Lorraine’s eyes jumped between Jay and me and, before I knew it, she was speeding ahead, telling me to go find a ride and then come to her pie stand. “The pie tasting isn’t ready yet, but they’ll all be good. You’ll enjoy them, I promise. Some of those women cook almost as well as me.”
Lorraine complimenting others meant one thing: she was distracting me.
The tightening in my stomach, in my soul, in my heart was there.
I shouldn’t look back.
It was going to hurt. Jay was a friend, but my heart had placed him in another category too. The competitive person in me, the one that wanted him for more, needed all the facts. I needed to catalogue everything, even if it ripped me apart.
I glanced back as our group left Jay and Sandy behind. She was kissing his neck, the spot I knew smelled just like him. It was the place I wanted to nuzzle in, the place I felt safe always. My only safe place.
Maybe the way I looked at him broke him, or maybe it was just his way, but his blue eyes poured out sympathy and pain as if he wanted to take away mine. “Meek!”
I spun around and gripped Brady’s hand tighter. “You better find me the best ride, Brady. I need some fun tonight.”
“Don’t worry. The Twirling Fury is either going to make you hurl or scream. Either way, I got you.” He winked at me, and a little spark of hope flickered. His easygoing way along with his classic good looks could entertain me through the night, better than a mini wand, although mine was a workhorse. And his company was much better than Jay’s with Sandy on his arm.
Lorraine split off from us and Delilah went with her, quiet and reserved as she glanced back at me and Brady.
“Is there something between you and Delilah?” I asked.
Brady tilted his head as he steered me toward a stand with a baseball and bottles stacked in a pyramid about fifteen feet away. “She’s the one that got away, I guess.”
“How so?”
He paid the man who then handed him five balls. “I dated her one summer in college and didn’t really commit.” He shrugged and pointed at a bottle pyramid. He threw his ball and knocked them all down. “Two more to go.”
“So, you cheated?” I pried.
“Not really. We never set those boundaries, but I hurt her. I’m not proud of it. She’s all I ever wanted, but I didn’t know it at the time. I was young, stupid, and reckless. Lesson learned.”
I smiled at his candor. Brady and I would get along, even beyond whatever type of date this was. “And that lesson is?”
“Grass isn’t greener anywhere unless you work at it and make it flourish. We would have been good together, but now she won’t come near that idea with a ten foot pole. She’s too nice to act like I’m a leper, but I see the way she looks at me. She wants nothing to do with me.” He threw another ball and knocked down all the bottles but one. He winced. “You’re distracting me, Mikka.”
“By asking you a serious question?”
“We’re supposed to be on a date. Not talking about a woman I used to date.”
“It’s not a date,” Jay said from behind. I jumped at his voice. “Mikka said we were all just going together. So, here we are.”
Turning to face him, I noticed how good he and his date looked together. Jay clearly belonged in a small town with his worn jeans and faded t-shirt that hugged his chest. He only had to throw on some boots and kick up a corner of his mouth and the whole female population swooned. He made millions in rom-coms because he’d been born with that charm.
Sandy fit the beautiful blonde bombshell stereotype, leaning into him like she belonged there. Her jeans molded to her long legs, and her white blouse billowed out in the breeze, making them as picturesque as a small town romance movie.
Together.
Without me.
A couple of screaming kids approached Jay and Sandy. A teen girl asked for his autograph, and it was a stark reminder that, while most of the time in Greenville, Jay was just Jay, he was also an international celebrity.
I didn’t belong here, not with the magical rustling wind, the hyper kids, the autumn air, and the townsfolk who knew each other inside out. Greenville was an exclusive little town, and I felt like an outsider again.
Brady pulled me close. “Of course it’s a date. She just has to be convinced of it. I’m willing to work on our grass, Mikka.”
Sandy squinted. “I don’t get it.”
“Because it’s an inside joke, Sandy.” Brady rolled his eyes and lifted his chin at Jay. “You going to let me throw or you going for it?”