Page 24 of Another Last Call
“This is shit to you?”
“Well, I mean… comparatively,” I said.
“Comparatively. All those years, we thought you weren’t like the other summer kids, and now…”
“Now what?” I asked. “This is nothing like the other houses.”
She laughed bitterly. “This is nicer than the house I grew up in. You know that?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out.
“The way you talked about ‘the cabin’—” She did exaggerated quotes in the air as she spoke “—I thought it was like a single room with a fireplace and no indoor plumbing.”
I glanced at the house, then back at her. “You thought I lived in like… a shack? Every summer?”
She snorted. “I didn’t think you lived in a mansion.”
I hadn’t meant to upset her, and I wasn’t sure what I’d specifically done wrong. “I didn’t mean to imply anything. I just thought, you know, compared to the other places on the lake—”
“The things people call their vacation homes could fit my mom’s house inside them four times over. I didn’t expect that your ‘cabin’ was actually a lake house.”
“So you’re upset that it’s too nice?”
She let out a dry laugh. “No, just stupid of me to think you’d be different from any other tourist. You seem all down to earth, but you have this place that’s a friggin’ palace and it’s not good enough for you.”
“Why are you upset?” I asked.
“I’m not upset,” she spat. “Aside from you thinking I’m some kind of fucking gold digger. You know what? Forget it. You and I are apparently on very different pages when it comes to whatshitis. This was a bad idea.”
“Maggie, wait.” She started storming around the side of the cabin to the front. “Just a sec! Can we talk about this?”
“No.” She crossed the driveway towards her car. “I have to go. Goodbye, Caleb.”
She slammed the car door and started the car, reversing down the driveway before I could even respond. As the dust on the driveway settled, I finally managed to close my jaw.
“What the fuck just happened?” I muttered.
I slowly turned and headed back inside the cabin.
No, not the cabin. The lake house.
Fourteen
Maggie
“Whowasthecutie?”Annie asked as I walked through the kitchen at the start of my shift.
I froze in my tracks, my eyes wide. “What?”
Annie laughed, tightening her apron around her as she glanced to make sure Big Tim wasn’t listening.
“That fine piece of work I saw you sneak away with earlier?”
“Annie, I—”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” She put a calming hand on my shoulder as she reached past me to grab a head of lettuce. “Your secret’s safe from your mom, not that she’d care. But humour your auntie and spill the dirt, Maggie. Because he was afinepiece of work.”
A tremble ran through my jaw as I tried not to clench it. Of course Annie had seen me and Caleb leave. She got to the bar hours before anyone else to prep ingredients for the day.
