Page 55 of Cockpit
And Grayson is . . . who knows what Grayson is, other than a jerk for what he said to me yesterday.
Normally after a great day, Zoey and I would live it up some. Go out for drinks and a night on the town. Dance with some men, and maybe end up with one when closing time came.
I may not have Zoey by my side, and I may have no interest in taking some random guy home with me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t go out and have a drink, right?
I force myself to leave, if only because I refuse to spend the night at the office doing the exact thing I’m worried I’d do alone at my house.
As I drive through downtown Sunnyville, with its rustic storefronts where the word “wine” can be seen somewhere in every window display, I realize my night on the town most definitely is not going to happen here. But I park the car under the big banner advertising the upcoming Harvest Festival and get out to walk around like the many tourists milling about. I poke my head into a few stores, buy some handmade soap, get a bouquet of flowers, and pick up a cute bracelet to send Zoey for her birthday.
A few people smile knowingly at me, as if they are asking with their eyes if the gossip column is true, but I feign that I don’t see them so I don’t have to acknowledge the question.
“Sidney!” I turn to find Cathy stepping out from the nail salon I just passed.
“Hey.”
“We need to stop meeting like this on the street.” She laughs as she glances to her freshly painted toes, which still have twisted paper towels between them so her polish doesn’t smudge. “Or else gossip around town is going to be that we’re streetwalkers.” Her eyes widen as she waits for me to get the joke, and then she laughs even louder when I just shake my head.
“Cute, but more rumors are the last thing I need.”
“Sometimes they’re good for the soul.”
Moving on . . .
“How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m good.” Someone across the street calls out to her, and she waves before turning back to me. “But not as good as you’re doing, I see.”
Yeah, I should have known better than to think she would drop it. “The newspaper.”
“The newspaper.” She nods. “You made a lot of ladies in that line awfully pissed that a newcomer snagged the last Malone and not one of us.” I opt to ignore the “newcomer” comment since she knows I did, in fact, grow up here, and her distinctive laugh sounds off. People walking by turn their heads at its cadence, and I duck my head slightly.
“I didn’t snag him. It really was just a picture taken at the right time, and—”
“Oh, honey, you don’t have to make excuses to me. This whole town is abuzz with the news.” She pats my arm. “How did you think I knew you were out here? Ol’ Patsy from the soap shop said something to Kira as she was walking by, and then Kira came into the nail salon. It’s like the grown-up game of telephone in these parts.”
“It’s comforting to know my whereabouts are being tracked so diligently,” I say teasingly as we both step back out of the middle of the sidewalk so people can pass. “I can assure you that everything was taken out of context. The hero thing. The party. The kiss.”
“At least Grayson is having some fun for a change,” she says, talking right over my explanation as if I didn’t utter a word. “He had a rough go of it when Claire left town.”
“Claire?” Wait. What? “As in Claire Hoskin, Claire?”
“Mm-hmm. Didn’t you know she’s Luke’s mother?”
“No. I didn’t.” My mind stumbles over the information. The beauty queen of Sunnyville and one of my closest friends back in high school. Claire is Luke’s mom? Claire was with Grayson? She’s the one who walked out on them?
I try to hide my shock as I look over at a group of teenagers who are sitting outside of the convenience store at the end of the street. They screech playfully, and I can almost picture us there, doing the same thing, when we were that age.
Claire. Gorgeous. Conceited . . . but couldn’t the same things have been said about me?
Realization strikes. The kind that makes your jaw fall lax and forces you to blink to make sure you’re right.
Grayson sees me as Claire. A “walks like a duck and talks like a duck” type of thing. No wonder he hates me.
When the thoughts settle, I’m left with Cathy staring at me with her brow furrowed and her smile frozen as if she just said something she shouldn’t but can’t wait to say more.
“I had no idea he was with Claire. I left Sunnyville after graduation and never looked back.”
“Yeah, it’s a long story, which the majority of us around here don’t know the half of, I’m sure. You know how money can keep lips from getting loose, don’t you?” She waves a hand my way as if the story is inconsequential. “Anyhoo, I’m sure he’ll tell you when the time’s right in your relationship.”
