Lost and Found Read Online Free PDF Page B

Golden Girl,” Emily had said one day when I came in with a fuzzy red cardigan with pearl buttons, a blue shirt dress that tied at the waist, and my cat eyed granny glasses. I’d felt protected by the clothes. Nothing could get me under these layers.
    “Are you always this charming with women, or is it just me?” I said to Oliver.
    “It’s just you,” he said as he inspected my clothing. “And sorry. I should just greet you with, ‘Sorry,’ instead of hello, since I can’t seem to stop insulting you.”
    “That’s okay. My friends and I call you ‘Jackass,’ so I guess it evens out. And I like how I dress. This is me.”
    He pointed to my bangs, and then leaned close enough to touch the hair on my forehead, just like I’d done to him a minute ago. “And this? Is this you too?”
    I crossed my arms and stepped back, wariness building in me. He was going to say something about my streak of white hair. “It’s me,” I said, looking away from him. “It’s natural.”
    He had a faraway look in his eyes, like he hadn’t heard a word I’d said. “Didn’t you say you needed to tell me something?” I asked him.
    He nodded and leaned against the door jamb, leaving space between us again. “Right. I wanted to apologize for what I said. Before, not about the clothes. Your clothes are….nice,” he said with an obvious struggle.
    “No apology necessary.”
    “Are you kidding? Of course I need to apologize. When people treat you like shit, tell them. I’ve treated you like shit.”
    I nodded. “You’re right. You were a jackass. But that’s just you.” Then I added, “I’m just not very good with people.”
    “You’re not?”
    “With men. I’m not very good with men,” I clarified, feeling my face go hot again.
    “I have a feeling you’re not telling the truth,” he said.
    “I am.” I gesticulated around my body, indicating my general aloofness. I was flustered by his presence, and hoped he’d go away.
    “Well, I’m sorry I was rude to you. I’ve been working night shifts and not getting enough sleep and I’ve had a lot of other things going on and I’m an asshole to pretty much everybody, but that’s no e xcuse. I didn’t mean it.”
    I noticed the circles under his eyes for the first time, the way his face was pale and drawn, and I knew he wasn’t lying. “You’re e xhausted.”
    “Bone tired,” he said, and I understood him a lot be tter than I had.
    “ Oh . This is like The Sixth Sense .”
    “Excuse me?” he said with a small laugh.
    “Like, at the end of the movie, The Sixth Sense , when you know what was really going on, it seems so obvious when you re-watch it. It’s like that with you. You’re just tired, just like Bruce Willis was just dead.”
    “Ah,” he said, wrinkling his forehead. “If you say so. But I am sorry.”
    “Except about the clothes?”
    “Yeah.” He nodded.
    “And you didn’t need to explain it to me,” I said, finally crac king a genuine, if small, smile at him.
    “I didn’t, but I am.” He ran his hands through his hair and said, “Well, that’s all.” He cleared his throat and I said, “Bye,” just as my phone rang. I fished it out of my purse, which was still slung across my body, and the caller ID flashed: Cliff.
    “Are you going to answer that?” Oliver said, sounding perplexin gly angry.
    I clicked the ignore button. “No.”
    “Good,” he said. “Anyway.” He backed away from the door.
    Even though I knew I shouldn’t, that I’d told Ursula and Emily and myself that I was completely done being nice to jackasses, I also knew that I didn’t want Oliver to leave. “Do you want to come in for some cookies? Or I have an apple crisp in the freezer I could throw in the o ven.”
    “Oh?” His eyebrows lifted. “You don’t mind?”
    “No. I love baking. I love feeding people.”
    “Even me?”
    “Especially people like you. Baking transforms people from grumpy to nice.”
    “When have I been nice to