“Did she tell you that?”
“No,” he said. “I noticed it while I waited on the two of you. It’s easy to tell you’re pretty close.”
“We are,” Maria agreed. “Do you have siblings?”
“Two older sisters.”
“Are you close?”
“Not like you and Serena,” he admitted as he adjusted the fishing line. “I love them and I care about them, but we kind of ended up taking different paths in life.”
“Which means?”
“We don’t really talk that often. Maybe once every couple of months or so. It’s been improving lately, but it’s a gradual process.”
“That’s too bad.”
“It is what it is,” he said.
His answer suggested he didn’t really want to discuss it further. “Serena said that you and she are in class together?” she asked, venturing on to safer ground.
He nodded. “She caught up with me on the way to the library. I guess you must have told her how I looked that night and she put it all together. Which wasn’t too hard, what with the hurt face and all.”
“It wasn’t so bad. I didn’t really think much about it.” When he raised an eyebrow, she shrugged. “All right. So maybe I was a little scared when you walked up.”
“Makes sense. It was late and you were in the middle of nowhere. That’s one of the reasons I stopped.”
“What was the other reason?”
“You were a girl.”
“And you think all girls need help changing a tire?”
“Not all girls. But my sisters and my mom would have needed help. And I didn’t get the sense that you were having a lot of fun.”
She nodded. “Thank you again.”
“You already said that.”
“I know. But it deserved to be said a second time.”
“Okay.”
“Just ‘okay’?” The corners of her mouth turned up.
“It’s my go-to phrase when someone makes a statement instead of asking a question.”
She wrinkled her forehead. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“Okay,” he said, and despite herself, she laughed, finally beginning to relax.
“Do you like bartending?” she asked.
“It’s all right,” he answered. “It pays the bills while I’m in school, I can pretty much pick my schedule, and the tips are good. But I hope I’m not forced to make it a career. There’s more I want to do with my life.”
“Serena said you want to be a teacher.”
“I do,” he agreed. “Where did she go, by the way?”
“She met up with some friends. They’ll troll the bars for a while and listen to music, then probably head off to a party or whatever.”
“Why didn’t you join them?”
“I’m a little old for college parties, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know. How old are you?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“I’m twenty-eight and I’m still in college.”
Yeah, she thought, I know. “And you go to college parties?”
“No,” he conceded, “but it’s not because I think I’m too old. I just don’t go to parties. Bars, either.”
“But you work at a bar.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because I work there. And even if I didn’t, it’s not the kind of bar where I’d end up getting in trouble, since it’s really more of a restaurant.”
“You get in trouble at bars?”
“I used to,” he said. “Not anymore.”
“But you just said you don’t go.”
“That’s why I don’t get into trouble.”
“How about clubs?”
He shrugged. “Depends on the club and who I’m with. Usually, no. Every now and then, yes.”
“Because you get into trouble there, too?”
“I have in the past.”
She puzzled over his answer before finally turning toward the horizon again. The moon glowed against the backdrop of a sky that was beginning its slow progression from gray to black. Colin followed her gaze, neither of them speaking for a moment.
“What kind of trouble?” she finally asked.
He lifted the tip of his reel, jerking the line, before answering. “Fights,” he said.