“I didn’t.”
“I know. And that sucks for him. There’s no way to make that un-suck unless your feelings change,” I reply as we step into the elevator.
“That’s never going to happen.” Chase scrubs his face with his hand. “I guess that friendship is gone forever.”
“Maybe. Or at least just for now,” I reply and then add a thought I’m not sure I should be sharing. “Are you worried he’ll say something? Out you?”
Chase shakes his head quickly and without a second of hesitation. “No. Bennie isn’t out either. That’s what convinced me we could have a quick, discrete moment.”
“Oh.”
The elevator opens on the ground floor and we walk down the short, narrow hall to the front door. Outside the air is slightly crisp and the sky is overcast. He looks at the time on his phone screen. “I have to go. Sure you don’t want to come to class?”
“I can’t, but the thought of you all buff in a bathing suit is tempting,” I keep my voice low, almost a whisper, even though the closest person is a stranger walking on the other side of the street.
He shifts his weight and then makes a bit of a face. I tip my head quizzically and he grins. “I had to catch myself there. Wanted to kiss you good-bye.”
I smile. “One day, right?”
“Six months, twelve days,” Chase replies quickly and winks before turning and making his way down the sidewalk.
It takes everything in me not to stare at his ass until it disappears from sight. Instead, I force myself to walk the other way, back to my own car near the bar. Time to go face my ornery sister.
15
CHASE
I have to admit, they’ve done a great job. Bowen says the whole thing was planned by Autumn — everything from the color of the candles to the menu to the way the tables are arranged in little clusters around the side yard, overlooking the hemp fields. It’s not that I expected this to be a horrible event, it’s just that I know their budget is limited and they’ve struggled compared to Lacey, who has unlimited funds from her wealthy family and their friends who have all contributed to her campaign, including my own parents. They told me flatly when I spoke to them over the phone yesterday that I was expected to donate as well.
I mumbled something about putting it at the top of my To Do list and got off the phone as soon as possible. I have been to two of Lacey’s events, including a fundraiser she had last night. It was a fancy dinner with entertainment by members of the string section of the Vermont Symphony and boring as hell. The town’s political columnist said as much too, which I’m sure Lacey is fuming about. I haven’t called on her to check though. I had assumed I was going as a member of the Chamber of Commerce, just like I’m here as one, but when I got to the event, I found out she’d seated me at her table, as her date. I spent the night listening to her try and woo people with her arm curled around my bicep. Then I texted Bowen, drove to his house, and explained the whole unwanted experience to him. I didn’t want him to read about it in the paper or hear about it and think I was keeping it from him. We smoked a joint, fiddled around with his dad’s guitars, and got naked. I left the farm as the sun rose and now I’m back here as it sets.
But instead of being upstairs above the garage, sucking on Bowen’s perfect dick, I am glancing at one of the many silent auction items set out on long tables that line their front porch. None of the items are all that great. A bunch of gift certificates for free meals and discounts at local restaurants, some movie passes, a couple ski passes for next season, and a weekend getaway to a bed and breakfast in Maine. I bid on that because it says it can be redeemed anytime in the next twelve months. I intend to use it in slightly less than seven months — with my boyfriend, because I’ll be able to call him that out loud by then.
“Having a good time?”
Speak of the devil. “Not as good as I had last night.”
“At Lacey’s event?”
“Oh hell no,” I whisper vehemently and he smiles. “Afterward. Up in our sex attic.”
He laughs but it’s cut short by the appearance of his sister. She’s wearing the same lovely sundress she wore to the outgoing mayor’s cocktail party. “Autumn, hey. You look beautiful.”
“Thanks. You said that last time,” she mutters with a polite and fleeting smile. She grabs her brother’s arm. “I need your help with something.”
“No, you don’t,” Bowen replies, refusing to move when she tugs him.
“Yes, I do.”
“With what?”
She tugs again and when he still doesn’t move, she sighs. “Okay,youneedmyhelp to get you to stop conversing with the enemy.”
Bowen and I exchange glances. Autumn gives me another smile that is anything but friendly. “I know you’re dating Lacey Baldwin so, although you’re going to tell me you’re here as just a Chamber of Commerce representative, I can’t believe you. And neither can my brother. Even if you do make beautiful music together.”
Both my eyebrows and Bowen’s shoot up at the exact same time. She means the band, it takes me a minute to realize. She uses that moment of shock to finally get Bowen to move and she drags him off toward the group of people surrounding Woody as he discusses the farm and how they would expand to marijuana production if they could.
I know exactly how zoning marijuana farms in Burlington would work under Woody’s mayoral plan, because Bowen told me in detail after band practice the other night. In fact, he told all of us as we drank beers on my roof top, so he’s got both Joe and Grant’s votes too. So instead of listening to it repeated, I wander over to admire the tulips sprouting on the side of the house. There’s also a lilac bush just at the back corner of the house, which I remember smelling that night I came over to talk to Bowen. It’s in the last stages of bloom but I walk over to enjoy what’s left of the scent and I hear someone laughing. It’s a sharp, cruel laugh. One I grew up with. I turn and see Colin walking toward me. “What on earth are you doing here?”
