I shot her a look. “Maybe youdon’tneed to join my group after all.”
“Hey!” she protested, but it was lost in a laugh.
I sighed and leaned back in my chair. “I don’t hold grudges.”
Everyone laughed, and Reid almost choked on his salad. “Yeah, right,” he said. “You totally do.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but closed it again because the truth was, the thing with Jess wasn’t a grudge. Not really. It was something older, and I knew my brothers thought it was a small thing. But it wasn’t. Not to me.
“What happened?” It was Avery who asked. She was still pretty new to town, and like Delaney, for better or worse, didn’t know all of our childhood stories yet.
“We were only kids,” I said finally. “There was this day when we all went on a class hike. I think we were about twelve.” My brothers all nodded. Class hikes were fairly common for us. “She’d been scared to cross this little log bridge, and I helped her.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet.” A big smile crossed Delaney’s face. But she didn’t know yet how the story ended.
And itwassweet. I already had a crush on her, but that day when she put her hand in mine, something changed. The way she trembled, but calmed with my touch, made me feel so good. And then the relief on her face when she’d made it across. The smile she’d given me…It changed things between us.
I could still see it clearly. I remembered how it felt.
“Well, it took me a few months to work up the courage.” I continued the story. “But I thought she was cute and nice and…well, you know.” I shook my head a little, like I couldn’t believe I was actually reliving this whole story. “Anyway, one day I picked her a bouquet of daisies on my way to school, and I gave them to her on the playground before class.”
I swallowed, surprised to feel that old tightness in my chest at a memory that was so old.
Avery clasped her hands tighter. “That’s so sweet.”
“Yeah,” I scoffed. “Well, it wasn’t so sweet the way she looked at them and then dropped them in the dirt. Right there. In front of everyone. She didn’t even say anything. Just dropped them on the ground and walked away.”
She actually ran away, her friends laughing and following behind her, but I didn’t bother adding that detail.
“Harsh, man,” Quinn said, nailing my thoughts exactly.
Delaney’s expression changed. “Oh, Preston…”
I shook off her concern. “It was a long time ago,” I said. “But I got the message loud and clear. I wasn’t good enough. Just like the cheap daisies I’d given her. Plain and basic. She was always more than that. Even as kids. And now…well, you can see the woman she’s become.”
Strong, beautiful, kind, smart, successful.
A dozen words to describe the Jess I’d been getting to know popped into my head, but old habits died hard.
“Polished,” I continued. “She’s always acted like she was better than me,” I finished. “That hasn’t changed.”
But maybe it had.
“Preston, you were kids, man,” Grayson said. “That’s not fair.”
“Maybe it’s not.” I shrugged, knowing full well that it wasn’t fair at all. And after the other night, maybe I didn’t need to feel that way anymore.
“I saw the way the two of you were chatting the other night,” Ethan said, voicing my thoughts. “Do you think maybe things have changed? Or that they could?”
I shrugged again and stuffed another piece of bread in my mouth. As far as I was concerned, the conversation was closed. I’d already said too much. I sure as hell hadn’t planned to relive any of those old memories.
But strangely, now that it was out there, I felt lighter.
Fortunately, Brody could take a hint. He cleared his throat. “Speaking of things that catch you off guard…Lauren’s talking about having a kid.”
“What?” Ethan looked at Delaney. “Did you know?”
She shrugged. “She’s been talking about it.”
