Eversea A Love Story

his forehead, just so. I thought of Jack with his dark, mussed hair and wondered how long it took Jasper in front of the mirror to make his look perfect. I felt mean for thinking that. He had been the golden boy of our class and finished college in three years. I wondered idly why I had never been interested in him romantically. He had certainly had his fair share of the high school girls. He’d never let his popularity go to his head though and always chose to stay friendly with everyone.
    “Hey Jasper. What’s up?”
    “Nothing.” He slung a leg over a barstool across from me, his eyes earnest. “So my dad says you need some help with the house Sunday. I was going to come over after church, about twelve thirty. I’ll bring some lunch.”
    I had completely forgotten about Pastor McDaniel sending Jasper over on Sunday. So much had happened between then and now. I had no idea how I was going to get out of it without arousing some major suspicion, and I didn’t want to cancel Jack coming over. I tried not to analyze that too much.
    “Oh. Um.” I had to do some quick thinking. “That’s ok. I actually don’t even need help at the moment.” Ok, maybe that was a dumb thing to say. All my friends knew I always needed help.
    Jasper quirked an eyebrow at me with a puzzled look. “Yeah, okay,” he said, his tone implying anything but. “I’ll see you at twelve thirty.”
    “No, really. It’s just that I was going to take a break from the house on Sunday. I’m really tired. It’s been a long week.”
    “Keri Ann, it’s ok, you know. I know you don’t like to ask for help, but I don’t mind helping you. Besides, even if you want to take a break from the house, you’ve still got to eat. Like I said, I’ll bring lunch. Anyway, I wont be able to stay long, I have to head back up to Charleston.”
    I nodded. There wasn’t really much else I could say. Jasper was a good friend, but I was careful not to take advantage of him. Sometimes, not accepting help was more hurtful to the person offering. I grabbed at the topic change.
    “Your parents must be happy you are closer.” Jasper had been looking at going further away, but I sensed things at home, namely his father, had caused him to make the last minute decision to stay near Butler Cove.
    “They are.” There was something amiss with Jasper though. He seemed more introspective and thoughtful than usual. “So, how’s Liz doing? I haven’t seen her lately.”
    I smiled. “She’s good, still working at The Pig. Brady keeps her busy, but he’s doing great, getting big. Apparently he’s super smart and way ahead of the curve.”
    He nodded. “That’s great. It must be tough doing that all on her own.”
    Thinking back to Liz asking after Jasper at the store, I looked at him carefully. We were all friends, it was natural for us to inquire after each other, and I was pretty sure Jasper was not the father of Liz’s baby. I’d never noticed any awkwardness between them that would signify something that big, but stranger things had happened.
    We chatted some more before he headed out. I should talk it over with Jazz and see if she had any vibes about what was going on with him. I also needed to tell Jack not to come over on Sunday, a thought that was ridiculously depressing since I had the day off.
    I knew I couldn’t tell Jazz about Jack, but I really needed to talk to someone. She offered to stay and help me close up, so I waited until we were alone and almost done before bringing it up.
    “Hey, sooo remember Hoodie Guy from last night, who left right after ordering a burger?”
    “Yeah?” Jazz was straightening up the piles of coasters, the one job we really didn’t need to do, but it was good to have company.
    “So he came back for his burger after you left.” I grant you, that sentence, in and of itself didn’t say much, but this was me and she was Jazz. Her head whipped around, her eyes suddenly laser sharp and focused on me.
    “And?”
    “And ... he came in, he ate, we talked. I saw him today—”
    “You saw him today? Oh my God. Is he nice? Was he hot? This is fantastic, so was it like a date? Did he ask you to meet him today?”
    This was so not going according to plan. “No, Jazz. Slow down with the questions already. It wasn’t like that.”
    “Sorry, I was just excited that you might actually be interested in someone. Are you?”
    I stayed her with my hand. “I mean he’s nice and not from here, but he’s going through a