Page 70 of Just One More Thing

He takes it, sets it behind the counter without opening it, then reaches for a cup and starts making my usual. “Heard you had an eventful night,” he says mildly.

I should leave. I should absolutely leave. I have delivered the doughnuts. My legal and emotional obligation is complete. Instead, I stand there with both hands wrapped around the edge of the counter like it might try to escape first.

“News travels fast,” I say.

“News runs this town.”

Walt slides the iced latte toward me. “On the house.”

“You never give me free coffee.”

“Special occasion.”

I pick up the cup and turn it.

COURAGE IS ONE STEP PAST FEAR

He talks casually, then hands you a sentence that wedges itself under your ribs for the rest of the day.

“You know,” I say, “for a man who barely speaks, you are very loud.”

His mouth tucks at one corner. “You don’t need a lot of words. Just the right ones.”

Across the shop, someone sneezes. I glance over, and every person in the coffee shop and bookstore instantly becomes fascinated by something else. Books. Flooring. The structural integrity of napkins.

“Go on,” he says. “He’s probably waiting.”

The cup is cold in my hand. The words on it stare back at me.

I think about last night. Jake’s hand around mine. His mouth on mine. His voice asking me not to disappear. And I think about me, ten years ago, doing exactly that.

I take a sip of the latte. Then a breath. “Thanks, Walt,” I say quietly.

I walk outside and raise my cup to Willard as I turn toward the dock. Toward The Knuckle.

Toward him.

My grip tightens on the cup hard enough to pop the lid. But I don’t stop walking.

One step past fear.

I’m doing that.

I think.

CHAPTER 20

JAKE

I’ve been awake since five fifty-one.

Not because I’ve spent the better part of the morning replaying a kiss on top of a lighthouse like some kind of lovesick fool.

I’m just awake.

Wide the hell awake.

The sky was still that soft gray-blue when I gave up pretending I could sleep. Standing on the porch didn’t fix it. Nothing about the salt air, the quiet of the water, or the fact that the whole town was still asleep did a damn thing to settle me down.