Hard Hat by Frankie Love

Author:Frankie Love [Love, Frankie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-09-12T18:30:00+00:00

7

Lottie

The jackhammer wakes me up and I jump from bed, running over to my bedroom window hoping against hope that Luke is back, finishing the job.

I need to see him, I need him to explain.

I pull open the window, lean out. "Luke?" I call.

The man using the jackhammer looks up, turning off his equipment. "What's that, miss?" he asks. This guy has a thick Scottish accent and a thicker beard.

"Is Luke coming today?"

"Not today."

My face must have fallen, because he asks, "You know him then?"

"Yeah, we're, um, friends."

The man’s face breaks into a grin. "Ah well, he was at the hospital all night with Julia." It's hard to understand him completely with his heavy accent, but the word hospital is pretty hard to miss.

"Is everything okay?" I swallow, not having any idea who Julia is.

"Oh yeah, the babe was born yesterday evening."

"A baby?”

"Aye, he texted me a photo. Sweetest little lassie I ever did see. He was holding the wee thing, like a champ."

"Right. Well, tell him congratulations, if you see him, I mean."

"Sure I will. He's my boss and all. Julia though, she's the one who really whips everyone into shape."

"Oh, right." My mouth goes dry. Is Luke married? A father? "Well, see you later," I say, shutting the window and trying not to cry.

I blink, knowing I was a fool to let my mind go where it did last night.

This is how it went down with my last boyfriend. I thought he was a knight in shining armor… turns out he’d be offering his freaking sword to every willing maiden in the borough.

When I woke yesterday, the sky was dark and it was after eleven at night. I couldn't believe I slept eight hours straight. It was glorious. And I wrapped a sheet around me, walking into the kitchen to find a note from Luke.

His number and plans to see me again.

And he had signed his name ‘Yours.’

Mine.

And I believed it.

I had reached for my cell phone, only to realize the Trac-phone had run out of minutes, and I didn't have ten dollars in my bank account to add any time. My poor debit card had seen better days, and the $8.64 I had left needed to be spent on something more practical.

I dressed, thinking I could go to the bodega around the corner, but it wasn't open by the time I walked there. I swear it was just my luck that it would be closed. And every pay phone in the city has been removed because people use cells these days.

By then, it was nearly midnight and I knew it was stupid to wander around looking for a pay phone and even stupider considering it was so late. Luke would be in bed by now, and probably annoyed that I never called.

So, this morning my plan had been to get up, go to my job interview (crossing all my fingers and toes on the way) and then find a phone to use.

Of course, the easiest thing would have been if he were working out front of my apartment again today, but no such luck.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.