Diving In (Open Door Love Story) Read online

  Andy’s head snaps around to me. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  I shrug. “Guess it just didn’t come up.”

  Izzy arrives with a huge tray loaded with all of our drinks, expertly balanced on her shoulder. She squats down and sets the edge of the tray on the table and begins handing out the drinks according to the order her dad wrote them down. When she passes my Coke to me, she smiles quickly. No one else gets as sparkling treatment.

  She takes the empty tray and stands it up against the side of her leg and gets her order pad out of her apron. “How are we dividing the bill?”

  Travis pokes his index finger in the air. “All on me.”

  Everyone says, “Hey thanks,” and “Cool of you man,” except me.

  I sense that Izzy really wants to roll her eyes. I wonder how much, if any, she remembers of that day at Travis’s. It would be naïve to assume she went home and crawled in bed and woke the next morning without an inkling something bad had happened. Maybe she was pretending like me. Maybe she decided to let it go.

  They end up ordering an ungodly amount of pizza – it has been a while since I’ve hung out with so many guys who could just put it away – and besides, if Travis is paying, I’m sure they’re all taking advantage of the free meal.

  The conversations turn to talk about work. Some of the guys have part time jobs in the dining hall at their school or teaching parks and rec swim lessons like me. Travis jokes that he had to go to school to get away from working.

  “What about you Brynn?” Travis asks. “Your family is in dry cleaning, right?”

  I snort. “I don’t know if that’s how we’d say it. My mom and grandpa own and operate a chain of dry cleaners. I manage the Bingham store.”

  “Interesting,” he says, like he really is interested. “That’s sort of an up and coming neighborhood. I was thinking about buying a loft on Beech.”

  “I don’t know if it’s really your scene, Travis,” I say, chuckling. “Lots of young families moving in. They probably wouldn’t appreciate the parties until 3 a.m. every night of the week.”

  “Oh, c’mon now,” he smiles broadly, showing off his perfect teeth. “Despite what Mr. Sundall thinks, people can change.”

  “Do you have a job, Gabe?” Andy chimes in, but doesn’t wait for Gabe to answer. “I’m surprised Brynn doesn’t have you helping her out at the store. They’re hiring.” He turns to me. “You don’t think Gabe would make a good employee?”

  I balk. What the hell is up with him? “Of course I do. We haven’t really talked about it.” I look at Gabe. “Do you have an interest in working at the cleaners?”

  He looks up like the answer to my question is hovering somewhere above his head. “The sooner I start making my own money, the sooner I can move out of my parent’s house.” He shrugs. “I have been thinking about getting a job, I just didn’t know where to begin.”

  “And of course, I would offer,” Travis says, “but I’m not sure a potato chip factory is a good fit for you.”

  This is turning out to be the strangest night. “Okay, well, I was going to hire someone to start next week.”

  “You sure you don’t need to interview him first? What if he’s not qualified?” Andy asks, with a smirk.

  I’ve had just about enough of Andy’s bullshit. I turn to Gabe purposefully. “Have you ever had a job?”

  “I mowed lawns and shoveled snow around my neighborhood.” He looks down like he’s embarrassed. “I was counting on a swimming scholarship, so I spent more time working on that than making money.”

  “Dedication and follow through are what make a good employee,” I say. “It’s important to me that you know what it’s like to work for something, and you do.” I reach my hand across the table. “Can you start Monday?”

  Gabe takes my hand and shakes it firmly. “I can, Boss.”

  Izzy shows up with the first two pizzas, sets them down on the table, and then runs to get two more. Her dad follows her out with another two. Six extra-large pizzas to feed nine guys. Sounds about right. One last trip to the kitchen and she brings out my dessert pizza, a large stack of plates, and a bunch of napkins. She sets my food down in front of me and a paper napkin flutters down onto my lap.

  I look at it to unfold it and have to keep myself from gasping.

  We need to talk. I saw you save Gabe. I’m ready to take Travis down.

  -Izzy

  Chapter Nine

  I touch the napkin in the pocket of my coat on our way back to Andy’s car, hoping Izzy’s note hasn’t fallen out.

  She needs to talk. She saw me. All this time, and my secret wasn’t just my own. No wonder she’d been in and out of rehab. I’d pushed that day down deep inside and she’d tried to drink it away.

  And now Gabe is going to start working with me, all because Andy was being so weird and pushy and offensive.

  Enough. At least the mystery behind his actions was going to get solved tonight. I have control over that.

  “What is up with you tonight?” I ask.

  Andy shrugs and jams his hands in his pockets. “Don’t know.”

  “You were being a gigantic a-hole to Gabe and not very nice to me either.”

  He shrugs again and his phone beeps for the one millionth time, notifying him of a text.

  “What’s with all the texting?”

  Andy doesn’t say anything until we get to the car. “Her name is Sylvia.”

  “Okay,” I say, not getting it, “and she really needs to talk to you because why?”

  Andy takes in a deep breath and then blows it out on a sigh. “Because I’m supposed to break up with you tonight, but I’m being chicken shit.”

  “Ah ha,” I drawl. Thank God! Our evening is making a lot more sense now. “So, she told you to act like a dick?”

  He nods. “She thought it would make you break up with me.”

  “Jesus.” I can’t help but laugh. “Dude, I do want to break up with you, but not because on one night out of our entire relationship you decided to be the worst person ever.”

  He scrunches up his face. “Because you want to date Gabe?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I knew it and I thought it was fine. I mean I really like Sylvia and want to, y’know, be with her more than you, but you’re you, Brynn. My Brynn, for a long time.” Andy gives me a half-hearted smile. “Letting you go is harder than I expected.”

  I sling my arms around his neck and give him a tight hug. “We’re not in high school anymore.”

  “Truth.” He pulls back and looks down at me. “I want you to be happy. I tried, but you never … I hope Gabe does a better job than me.”

  “And I hope Sylvia treats you right, because you’re one of the best people I know. Usually.”

  I step back from him, and he holds his right hand up to me, palm out. “High five for the most kick ass break up ever!”

  I slap his palm with mine. “Yes! We win at breaking up!”

  Andy nods toward Sunny’s. “I’ll still give you a ride home, but I think someone’s waiting to see how this all played out.”

  I turn and see Gabe parked not so conspicuously at the top of the last block and then look back at Andy. “Have a good Thanksgiving. See you around.”

  Andy shakes his head. “See you around, Brynn.”

  Gabe pretends to be fiddling with the radio controls when I pop up next to his window. He looks over, acts startled, and rolls the window down. “Oh, hey.”

  I snort. “Hey. You couldn’t look more stalkery right now if you tried.”

  “Really? ’Cause, I was considering getting my binoculars out.”

  “You have binoculars in the candy van, why?”

  “I don’t,” he says with faux sheepishness. “I was gonna use the zoom on the camera on my phone.”

  I shake my head in disappointment. “Low tech, bro.”

  Gabe leans out the window and says in an old timey accent, “So, are you getting in here and becoming my woman or what?”


  I stand on tip-toe and rest my chest on the window sill, forcing him back inside the van. “Yeah, I became a woman at twelve. I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but it’s vaguely gross and incomprehensible.”

  He rolls his eyes and sighs exaggeratedly. “You wanna make out with me?”

  “Why didn’t you just ask?” I remove my person from the window.

  “I did, like, four different ways.” Gabe reaches out and knocks on my forehead. “Did Andy high five the brains out of your head or what?”

  “No,” I say, grinning. “He was really cool, actually. Turns out, he wanted to break up with me to be with this girl Sylvia. The whole being a mega dick was an act.”

  “Good, because watching you leave with him made me want to roll over his face.”

  I get in the van and he pulls away from the curb. We wave at Andy, who’s still leaning against his car, texting, a huge smile on his face.

  “Goober.” I roll my eyes and chuckle. “So, are you really going to work with me?”

  Gabe nods. “We shook on it, didn’t we?”

  “Indeed. I just didn’t know if that was for show or what. You guys and your trying to be manly is confusing.”

  He looks worried. “I never have had a job, though, for real. I might suck as an employee.”

  I put my hand on his arm. “It’s not that hard. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.”

  “Okay, I just want you to be prepared. Since the accident I sometimes get … overwhelmed easily.”

  “We’ll take it one day and one customer at a time.”

  ~

  Thanksgiving with my parents and my grandpa is fine. Mom makes food. Turkey, gravy, potatoes, oyster dressing, cranberry sauce, green salad, rolls, pumpkin pie. The End.

  We sit at the dining room table and eat it. No one says what they are thankful for and no one mentions that my brother isn’t here. Dad and Grandpa each have three beers and pretend to give a shit about football while I help Mom load the dishwasher and wipe down the kitchen countertops.

  “Good pie,” I say because I can’t remember if I’ve said anything out loud all day and also because I’m thinking about having another piece piled high with Cool Whip.

  Mom shrugs. “Meh. It’s from Safeway. I didn’t make it to Carlucci’s in time this year.”

  “I could’ve picked it up for you,” I offer.

  “Oh, could you have? In between making out with that disabled boy and dumping your perfectly devoted and might I add, well off, boyfriend?”

  Mom wrenches open the fridge, takes the pie out, collects herself and then calmly drops it in the trash can.

  It’s just a pie. I can easily go to Safeway and buy my own.

  I can buy my own.

  This year is different, I realize. I don’t live here. I don’t only have a room to go to or the threat of my parents grounding me if I don’t do what they say.

  I am overcome with such satisfaction at not giving my mom the satisfaction. I set the skillet I’d been handwashing (because you must NEVER put your good pans in the dishwasher) down on the counter and walk out of the kitchen. My purse is on the entry table across from the den. I grab it and my coat from the coatrack and peek my head in the den. “Later, Dad. See you, Grandpa.”

  Dad barely glances at me and nods. Grandpa comes over and gives me a hug. “You starting interviews on Monday?”

  “Actually, I already hired someone.”

  “I see. That why you’re scootin’ off so quick?”

  I shake my head and smile at him. “No, Mom’s not too happy Andy and I broke up.”

  Grandpa shrugs. “Ah well. He’s a nice kid, but it was never gonna last forever.”

  Grandpa gets a peck on the cheek for that sentiment. “Come over to my apartment later if you want more pie. I’m going to buy a whole one for myself.”

  He laughs, commiserating. “I was considering doing the same thing myself on the way home.”

  I walk to the bus stop, in for a good long wait since they’re running on the holiday schedule. I decide to call my brother.

  “You should know, Brynn,” Liam slurs when he answers, “is that I’ve had a lot of wine and that Dani was right and I should’ve invited you to come have Turkey Day with us because you’re awesome and I love you and I’m sorry I left you behind with our shitty ass parents. Did you at least have third dessert?”

  I giggle. My brother can be kind of lushy. I imagine him throwing a boa over his shoulder when he speaks like this to me. “Sadly,” I say, “I only made it through first dessert. My hope of further stages were thwarted by Mom.”

  “What horrible sin did you commit now?”

  “Andy and I broke up. Very mutually and amicably. And I hired Gabe Riley to work at the store.”

  Liam gasps. “How dare you make fine and reasonable choices!”

  “Well,” I concede, “I am also dating Gabe.”

  I can almost hear Liam roll his eyes. “Working as a drag queen still trumps boning a guy in a wheelchair.”

  “Brynn’s boning a guy in a wheelchair?” I hear Dani say in passing. “Find out how that works.”

  “He is still in a wheelchair, right?” Liam asks. “He didn’t like go all Miracle Boy and awesomely walk again or something?”

  “Nope. He’s as paraplegic as they come.”

  “Welllllllll,” he drawls, “then I do want to know how that works.”

  “One,” I say, getting the giggles, “I don’t know yet. Two, we’re never discussing this again.”

  “Okay, okay.” He’s quiet for a moment. “Should I come home for Christmas?”

  “You can stay with me. You wouldn’t have to sleep in your old room or anything. I’d like it. Dani can come too.”

  “She’s going to Hawaii with her parents, which is the only reason I’m considering coming home. I’d be lonely here, but there…”

  “You’ll get to hang out with me and do some hardcore bonding?”

  “And deflect all of Mom’s attention away from you. I know your game, Brynn.” He laughs. “I never will get why you decided to stay in a place that has nothing to offer, with people who treat you like crap.”

  “It’s not easy to explain. I don’t feel that way. Things aren’t exactly how you think they are for me. Grandpa cares about us and I care about making sure his business is around and thriving. That means something to me. Also, I don’t think I’d belong any better anywhere else. I wasn’t going to go to Wyoming with Andy and as much as Eugene is a great place for you, it’s more granola than I can handle.”

  “Huh,” Liam says. “You have your reasons, I definitely get that.”

  The bus is approaching, so I get up from under the enclosure I was sitting in and step out to the curb so the driver can see me. “Bus is here. Come home for Christmas, please. I miss you.”

  I can practically hear Liam smiling through the phone. “Okay. I’ll do it for you.”

  Chapter Ten

  I get off the bus by Safeway, only to find they’re closed for the day. Guess Grandpa and I will be getting our pumpkin pie tomorrow. Instead of waiting twelve years for the bus again, I decide to hoof it home. It’s less than a mile and the weather isn’t too crappy. Gray, fortyish, and threatening to rain, but being indifferent to the whole thing because everyone is inside. Yes, I know for a fact that weather has a personality.

  The traffic is light as I walk down the side of the road on the gravel part between where the city decided there absolutely needed to be sidewalks and where they could spare making a safe place for people to walk for twenty feet. Weather, I get. The government, not so much.

  I’m singing to myself, well, sort of hum-singing because I don’t know the words to the song I’m trying to sing except for the chorus, when a car pulls up alongside me.

  I look over at the woman behind the rolled down window. She smiles at me like I should know her. A customer, probably.

  “Hi,” I say confidently, hoping she doesn’t notice I haven’t addressed her by na
me.

  “Hi,” she says and then giggles a little and shakes her head. “You’re Brynn Garrett, right? Otherwise, I’ve stopped on the side of the road to bother a total stranger.”

  I nod. “Yeah, I’m Brynn. You’re a customer at my family’s drycleaners?” The jig is up!

  She points to the seat next to her. “I am. I’m also Gabe’s mom. Do you need a ride?”

  “Oh!” I say, recognizing her now. He shares her mannerisms … and giggle. “It’s not far to my apartment. I actually live over the cleaners.”

  “Gabe mentioned that. He lamented how he’d never be able to visit your place because there’s not an elevator in your building.”

  “It’s true. Although, my place is not worth visiting. It is exactly what you’d think an apartment above a drycleaners looks like.”

  She giggles again. “Would you be interested in coming over to our house? That would score me some points with Gabe and I’m needing them at the moment.”

  I only need to think about it for a second. I’ve been leaving him alone all day. Not texting or calling because … because we were new and I didn’t know if I was supposed to wait or what. I wanted to see him, though, and if it looks like it’s his mom’s doing, I seem less desperate. “Sure.” I go around and get into the passenger seat of her completely adequate blue four door sedan. “You wouldn’t happen to have any pumpkin pie at your house, would you?”

  Mrs. Riley smiles at me. “I do. I was just popping to the Safeway to grab some whipped cream, but it’s closed. Can’t remember everything!”

  She pulls out into the street and drives along at a leisurely pace of one hundred miles an hour. Now I know where Gabe gets it from. We make chit-chat. Did I have a nice day with my family? I lie and say yes. Do I enjoy teaching swimming to seniors? I do, I answer.

  A smile creeps onto my mouth. I wonder how much he’s told his mom about me. That’s promising. I mean I know how I feel about Gabe and I think I know how he feels about me, but the idea of actually getting to be with him, that he might be my boyfriend and not this idea or fantasy, that feeling is in a constant state of flux. I was never good at the whole does he or doesn’t he like me as much as I like him. Because Andy liked me more and I liked him fine and there’s never really been anyone else.