I raised an eyebrow. “The last eight years?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I’m down for the scenic route or the supercut.”
But what if I’m not?I wondered, feeling a pang in my chest.
I’d never considered myself an especially private person, but something about Connor made me want to put on my winter coat and zip it all the way up. It wasn’t that he made meuncomfortable, it was something else. Something I couldn’t pinpoint.
“Where do you go to college?” Connor coaxed.
“Northwestern,” I told him. “But I haven’t started yet. I took kind of a gap year…” I trailed off, the night breeze suddenly sweeping through the porch. Connor wordlessly offered me some blanket when I tried rubbing goose bumps off my arms. “Thank you,” I said, but felt the pinpricks multiply once his trapped heat hit me. Too abrupt a temperature change, maybe.
“No worries.” Connor took a breath. Luckily, my phone chimed before he could exhale and prompt me to pick up on my life story.
I assumed the notification was a text from my dad, lettingme know that he and Erica were back at the house. Or even Erica, asking me to peek in on Maisie and Bryce to make sure they were asleep.
I didn’t know when my phone had slipped in between the couch cushions, but it took a few beats to dig it out of the crevice.QUINCY, my screen read.
“Who’s Quincy?” Connor casually asked. I must’ve read her name aloud. “Boyfriend?”
“One of my best friends,” I said as I scanned Quincy’s message:Hey, girl! Just checking in…“And last year’s Haddonfield High School homecomingqueen.”
(It was times like this when Quincy rolled her eyes at her parents’ choice to give her a most-of-the-time boy’s name.)
Connor and I looked at each other once I’d locked my phone, and from the way his eyes held mine, I knew what he was going to say before his lips formed the first word.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
My heart rate heightened, suddenly aware of the hazy tension in the air. What was it Nick and Sage’s friends had said on the beach? That Connor had a really big heart?
Likely translation: Connor was a huge flirt.
Well, I thought, letting both his blanket and body heat wrap around me.Why not, pipsqueak? Let’s see what you’ve got.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” I countered.
“No.” The corners of his eyes crinkled. “Not right now.”
Not right now.
Why add that? Why not leave it atno?
To gauge how curious I am, I realized as soon as I said, “But therewassomeone?”
Okay, he was good.
He nodded. “There’s pretty much always been someone.”
“Ah.” Catching his drift, I casually reached for an Oreo. “Well, youarea lacrosse player…”
“Wow, I’m not offended at all.” He rolled his eyes, but I caught their twinkle. “I don’t play the field. Mads calls me a ‘serial monogamist.’”
I tilted my head. Interesting. “So, what? You’ve had two or three girlfriends?”
Connor counted to five on his fingers, then raised another to make six. “Only three have been serious, though.”
I snorted. “What was the deal with your last relationship?”
“Leah and I dated for six months but called it after prom. I was coming up here for the summer and our colleges are nowhere near each other.” He shrugged. “I don’t think either of us was that into it.” He raised an eyebrow. “What about you?”
