“That’s the thing. She doesn’t know I found her.”
“You haven’t talked to her? Dude, why not? Are you chicken or something?”
I chuckle, shaking my head at the thought of the club, and that there’s no way I can tell him everything. “Let’s just say, it’s complicated.”
“Don’t pull that on me. I may be a kid but don’t treat me like one. Tell me.”
I drop my head, shaking it slightly, and try to hide my face at the ridiculousness of this moment. “Sorry, little man. Some things I just can’t say.”
“Fine,” he says, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.
“I’ll tell you this. I have talked to her, but she doesn’t realize it’s me.” He looks over, a confused expression on his face. “Just go along with it, okay?”
He lets out a big huff. “Fine. Have you changed or something? How could she not know?”
I think about ten years ago to the kid I was back in Minnesota. “Yeah, I guess I have. Back then all I cared about was school and getting a scholarship so I could get out of my small town. Then she disappeared, and I lost my mind. If I wasn’t studying, I was getting my frustration out at the gym. So yeah, these muscles”—I hold them up, just to play with Kyle, and he rolls his eyes at me, showing off—“I didn’t have these back in high school. Or this beard.” I run my fingers over my scruff, mentally noting I have to trim it tonight.
“So tell her it’s you.”
“Like I said, it’s complicated.”
His face says it all. He thinks I’m being dumb. “How complicated could it be? Do you still like her?”
I pause. Throughout these past few days, that’s the one thing I didn’t think about. Do I? I’ve gone through so many emotions the last ten years. I’ve missed her. I’ve hated her. I’ve loathed her. But do I like her still? I’ve changed so much, I can only assume she has too.
“If it’s taken you this long to answer then I’m going to say you do,” he blurts out.
“What makes you so wise on relationships?”
“Do you know how much television I watch?” He raises his eyebrows, nodding his head. “Look, you obviously still have something for this girl, or you wouldn’t be like this right now.” He holds up his hands, moving them up and down my body like he’s disgusted. “And, where did you run into her again?”
I have to stop myself from cracking up at the thought. “Nope, definitely can’t tell you that.”
“So you know I’m an eleven-year-old boy, right? My mind can think of some pretty crazy things, and I’m going to think the worst since you won’t tell me.”
My head drops as my shoulders shake. His worst is nowhere near the actual truth. I guarantee that.
“Whatever,” he says in frustration. “So my mom always says things happen for a reason. It ticks me off because, hello? Then why am I here? But never mind that. You say she came to you, out of nowhere. That had to have happened for a reason. So I say go for it.”
I hit his arm. “You’re a pretty cool little dude, you know that?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, I know, but I’m not that little.”
