Just One Year(38)

She got up out of her seat. “I’ll be right back.”

Shelley and I made small talk, but my mind was preoccupied. I kept looking back toward the restrooms; Teagan was taking an unusually long time. It began to concern me a little, so I told Shelley I’d be right back, that I was going to check on her sister.

I knocked on the ladies’ room door. “Teagan, are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

For some reason, I didn’t quite trust that.

“Are you alone?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I opened and entered the bathroom, where she was at the sink, splashing water on her face.

“You can’t be in here,” she said.

“It’s empty. Besides, are you forgetting how we met?”

Her breaths were heavy. “Good point.”

She’d hung the costume on the hook of an open stall.

“Give me that thing. I’ll carry it back to the table.”

She handed it to me before turning on the faucet again and splashing more water on her face. She looked in the mirror for a few seconds before she turned around to face me.

“How come you never told me you broke up with Veronica?”

“It just happened a couple of days ago. You and I hadn’t hung out until today. I was going to tell you.”

She still seemed flushed. I stepped forward and placed my hand on her forehead. “You look like you’re burning up. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. I’m just hot from the fur. I’ll be fine.”

I examined her face for a few seconds and decided to give her space. “Okay. I’ll go back to Shelley then. Just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Thank you.”

I returned to our table, but I still wondered if there was more to Teagan’s reaction than the heat of the costume.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN




* * *



TEAGAN




You’d think Caleb’s news would’ve brought me relief, rather than cause me to panic. But I guess his relationship with Veronica had meant I didn’t have to face my feelings for him or wonder how he felt about me. The prospect of him being free to date whomever he wanted was a little scary. Rather than one girl, there could be many. As jealous as his relationship with Veronica had made me, there was a certain stability and safety to it—and that was gone.

What happens now? I guess I was about to find out. After splashing a last bit of water on my face, I returned to the dining area and sat back in my seat.

A look of worry crossed Caleb’s face. He’d stuffed my gigantic costume into the fourth seat at our table.

“Feeling refreshed?”

“Yeah.” I breathed out. “I’m good.” I downed the glass of water in front of me, which the waitress must have refilled while I was in the bathroom—probably another excuse to come back and ogle Caleb.

Thankfully, I was able to finish my dinner without incident, and once we left the restaurant and got back out into the cold air, I felt ten times better. Maybe the heat of the fur really had gone to my head, affecting my reaction to Caleb’s news.

We went over to Mike’s Pastry for their famous cannoli, with Caleb carrying my massive costume. I went inside and waited in the long line, then brought the pastries out to Caleb and Shelley. We devoured them outside the shop before making our way down the street to find an appropriate place for Caleb’s tap dancing performance. Giddiness swept through me at the prospect of watching him dance.

Finally, we came across a man with long dreadlocks; he sat on the sidewalk, playing an electric guitar and belting out Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry.”

The song and the style of music were completely inappropriate for tap dance. Nevertheless, Caleb stopped next to the guy and proceeded to change into his shiny black shoes.

After the street musician finished his rendition of the song, Caleb whispered something into the man’s ear and slipped him some money. The guy nodded.

The man started playing some reggae song I didn’t recognize, and Caleb began tapping right next to him. The taps on his shoes clicked away on the pavement as confused passersby stopped to watch. The pace of the tapping was a bit too fast and didn’t match the rhythm of the song.

The funniest part was the goofy smile on Caleb’s face. The musician just kept playing and singing, seeming to ignore Caleb’s antics. The whole thing was bizarre. Shelley and I died laughing.

Caleb was pretty good, only a little uncoordinated and definitely worthy of performing in, say, a middle school dance recital. Tap dancing and reggae music certainly didn’t go together, but that was precisely what made it so entertaining.

We go through so many days in our lives that we won’t remember. But this day I knew would stay with me. I’d not only connected with Caleb, but also with my sister. And that, to me, was the entire point.

***

A few days after our North End outing, it was Christmas Eve. Maura had the whole house decked out for our open-door neighborhood party. She’d spent the week prepping the place—plaid pillows on the couches in the living room, garland draped along the tops of the windows, and of course, the tree fully dressed and lit. The pellet stove was on full blast because it was freezing out, and it was rumored that we might get a few snowflakes tonight.