Sutton and I both look between Eloise’s full glass and the lack of line at the table holding beverages, but neither of us calls her out on the obvious excuse to leave us alone.
“Sure.” Sutton’s response is easy. Relaxed. She appears unapprehensive at the prospect of talking to me.
Real or faked?
“Give my best to Larry.”
“I will, sweetheart.”
Eloise has barely taken a step away before I say, “Nice service.”
If I didn’t start withsomething, who knows how long it would have taken me to come up with words to voice?
Eyes the color of milk chocolate meet mine. “I’m sorry,” Sutton tells me, “about earlier, at the store. I feel like I was weird…harsh. I didn’t mean—”
“You knew I lived here.” I didn’t mean for the words to sound accusatory, but that’s how they come out.You had warning; I didn’t, is what I’m really saying.
There’s no way she thought we wouldn’t see each other if she returned. At the very least, she would have known I’d be at Joe’s service.
She nods. Nibbles on her bottom lip, which is extremely distracting. “Yeah, I did. I wasn’t—I thought…it doesn’t—”
A sigh follows the train of half-thoughts, but I know exactly what she’s trying to say.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s been eight years,” I finish.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“How are you?” I ask.
Sutton shrugs. “Tired.” She manages a wan, small smile. “You?”
“Exhausted.”
“We sound old,” she says, then laughs. “School must be close to out, right?”
“Yeah, next week.”
She tilts her head, a half-smile playing across her lips. “I can’t picture it.”
“Picture what?”
“You, teaching.”
“If you were here for longer, I’d tell you to stop by my sixth period. They’d lose their shit.”
“Ah. So,yourstudentsare fans of mine as well?”
Her eyes dance with humor. I search for some defense for Tanya’s comment and come up short.
“It’s rare to see a celebrity around here. I think you caught her off guard.”
“Now,that, I believe.”
We stare at each other some more.
Sutton exhales audibly. Bites her bottom lip again. “I should go—”
“I brought you something.” I reach into the pocket of my slacks and pull out the CD I spent close to an hour staring at earlier.