Page 78 of Don’t Be A Stranger

“Not Moose?” I ask.

“No.” Bethany shoves an entire spoonful of chocolate chip ice cream into her mouth. “Denise just wanted to make sure I didn’t trash her place in my period of mourning.”

I look around the living room and it’s not in awful shape. I mean, we’ll have to do some cleaning up before Denise gets back from her summer vacation, but I don’t want to worry about that right now. I just want to shove my face full of ice cream and wallow in my sorrows.

Bethany’s fingers move quickly against her phone screen before she sets it back down on the couch. She drops her head back, looking up at the ceiling.

“It’s not even like we broke up.” She sighs. “All he said was he wanted to really think about what a long-distance relationship could look like for us.” Bethany recites this as if she hasn’t told me ten times in the past twelve hours. But I don’t break that news to her because I’ve been doing the same thing.

“And it’s not like River and I were even together, so technically we didn’t even break up either,” I mumble over my spoon.

We turn our heads and look at each other. Sad, tired, and heartbroken, and we shove more ice cream into our mouths. Instead of a ping this time, one of our phones begins to ring, but I don’t even bother to reach for mine because I’m sure it’s just Denise calling in response to whatever Bethany had said.

Then my heart does a little flip when she looks up from her phone and shakes her head. I immediately perk up and clutch my phone but unfortunately, the usual picture of River and me at our high school prom doesn’t light up my screen. Instead, it’s a picture of Papi and me when I was a baby.

I watch the phone ring, frozen in place for some reason. It’s almost as if my body is preparing for the absolute worst. My screen goes black and I’m staring at my own reflection. Then I get a text message.

Papi: Mija please call me when you get a chance. It’s an emergency.

Twenty-Six

River

I may not have gotten my father’s ruthlessness or my mother’s manipulation tactics, but the one thing I did get from my parents is the mindset that there’s only one way to deal with life being rough.

Work.

And that’s what I’ve been doing for the past week. No days off. Double shifts. Covering for coworkers and staying way longer than I’m supposed to.

Summer isn’t even at the apartment anymore, but I still can’t bring myself to stay there long enough. I’ve tried sleeping in my room once but her scent continues to linger. I haven’t tried texting her and she hasn’t tried either. I know I said this is what I wanted, but just because I think we need space doesn’t mean it’s easy.

It’s now four in the afternoon and I should’ve been off two hours ago, but Mario hasn’t said anything. I’m assuming it’s because we just had a rush but even now he’s hiding out in the break room with the other three baristas.

I’d rather not get myself into a conversation with Mario so I remain up front, cleaning off tables. The bell above the door chimes and I quickly look over. I convince myself it’s because I’m required to greet every customer.

Moose walks in, all smiles and a lightness I don’t have right now. He isn’t alone. Walking alongside him is what I’d classify as a giant. I thought Moose was tall but damn.

I recognize the blond scowly man almost immediately. I’ve been to a few hockey games and outside of that, his dad is the governor so it’s kind of hard not to know who he is. I’ve just never seen Preston Nole up close and I don’t think I want to for much longer.

“Alright man.” Moose leans against the register, waiting for me to walk over. “Have I got the order for you.”

I walk behind the register and chuckle. “Dude, I make coffee all day. I don’t think you’re going to order anything I haven’t heard before.”

“No, trust me, I think I got it this time.”

Moose turns to Preston. “Alright, Preston baby, I told you it would be my treat. So what do you want?”

My eyes widen. I know that Moose knows Preston enough to be joking, but I just cleaned the floors and Preston is known to react violently. I really don’t want to be cleaning up blood from Moose’s broken nose.

Thankfully, Preston just stares blankly at Moose. “I didn’t even wanna come, dickhead.” His voice is low and booming, catching me off guard.

He’s always been like a myth to me. You hear about him. See him in pictures or out on the ice, but I didn’t think he’d actually be this big.

Moose rolls his eyes then looks at me. “What do you suggest, River? Preferably iced.” Moose grins. “Trying to get Nole out of his comfort zone.”

Preston’s lips pull back slightly in disgust but he doesn’t argue, surprisingly. Quite a few people who come into Metric’s think iced coffee is a sin.

I don’t even look at the menu. Whenever someone asks for a suggestion, I usually go with my coffee order or Lily’s. And since Lily’s is iced, I go with that.