“Your loss, Princess.”
The butterflies in my stomach flop when he calls me, Princess. Every time he called me Princess, I’d fall on my knees and beg him to make love to me. Should have stayed on my knees and not on my back. Don’t. I will never regret the baby. Yes, my future would have been different, but I wouldn’t have had those precious three months planning all the beautiful and amazing things I would have done with him or her.
Chapter Nine
Trey
For the last hour, I’ve felt less like I’m dancing around landmines and more like I’m spending the evening catching up with my best friend. Natalie and I became friends during our freshman year of high school when we partnered up in science class.
We were inseparable from then on. Our first kiss was at the homecoming dance during our sophomore year. And the first time we made love? The night I told her I loved her, the summer we turned seventeen. Being near her is like coming home.
But can you go back home to stay or just for a visit? I wish I knew the answer to the question.
I take a sip of beer. I’m still nursing my second one. “Tell me about these guys on the tractors.”
“Oh, you should see them bucking hay.”
“Bucking hay?”
“Yes, bucking hay. They take their shirts off and lug these fifty-pound squares of hay onto giant trailers. The sweat drips off their foreheads as their back muscles stretch. And abs?” She whistles. “They’ve got abs with their own zip codes.”
What the fuck? “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I shake my head. Smooth move asking that question.
Natalie having sex with another man makes my stomach churn. I should have never asked this question. So much for hoping to get a second chance with her. Now, I’ve slipped into the friend zone, where we swap sex stories. Not at all what I was angling for.
“I’m serious. The neighbors next to us…” She shudders and then starts giggling. “They were in their sixties, and those guys still had more stamina than an eighteen-year-old. Grandma would sit on the front porch swinging for hours staring at them.”
“Shit.” I grab my stomach and laugh. “You’re a pain in the ass.”
“Thank you.” She laughs until tears fill her eyes.
The lights in her eyes twinkle, and my heart dives to my feet. Can a person come back home for good? Maybe. Maybe not. But I’ve never stopped loving her. If there’s any way we can make this work, I’m willing to give it everything I have, to try. “How’s your grandma?”
“She’s great. Probably sitting on the front porch right now listening to the crickets chirp while smoking some herb mixture and drinking moonshine.”
“You’re dad’s mom or your mom’s?”
“My mom’s.”
“Have you seen her?” Natalie’s mom was gone by the time I’d met her.
“Yes. She’s doing great. She lives in the next town over. I spent years being angry with her for leaving, but later I found out she tried to take us, but Dad called the police on her.”
“Has Lillian seen her?” I liked Natalie’s sister. She was two years older and super protective of her.
“Yes. We have dinner together at least once a month.” Natalie takes a drink out of her glass.
“I thought I saw Lillian the other day. I’ve even seen her in my neighborhood a few times. Does she live near me?”
Her face flushes and turns seven shades of red.
“What?” My eyes narrow.
“Nothing.” She studies the table.
Why is she freaked out about me seeing her sister? That’s weird. “Spill it.”
“She lives on Darlington Circle.”