Burnt (4 page)

“Yes, this is Kevin Crawford.” His eyes widened.

“Thanks so much for the great news!” He hesitated for a moment.

“What about Tara Matthews?” His smile evaporated.

“Oh...I understand. Thank you.”

When he disconnected the call, Tara knew what it was about.

“You got the job?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I asked about you and...”

“I didn’t get it,” Tara replied, feeling jealousy welling up inside of her. “It’s alright. I told you I wouldn’t be upset if I didn’t get it. I’m happy for you.”

“Well, I don’t know if you got it or not. They wouldn’t tell me.”

“Oh...” She felt a sudden breath of air escape her. The unknown was better than a
no.
She took a drink, clearing the lump in her throat. Tara tried to go back to eating her meal, but her thoughts kept roaming back to her phone. No one had called yet.

When they were finished with their main course and ordered desserts, she was still distracted. Her chances of being called were grim. She expected she’d get a call if she didn’t get a job, but rejection calls would probably come later. They had been told they could be called back as late as the next day, so she didn’t want to lose all hope. Not yet anyway.

Their desserts came and she let it whisk her away. She ate slowly, moaning between bites and relishing the taste. She sighed as the last piece was gone.

“That
does
take away a lot of problems.”

He laughed. “Yes, it does. You know, I don’t have to take the job,” he said suddenly.

Surprised, she looked up from her cheesecake.

“Yes...you do. I’ll be fine no matter what happens. I...” Her words were cut off when her phone started ringing. She grabbed it out of her purse and found a number she didn’t recognize. She looked around the restaurant. They were the only ones there, so she answered the call using speakerphone.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Tara Matthews?” came the muffled voice on the other end.

“Yes this is...” she answered quietly, silently crossing her fingers.

“Hello, Ms. Matthews. This is Zoe from Baker Street Petting Zoo. We were very impressed by your interview and we would like to offer you a job.”

She met Kevin’s waiting stare and just nodded. He smiled at her.

“Thank you so much!” Tara answered. “Yes, I accept and I appreciate you calling me.”

“Come by this Friday after 1:00p.m. and we’ll get you set up on payroll,” Zoe informed her.

“Will do thanks!” she answered ecstatically.

“Goodbye.”

Tara disconnected the call and sighed with relief. Another plan was working out. A summer job for both of them it could only bring good things.

***

F
rom out at the side of the restaurant, he watched them.  He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he felt he could read their body language.  She kept smiling at him and he looked lovingly at her.  They were playing with his mind.  Through the main course and into dessert, they were acting like they were a couple.  They weren’t supposed to be a couple. 

He saw the waitress approach them to pick up their finished plates. For a moment, his attention shifted to the waitress as she left the table. When he looked back at Kevin and Tara, they were leaving the restaurant, laughing and enjoying themselves. He moved back to hide, sick to his stomach that Tara could betray him so blatantly. They couldn’t get away with this for much longer. For the moment, he decided to keep following them, knowing one day soon, they would both realize what a huge mistake they were making.

––––––––

T
ara walked out of the main building and saw Kevin feeding the goats. They had been working at the petting zoo for two weeks and she was enjoying the job. She could tell Kevin liked it too. Their friendship seemed to be growing even stronger. She had not thought it was possible. They were already so close. She approached him, just watching. He must have sensed her, because he looked up and smiled.

“Hey!”

She nodded to greet him and glanced around the yard. There were horses, pigs, goats, and even a dog and cat graced the fenced backyard. The smaller animals, like chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs, were inside. She looked back at him. He was feeding the baby goat with a small bottle. “Now I know how you’ll look when you become a dad,” she teased.

He laughed. “It might be a little bit different.”

She snickered. “Maybe a little.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “I came out here for a reason. Mr. Harrison is ready to do your two week evaluation.”

“Oh great,” he laughed. “It was nice working with you.”

She shook her head. “I already had mine. It wasn’t bad. It’s more along the lines of, is the job working out for you...do you like the hours...things like that. As long as you don’t have any issues, then you should be in there about five minutes.” She looked at the goat. It was only half finished drinking the bottle of milk.

“I can take over here,” she offered, reaching for the bottle.

“Are you sure?” he teased. “It’s a pretty tough job.”

“I think I can handle it, Kevin, but thanks for asking.”

He smiled, winking at her and handing over the bottle. She took over the rest of the feeding and looked at him as he headed up to the building, then disappeared through the door. She chuckled, turning back to the goat.

“It’s just you and me kid,” she joked.

Tara had not realized she wasn’t alone until she heard someone talking behind her a few minutes later.

“You two make a cute couple.” It was Amy Watters, the person who had won out the other applicants for the third summer job.

Tara laughed. “Oh...we’re not a couple.” She looked down at the goat, ignoring Amy still standing there.

“Huh...” she heard her say. “I have to admit, that does surprise me. Are you being serious right now?”

Tara looked up and nodded. “Yeah, Kevin and I go way back. We’re just good friends.” As she said the words, even she noticed how different they sounded to her. She had been denying accusations that something was going on between them for years. Normally she would laugh it off. This time, she felt a pang of regret for saying it.

“Wow,” Amy remarked. “So you won’t mind if I go out with him?”

Tara had turned and was about to leave the animal enclosure. As she heard the question she flipped her head back to stare at Amy. She fumbled for words and they weren’t there. It was too late to retract her earlier statement. She could only shrug. “Of course not. If Kevin and you want to go out, you don’t need my permission.”

Amy was visibly excited. “Great. Thank you, Tara.”

Tara left the goat’s enclosure in a daze. She had just given Amy permission to take away her closest friend.

***

K
evin’s evaluation went just as Tara said it would. There was nothing to worry about. He headed out of the manager’s office and saw Tara had moved on from the goat pen. She was sweeping out a horse’s stall. He headed toward her, but Amy cut across the hallway and stopped him.

“So, did you have your evaluation?” she asked.

He nodded. “Just coming from having mine. You?”

“Yep,” she replied casually. She then looked around, fidgeting nervously. “Got a minute? I wanted to ask you something.”

“Okay...” He crossed his arms in front of him. “I’m listening.”

She got straight to the point. “I was wondering if you’d like to go out some time.”

Kevin hadn’t expected to be propositioned. She seemed nice and all, but had never approached him much to get to know him before. She also did not appear to be someone who would ask a guy out.

“You mean like a date?” he asked, glancing over at where Tara was still working, and shifting his attention back to the woman standing in front of him.

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes,” she replied, again looking nervous. “Unless you have some reason why you can’t go out. Like...you are dating someone else.”

She hesitated and turned toward Tara, then looked back at him.

“Are you?”

He quickly shook his head. “No...I’m not.”

“Okay.” She let out a breath. “That’s what Tara said, but I thought maybe she was kidding.”

He nodded. “You talked to Tara about this?”

She nodded. “I honestly thought you were both dating each other, but she set me straight.”

The words took a while to settle in. If Tara didn’t want to date him, at some point he was going to have to move on. Now was as good a time as any.

“We’re just friends. How about after work today? Tara drove me, but if you wouldn’t mind taking me home afterward...” His words dropped off.

She smiled, shaking her head. “Not at all. After work sounds great.”

“Great,” he replied. “Speaking of work, we better get back to it,” he replied. “See you later.”

He winked at her, knowing he was flirting, but he was also hurt by Tara’s eagerness to pass him off to someone else. He tried to forget about it as he stepped into the stable beside the one Tara was working in. He didn’t greet her or make eye contact as he raked the hay.

Tara noticed him and cleared her throat to get his attention.

“Yes?” he asked, sounding annoyed.

She tilted her head, frowning, but didn’t say anything.

“What, Tara?” he said impatiently.

“How did your evaluation go?” she asked.

“Fine...just like you said it would,” he replied, turning back to his work. “Oh...by the way, I just wanted to let you know I won’t need a ride home.”

“You won’t?” She sounded confused.

He looked up again and shook his head, “I have a date and she’s going to take me home.”

The color left Tara’s face. There was no denying it now.

“Oh. I hope you have a great time.” She looked over to him.

“With Amy, right?” she asked.

He nodded. “She said you two had a nice chat.”

She shrugged. “She thought we were dating. I let her know we were just great friends. Apparently, it’s a good thing I did. You two have a date, and I’m sure you’ll both be extremely happy with each other.”

Tara turned on her heels and headed back to the corner of her stall.

Kevin couldn’t help but laugh.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, looking at him with a mixture of sarcasm and anger.

“You seem jealous.” He raised an eyebrow.

She glared at him. “I’m not jealous. I’m simply wishing you well.”

She stared at him, waiting for him to say something else about it. It would not be wise to provoke her more, so he went back to working. He held on to the hope she wasn’t being honest with him and she really was jealous. It held a certain appeal about it.

***

K
evin and Tara finished work a few hours later. As Kevin stood outside waiting to leave for his date with Amy, he caught sight of Tara leaving the building.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she replied. They hadn’t talked much after their conversation in the horses’ stalls. He wanted to make sure they were still on good terms.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night, right?” he asked.

She paused. “Tomorrow night?”

He nodded. “Our movie night. It’s Saturday,” he said.

They had a ritual they had started in college. Every first Saturday of the month they would go to the movies, alternating on who got to pick the show that month. “It’s your pick, remember?”

“Oh. Well let’s play it by ear,” she said, moving past him.

He stopped her before she could reach her car.

“Play it by ear?” he asked. “Come on, Tara. You don’t want to break tradition, do you?”

She turned and looked at him. Her eyes looked past his shoulder.

“Your ride’s ready,” she replied, motioning with her head. “We’ll talk later.” She turned back to her car and left as soon as she could.

Kevin watched her pull out of the parking spot. He felt like a part of him was going with her. He slowly turned around and saw Amy leaning up against her car, waiting patiently for him.

He walked back to her and smiled.

“Sorry about that,” he offered.

“Lover’s spat?” she asked.

He opened his eyes wide. “No, we told you we’re not—”

“I’m teasing,” she replied with a laugh. “Get in. I’m starved.”

She opened up her car door and he got in the passenger side. They had a quiet ride to the restaurant. Kevin looked out the window and could only think about Tara.
Everything had better work out
, he thought. He hated feeling like he was betraying her. 

As they drove to the restaurant, he heard Amy talking, but could barely think about anything else.  “So, you decided not to go to school?” he asked, trying to keep up the conversation.

“I decided to take some time off.  I hated high school and I figured if I despised going to school that much, then how could I possibly get interested in college courses.”  From her tone he could tell she was a couple of years younger than he was, or at least seemed like it. 

“You’ve taken college courses, correct?” she asked.

Kevin nodded as she pulled into the parking lot of a small Italian restaurant.

They got out of the car and headed up to the front door.  As he held the door open for Amy, she beamed.  He was growing less and less excited by the minute. 

“Two please...” Kevin called to the hostess.

After a ten minute wait, they were directed to a table for two at the window. Amy continued as soon as they sat down.

“So you’re in college?”

“Yes,” he answered. “I have one more course until I complete my bachelor’s degree with University of Alaska.  I plan on going to Montana to work on my master’s after.”

She looked impressed.

“Awesome. I wish you the best,” Amy encouraged him, looking down at the menu.

They perused their menus for a while, then placed their orders and resumed the chat on their dreams and ambitions. Amy was satisfied living in their small town and working at the petting zoo. She had no future plans, and there was nothing wrong with that, but Kevin quickly realized he had little in common with her. He could tell she felt the same way too. There was no romantic spark between them.

“Are you being honest when you say you and Tara are just friends?” Amy asked, taking a drink.