny taking off work. Until Chase started filling in. He was extremely annoying. Just one of those guys who feeds off attention. It seemed like he expected girls to swoon over him and when they didn’t, he shamelessly attempted to turn the chips.

  When it came to Dawn, he managed to find ways to infiltrate her boundaries by doing something to make her laugh. He often walked by her and taped something onto her back, and once he put a dead cricket on the stack of books she was putting away. Dawn found him amusing. He was like a big brother who didn’t know it all. Sometimes he got on her nerves, but the two of them couldn’t go five minutes without cracking up about something.