“How long have you been waiting?” she asks, the top to her waitress uniform is unbuttoned. She wears a white chamisal beneath it and my eyes connect to the brown stain at the ribbing of her shirt. She doesn’t ask why I’m so early—she never does. She just calls me her dependable Taurus and acts thrilled that I’m there. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll have Danny make you a key.”
I cough on a laugh. “Marley, that isn’t necessary. It’s my own fault for being early.” Besides, I’m hoping this is a one-time deal.
“I have to go. Danny’s at work. If Finn isn’t up by nine, will you wake him?”
“Ahh—”
“Thanks, Esther. Have a good day!”
At eight minutes to nine o’clock I have two stacks put away, the cash drawer balanced, and shaky knees. That’s when I channel my inner Lisa and begin to pray. I have no desire to walk into Finn’s private space to wake him up. But Marley’s right—I am stupidly dependable. And when the big wall clock hits nine and no Finn can be seen or heard, I start up the red staircase.
“Wake up,” I mutter under my breath. If only I had his cell number—I’d just call him. Why didn’t I think to ask Marley for it?
I reach the arched open doorway, but still no sound emerges from the Matthews’ home. The space is neat and appears much like it did the day Marley brought me up here, though, we didn’t climb up to the third floor. My heart flutters with annoying agitations. I feel so wrong doing this. There’s a bulky gray machine pushed up against the wall, near the bottom of the stairs. It has a thin, clear tube stretching from a knob on its front and up the flight of stairs. It hums loudly in the quiet space, and I look at it a minute rather than start up the second stairway.
“What are you doing?” Finn says at the top of the stairs. He’s in a gray T-shirt that’s untucked over blue basketball shorts and his sandy hair is mussed.
I clutch my heart and stumble back into the wall. “I’m sorry,” I say. “Marley said I should wake you at nine.”
“Well, I’m up.” Behind him there’s an opened door. From my skewed view I’d guess a bathroom. Finn pulls his shirt up over his head and disappears through the door without another glance at me.
I gulp and charge toward the exit. Before I’m down the red carpet stairway, I pull out my phone.
Shirtless Finn. I’m having a heart attack.
Not five seconds later Cytha writes me back.
What’s going on over there?
I slip on the last step and an involuntary yelp leaves my mouth. I slap a hand over my mouth and hide between the third and fourth bookcases. I’ve only got Cytha half written back when the bell above the door rings. Stuffing my phone into my back pocket, I make my way to the front.
A guy and a girl, somewhere near my age, stand there—neither browse the books, but wait by the register.
“Hi,” I say, “can I help you guys out?”
The girl cocks her head, one penciled eyebrow lifted. The guy smiles and thumbs through a book he’s picked up from the nearest stack.
“Is Finn here?”
I press my lips together, the mental image of him taking his shirt off plays in my head again. “Upstairs.” They start toward the staircase when I speak up again. “I’m pretty sure he’s in the shower.” Why else would he have started shedding clothing?
The girl flicks her gaze back to me—something I’ve said sits wrong with her.
“You must be Esther.” The guy smiles.
I swallow, heat rising in my cheeks. “That’s right.”
“I’m James. This is Ursula. Marley mentioned you started last week.”
“Yeah, and Finn mentioned that dog ugly statue tried to kill you.” Ursula’s glazed face makes it hard to know if she’s horrified by the thought or finds it humorous.
I could find offense—but the only thing that really irritates me is how she berates The Reading Mother. I set my expression to indifferent. “They haven’t mentioned either of you,” I try to sound funny, but I think it comes off more snooty. So, I clear my throat and add, “Nice to meet you guys.”
“How do you like Jackson?” James lays the book in his hands onto the checkout counter.
“Um, it’s fine—I guess.”
Ursula snorts.
I shrug. “I haven’t really been anywhere except my uncle’s house and The Bookcase.”
James’ lips part into a grin and his head bobs as if to say he understands. “You should come hang out tonight. Dominic’s gonna have a fire—a bunch of us will be there.”
Ursula sits at the bottom of the red carpeted staircase, her chin propped in her hands.
My phone buzzes with another text from Cytha and I clamp my hand over my back pocket.
“So, what are you into, Esther?”
I shift away from his stare. “Into?” I bite my lip—I know what I like, but that doesn’t mean I feel like sharing. But silence will only make this moment more awkward. “Art. Soccer.”
“Reading?” Ursula’s eyes pitch around the room.
“Sometimes,” I pinch my lips together. I haven’t really had to make introductions since I was a kid in grade school. “How about you guys?”
“I like sports,” James says, but he doesn’t tell me which ones.
“When you aren’t playing video games,” Ursula spouts.
James just laughs though. It’s an easy sound, like he’s sincere and not embarrassed. “True.”
“I can hold my own in Assassin’s Alliance.” I bite my lip to keep from grinning too wide. Cytha’s little brother loved that game. Call and I played every day last summer. I couldn’t beat Call, but I’d kill all of his friends.
“You play AA?”
I breathe out a laugh, remembering the time Cytha and I spent more than twenty-four hours in Call’s bedroom. We played until we could pass level three.
“You gotta come over tonight.” James’ grin grows. “Come on,” he says at my silence, “it’ll be fun. I promise.”
I sit behind the register and James leans on the table, stooping to meet me eye level. “I don’t know,” I say, but he makes it hard not to smile.
“What are you promising, Loughty?”
“That good times will be had by all who show up to Dominic’s tonight and Esther should be there.”
“Finn!” Ursula jumps to her feet and waits for Finn to meet her on the bottom step. Her pink lips moon into a grin and her hands fidget at her sides, watching him descend.
Maybe they’re a thing.
It’s a fleeting thought, one that Finn crushes the minute he walks right past her without even a hello. She doesn’t seem to notice. Her eyes follow him as if he’s magnetic.
James swings an arm about Finn’s neck. “Hey, bro. You never mentioned Esther here was a pro at AA.”
“I didn’t know.” I feel Finn’s eyes on me, like a heat lamp in a tiny terrarium.
With Finn here, what do they need me for? I scoop up a pile of six books and head toward the bookcases. “I never said I was a pro.”