She looked at him and his boyish features and thought maybe she really ought to feel more for the man she had thought was her first true love. She knew now that she had never loved him. She had been enraptured by the idea of being in love. She’d been such a fierce romantic.
Maybe she still was.
But distance had well and truly broken any bond she had initially felt with Heath. “I think it’s good that you’re back,” he said, sort of abruptly.
“You do?” She hoped this wasn’t leading to any kind of declaration.
“The town doesn’t feel right without you, Ruby. You’re like the mascot.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. “A mascot?” She immediately imagined herself doing a jig at the center of the town square.
“Yeah, you know. You made the town famous.”
The sentiment was seriously disconcerting. “I don’t know that I did that.”
“Well, certainly more famous than it was.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Bridge baby? Is that the name of my mascot?”
“That’s sort of grim, Ruby,” he said.
“It is sort of grim,” she said, her scalp prickling. “I mean if you think about it. And, now I am.”
“Sorry. That must be weird.” He looked at her, like he was seeing her for the first time. “To have people bring it up. I’m sorry.”
She was unsure of what to call the emotion that was turning over in her chest. “You know, Heath, don’t worry about it. I don’t even really think about it. Well, I did when I left. I noticed how different it was. You know, when people didn’t know. But I chose to come back, and I knew what I was coming back to.”
“I won’t bring it up again.”
“I’m not really...” The museum was in sight. An impressive building that stood apart from the others in town, with a low stone wall all around the expansive green lawn at the front. It was red brick, two stories tall, with the same white trim as many of the other buildings in town. There was a flagpole at the edge of the lawn with the Oregon state flag flying beneath an American flag. And next to that was a statue of a cowboy riding a horse with a lasso frozen above his head. She cleared her throat.
“Right now I’m creating space around myself to explore my new role at the museum and support my sister, so...”
He stopped walking abruptly. “That’s not why... I swear, Ruby, I just... I want to be friends.”
Heat suffused her face and she...stumbled slightly while walking. Which she did not do. He wanted to be friends.
Friends.
He wasn’t hitting on her.
Friends.
Her lips twitched. She wasn’t entirely sure what she thought about that. And honestly, she wouldn’t have believed it was possible when she left. When breaking up with him had felt fraught, but the right thing to do. And standing next to him now, four years later, it didn’t feel fraught at all. “All right,” she said cautiously. “I’m not opposed to that.”
He laughed, and he smiled, and he really was very handsome when he smiled. “Well, glad you’re not opposed to me.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know.” He nudged her elbow with his. “Hey, I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah,” she said. “See you around.”
He branched off in another direction, and she watched him, feeling for a moment like she was standing sideways.
Mascot.
Friends.