FOUR
Elijah
I haven’t even hadmy first cup of coffee when Patrick comes strolling in the next morning with a shit-eating grin on his face. I already know that I’m not going to like what he has to tell me. Anything that can make him this happy can’t be a good thing.
“What could you be so happy about so early in the morning?” I grumble as I pick up my coffee cup and take a big gulp.
“Oh, you mean you haven’t heard the latest town gossip?” he asks, his grin somehow growing.
“Come on, man. You know that I don’t follow town gossip,” I say with a scowl as I head out from behind the counter and kneel next to the sock display.
“Well, I just thought that you might this time. Considering that it’s about you.”
That has my stomach dropping. What could I have done to make people talk about me? I’m either in the shop, at home, or doing something alone in the outdoors.
I wait for Patrick to go on but when he doesn’t, I realize that he’s waiting for me to ask him a bunch of questions. No way that is going to happen.
I start to restock as Patrick grabs his own cup of coffee from behind the counter and heads over to join me. He makes himself comfortable on a shoe bench nearby and takes his own big gulp of coffee.
“So there’s nothing that you want to tell me?” he asks, his eyes open and curious.
“Nope,” I say, ignoring him and stocking more socks onto the shelf.
Patrick sighs, giving up his game.
“Well, the town gossip is that you were in here the other night after Brennan and I left… with a woman.”
“Yeah, I was. It was the new baker in town. Her name is Hartley.”
“So you admit it!” he says, pointing a finger at me, and I just look at him like he’s crazy.
“Yeah, I admit that she was in here the other night. She came in to buy a new pair of boots and a parka. What’s so interesting about that? Why is that town gossip?”
“Well, Sheriff Hull was driving by and said he saw the two of you in here in a compromising position.”
“Compromising position?” I ask, searching my mind for what he could be talking about.
“Yeah. He said that he saw you taking off Hartley’s clothes. He said she was standing right over there without her shirt on and that you two looked like you wanted to go a few rounds.”
“Oh. That.”
I close my eyes in pain, hanging my head.
“That was an accident,” I try to explain but Patrick butts in.
“Sorry, so you did or didn’t have a girl in here topless the other night?”
“I did, but not like that. The coat zipper got jammed and I was helping her out of the thing.”
“By taking her shirt off?” Patrick interrupts with a laugh.
“No! I pulled the jacket off and her shirt came with it. That was it. It was just an accident. Completely harmless.”
Patrick studies me, eyeing me like he’s trying to see if I’m being honest. When he sees that I am, he sighs.
“Oh. Bummer, man,” Patrick says, taking another long drink from his coffee cup.
I glare at him over my shoulder.