Austin
“You’re really just going to avoid her?” Daisy asks me.
“Yes, I am really just going to avoid her,” I tell her for the third time today.
“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of dumb things,” she continues.
“Will you just trust me?” I ask her.
A deep belly laugh erupts from Daisy. It’s not that funny, but whatever is going through her head evidently is. “You want me to trust you?” She covers her mouth and continues laughing away. “Hush your mouth, Austin. We both know that is crazy.”
“You know what? I don’t go callin’ you crazy when you decide you’re in love with some guy after just two dates, so I’m not about to take advice from you of all people. No offense.”
“None taken, but you are just downright rude, Austin Trace.”
“I’m right, though.”
“Whatever. You may want to go back to your hiding spot before Scarlett comes back downstairs and mistakenly runs into your dumb butt.”
“Clara said she’d warn me if she saw Scarlett,” I inform her.
“First, Clara is on break right now. Second, Clara is not on your side, Mr. Austin.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Clara likes you, Austin. She always has. She’s got it stuck in her head that you shooed Scarlett off because you have feelins’ for her. I told her that wasn’t the case, but Clara is lost in that head of hers somewhere, and who knows what’s really goin’ on with her?”
My stomach turns into a giant knot while listening to what Daisy is saying. Why wouldn’t Clara talk to me? We tell each other everything. I’m not sure I can pinpoint a time when anything changed between us, which is a little worrisome I suppose. “So she talked to you about her and me?” I ask, prying for more information.
Daisy rests her elbows on the desk and pushes up her thick, black-framed glasses that I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a prescription for. “Not exactly, but I have intuition, and I know she’s got feelings for you, so I just put it in her head in case that’s what was going on.”
“So, you brought it up to her is what you’re saying?” She looks guilty enough to avoid answering me directly. “Daisy, it ain’t happening with Clara and me, so if you can avoid the topic, that would help me out a great deal.”
“You truly do want to die alone, don’t you?” Daisy asks.
She asks because she doesn’t understand that it’s a possibility I’m okay with. If I end up an old man, alone on my damn farm with a dog, it’s fine by me. “The thought doesn’t bother me, and I still have some time left, thank you.”
“Austin?” Daisy and I are interrupted by the interruption that has been flying around like a ping pong ball in my head for the last week. So much for hiding.
I swivel around on my heels. “Scarlett, how’s it going?”
Her eyebrows pull in toward her nose as if she’s trying to figure me out by just a simple form of hello. “Fine. You?” she asks.
I shrug. “Same.”
“Okay … well, see ya,” she says, quicker than I’ve been able to even process a single thought since she walked out here.
“Oh, for the love all things holy, knock it off, both of you,” Daisy scolds us.
We both look at her with question, but Daisy doesn’t know what’s going through Scarlett’s head. She only knows what’s going through mine. At least that’s what I think. She’s probably double teaming and playing us against each other. Though, if that were the case, we probably wouldn’t be acting like confused strangers at the moment.
“Excuse me?” Scarlett places her hand on her hip, waiting for a response. She’s irritated. That much, I can see. I notice Dr. Lane gave her a new shorter cast. I’m assuming she’ll have that one for another few weeks, then a splint for a while longer.
“You both like each other, but you’re both playing ‘not it,’ and that’s weird and stupid. You’re grown adults, so act like it.”
I wasn’t playing “not it,” and Daisy knows this.
“You’re off work, Austin. Shift’s done. Get out of here,” Daisy says.
“I have to change,” I tell her, eyeballing her so she knows to cut it out.
“Then go change,” she says.
“Scarlett, how did your appointment go?”
“Dr. Lane said three more weeks.” Scarlett is obviously good at avoidance. You’d think we’d never met by the way she flips her wavy hair to the side so she doesn’t have to see me standing next to her.
“I’ll see ya around,” I say to Scarlett, purposely not addressing her. Not that I have to. She knows who I’m talking to.
Scarlet flips her hair back and looks at me as if she isn’t sure I said something. “Sorry, did you say bye? I just heard a weird buzzing noise. It sounded like you, so—”
“Yeah,” I tell her.
“Oh, well then, goodbye!” She purses her lips and grins before waving me away. It pisses me off, but I know it shouldn’t. She can be mad at me like I’m sure she is, but it isn’t exactly like she came here looking for me either. I mean, I know where she works, and I could have gone looking for her, but I chose not to for an important reason. In any case, there’s no way she doesn’t care. I was half of that kiss, and it wasn’t just any kiss.
I walk off toward the locker room and feel the steam shooting out of my ears by the time I open my locker. What am I doing? Maybe Daisy’s right, and I am a moron.
I take my shirt off and toss it into the laundry-pick-up bucket of dirty scrubs behind me before opening my bag to grab a clean shirt. Just as I drop my bag heavily to the ground, I hear the door to the locker room open. Whoever it is can stare at my back because I am not in the mood for chit-chat right now.
That plan might have worked for me if a cool hand didn’t just touch the center of my back, causing me to jump and spin around. “Dang it!” I was not expecting to see her behind me. “What in the hell are you doing back here?”
“Daisy told me it would be okay,” she says, keeping her voice to a soft whisper, which is odd because Scarlett doesn’t speak softly. Scarlett speaks affirmatively.
“Well, it ain’t okay.”
“Why didn’t you ask for my number?” She’s looking at me with these doleful eyes, making me feel like an asshat for not being the typical man and making all the moves. After the way she’s acted—being all tough and mighty—a woman who’s in control at all times, I wouldn’t have expected a question like that to come out of her.
“Why didn’t you ask for mine?” I reply.
“Because … I don’t like to chase men. It isn’t becoming,” she argues.
“Wait a minute now ... so, you don’t like to chase men, but you have no problem telling men what’s what and who’s who, and walking in on them naked in the staff-only room?”
“Don’t act like you know me so well. I know Brendan must have given you the rundown on the inner workings of my brain, but don’t think that’s a guideline you should go by with me.”
“First, Brendan didn’t say a whole lot about you that I hadn’t already figured out for myself. Second, while I like a good puzzle every now and again, it doesn’t mean I always have things or people figured out correctly the first time. I just kind of assumed you were the type to take the reins and giddy-on-up if you were interested.” None of what I just said is an actual reason why I didn’t ask for her number, though.
“I had a lot of time to think, Austin.”
“It’s been two weeks; it ain’t that long.”
“You’re right,” she agrees.
“I know I am.” Her gaze lazily skates down the center of my body and her breath shudders in response. I suppose it’s nice to know my body still has an effect on women. “So, what were you thinking about for those two whole weeks?”
“Whether or not I should stay in this weird little town,” she says.
“Good,” I tell her. “What’s your decision?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” she says.
“Well then, there’s nothing left here for you to see, perv.”
She scoffs and draws her head back with shock. “Did you just call me a perv?”
“You did just walk into the locker room without knocking.”
“And to think I came in here to be the ‘forward’ person you were expecting.”
“When you decide to stay in this town, give me a call.” There’s no humor in my words. I’m as serious as a pig looking at a plate of bacon. My heart isn’t capable of handling more destruction in this one lifetime, so unless I’m sure that a chick isn’t wearing me like a temporary fashion trend, I’m all done with getting involved. No matter how damn good a kiss is.
“Oh, you’re not a risk taker. I get it,” she says. “I suppose there is no real good reason to let life just play out on its own, I guess.”
“You’re right. There isn’t.”
“Then why did you kiss me?” She tries to cross her arms over her chest in a movement of frustration, but she realizes it’s not possible to comfortably manage with her cast, so she drops her hands by her side. That kind of makes me feel bad for her. She can’t even be pissy in a proper manner. “Well?” It’s been a second since she asked me the question and I get that I’m not fast enough for her, but damn, she is up my butt, and I’m cornered in a locker room of all places.
“I only kissed you in case the opportunity never came up again,” I tell her. “So, it’s a good thing I did what I did, wouldn’t you say?”
“Ah, the risk factor. It makes sense.” Scarlett takes a couple of steps back, and I’m debating every single decision I’ve made about her. I know why I’m single. I know why I can’t find the right woman. I know all this, but nothing changes. The outcome will always be the same. “Except, why would you care if the opportunity to kiss me never came up again?” She releases a groan of frustration and sweeps her hair off her shoulder. “You know what, Austin? If you don’t take a risk, you don’t stand the chance to win or lose, and that’s just sad.” Scarlett moves across the room quickly, grabbing ahold of the door handle to leave.
“Is that what you were thinking when you went walking through the woods with four-inch heels?”
She snickers and points at me with sarcasm oozing out of every feature on her cute face. “That’s the best comeback you have? You’re a funny one. Seriously though, it was a nice kiss to hold onto. So, thanks for that I guess.” With the door partially open and a foot into the hall, she turns back once more. “Oh, and just so you know, I’m not the type to make life changes for any man. I make them for me, and that’s why I’m single. So, if you thought your sexy tan, ripped ab muscles, and tats were going to be the reason I stay here, you’re a little cockier than I thought.” Holy shit. She’s me, but she doesn’t know it. “Bye, Austin.”
When the door shuts, I throw my shirt on, change my pants, and I’m out of the locker room within thirty-seconds of Scarlett’s dramatic, but impactful goodbye.
I don’t do this.
I don’t go after a woman just because she’s got a sassy mouth and says all the right things at the wrong times. So, I don’t know why the hell I’m doing it right now.
“Go get your girl,” Daisy yells as I jog by the desk.
“Will you quit your yappin’?” I shout to her.
I walk out through the emergency room sliding doors where the sunset is blazing down on me, causing a glare I can’t see a damn thing through.
“It’s okay, Austin, I can be a little cocky too.”
I spin around, looking for where her voice is coming from. I almost miss her while struggling to see through the blinding light, but I find Scarlett casually leaning up against the brick wall next to the doors.
“Cocky as in, you knew I’d be leaving work at the same time you walked out, so you figured you’d just wait a minute to see if I would, in fact, follow you?” I say.
“No,” she laughs, regaining all that control she once thought was gone. “Cocky as in, I know you like me. I know you know I like you, but we’re both too stubborn to consider something good is happening.”
I walk over to her, holding my back to the sun, shielding us from the surrounding glare. “Good things don’t happen in my life, Scarlett.”
“Why?” she asks.
“They just don’t.”
“Telling me that good things just don’t happen to you isn’t a good answer,” she argues. This woman sounds so knowing and sure, yet she has no clue what she’s talking about.
“Fine. If you don’t like my answer, what should it be, then?” I ask.
“Your answer should be, ‘Because something good hasn’t happened … yet.’”
Pretty, smart, and a hellion—just my type. Lord, am I in trouble … “Maybe you’re right.” Did those words just come out of my mouth? It’s like she made me say it. She’s an evil little thing.
“I know I am,” she says, confidently. “I’m going home. You can stop me if you’d like, but I’m not giving you what you want.”
“What do you think I want?” I ask her, taking another step closer.
“To escape whatever loneliness you’ve brought upon yourself.” If she had any clue how true her statement was, she might not have even said it.
“You have a lot of words to say, but what I don’t understand is how a risk-taker like yourself is basing a life decision on some self-imposed thirty-day trial. What kind of person follows a thought process like that?”
“Austin, I don’t follow my thoughts. I listen to my heart, and that’s scarier than any risk I’ll ever take.”
“Come back to my house with me,” I tell her. Fuck everything. Fuck my past. Fuck my future, and fuck everything in between. I want this girl. I want her now, and I’ll give her a million reasons to stay if that’s what she needs. I didn’t want to be a factor in her decision to stay or go, but I was lying to myself when I came up with that thought. I hardly know a thing about her, but she sees life through the same colored lenses I do, and it’s a rare trait to find in someone. I have to know her more. I need to learn her ways of battling the world around us because I’m envious of the shield she proudly holds in front of her.
“You want me to come back to your house?” She chuckles and slides her foot down the wall she’s been leaning against. “Well, since you asked so nicely.” With a raised brow, she steps out in front of me.
“Miss Scarlett, will you please join me at my house tonight for dinner and—a movie or something?” I try my hand at charm rather than dominant firmness because I think I’ve only perfected one of those tactics.
“It depends,” she says. With a questioning smile on her face, she pulls a pair of sunglasses from her purse and slides them over her eyes while continuing to walk ahead of me. This chick is going to take every damn opportunity there is to torture me. Yet, I’ve thrown all caution to the wind; ready to endure every single damn weapon she intends to use on me.
“What does it depend on?” I play her game.
She pauses and stares at me with what appears to be a serious intent, seeing as her tell-all eyes are now covered. “Well, what time are you planning to walk me home?”
I’m about to throw her over my back and carry her to my house like a goddamn caveman would, but I’ll be a gentleman, even if it’s just for show. “Miss Scarlett, I will walk you home whenever your little heart desires. How ‘bout that?”
“Fine, twist my arm,” she says.
“I’m gonna go ahead and say no to that, seeing as your arm is injured, but I’ll lead the way.”