“Three right now,” Gray pointed out, his brow lifted.
“Ah yeah, but your birthday’s coming up and that’ll make it four.” There was a time when those years felt like a gulf. As the youngest brother, Tanner had longed to keep up with Gray, Cam, and Logan as they sat and plotted their next escapades. Maybe that’s why he’d been so drawn to Van on their first day at school. She was like the Hartson brothers on speed. The ultimate plotter of pranks.
“And not that it’s any of your business, but I’ll be asking Maddie to marry me in my own sweet time. Now are you gonna play that shot, or what? Watching you walk around the table is excrutiating.”
“Watch and weep, bro,” Tanner said, finally taking his shot. And when it careened off the cushion and potted Gray’s blue solid instead, he tried really hard to ignore his brother’s laughter.
Chapter Nine
Van hadn’t blinked when she walked out of her mom’s bungalow that morning, and spotted him standing there by the old oak tree. Instead, she’d done her usual stretches, her limbs long and lithe as she curled over them, and started her run along the lane toward the town square. He’d kept up easily, neither of them saying a word as the buildings gave way to fields and farms.
He’d spent at least half of their run looking at her from the corner of his eye, hoping Van wouldn’t notice. Out here, on the dusty road, with the sun shining down on her, she looked completely like the girl he used to know. Strong and determined, yet with a vulnerability only he could see. Of all the people in Hartson’s Creek, he was pretty sure only very few knew who she really was.
It had always felt like the most special of gifts, being Van Butler’s best friend. She’d been the sun his world had orbited. Without her, the world had felt colder. Lifeless. One of the reasons he threw himself into work the same way Gray threw himself into music. It was a way of pretending the pain wasn’t there.
Beneath her black shorts, her legs were firm and lean, the line of muscles beneath her tan skin illuminated by the sun. She was wearing that sports bra again, and he couldn’t help but glance at her stomach, his eyes roaming the lines of her abs until they reached the grey fabric covering her breasts.
Shaking his head at himself, he dragged his gaze away. “You wanna take a break here?” he asked, as they reached the old entrance of the drive-in.
“If you’re tired, I can wait with you.” She shrugged. Then she saw the bright white sign somebody had hammered into the field. “Sold?” she said, her brows pulled together. “I didn’t even know it was for sale.” She leaned on the old fence and looked at him. “Do you think a developer bought it? Ready to plow over all our childhood memories?”
His mouth felt dry. “No. I don’t think they did.”
Her eyes were pulled back to the sign again. “Fairfax Realty,” she murmured. “They’re everywhere, aren’t they?”
“I bought it,” he told her, waiting for her response.
Her head whipped around. “What? Why?”
“To stop a developer from plowing over all our childhood memories,” he said dryly.
She laughed. “Jesus, Tanner. How rich are you?”
“Enough that buying this didn’t make a dent in my account.”
The smile slid off her face when she realized he was serious. “I don’t get it. I know software pays well, but…”
“I sold my company.”
Her eyes widened. “You did? Why?”
“Because it would have been crazy to do anything else. And my co-owners wanted to take the money.”
“Wow. I didn’t know.” She shot him a smile. “Congratulations. And now you’re set for life.” She shook her head, the ghost of a smile playing on her lips. “I knew I should have paid more attention in school.”
“I did tell you that,” he pointed out.
She laughed, and he loved the way it transformed her face. God, she was beautiful. “We both know you’re the only reason I graduated at all,” she said, her eyes warm as she looked at him. “All those times you made me study when all I wanted to do was have fun. Those nights when you’d explain the same damn equation over and again until it finally clicked.”
“I had an ulterior motive.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “And what was that?”
“I didn’t want to go to college without you.”
The smile slid from her lips. Yeah, well look how that turned out. She looked away, over her shoulder, at the field as it stretched toward the screen. The grass was almost knee high. Beneath it some of the little wooden markers remained, that guided the cars to the right spot for them to park and watch the show.
“So what are you going to do with this place?” she asked.