She ducked behind me, suddenly shy. I felt her fingers balled in my t-shirt. “Gennie,” she whispered.
Shay waved, saying, “It’s so nice to meet you, Gennie.”
I really wanted to hate her, and for a million different reasons, but most of all, she’d showed up here after all these years and she didn’t remember me. Not that I wanted anyone to be rude or dismissive to Gennie—the kid had been through enough—but I would’ve appreciated it if I could walk away from this exchange resenting Shay. That would really help me out.
Instead, she gestured to Gennie’s striped skirt, the one with the ragged hems because the kid was not to be trusted with scissors, and said, “Tell me about this look you’ve put together. It’s fabulous.”
“I like black and white,” Gennie said, abandoning me altogether and dancing off to give a little twirl. “It’s my favorite but Noah says I should try other colors.”
Shay reached for the diamond pendant resting at the base of her throat, zipped it back and forth several times while she blinked at Gennie. It took her a second but then her gaze snapped to me.Zip zip zip.“Noah?” she whispered, finally abandoning the necklace to push her sunglasses to her head and gape at me. Heat crawled up my neck. “NoahBarden? What? Why didn’t you say so sooner? You are the last person I expected to find in Friendship.”
Wasn’t that the damn truth.
“I could say the same to you,” I replied.
She glanced out at the rolling hills around us, her gaze far off and the shake of her head slow. “Yeah. I mean, this was not on my bingo card.”
We stared at each other while Gennie twirled around us, sword aloft. If Shay intended to offer an explanation as to why the hell she was here after fourteen years and a teenage vow to get the hell out, this would’ve been a fine time to do it. Would’ve been a fine time for me to do the same.
But the moment passed and Gennie stopped beside Shay to toy with the bracelet on her wrist. “Your hair is really pretty,” she said.
“Thank you. It’s new,” Shay said, lifting a hand to her strawberry-blonde hair. “I’m still getting used to it.”
“You look great, Shay. Time’s been good to you,” I said, which was stupid because we weren’t the same kids we used to be and the last thing I needed was a problem like Shay again. Even if the years had taken that unforgettable girl with those cat eyes and that curtain of long blonde hair and transformed her into an unforgettable woman with pink hair and curves too luscious to contemplate in this heat. She still stood on the short side of average and her skin was still peachy and clear, not even a freckle daring to interrupt all that perfection.
“You’re kind to say it but that’s hardly the case,” she said, making an up-and-down gesture in my direction. That was when I realized the compound nature of my stupidity. I couldn’t call attention to her appearance without making mine free game. If there was anyone who knew what it was for their body to be a constant source of public comment, it was me. “You, on the other hand, are barely recognizable.” She did the up-and-down thing again. “You grew, like, a whole foot.”
“Noah’s a hundred feet tall,” Gennie said, still fixated on Shay’s bracelet.
“Only eight inches.” I shoved my hands into my pockets, waiting for the rest. Ever since moving back to Friendship, the first things anyone said to me were about losing the weight and my skin clearing up. Once they were finished recapping my history as a fat kid with enough acne for it to be memorable, they promptly moved on to whatever they needed from me. Sponsor the softball team, buy a booth at this upcoming event, donate a basket for that charity auction, join this new committee, rescue that family’s farm before it hit the auction block.
But all she said was, “It’s really good to see you, Noah,” and I was sixteen all over again. Sixteen and awkward as fuck and in absolute awe of this girl.
And that could not, under any circumstance, continue.
“Yeah, you too. So, about those trucks down at Twin Tulip,” I said, rubbing a hand along the back of my neck. As usual, it felt like concrete. “The guys kept seeing trespassers parking there and hiking down to that little cut-through in the woods, the one that leads to the cove. We stationed a few out-of-commission delivery trucks down there to make it difficult for anyone to park.” I lifted a shoulder, the one with the pink backpack Gennie threw at me the minute she got off the bus. Hated the pink backpack but loved Shay’s pink hair. Of course. Made sense. “We didn’t know anyone was coming.”
Her brows creased and she made a face I didn’t really understand. “I didn’t know I was coming either.”
“Your earrings don’t match,” Gennie announced. “Aren’t they supposed to match?”
“Don’t see why they should,” Shay replied. “If I can’t have fun with my earrings, why even wear them?”
I reached into my back pocket for my phone. “I’ll get someone to take care of those trucks now.”
“Wait a second,” she said with a laugh, her hands fluttering while I shot off a text message. “What’s with the cow delivery trucks? And thedairy? What happened here? What about the orchard?” She pointed to my hat. “And that. Little Star Farms? What’sthatall about?”
I held her gaze, my heart in my throat. I was certain she had me nailed right then and there and I’d have an eternity of explaining to do while she handed my ass to me but—
“So much has changed,” she cried, waving at the greenhouses and the farm stand. “I can’t believe it. Didn’t that used to be a row of berry bushes? Something weird, right? Like fraggleberries.”
“Fraggleberries aren’t a thing. You’re thinking of gooseberries,” I said.
“Fraggleberries should be a thing,” Gennie murmured.
“Yes! That’s it. Gooseberries,” she said. “The gooseberries are gone!”
“No one bought the gooseberries. They were a terrible use of resources,” I said. “Anyway. About the dairy. My dad didn’t know how to say no when neighboring farms asked if he wanted to buy them out but he never knew what to do with all those assets either. When I took over, I consolidated the operations, including the old McIntyre dairy, into one. We distribute across the region and offer home delivery. Milk, produce, breads. It’s not a big deal.”
