“It’s the absolute truth. Of course, Mason didn’t believe it, but thought I should be aware,” I say, shaking my head in disbelief. This town is wild.
“Serves you right for having the nerve to own a motorcycle. Like, who even has the time to fabricate lies like that, Logan?” She laughs, popping the rest of her tart into her mouth and licksher fingers. I leave mine on the plate secretly hoping maybe she will eat that one as well. Who knew I was into food porn?
We sit in comfortable silence listening to the music playing softly in the background. Lately, I’ve been leaning into my country era after years of blasting ’90s rock.
“So, tell me something I don’t know. I feel like you know more about me than I do about you,” she asks as she pulls her hair away from her face and ties it up into a messy bun with her scrunchie. She lasted longer with her hair down than I thought she would.
“What would you like to know? I’m an open book.”
Picking up her forgotten wine and holding it in her hand, she asks, “Have you been in any serious relationships since you have been gone?” When I briefly hesitate to answer, she rushes to say, “I just figured that you know about Danny and I dating. I was just wondering if, you know, if you had a girlfriend. Do you have one now?” Her eyes grow wide as she rambles.
I shake my head. “No, I am very single. I have only had one brief serious-ish relationship that ended years ago.”
“I don’t think serious-ish is an actual word. What was her name?” she asks, looking down at her hand then back to me.
“Farrah.”
“That’s a pretty name. How did you meet?”
Running my hand through my hair, I ask, “Are you sure this is what you want to talk about? It’s ancient history.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know.” She shrugs one shoulder, and the neck of her sweater falls down her arm a little more.
I crack my neck and stretch before answering. “She was a bartender at the restaurant I worked at. We always worked the same shifts and became friends. She was going to a wedding and her date cancelled on her last minute, so she asked me to be herplus one. We had fun, and after that, we started to see each other regularly.”
“So why did it end?” she prompts me to continue as she sets her empty glass on the table.
“This sounds horrible.” Trying to figure out how to say this as kindly as possible, I scrub my hands over my face before making eye contact. “Farrah has to be the most important person in every room.” Hannah narrows her eyes at me. I sound like an asshole, but I’m trying to be transparent. We have enough secrets between us. “I didn’t notice it when we first met, but she always has to one up everyone.”
“What do you mean?” She tilts her head and narrows her eyes slightly.
“Well, for example if I said I loved to swim, then she taught swimming lessons and had won three gold medals. If I said I was going on vacation, she had already been there six times and was a travel agent. Hell, she probably flew the plane.” I chuckle and shake my head at the memories.
She leans back and raises an eyebrow, and I continue.
“I know that sounds like an exaggeration but it’s the truth. She didn’t do it just with me – it was with everyone. She was smarter, more skilled, and more experienced than everyone she knew – always. If anyone called her out on her obvious lies, she would be offended and double down. I tried to talk to her about it multiple times, but she just became defensive. As a result, she couldn’t keep friends. It got so bad that I didn’t know what the truth was anymore.” I take a drink of my wine before continuing.
“Even when you and I were young you wanted everyone to succeed. You cheered me and all of our friends on to be the best version of ourselves. Farrah sees everyone as direct competition. It was difficult not to make the comparison between the two of you and I didn’t want to live like that.”
“Did you love her?” she asks quietly.
“No,” I say emphatically, “maybe if I did, I would have tried harder to make it work.”
Nodding her head, her gaze travels to the fire as she listens.
“I think I was subconsciously looking for someone who didn’t remind me of you. Farrah is your total opposite in every way. In the end, all those opposites are exactly why I didn’t want to try and work things out with her. Then I stopped looking.”
“You can’t expect me to believe you only had one girlfriend the entire time you have been gone, when you look the way, you do.” She narrows her eyes as she gestures up and down with two fingers.
“So, you have been checking me out.” I wiggle my eyebrows at her, and she blushes. I see the way she peeks at me when she doesn’t think I’m looking. That’s okay, I’m checking her out every chance I get too.
“But to answer your question, yes, Farrah was my only relationship, and it ended years ago. I’m not claiming that I am celibate, there have been other women, but everything was casual. There has been nobody for months, way before I decided to move home.” Friends talk about this kind of stuff, right?
“Well, I hope you kept it well wrapped, since you were being sooo casual,” she mumbles, looking down, fiddling with the cuffs of her sweater.
“Come on, Hannah, it wasn’t like that. But yes, I always did, and I test regularly; I’m responsible like that.” She snorts. Is she jealous? Two can play this game, though. She told me it was none of my business before, but still, I ask, “Since you opened this door. What’s really going on with you and Danny? I know you broke up, but do you still see him regularly?”
“I should have seen this coming.” She sighs, rolling her eyes. “If the question is do Danny and I still sleep together, then the answer is yes, occasionally. Did we after the night at the bar? No, we did not. Will we again? I don’t think so. Have there beenothers? Sure, but nothing serious or all that memorable, to be honest.”
