“I don’t work that way.” He said quietly and looked down at his shoes. When he finally lifted his eyes, the coldness was gone, and my heart lifted a little. “I just want—"
We both turned our heads into the direction of the loud rumble of a car engine approaching the restaurant. It was Blake. Fox stopped speaking as he focused a hard gaze on Blake’s car.
“What were you going to say?” I asked, desperate for him to continue.
“Nothing.” The moment was clearly over as he tossed something into the trash can, the item sounding like glass as it crashed at the bottom of the bin.
“I guess I’m going to go,” I said quietly and hurried around the building to Blake’s car, not looking behind me. I did, however, hear the door to the restaurant slam shut…hard.
Chapter Fifteen
Blake owned an auto repair shop in town where he also fixed up old cars and sold them. Tayia helped him by answering the phones and doing the admin work for a few hours every day. He offered to salvage a car for me to drive as soon as he had the time. It had only been a week since I moved in but Blake and I had developed a fast friendship. He was more of a listener than a talker. It was nice to not have to compete in a conversation, not have to think of some sort of snappy comeback for everything. Blake wasn’t that kind of guy and I was getting tired of being the smart-mouthed girl.
It felt like I’d been given the opportunity to reinvent myself. Wasn’t that the reason I came to the island in the first place? Nobody knew me or anything about my past. Maybe it was finally time to let it all go and become the Harley I wanted to be not the girl I had to be as a result of my mistakes.
During my shifts, I stole glances at Fox as often as I could without being caught. Sometimes he would sit in his car with the engine running while I waited outside the restaurant for Blake. Jonna was the only person to comment on the silence between her brother and me. I knew everyone was thinking it, but she was the only one to say something. I was refilling salt shakers when she walked up to me, placing her empty drink tray on the table.
“What gives?”
“Huh?” My head snapped in her direction. “What do you mean?”
“You and my brother. Something happened and now the two of you are acting all strange around each other.” She planted a hand on her hip.
“There’s nothing to tell. We tried to be… friends, but it didn’t work out.”
“Just friends?” Her ice blue eyes narrowed at me as she cocked her head to the side, causing her blonde locks to swish with her movement.
“Yep,” I replied quickly and began to focus on filling shakers again. It was the truth. I’d wanted to be his friend, but he didn’t seem to want the same thing, however I wasn’t going to share that part with Jonna.
“You’re full of shit and I don’t believe you. Somebody got their feelings hurt,” she boldly accused.
I shrugged, not really caring if she believed me, my expression telling her so.
“Hmph.” She huffed and spun away on her heels. “I’ll get the story from him. I have ways of getting the truth.” Jonna took off into the kitchen, presumably in search of her brother.
Small towns never missed the opportunity to gossip especially about a topic as juicy as the mysterious new girl and one of the islands most eligible bachelors. The families of the people involved were even worse.
“Excuse me?” I heard someone call from behind me and I turned around to see a stunning blonde wearing a snug top that barely covered her nipples and a tiny jean skirt.
“Yes?” I answered, not trying to hide my annoyance. She rubbed me the wrong way immediately and I knew what she was going to say before the words left her mouth.
“I’m looking for Fox. Is he here?”
I fucking knew it.
“Um, I’m not sure.” Except, I’d known for a fact that he was in the office doing paperwork. I’d made a point to always know exactly where he was in the restaurant.
“Um.” She glared at me as she crossed her arms and snidely mimicked my tone. “Can you go and check or something? Tell him that Kayla is here.” The bitch then proceeded to dismiss me by turning her back and strutting ove
r to an empty table to wait. I gathered the tray of dishes and walked to the back. I restocked all the items at the service area and counted my tips. What I didn’t do was tell Fox that Kayla was waiting out front for him.
“So, what’s with Bitchy-face out there?” Jonna asked as she walked into the kitchen. I snickered at the name she used and shrugged. “Is she here for my brother?”
“I guess,” I replied, trying to sound nonchalant. Jonna twisted her mouth as she stared at me.
“I wish the two of you would get your heads out of your asses and stop being so stupid.”
“What? What do you mean?” I sputtered.