Page 30 of The Exit Strategy
Jesus. For what? For creeping on his sister? For capturing her smile? For not fucking touching her? For loving her?
“Chris is a narcissist,” Junie shouts at the TV, and I drop my phone into my back pocket.
But the damage is done. My control is slipping, and it’s only a matter of time before the whole world knows it.
“She’s giving main character energy.” Katie laughs with Dollie. “Delightfully feral.” She nods to Junie, sittingbetween them, up on her knees with a fist raised at the television.
And for once, I don’t disagree with Katie.
The clubhouse empties slowly.Stanley offers Junie a ride home in his golf cart, which she declines with more grace than I expected after he chased her into town.
“I’ll schedule a scoring methodology review session for Saturday,” Marley says, clutching Junie’s scoring matrix like it’s a sacred text.
“Ah, sure,” Junie replies. “Why not?” The two glasses of wine must have gone to her head. There wasn’t an ounce of spite or sass in her reply.
The walk back to my property takes less than five minutes, but I’m halfway across my yard before I realize she didn’t break off toward her apartment—she’s heading to my porch.
I slow my pace to match hers.
She sits on the top step without an invitation—it’s not as though she’s ever needed one—but this feels…intentional. Junie tucks her feet under her, just as she used to do in Boston, and doesn’t say a word.
I hesitate at the base of the stairs, then take a seat two steps below her. Not beside her. I never sit beside her. Distance is the only rule I seem to be able to follow in her presence.
The lanterns frame us in amber light, and the night sounds of The Haven mingle with the gentle waves of the ocean a hundred yards away.
The silence should be uncomfortable. With anyone else, it would be.
“They’re…insane,” she says finally. There’s no bite in it though, and I smother a smile.
“Completely.”
“That scoring system had so many structural flaws, I don’t even know where to begin.”
I relax my fists in my lap. “Whatever you did on that scorecard seems like a good start. I’m pretty sure Marley’s going home to laminate it.”
She drops her feet to the stair I’m sitting on, bumping my shoulder on the way down. Glancing back at her, I find the corner of her lips tilting up. Not a full smile, but a crack in the foundation. “Katie asked me to come back on Monday for the other show they watch.”
“What did you say?”
She picks at a thread on her sweatshirt. “I said maybe.”
From Junie, that’s a yes. She just doesn’t know it yet.
“Careful what you agree to,” I say playfully. “They’re known to have four shows going at any given time.”
It’s time to go inside. Pour myself a drink and lock myself away in my upstairs office to work on something that doesn’t cause this heartburn. But the quiet between us is the kind that used to make her talk, and I’m selfish for wanting it now.
“What were you working on earlier?” she finally asks. “Upstairs? Before S&S. I—your light was on.”
Using more pressure than necessary, I grip the back of my neck.
“Just…designs.”Designs I’d love to show you but you’ll never get to see.
“Designs for what?”
Distract and deflect. It’s the right thing to do, but she has her guard down for the first time since she got here, and it makes me want to offer her something in return.
“A community garden,” I say. It’s not a lie—it’s just not the full truth. “For The Haven. I’ve been working on it for a while. Raised beds, accessible pathways, a greenhouse for Frank because he’s been asking for one since they moved in.”
