“Yours. I’m just saying I don’t think he broke up with you because he didn’t care about you.”
“Well, he had a really bad way of showing it.” I pulled a coral sundress over my head and turned to face her as I zipped it up the side. “I’m leaving for Texas tomorrow, Nore,” I started to repeat verbatim what Reid had said to me on the last day we spoke, deepening my voice for added exaggeration. I’d replayed that day over and over for years. I knew it by heart. “I don’t think this thing between us is going to work out. I have to focus on racing.”
“He was eighteen.”
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes as I pulled my hair to the side and braided it loosely. A quick slick of gloss across my lips and some mascara finished off my carefree look, even if I was anything but. “He just blindsided me with it. I had no say in the matter and we dated for three years. That’s the best he could do? He never called, texted, emailed. Nothing. Just good-bye.”
“Well he’s back now. Maybe he has something more to say.” Georgia was always the peacekeeper. She wanted everyone to get along and be nice. I, on the other hand, didn’t have a problem with confrontation. If someone pissed me off, I was going to let them know about it. It was exactly why I left Reid standing in a cloud of dust the day he dumped me. Asshole. Served him right.
“Oh yeah, he’s matured so much,” I scoffed. “Gave me some stupid line about having a little fun together. As if I’d let that happen. He had his chance and he screwed it up.”
“So much hostility for someone who’s moved on,” she teased.
“And, Lord knows what, or better yet, who he’s been doing since he’s been gone,” I continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“Would that make you jealous?” she asked. “If he’d been with other women?”
“Are you ready to go?” I asked, trying to ignore her question. The pang of envy I felt inside when I thought about him with someone else was there, but I wasn’t going to fan the tiny flame burning inside of me. Of course, I was hostile. I shed a lot tears and screamed a lot of empty cries into the air when he left. He’d destroyed my seventeen-year-old heart and I couldn’t just completely let it go. I’d always have to carry a piece of that hurt with me in one way or another.
“Yep. Let’s get out of here!” she lilted as she raced me to the front door. “Nora,” she said, turning to face me as walked down the sidewalk to the car. “Can I make a suggestion?”
“I guess,” I smiled with a shrug, knowing that she was going to make a suggestion whether I approved it or not.
“If you happen to see Reid again while he’s in town, maybe don’t read him the riot act right off the bat. People do change. It’s been a long time. He deserves a chance to apologize.”
“It’s not like it matters,” I countered. Georgia was right about people changing. I was not the same girl that he knew back then. “I don’t need his apology to move on with my life. I’ve already moved on and I’m doing just fine.”
“Your call.” She gave a smile as we climbed into the car. “But it might do you some good to actually close that door, Nora. Sometimes we hang on to things even when we think we aren’t.”
“I have closed that door. I have a career and I have boyfriend. I’ve created a life for myself without him,” I argued.
“So you felt nothing when you saw him again?” she said pointedly.
“Yeah, I felt something. Anger. Bitter. Homicidal.”
“Like I said, just a suggestion,” she said, giving me a look that said she’d back off. Thank goodness. I’d talked enough about Reid to last me a lifetime.
Sweet Georgia. Her intentions were always well meaning and I could understand her motivation. She’d lost the man she loved at a very young age. I know she had a list of should-haves—things she’d wished she’d said to him or experience with him—but my history with Reid was different. When Georgia took my hand as I was driving, I felt lucky to have a sister that cared about me and my happiness as much as Georgia did.
“Fine,” I breathed out before looking at her. “If I see him and he asks to talk, I will hear him out. Happy?”
With a giddy smile and nod of her head, she leaned over and turned the radio up. Well, I made my sister happy today. I just really hoped that I didn’t have to make good on my promise to Georgia in the foreseeable future.
* * *
Georgia and I ended up murdering a pizza at Carlino’s before we settled in at The Pub for drinks. We’d discussed the possibility of Vera’s first, but I recognized the black Expedition parked out front when we drove by. I neglected to tell Georgia that I’d seen it parked at Reid’s earlier on the chance that she’d push her talk-to-Reid agenda. Not that she would have to, he walked through the door not an hour after we’d started to enjoy ourselves.
“Holy shit, you weren’t kidding,” Georgia gave me a wide-eyed grin when she saw him in the flesh. “He looks good,” she said, drawing out her last word like her stare as he, Hoyt and Brett found three empty barstools. Thankfully, they didn’t see us.
“I never said—”
“Hey!” Georgia yelled out over the band that was playing on the small stage. The bar was loud—a typical Friday night filled with live music and people ready to unwind from a long week. I was just trying to unwind from a long day. When no one from Reid’s group seemed to notice my sister, I thought maybe, just maybe, I’d make it the rest of the evening with him not noticing I was there. But then Georgia stood up and waved her hand in their direction as she called out again. “Hey! Travers!”
So much for that.
“What are you doing?” I kicked her under the table. “I... I’m not—”
“Hush,” she warned. “I just want to say hi.”
Hoyt was the first to see us and waved back before tapping his brother on the shoulder to point out my semi-flailing sister. I took a drink. Actually, I took at long drink from my Jack and Coke as they ordered their drinks and proceeded to make their way over to where we were sitting. I was going to kill my sister when this was all said and done.
Hoyt and Brett led the charge, but all I could see was Reid getting closer and closer. As he moved through the crowd of people, I could feel my body starting to react to his presence. The fitted polo shirt he was wearing was nice, but I couldn’t seem to focus on that when he was wearing the hell out of his jeans. Each and every inch of him seemed to be sending a signal straight to my libido, from the top of his perfectly chaotic head of hair to his insanely handsome face and down his body that had already stoked the fire that only he seemed to light inside of me. My heart picked up its pace as I tried to steady my breathing. I’d caught myself holding it in when we made eye contact. His gaze hit me like darts and I had to force myself to look away.
What in the actual fuck is wrong with me?
I put my glass to my lips and drank back the tiny bit that remained in my glass. None of this made sense. I had honestly thought that I was over him. I had a boyfriend. Not to mention, I hated Reid for breaking my heart and leaving me alone to deal with so much. Apparently, I only mentally hated him. My body, on the other hand, was a big fan. My physical reaction to him was apparently out of my damn control.
“Hello, ladies,” Brett’s drawl was the first to cut through the tension I felt building around me. “Nora, good to see you again,” he added with a shit-eating grin. “Who is your lovely friend here?”
I couldn’t be sure if Georgia was waiting for me to introduce her or not, because at the exact moment I required my brain to fire instructions to my tongue, lips, and vocal cords, Reid scooted into the booth next to me. Being twice my size, he easily pushed against my body with his until my ass slid across the torn vinyl of the weathered seat. The casualty of his choice of seats only added to my frustration.
“Before you get any ideas,” he advised Brett. “This is not Nora’s friend. This is her baby sister, Georgia. And she’s off limits to you.” After giving his pal a warning, he greeted my sister. “Not so little anymore are you, Georgie-Pordgie? You look good.”