I followed him out the front door and across the lawn to his parked car. The back seat was filled with boxes. It reminded me of helping him move in all those years ago, except instead of cardboard boxes, they were the hard plastic containers used to transport expensive equipment.
“Is this a rental?” I asked.
“It’s a loaner.”
I frowned. “What’s the difference?”
“This one’s free. It was sent to me directly from Ford. They sponsor videos about their newest models. Whenever I need a car, they send me one to drive around for free. This was waiting for me at the airport, and I can keep it as long as I want.”
“Wow, that’s so cool,” I said. “See? You’re totally famous. They don’t do this for nobodies.”
“Okay, maybe a little famous.”
We carried a load of boxes inside and then returned to get the rest. Just as Hunter closed the door to his SUV, headlights swept across my lawn as a car pulled into the driveway behind my old beat-up Mazda.
Lizzy,I realized.She’s here to drop off my stuff from the expo.
Lizzy rolled down the driver-side window. A huge smile split her round face. “Well well well. What do we have here?”
Hunter was walking through the front door, so I hurried over to Lizzy’s car. “He’s in town to film some videos about the place where he got started. He asked if he could stay in his old room for a few weeks.”
“Not that I don’t approve of you shacking up with the sexiest boy to ever leave Columbus,” she said, “but are you sure this is wise?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I really don’t know.”
16
Hunter
What the hell am I doing?
I carried my belongings upstairs and into my room. No, not my room. Theguestbedroom. That’s what it was before I had lived here for three short months, and that’s what it had been since. A place for guests to stay.
Yet everything looked exactly as I had left it five years ago. The dresser with the chipped oak stain, the rocking chair in the corner. Hell, it even had the same floral-print blanket folded on the foot of the bed. A weird sense of déjà vu came over me as I dropped my boxes of equipment on the ground.
What the hell am I doing?I wondered.
Coming back here to Columbus, and to this house specifically, was bringing out a lot of old emotions. Especially while sharing a beer—abeer!—with Erica. She had really grown up in the last five years.
I walked back outside and saw her talking to her friend Lizzy in the driveway. Erica was still beautifully delicate, but in a more mature way than before. She carried herself more confidently, rather than the teenager who blushed and hunched inward at the slightest compliment. I had seen glimpses of this woman in that bashful seventeen-year-old, but now she was actuallyherein the flesh. It took my breath away to see the woman she had become.
And again, I thought to myself:What the hell am I doing?
My phone rang again. I knew who it was before I pulled the phone out and saw her name on the screen. I pressed the button to ignore it, and then I sent a quick text.
Hunter: Can’t talk now. Will call tomorrow.
That was another can of worms. I definitely didn’t have time to deal with it right now, even if I was in the right state of mind.
Lizzy, who I barely recognized from the gangly teenager she had been in high school, handed Erica a box from her back seat and then waved at me. “Bye, Hunter! Don’t have too much fun!”
From your lips to God’s ears.I waved back as she hopped in the car and drove away.
I carried the last of my stuff upstairs. I still had a suitcase in my room at the Hyatt across town, but I could get it tomorrow. Now that I was back, I didn’t want to leave. It was like Erica had a magnetic pull that was keeping me here. Wherever she was, I wanted to be.
What the hell am I doing?
Erica put my other box down inside the doorway. “Just like old times. I promise I’ll knock this time.”