Old Orchard

Annabelle

Craig has just stepped forward and said he would go jogging with Luke and me in the morning. This should be a good thing. Luke has a girlfriend, and Craig will be a good buffer. Maybe Craig is not getting a comfortable vibe from Luke; why else would he want to run with me. My inner conscious is gawking at me at this thought. I motion to Craig that I will be right back when Luke steps out the door.

"Hey," I call out as Luke walks down the driveway with Duke. He slows and turns around, looking at me. And I am once again at a loss for words. "Um... Can you let Rebecca know it might not be till next week till I can volunteer at the shelter?" Luke's eyes go up at this, and I rush to fill in the blanks. "I will probably have to be a tour guide for Craig - he has never been here, and since I was ten, I have been telling him how great Maine is, and he is not much for volunteering... Well, especially on vacation, I do not see him volunteering." Jez... I either cannot form words around him or say too much. I must find a filter before talking next time.

"Why are you volunteering?" Luke asks me, baffling me by this question. He must think that I am just doing it for him. Is he wrong... Yes, he is - it was by chance I ran into Rebecca that day, and I started to help her. I did not even remember where the shelter was; I was just walking around. My dad had driven my family there the day we had picked up Frasier. I was distracted since I was freshly mourning the loss of my Grams.

"Why are you?" I ask, not answering his question, so I have time to form an appropriate answer.

Raising his shoulders in a shrug, he says, "pet lover - my aunt Rebecca started it, and I am a sucker for helping her..."

"So the bar and local market are your actual jobs?" I ask now that he is talking.

"Yes... my uncle Rebecca's husband owns both of those - no interview. I just started working there when I moved here this past year." That is why I had not meant him on previous trips here.

"Glen, is your uncle?" I ask, having some pieces fall more and more into place.

"Yeah, you know him?" he asks, confused.

"Do I know him? I say. We go way back... Since I was ten, he gave us free ice creams when we would ride our bikes down there. I haven't seen him this year yet."

"Uh, you probably won't," he says and then looks over to the cottage breaking his thought, "I think your friend is waiting for you," he says, letting his shoulders point me in the direction of the window where Craig is standing in the window looking out at us.

"Must be excited to get going," I say, turning to start over to the porch.

Walking out the driveway, he yells, "see you tomorrow." And I am ninety percent sure that he winked at me on purpose. He has a girlfriend... Let it go; I scoff at myself. Entering the door, Craig is waiting at the side of the door.

"He seems like a nice guy," he says, and I know he wants to add more.

"Yea, he is," I say, trying to hold back a frown that is tempting to appear. "Come on, let's head down to the pier."

He stops me grabbing my arm and bringing me to a halt mid-step. "You might want to shower; you kind of stink," he says, pushing me, and we are back to goofing around.

"Ready!" I yelled, stepping out of my room. I hear muffled sounds outback and find my way to the backyard, where Carla and Craig are sitting on lawn chairs. "Are you coming with us?" I ask Carla.

"Sure!" she says. She is pretty happy, especially with Craig here. I tell her I need help looking for something and tell Craig to hold on. "What is up?" she asks when I get her to my room.

"Um... Did you know he was coming?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me," I ask.

"Are you mad? I just found out this morning he wanted to surprise you. I didn't think you would have a problem with this..." She says. Since he got here, I have had a feeling that I cannot shake but cannot put my finger on it quite yet.

"No. A heads up would have been nice." She is gawking at me since I was known for my random acts of kindness toward people that would end up as surprising in the end. "Yeah, I know... I was just taken back," I say, reading accusations all across her face.

"Better get going before Prince Charming turns into a frog..." Carla says, and I laugh at her old joke about Craig. Prince Charming had been her nickname for Craig when we were younger. I am pretty sure that was when my sister went through a crushing stage with Craig. Most of the girls in our high school had a crush one time or another on him. He was very charming. I swore on multiple times I found my mother blushing after compliments he had paid her. Prince Charming, I used to gawk at it saying, Ladies Man... It should have been tattooed across his forehead freshman year when he had dates every weekend. In my sophomore year, everything changed, and dating almost came to a complete stop; I used to joke with him, saying he was losing his game, and he would respond with he was just going through a drought waiting for the rain to come again. He loved his weather metaphors.

Craig gets up out of the chair when he sees us approaching. I get a weird feeling in my stomach again when he is looking over at me. "Come on," I say, tugging on his arm and heading toward the pier.

"Wow... it is just like the pictures you plaster all over Facebook every year," Craig mocks at me as I take one of him outside of the amusement park that is down by the pier. "Do you want to go later? We can go on all the spiny rides till we puke," he says, nudging me, and I step back a little back wanting to create space between us. Did Carla's eyes just rise at me stepping back... No, she would not have noticed that Craig did not even notice it.

Both he and Carla notice the shop that Hannah works at and I am hoping that they do not want to go in. It is bad enough to know that she is dating Luke, but having to be around her and envy her is something I did not feel up to. We walk in, and Craig walks over to a black cut off tee that has DTF, which is a very derogative term from the hit reality TV show Jersey Shore "I have to buy this..." he says, picking it up, and I slam my palm to my forehead to let him know he is so wrong. "Just kidding," he says, shaking from laughter. "Want to get matching henna tattoos?" he asks us, walking over to the empty booth area to look at different ones.

I look down at my ankle and can no longer see the henna tattoo I had got at the beginning of the summer. When I barely knew Luke and did not know what I would be doing this summer. I look around to see if Hannah is anywhere in the store. The door swings open, and she walks in as my eyes are just sweeping the back corner. "Oh hey, back for another?" She asks me.

Carla looks over at me, and I bring my ankle up, showing her my very bare ankle now. I let her know it was an infinity sign. I snarl at her since I am in a bad mood.

Craig steps forward from around the corner, and Hannah's eyes go up and down a few times before she steps forward being an attentive worker. "Do you want one?" she asks, and I swear I see my sister's eyelash trick being done by her. I want to clear my throat and remind her that she has a boyfriend. I excuse myself and step outside, reveling in the sun.