Page 45 of Can't Stop Now
“It’s a nice night out there, isn’t it?” a woman’s voice said.
Will looked up at her. It was the brunette that had been on the other side of the bar earlier. Will sighed.
“Yeah, it would be if my day hadn’t been so shitty,” he said, taking another sip of his drink.
“Aw, shitty? How come?” she said. She seemed sweet and friendly, but Will was in too sour a mood to care about social niceties.
“Well, a guy I was… seeing?--No, not really seeing, just hooking up with-- decided that he’s not so interested in me, or any dudes, actually. He told me he’s gonna get back with his girlfriend. Then tonight Ialsohappened to bomb a phone interview, making a total fool of myself and ensuring that I’ll have an unemployed life all alone,” Will said, matter-of-factly. “How’s that for an uplifting start to a conversation?” he said, taking another drink and feeling the bracing, bitter gin against his throat.
Will was shocked to hear the girl laugh. He figured after a spiel like that, she would run for the hills.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh at your bad day. I’m more just laughing at the fact that I came over here because I thought you were cute. I was gonna try to flirt, and now I havedefinitelyrealized that I’m not getting any action tonight, for more reasons than one,” she said, smiling and shaking her head. “I’m sorry you’re having a shitty day. I’m Erica, by the way,” she said, reaching out to shake Will’s hand. Will smiled. He liked how forward and comfortable she seemed. She reminded him a little of Maya.
“Well, that makes two of us not getting any action,” Will said. “Can I buy you a drink, at least?”
“Oh, sure. I’ll take a drink.”
She asked for details about Will’s story, and he gave them to her. He felt himself becoming less stressed out as they talked, glad that he could finally get the story off his chest.
“Jeez, it sounds like you’ve had acrazypast couple weeks,” Erica said, shaking her head.
“I guess I really have. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it really is wild. But here I am talking at you for so long aboutmylittle sob story – what about you? What brings you to Santa Fe?” Will asked.
“Well, I’m actually here on a business trip, believe it or not. I know Santa Fe isn’t the first place you think of for business, but I work for an online marketing firm in California, and a potential investor lives out here, so they sent me out. If he invests in the company, we might be able to nearly double in size,” she said.
“Online marketing!Ugh, why couldn’t I have met you, like, four hours ago? That’s what they asked me about in my interview. And I totally botched it. Butanyway. Where in California?” Will asked.
“In Oceanside. It’s like a half-hour north of San Diego,” she said. Will felt his heart rate increase slightly when he heard mention of that city, the one where Jacob would end up so soon.
“Gotcha. San Diego is where that guy I told you about is headed at the end of our road trip,” Will said, and he stole a glance at Jacob on the other side of the bar. He couldn’t believe Jacob was still there – he’d been down here chatting with this woman for maybe 45 minutes now, and Jacob was just alone, nursing beers on the other side of the room. Will felt a pang in his heart, and couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in Jacob’s head.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Will asked Erica, his voice low and quiet. “You have to promise not to make a scene, and don’t look over at him too fast. But the guy with short brown hair in the blue shirt at the other end of the bar is the guy I’m on the trip with,” Will said, whispering.
Erica nodded and a few seconds later looked over, casually, trying not to draw any attention to herself like Will had asked. She turned back, raising her eyebrows at Will.
“He isreallycute,” she said, nodding in sympathy with Will. “I actually considered chatting him up tonight before I came over to you, but he looked too sad, I didn’t wanna bother him!” she laughed slightly.
They chatted for a few more minutes. Will was so glad to have met Erica. She was a breath of fresh air on an otherwise shitty day. Before she said goodbye, she exchanged phone numbers with Will, just in case they were ever in the same town again.
“It was really great meeting you, Will. I really do wish you the best,” she said, and gave Will a tiny hug and heading back to her hotel room.
A few minutes passed, and Will finished the rest of his drink, which was his third. He peered up at Jacob again, who was still on the other side of the bar.
“Ahh, fuck it,” Will said under his breath, getting up to go sit next to Jacob. He sat at the seat next to him and saw Jacob lift his head slightly to look over at him.
“You make a new friend?” Jacob asked. Will could tell that he was slightly drunk as well.That makes two of us, Will thought.
“Yeah, I actually did. Her name’s Erica. She seemed awesome, down-to-earth. Reminds me a little of Maya, actually,” Will said. He grabbed Jacob’s beer and took a sip of it. Jacob laughed.
“You really do have a way of making friends with people quick, Will,” Jacob said, smiling at him and shaking his head a little. “I don’t know how you do it, but you turn on the charm andbam, you’ve got another friend. Wish I could do that,” he said.
Will shrugged. He ordered one last drink for himself and another beer for Jacob.
“I’m gonna go check out that pool they talked about when we checked in,” Will said, feeling the alcohol in his system. “You can come if you want, but you don’t have to. You just looked kind of…sadover here, by yourself.”
“Yeah. I’m not feeling great. But I’ll come outside,” Jacob responded.
They ventured out. The deck by the pool was nice, small but cozy, with small twinkly lights lining the deck and tons of plants. Will and Jacob sat on a couple of lounge chairs by the pool. The sun had just dipped below the horizon, and the sky was covered in a pinkish-orange, dusty sunset hue. It was beautiful.