Page 10 of Waves
Nope. I already said he can spend the night.
WHAT?!?!??!
I’m pretty sure he’s homeless, Mar.
SO BRING HIM TO A HOMELESS SHELTER. He’s a grown man, not a puppy!
I checked already. Closest men’s shelter is almost an hour away by car.
So just drop him at a church or something!
I can’t just dump him in a basket on the front steps. Besides, what can he really do to me if he stays the night?
HMM, I DON’T KNOW. HOW ABOUT BURGLARY? RAPE? MURDER???
Like I have anything of value left after canceling the wedding.
That still leaves the other two.
I’ll lock my door, and Ishmael will wake me if anyone tries to come in.
Great, so you’ll be wide awake before you’re murdered.
I snorted at her remark and looked up from the screen, making sure Kai hadn’t wandered too far. Still staring at the lobster tank, totally enthralled. I smiled and saw another message pop across my screen.
I’m calling you right now!
What? I typed back. Before I could even hit send, I got a request for a video call. Smart girl, making sure I was really alive and texting her. One of the many reasons I loved her.
Mary’s face appeared on the screen. Her messy red curls hung in front of glaring brown eyes, but she exhaled with apparent relief when she saw my face. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m really at the grocery store, and I’m shopping with, uh, with my new friend.” I glanced away from the screen and held the phone out before I flipped the lens. Kai remained preoccupied with the lobsters, so I had to call him to get his attention. “Kai, say hello.”
“Hello?” he said, clearly not understanding what I asked of him. He tilted his head at me, then returned to watching the lobsters climb over one another.
I flipped the screen back to me and dropped my voice to a whisper. “He’s really nice, Mar. And honestly, he seems pretty harmless.”
“I just want to state for the record that I think this is a terrible idea, but I can see exactly why you aren’t thinking clearly,” Mary said with a cocked eyebrow.
“Everything will be fine. Trust me.”
“I do trust you, but your judgment has an atrocious track record. I’m calling you first thing in the morning. Got it, mister?”
“Yes.” I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, text me. Bye,” Mary said before hanging up.
Kai apparently got his fill of lobster watching and wandered back over to me. He looked at me, then at my phone.
“Oh, I, uh, I got that call I was expecting, the important one. I was just talking to my friend, Mary,” I nervously explained.
“Oh, I see,” Kai said with a grin and a wink.
“No, no,” I quickly said, laughing the whole time. “She’s marrying a wonderful man next winter.”
“A man other than you, I presume?”
“Yes, we’ve never been anything more than friends.”