Page 48 of Goldilocks
“You mean Gary?” Laurence asked. “Make sure you keep an eye on your car!”
Sam didn’t know what that was supposed to mean.
Laurence saw his confusion. “Nick texted you, didn’t he?”
“I’m not great at reading my texts,” Sam deflected as naturally as he could. Had Nick texted him? Sam must have swiped away the notification, and he didn’t make a habit of checking his messages…ever.
Laurence’s eyes brightened, and he leaned in. Sam got the impression he was glad to be the one getting to tell them about what Nick had supposedly texted. “Gary is the guy from college. The one who punched you. Nick said he used to be in the under fourteen’s county rugby team with him. Apparently, he was kicked off the team because of anger issues. Their old coach shouted at him during training, and that night Gary snuck onto his property and tried to sabotage his car. He jammed the exhaust with his jersey and poured gasoline into the engine.”
“Jesus,” Sam said. “Was the coach okay?”
“Yeah. He smelled the gasoline, so he didn’t even start the car in the morning,” Laurence continued. “And when the garage came out to check the car, they found the jersey with his name on it in the exhaust, so they knew straight away who it was. I guess Gary wasn’t the smartest thirteen-year-old…”
Anger issues certainly explained that unprovoked punch.
Sally’s boisterous laugh punched through the silence at the table. Sam looked over to see Fionn leaning against the bar, smiling along with her. Clearly, he’d been the one to make her laugh.
“Speaking of assholes,” Eric muttered, recognising him.
Laurence frowned at the remark. “What do you mean? Fionn?” He twisted, confirming who Eric was looking at.
“He’s friends with Gary,” Eric said. “He was the one giving Sam a hard time before Gary assaulted him.”
Laurence’s expression fell. “Fionn? Really? Are you sure that’s who? Fionn’s always super nice to me. He stops by Dad’s cafe every morning to get pastries, and he says he can tell when I baked because they’re extra tasty…and he always gets it right.” Laurence deflated, a look of disappointment firmly set on his features. “I’ll be mean to him from now on,” he vowed.
Sam huffed. “You don’t need to do that. He wasn’t the one who swung at me,” he said. Sam didn’t think Fionn even grasped, mentally, that what he was saying could be hurtful. He’d continued on the attention-seeking behaviour from his teenage years, eager for a reaction, and he’d seemed shocked when his words had triggered an eruption of violence.
Despite Sam’s reassurance, when Laurence left them, he went out of his way to serve someone next to Fionn and then pointedly turned his back when Fionn tried to talk to him. Sam repressed a groan. He didn’t want Laurence getting into trouble at work over this. But when Laurence came down to them again and Sam said so, Laurence reassured him he was on his side and not to worry about it.
It was late by the time they were checking out, and Sam chatted to Laurence by the exit as Eric argued with Sally as he tried to pay for their table.
Out the back at the outdoor bar, Sam glimpsed Fionn with his group of friends. He scanned them, and an uncomfortable feeling itched over his skin as he found Gary looking right at him with those black pits for eyes. Sam gazed back, irritated when Gary didn’t look away. Fionn, in the middle of laughing at something, turned and noticed them staring at each other. His nose scrunched up, and he elbowed his friend, saying a word that made the guy break eye contact with Sam.
“You know,” Laurence said, noticing the interaction, “I saw Gary talking to Austin the other day. And that’s even more weird since Austin doesn’t usually talk to anyone. He won’t even talk to Connor, even though he said he forgave him. I don’t forgive him. He hit Connor.”
Sam tensed. “What? Like, when they were dating?”
“After they broke up.” Laurence frowned. “But he’s just…He’smean.”
Eric joined them with a scowl fixed in place.
“I told you she wouldn’t take your money,” Sam said, reading his expression. Sally had been too full of gushes about how big Eric had grown.
“Laurence, here, I’ll give you the money.”
Laurence hopped away. “Nope! Sam eats free, and the boss said you do too.”
Before Eric could run off in pursuit of Laurence, Sam caught his elbow and pulled him outside. “No point in wasting your time, they won’t take it. I’ve tried to pay them, but they always refuse.” He glanced around the front street, but he didn’t see any sign of Ivan. He started walking toward the far pier, and Eric quickly fell into step with him.
“It’s no way to run a business.” Eric scowled again. “I mean, I’m happy they give you stuff for free, but they should let me pay while I’m in town.”
It wasn’t that Sam got stuff for free; he made sure that anything extra he pulled up in the pots, he brought over for Sally to make use of. It was a trade with him; his pride wouldn’t allow him to accept freebies. Apparently, Eric had that same kernel of pride, probably planted in both of them by their dad. Oisín believed in fairness.
The cool ocean breeze washed over them as they walked along the wharf that ran parallel to the shore. Eric slowed to a stop, and Sam did too.
“I had something else I wanted to talk about tonight,” Eric said. “I was going to mention it over dinner, but it was loud in there. And Laurence was talking, and you got your headache. Is that gone now?”
Somewhat. Enough of an ache remained that he didn’t want to work on assignments or try to find those emails Mary mentioned. Sam suspected the longer he spent with Eric, the more his head would ache as it tried to remember him. “It’s gone,” he lied.