Cabin Tales

Chapter 37

Marley: Present Day

Daniel overheard me saying I was going to break it off with him.

This was a thought I had weeks after camp had ended, and I kept playing around with every scenario possible that would have made Daniel become so cold to me. I never broke up with him properly because I was still too in love with him, but he had overheard my conversation with Emme. The rustle in the woods that day, it wasn't a coyote. A part of me knew that it had to be human, but I refused to accept it was him. I should've recognized it sooner, and after all these years, I managed to block that second semester from my memory, never to question his sudden dryness again.

The fact that I remembered that last summer while making a cappuccino for an older gentleman said a lot about where I currently stood in life. Clearly, I wasn't moving on any time soon.

Every part of me wanted to say go back in time and apologize. Apologize for not ending it sooner or apologize that he had heard me, I wasn't sure which. Probably both. It was too late now. He was gone, and I was still a barista.

The strangest thing was: If I could go back in time, I wouldn't apologize because I wouldn't even consider breaking up with him. Looking back at it now, after months of therapy and opening myself back up to the world, I couldn't understand why I decided to end such a beautiful relationship. If I could go back in time, I'd spend that summer how I did every summer before it. Madly, deeply in love.

I told Jasper everything while he prepared for closing. He was a good listener, and with Ivy gone, it was nice to have someone who would willingly listen to my rambles. Although, I was aware that most of the time he'd just tune me out and give little mhms while I told a story. That was okay; I would tell Irene the exact same story of hearing Daniel in the woods later during our Thursday session.

Jasper hung up his apron and pulled out a mop from the closet. No matter how invested in a story he was, he would constantly still be working. He wasn't the manager of the Pretty Kitty Café for nothing.

"You're telling me your buddy's already gone for good?" he asked, filling a bright yellow bucket with soap and water.

The sink sprayed hard enough to splash droplets onto my pink shirt, leaving soapy stains on the fabric. My shift had ended hours ago, and while I had clocked out, I decided to hang around because I had nothing better to do. Jasper didn't mind the company, and sometimes I thought he might've been just as lonely as I was. In all my time working at the café, he had never shared about his home life, which was respectable and completely the opposite of how I acted at work. The most personal information I knew about him was that he started working for Pretty Kitty two years ago and that he'd been growing his hair out since high school.

"Honestly, Jas, I have no idea where he went," I said. "He could be across the country for all I know. Pretty sure he was some kind of communications major, so he could easily be in LA or New York or something."

I watched as the mop made hypnotic motions back and forth. Jasper cleaned so effortlessly, while whenever I was on mop duty, I'd take it slow because I was afraid of slipping on the sudsy floor. If mopping was a sport in the Olympics, Jasper would get gold.

We didn't speak much the rest of the time as he continued to close the store. My manager was a relatively silent guy, and I welcomed the quiet for once.

"You know," Jasper said as we reached the door to head out. "If it's true love, he'll be waiting for you."

He probably meant that to be some sort of eye-opening realization for me like "if it's meant to be, it's meant to be." But true love? It was hard to believe I deserved true love after all that I'd done – building barriers, lying about being with someone else, suddenly sobbing out of fear on a date. True love only existed in fairy tales. The most fantastical part of my life was the fact that I was able to pay rent on time every month.