Her mouth hangs open, eyes darting back and forth between my own. I wait for her to speak, but nothing comes out. “And…what?”
She pulls back her pointer finger and lets out a humorless laugh. “You know what? It’s not worth it.” She swipes the other book from my hand and places it back on the shelf. “You’re not worth it.” Then she turns her back on me and marches back up to the counter.
“I was going to buy that,” I shout after her.
“Find a Barnes and Noble.” She calls over her shoulder and struts behind the counter, not glancing back at me once.
I stand there for a few minutes, unable to believe what just happened before I give up and head back out of the bookstore and onto the street. The winter wind has me rushing toward my Porsche, though my body temperature remains hot.
That is not how I remember things going down. My brain is clouded by a different event that happened around the same time. The night that Cori came to me and finally put our doubts about our attraction to bed. Sleeping with her not only destroyed my friendship with Dave, but it made me realize that I had to get out of town before I fell too hard for her because I had dreams I needed to live. Then when Dave found out I slept with his sister, he wanted nothing to do with me. That’s the real reason I didn’t take Dave with me.
If I were to blame someone, it’d have to be myself because once I had a taste of Cori, she was all I could think about, and that put a serious wrench in my dreams. But now, seeing her again, I’m starting to wonder if leaving her behind was worth it.