Page 75 of The Music of Us
“It’s a saying,” I defended. Maybe if I concentrated really hard, I’d stay awake. “You know, like the cat’s pajamas.”
“Right.”
Jake’s hands were warm and calming as they curled around my shoulders like an anchor, keeping me steady as the sea around me went rocky.
I had to go back inside. Ineededto. Just one more minute, then I’d brave the waves again. Sixty more delicious seconds of sunshine.
Sixty seconds passed. My eyes remained shut. Jake’s thumb brushed over my bare skin, sending a sudden flush of goose bumps over me, and I shivered.
Jake let go of me, and I bit back a whine. Instead, I opened my eyes to see him frowning. “You definitely don’t seem like the cat’s pajamas,” he said.
“Rude.”
“You’ve gotten to be a much better liar over the years, I’ll give you that,” he said, in that tone that was so flat, I didn’t know whether it was serious or sarcastic. “If you didn’t look like you were about to pass out into the garbage can, I’d have believed you.”
“Thank you, I’ve been practicing my lying skills. I started out with little fibs several times a week and now I’m up to spreading conspiracy theories daily. Did you know that North Dakota’s not a real place?”
Apparently, this remark did nothing to convince Jake of the Lucy’s Doing Just Fine propaganda I wanted to push, because he reached a hand out to my forehead.
His hand felt nice as it brushed back against my hairline.
“I’m not sick,” I informed him, batting his hand away before I did something incredibly stupid like move it to my cheek and nuzzle into it or something. “If you hear me sniffling, it’s just allergies.”
“Oh. You got bad enough to take your allergy meds today, didn’t you?” Jake asked, his eyes lighting up in recognition. “Wait—don’t tell me. You ran straight here to open the café and skipped breakfast too.”
I glared at him. “You missed your calling as a psych major.”
“Seriously, why’d you come in today? You know you feelmiserable even with the pills. Remember what happened in eighth grade?”
“Do you?” I asked. “Because for a while there, it felt like you forgot about me entirely.”
Something I felt too sick to decipher flashed through his eyes, before he pushed whatever emotion that was away. “You should go home.”
“No way, we need to be open this morning,” I argued, trying hard to annunciate because my tongue was feeling heavy. “It’s more important than ever. We can’t be shutting down at random times.”
“Okay, but do you really need to—”
“I do,” I insisted before he could finish his sentence, exhaustion and desperation creeping into my voice. “You don’t abandon the people you love. No matter what.”
Jake paused, taking me in. “You really believe that, don’t you?”
I avoided his gaze. Quietly, I said, “I only really got it wrong once.”
Thewith youwent unsaid, heavy on my tongue.
When my eyes flickered back to Jake, he was watching me closely.
After a moment, he said, “I get it, Lucy. But it won’t help the café if you mess something up because you’re too sick to think straight. It’ll just make things worse.”
I considered this, horrified. Out of everything Jake could’ve said, that’s what pulled me up short. What if I accidentally let a cat out? Or embarrassed myself in front of customers? What if they went online and wrote humiliating reviews? I’d never forgive myself.
Jake coaxed me toward the door. “There’s no one here right now. Just close up. Amber can reopen when she comes in later.”
The idea sounded nice, but then I remembered that I’d have to cancel the rest of the bookings this morning. The effect was like car brakes slamming.
“No!” I shouted, louder than I meant to. “We can’t lose another day.Please.”
Jake blinked, surprised at the intensity of my reaction, before nodding. “Okay, then. How about I get the guys to help. I’ll make sure they keep the café running. Leon’s really great with coffee, you know. And you have a chore checklist in the cat room, right? Aspen and Phillip can take care of that. Now can you go home?”
