"That's Veronica Eden," Mae says, lowering her voice to a volume that carried six feet in every direction. "Moved here from Georgia in high school. Left after graduation." She pauses for effect. "Dated Bo Gates for a bit their senior year."
I look at my plate, heart hammering in my chest. Half the diner heard that, and Rusty and Dane look at her, then back at me. I force a smile and shrug.
I remember her now. She was very into Bo during their senior year. She’d asked him to go back to Georgia with her when she left for college.
"Sweet enough, girl," Mae adds. "Always did wear too much makeup and too forward than a girl had any right to be."
"Mm," I say, moving my chair a little so I’d keep my back to the bar. The last thing I want is for her to see that her being here bothers me.
Rusty has a follow-up thought about the fence line on the east side, the one Bo and I just fixed last week. Then another one. Then Dane has a four-sentence thought that technically resolves it but opens two more questions, and we are there until eleven-forty-five before I finally pay the bill and head for the truck.
I am thinking about the supplier quotes I still need to review when I pass the inn.
Bo's truck is parked out front.
Which is fine. I’m not his keeper, but then, I see the passenger door open.
Veronica leans over and kisses Bo on the cheek. Then smiles knowingly and sashays her hips on her way into the inn.
She kissed him. My brain stuttered. Yes, it was on the cheek, but still. She was so casual and natural. Like it was nothing for her to do it.
I keep driving, though my eyes burn. I think back to high school. I remember Veronica. She wasn’t evil like Carol. Carol was the spawn of Satan. She’d stab you in the back, all the while pretending she was your best friend.
Veronica was different. She was the guys’ favorite because of the accent, and if Carol wanted to stay popular, she had to befriend her, but I wasn’t concerned with their popularity. I was concerned with Bo and Tyler. No one spoke ill of my boys. Yes, my boys. I may have been the younger sister, but I was full of fire and still was when needed. But as I saw Veronica lean over and kiss Bo, it was everything I could do not to cry. In high school, every guy wanted her. She was forward, had the accent, andwas valedictorian. Who wouldn’t want her? Bo did. I couldn’t help but wonder if they would have stayed together if she’d stayed. My heart hurt just thinking about it.
The road home was twelve minutes. I use every one of them.
It was nothing. He knew a lot of people. She was an old friend. People kissed each other on the cheek all the time; it didn't mean anything, it was just a friendly gesture, and I was being ridiculous, right? And she'd just kissed him on the cheek outside the inn after getting out of his truck. My mind started to go in circles. Now I knew what it was like being in Rusty’s head.
I talk myself into being completely fine four different times on the drive home.
It didn't take once.
By the time I got back, I'd changed clothes, put my hair up, and was sitting at the kitchen table with my binders open and a soda I’d already drunk. I was a stress worker. I worked to work out stress, worry, and insomnia when I couldn’t sleep. Mom said that made me a workaholic; I said it made me productive. I'd already placed the order and added them to the binders; now I was just going over them again, for the third time.
Then I hear Bo's truck on the drive and pretend to be busy or focused.
Bo comes through the door, kisses the top of my head the way he always did, and I smile because I couldn't not. But something in me is still sitting at that corner on Main Street, watching a woman lean over the console, kissing my boyfriend. We are dating, right? I didn’t misinterpret that?
He moves around the kitchen. It stopped being mine the day he moved in. Picks up my empty soda can andreplaces it with a fresh one, which makes my heart happy, and my chest hurt a little.
"You have a look," I say.
"I don't have a look."
"You absolutely have a look."
He sets his soda down and leans against the counter. "I ran into someone in town."
I set my pen down.
"Veronica Eden. She was in our year. She's back for a photography project." He watches my face. "You know her?"
"I saw her at Ethel's." I keep my voice even. "Mae Hutchins gave me and half the diner the full briefing."
The corner of his mouth goes up slightly. "Naturally."
"She asked me to dinner."
