get gas on my way home, and my fuel cap keeps sticking. Would you be able to loosen it for me? I won’t make it home if I don’t fill up first.”
“Well, if you get stuck, the offer to share my room is still open. Black Friday is coming up, and I’m having a sale. Clothing, one hundred percent off.”
Khloe shakes her head. “How long have you been waiting to use that one?”
“All fucking year.”
“Worth it. It’s pretty funny.”
Sam grins. “Does that mean you’ve decided to stay?”
“Gas tank, Sam,” she says.
“Right.” Khloe tugs her coat on. “Speaking of gas, I think they should show porn clips at the pumps,” he begins, and I chuckle as they disappear outside. Once I get everything powered down, I grab my purse and coat and head out to meet them. It’s cold, but the sunshine warms my body and my soul.
“Was he able to loosen it?” I ask.
Sam flexes. “What do you think?”
As Khloe rolls her eyes, I lift my face to the sun. “Let’s walk,” I suggest. “Wait, where’s Jason?”
“Meeting us there. It would be my honor to escort you two beautiful women,” he says, holding his arms out for us to take them. He takes a step toward us, and the next thing we know, he’s flat out on his back.
“Motherfucker,” he mumbles.
“You okay down there?” Khloe asks and leans over him, but her feet go out from underneath her, too. She lands on him, and he slides his arms around her body.
“I am now,” he says.
“I leave the house for one hour, and this happens?” Nate says, coming around the corner.
I smile when his eyes meet mine. “Careful. It’s icy.”
“I bought salt,” he says and gestures toward his car. “You okay?”
“I am, but not too sure about these two,” I say and glance at Sam and Khloe. Neither one of them appears to be in a hurry to move.
“Hang on. Don’t move, Kira.” Nate disappears for a second and comes back with the bag of salt. He helps Sam and Khloe to their feet and sprinkles the walkway.
“We were just headed to lunch. Join us?” I ask.
He shrugs, and ignoring his ringing phone, says, “Sure.”
We leave the driveway, and Nate and Sam walk behind us. Khloe puts her arm through mine and whispers, “What’s Sam’s story?”
“To be honest, I don’t know. He’s funny and really sweet, but his personal life. He never really talks.”
“Interesting.”
“Do you mean, interested?”
She chuckles. “Maybe.”
We stroll toward the waterfront, and I spot Chester and Edna making their way toward Hazel’s coffee emporium. Her coffee is good, but I haven’t been able to convince her to add a mocha latte to the menu. She’s weakening, though, and if she does decide to buy the machine to make them, I’ll have everything I need and never have to leave Lunenburg again. Wait, what?
“When I was young, I used to come here for ice cream with Mom, Dad, and my brother Peter.” Khloe laughs and looks off into the distance as if she’s recalling those times. “Mom said Pearl’s had the best ice cream around. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I think it was the drive and the family time with the ocean in the backdrop as we chowed down that drew her.”
We walk by Pearl’s, and I’m a little sad that I never had those kinds of memories with my parents. I spot my neighbors Martha and Jack, along with Brett and Liam inside eating ice cream from cups, and they smile and wave as we pass.
“We can get one later if you want,” I say, understanding her mother’s pull to this place. My happiest days were here. Were? Perhaps it’s more like…are. I never realized how unhappy I was until I came back and found my place with these people.
She grins. “I want a triple cone.” She takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. “I forgot how much I liked this place.”