Ten Below Zero(42)

“And you stayed in touch?”

“Yes. We don’t talk a lot. She’s busy with her jobs. But she helped me, she helped me a lot.”

Everett nodded and sipped his coffee. “Anyone else?”

“I have my roommates.”

“No you don’t. They don’t care about you, not really.”

It was a harsh truth. “Okay, they don’t. But it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care about them either.”

“What do you care about?”

I looked up at him, feeling cut open. “I care about school,” I started. I racked my brain. “I care about being financially stable.” Boring answers. “I care about staying in shape.” These said very little about me. Which was true, at the core. There wasn’t much to me.

“You like limes and you like extra cheese on your burgers,” he offered.

“I do. And space. I really like space.”

“I’m sitting across from you at the table, Parker. I’m not in your lap. I’m not encroaching on your space.”

“But you are,” I insisted. “Your presence surrounds me. I breathe your air. My eyes find yours. Even when you’re not physically next to me, I’m thinking about you. It’s really, really annoying.”

“I’d say I’m sorry, but then I’d be breaking the no lying rule.”

“I’ve never felt more annoyed by any one person in my life.”

“Good. I like that I make you feel annoyance. Really, I do.” He drank his coffee and then set it down. I watched every movement. “I’d rather you feel anything than indifference. Indifference is the absence of feeling. And you’ve been indifferent far too long.”

I stared at him, unable to form words.

“I know the Grand Canyon wasn’t just big hole in the ground to you. You keep trying to hide from me, but you’re not succeeding.”

“I’m not hiding.”

Everett raised an eyebrow. “No?” he asked. He had a look in his eye, a look that made me nervous.

“No.”

“Then I’m just going to come sit beside you then.”

Before I could tell him no, he was sliding onto my side of the booth.

“Scoot over, won’t you?” he asked, bumping my hip. I had no choice. I moved over, shoving my purse to the wall. He was now sitting directly to my left. I pulled my arm from the table top to under the table, resting my left hand on my thigh. His cool water scent was stronger when he was this close. I turned my head to face forward, but he was too close for me to ignore him.

I felt his arm go around the back of the seat while his other hand held his coffee. “Do you like coffee?” he asked.

I made a face. “No.”

“Let me guess, you don’t like tea either?”

“I don’t like warm beverages in general.”

“Oh,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. “We wouldn’t want to thaw you out, would we?”

I bit on my cheek. “I’m not ten below zero.”

“No, you’re not. You’re five below zero now.”

“I am not.”

“Well you’re definitely heating up at this conversation. Okay, you’re closer to two below zero.”

“And you’re an ass!”

“Um.” The waitress was at our table with our plates. I refused to be embarrassed for yelling. Instead, I crossed my arms over my chest as the waitress set out plates down in front of us. Even after she moved away, I was still sitting there, like a child in time out.

Everett dug into his food, making annoying little moaning sounds with every couple bites. I hoped he choked.





We were on the road again. I hadn’t spoken a word to Everett since calling him an *, for the twentieth time. He was stupidly singing along to music again. I knew he was trying to get under my skin, but he’d succeeded long ago. He lived under my skin. And he made it go wild whenever he was near.

I stared at the window at the surrounding landscapes. “Where are we going?” I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer.

“Vulture Mine,” he answered, tapping on the GPS. “We’re about an hour away.”

“It’s a ghost town?”

“Yes. I was going to go to another one on the other side of Phoenix, but it was more of a tourist trap. I wanted a real place. Not with shows and entertainers.”

I frowned. “Is it a ghost town if there are people working on it, even for tourism?”

“Don’t be so judgy, Parker. It’s still a ghost town, but it’s not what I want.”

“Why do you enjoy lecturing me so much?”

“I don’t enjoy it necessarily, Parker.”

“And why do you use my name so often?”

“Would you prefer me call you ten below zero?”

I glared daggers. “Why do you think I’m so cold?”

Everett turned down the music. “Because you are.” His looked at me briefly. “You resist touch, as if the warmth of another human touching your skin will thaw you out too much. You harden yourself to experiences. You don’t say nice things. You inflict pain with your words. You do these things to push people away. You’re cold. Ten below zero cold.”