A Stranger on the Beach(53)

He wandered and tried to blend in, keeping his eyes peeled. He sat on a bench, looking at her photo on his phone. The paths were empty now. Everyone was in class. He would need to get inside the buildings in order to have any hope of finding her. But which building, and how? He walked up to the nearest one, glanced around, tried the door. It was locked. The map said it was a dorm. He’d better hope other buildings were open, or his brilliant plan had failed before it could get off the ground.

He drifted across the campus, crossing his arms over his sweatshirt against the wind, which was picking up. Dark clouds were blowing in. Suddenly the paths were full of students changing classes. His hopes lifted, till he realized that half the girls looked like Hannah. Eliminate the Asian ones, the black girls, the blondes, the heavy ones, the skinny ones—and what do you get? A lot of girls with long brown hair, average build, pleasant face, jeans and sweater, boots and backpack. A couple were dead ringers, to the point that he checked their faces against the photo, only to see that he’d remembered wrong.

After a couple of hours of nothing, he was cold, hungry, and frustrated. The weather had taken a serious turn for the worse, like it was threatening to storm, hard. He started telling himself he should quit while he was ahead, get out before the rain hit, or at least before some interfering employee recognized him for the vagrant he was and called the cops. But he couldn’t bring himself to leave empty-handed. This girl was his ticket to Caroline, to his future. Quitters never win, right, and winners never quit? His dad used to say that, probably because he thought of Aidan as a quitter. Well, he wasn’t quitting this time. He wanted Caroline too damn much for that. His hands were going numb from the chill, so he followed a wave of kids into a campus coffee shop, looking to get out of the wind. He’d wring a couple more hours out of this venture, hoping for his luck to change.

Wouldn’t you know, she was right there, sitting at a corner table with a latte and a laptop open in front of her. He didn’t even need to check his phone to make sure. It was definitely her.

He got in line and paid for yet another stupid-expensive coffee drink that he didn’t even want. The whole time his mind was working, trying to figure out his approach. Once the drink was in his hand, instinct took over. The place was full. The seat next to Hannah was empty. She was a girl. Girls liked him. He walked up to her and smiled, like she was anyone.

“Hey, mind if I sit here?”

Her eyes flicked up tentatively. “No, go ahead,” she said, and looked down again, blushing.

All right, she was shy. This would be easy. Piece of cake. He almost felt bad, lying to her. He reminded himself that he was here to help, and he shouldn’t let himself feel intimidated. Hannah Stark wasn’t better than him. Everything she possessed had been handed to her on a silver platter. This impressive campus. The freedom to sit around a coffee shop with a four-buck latte and a two-grand MacBook Pro in front of her in the middle of the afternoon. Not because she worked nights like he did, but because she didn’t work at all. At Hannah’s age, Aidan was—well, at her age, he was locked up, that was the ugly truth. But later, when he got out, he’d swabbed floors and cleaned grease off the grill at the diner while waiting patiently for a promotion to waiting tables.

It wouldn’t be smart to seem overeager. That would only creep her out and chase her away. He looked at his phone, sipped his coffee, and waited for her to notice him.

Ten minutes had passed, and she still hadn’t spoken to him. Either she was shy, or else she thought he was a lowlife and had no intention of speaking to him. Didn’t really matter which. The place was clearing out. She was starting to gather her things. It must be coming up on time for the next class. He had to make his move.

“Uh, excuse me, miss. Do you go to school here?” he asked.

She looked at him like, Duh, why else would I be sitting here?

“Yeah, sure,” she said. “Don’t you?”

“I don’t.”

“You’re not a student here? Because you look really familiar.”

“You look familiar, too. Maybe we met in a past life.”

She laughed. A positive sign.

“Actually,” he said, “I’m here for a tour. Thinking about coming here next year.”

Her brows knit skeptically. “I thought I saw an email that they cancelled the tours today, because of the storm that’s coming.”

Aidan thought quickly. “Yeah, but I didn’t get the message in time, so I drove all the way out here for nothing. I hope you don’t mind me interrupting your studying. It’s just, if I could ask you a few questions, I could maybe get something out of this trip.”

“Sure. But wait, are you in high school? You don’t look like it.”

“No. I’m a vet. Pulled two tours in Afghanistan. Now Uncle Sam’s gonna send me to college on the GI Bill. Law school, too, or even medical school if I want. I’m here checking this place out, wondering if it would be a good fit for someone like me. Someone who’s been around, seen things. You know?”

He had her interested now. She sat up straight, closed her computer, played with her hair.

“I’m Aidan, by the way.”

He held out his hand. She shook it awkwardly. Her hand was warm and slightly damp.

“Hannah,” she said, leaning closer and lowering her voice. “Honestly, I don’t know if this would be the right place for you. Everyone here is super boring. And it’s kind of a commuter school. Dead on the weekends.”