Huxley parks the car and I jump out, super excited to see the tall ax-wielding man. The town keeps him up so that he always looks in pristine condition. His big thick brown beard is the same tone as his leather boots. With an ax over one shoulder he smiles out into the abyss. Perfect Paul."Come on," I say pulling on Huxley's hand as he's much slower to get out of the automobile. "We have to get a picture."I yank him all the way to the base of statue block, a large square of stone. Thankfully there's no one else around this time — sometimes Paul has a line — and we're able to go right to the front. Stopping between the two flower pots with bushy plants, we stand side by side and smile as I use my camera to take the weirdly angled selfie making sure to get Paul's face in the shot as well."Isn't it awesome?" I ask as we step away and I check the quick pictures I snapped.Huxley looks back at the towering man. "He's something all right."I slap him gently on the arm. "You out-
I've been high on the aphrodisiac that is Huxley all day. This afternoon we did our relationship dance, where each of us toyed with the idea of becoming more but pulled back at the last moment. Tonight, working in the club, our dance has been different.Noah set up strobe lights on the stage today to make a dizzying effect for the hard rock bands playing. The lights flicker and the music pounds in my soul. Huxley's body moved stiffly at first, not ready to give in to the beat, but now an hour later our bodies flow together to the music as his hands explore a small section of exposed skin at the top of my pants. I raise my hands and wrap around his neck backward."I hate that you do this for a living," he shouts in my ear to be heard over the music.I push my butt into his groin. "It sure doesn't feel like it."A tall guy with a thick bushy dark beard who reminds me of the Paul Bunyan statue we saw earlier today steps into the small bubble of space Huxley and I share. He moves h
"That was a good sermon." Huxley grabs my hand as we walk out of the tiny church with white flaking paint bordering the edge of the woods in Pelican Bay.I nod with a smile. "It was." The pastor talked about commitments and how we all take leaps of faith. I'm almost positive he didn't direct it at me, but it felt like he did. I've been nagging myself with this decision over the last two days, but the answer is out there.I need to take a leap of faith in Huxley. No more going back on my decision. He is it for me and there's no room to waffle any longer.Friday night at the club we faced one another on the dance floor as the music lowered. The strobe lights reflected off Huxley's face, and he told me to say the words.And I did. Using confidence I haven't quite found since, I stared into his eyes and said, "Stay with me."His smile grew, and he leaned forward placing a soft kiss against my lips. "Okay."And then... Nothing.We danced the rest of the night, I broke up an ar
The bikers go about their visit like the tension isn't boiling in the room. They smile, chat with Anessa, and purchase coffee they're sure to specify goes in to-go cups. And then they leave. I'm not quite sure how the alliance started, but it's been going on for a few months now and no one seems to notice or care. I guess it's one of those weird Pelican Bay things. Small towns, man.No one except my very tense former Marine watches the entire thing go down with his eyes narrowed, waiting for one of the bikers to make a wrong move. The two men, who are too far away for me to read the names on their leather vests, don't seem to mind Huxley at all. They barely look in our direction, but Huxley only relaxes his disposition once they've left the bakery and the doors are closed securely behind them."This is where you sometimes pick up shifts in the cute little pink bakery?" he asks still on edge.I smile, trying to dissipate his mood. "Yup. Isn't it great?"The first few times you e
I love Mondays.Well... that's not entirely true. I used to hate Mondays. After working all weekend, Mondays were usually the day when I slept in and then did the laundry and cleaning I left behind from the weekend. But for some reason Mondays in Pelican Bay are different. Maybe it's this particular Monday and I'll be back to hating them next week, but for whatever reason I'm going to keep enjoying today."Have a good afternoon, Melissa." I pass the small bag of donuts over the counter and smile at what was once a high school nemesis. Seventh grade she made my life a living hell, but then her parents got divorced and she had to move to Ohio. Now she's back, and she's either completely forgotten who I am, doesn't recognize me, or she isn't quite as big of a bitch as she used to be. Whatever — I don't care. As long as she's not calling me Mini Winnie, we can both live our lives in peace.Sometimes being an adult rocks.If you look past the bill paying, the job, and having respons
"Everyone likes butter." The muffin inches closer and this time she reaches out and quickly plucks it from my hand. "And besides, if you eat a cupcake now you won't have enough calories left to eat a brownie later."Pearl loves brownies."Don't give me any of that calorie-counting shit," the older woman says waving her hand in my direction as if I'm a fly set to land on her teacup. "I haven't counted calories for at least thirty years and I'm not about to start now. When I die I want to be so fat I take up two caskets.""Pearl..." I say shaking my head. She's anything but fat and could probably eat thirty brownies without gaining a pound. Some people are blessed like that. I'm not one of them. I eat a brownie on Monday and by Tuesday I have an extra roll on my hip."All the young people in this town are dying way too early in life. It's wasteful, so eat the brownies now before they find your chocolate-deprived body somewhere." Her words on the outside don't seem to have an inne
"Coming out!" Katy yells as she pushes through the swinging metal doors with her back, carrying a large tray of the chocolate goodness. The tray gets placed on the counter and I quickly grab three or four... Okay fine, six, and place them in one of the brown paper bags we use for the customers.The best thing about working for the bakery? Anessa doesn't care if we eat as long as we don't eat everything. She put in that small stipulation after Tabitha and Katy ate an entire batch of cookies one afternoon. I don't mean an entire batch like you make in your house on the weekend. These are industrial sized batches of chocolate chip cookies. The two of them didn't eat anything with sugar for the next week. It was like a drunk who drinks too much and promises they are never going to drink alcohol again. And like a binge drinker, they eventually fell off the wagon, but no one has dared to eat so much in one shift since.Katy pops one of the warm cookies in her mouth and then has to leave
Huxley nods as he puts the car in reverse and backs out of the parking spot. He's blissfully unaware of the turmoil his words created.Huxley didn't fly to the Pelican Bay airport on his way here. He rented a car and drove from the larger airport in Portland. He's never been to the Pelican Bay airport, which means he doesn't realize the place is barely an airport. I'm not sure if it's even legally called one. One of the landing strips is just dirt and grass. It's not even paved. Only a few planes ever fly in and out of the airport — if I'm forced to call it that — most of them local small prop planes flown by residents in the city for fun. I saw a FedEx plane there once, but not a real plane. The plane I was expecting to ride in. A big one with seat belts, and oxygen masks, and a drink cart.Images of James, the pilot who flew me to the small island on my trip to Hawaii, come back to memory. He's also the reason I'm currently going to church every Sunday because I made a promise on