“Just as well,” Eric says. “You got her started now, Kia. You’re gonna be here a long time, girl.”
“I got a long time to kill.” I shrug a shoulder.
“Tell me about it,” Patty demands, starting to eat.
I sigh, setting my cutlery down. “You know what happened last summer? Well, before I left, we… Yeah.”
“By “yeah,” I presume you mean you slept together?”
My cheeks flame. Patty is way too old to be talking about this to. Holy crap.
She clicks her tongue. “Can’t keep nothin’ from me, Kia.”
“Yes,” I mutter. “We slept together, and then I left for college. But it ain’t that simple. You know when you meet someone, and there’s that spark?” Patty and Eric nod. “Well, I guess it was kinda like that with us. It still kinda is. My car had to go to Adam’s for repairs; I saw Reese and I ended up getting dragged to Rock’s on Saturday with Luce. He kinda… Kissed me.”
“How can you kinda kiss someone?”
“Okay. He did kiss me. Better?” I raise an eyebrow. Patty nods, waving her hand for me to continue. “And then this morning my phone rings. I answer, and turns out he’s sitting outside my dang window, up a tree, asking me if I’m busy.”
Eric laughs loudly. “He was up a tree outside your window?”
I nod. “He was. We went to the lake behind his, spent the day there.”
“So what’s the problem?” Patty asks. “I don’t get you kids nowadays. When I was a kid, if we wanted someone, we just went for it. None of this messin’ about you lot do.”
“The problem is I don’t wanna end up like my momma.” I sigh.
“And you think fallin’ in love with Reese Pembleton would make you like your momma?” Patty slams her cutlery down. “Listen to me, Kia James. Just ‘cause you’re her daughter don’t mean you gonna be like her. Your momma is the way she is because of a reason-“
“That reason is my daddy,” I say quietly. “Because he left.”
“Why did he leave, hmm? Did she ever tell you?”
“No. She never did.”
“Then don’t you go holdin’ back until you know the reason.” Patty’s eyes hold knowledge I want, but I’m afraid to ask for it. “You ask your momma why he left. Don’t punish that boy o’ yours because of that, Kia.”
“I’m not punishing anyone. I’m protecting myself.”
“Are you? Are you protectin’ yourself or are you just runnin’ from somethin’ that could be beautiful? Hmm?” Patty’s eyebrows are so high they’ve practically disappeared under her hairline.
“It doesn’t matter anyway.” I chew some chicken. “Reese has an almost-girlfriend. We can be friends. That’s all.”
“You can’t ever be friends with the person your heart cries out for, and you definitely can’t be friends with the person whose heart cries out for you, too. That ain’t the way it works,” Eric comments absently.
I grunt, and focus back on my food. Why couldn’t I just stay at home?
CHAPTER 4
Silence.
That’s another thing New York City is lacking in. It never sleeps – there’s never any peace, never any time to stop and think. Its go go go, never ending busyness. The small town girl inside is glad to be back in Alabama. Here, lying on my back in the yard, it’s easy to think about never leaving. Easy to consider enrolling in the community college and packing New York in.
Then I remember everything. I remember that college is my escape.
“So why didn’t you come back?”
I jolt and push myself into a sitting position, my glasses slipping slightly.
“What?” I look at Reese, shocked by both his sudden appearance and blunt question.
He crosses his arm against his chest as he leans against the tree where the tire swing is. “You never said. I mean, I’ve asked, but you never replied.”
“What does it matter? I’m back now, aren’t I?”
“I know that. But why didn’t you come back before? Didn’t you think anyone would notice?”
I can’t help but scoff. “This is Harlan Grove, Reese. Of course people would have noticed, but that doesn’t mean they’d care.”
His eyes are set on mine, his gaze steady and unwavering. “I cared,” he says honestly. “I cared a damn lot. Why didn’t you come back, Kia? Why?”
“Why do you care, Reese? We both know what we had is over.” I stand, unable to look at him anymore. I know it’s because it hurts too damn much, but I can’t admit it. And I sure as hell can’t let him see it.
“Because it’s you.”
“That’s not an excuse, Reese. That’s like asking a toddler covered in chocolate if they enjoyed it.”
“But it’s the truth, and the truth is better than an excuse.”
“Okay, I’ll humor you.” I turn, folding my arms across my chest. “Why because of me? You’ve probably been through a hundred girls since I left, and oh, there’s also Hana. So why would you care?”
He walks across the yard, his assured steps swallowing it up in seconds. He jumps onto the porch inches from me, so close I can feel his breath across my face.
He murmurs, “Because it’s you, baby. Because it’s always you.”
Standing here, so close to him, looking into his gold-flecked, hazel eyes, feeling his breath flutter across my lips, it’s so tempting to give in. It would be so easy to fall into his arms right now and let him take away the fact I was putting my mom to bed at 3am because she’d passed out on the floor.
It would be so easy to give him everything.
“That doesn’t explain anything,” I reply, making to move.
“Doesn’t it?” he asks, his hand reaching out for mine. He takes it, linking our fingers together slowly, the roughness of his hand a stark contrast against the softness of mine. His dark tan the opposite of my light one. “I think it explains everything, because for all the questions in the world, you’re the only answer.”
I narrow my eyes at him.
“Ask me anything,” he suggests. “Go on. I guarantee the answer is you.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because of you.”
“Why don’t you give a damn about Hana?”
“Because of you.”