Love Next Door (Lakeside 1)

“Hey. I was looking for you. No one answered the door, and now I know why.” He jams a hand in his pocket and weaves two steps to the right before he overcorrects and stumbles on a divot in the grass.

I cross my arms. “What’re you doing here, Tucker?”

His gaze slides over me, not quite tracking, and he smirks. “I came to see you. What else would I be doing here?”

“Are you drunk? Did you drive here?” I glance behind him, looking for a car, but there isn’t one.

“I walked with my friend Johnnie.” He pulls a flask from his pocket and shakes it around. It doesn’t make any sound, which tells me it’s empty.

I sigh, annoyed that he’s drunk and obviously here to stir up shit. “Why would you be here to see me when you have a baby and girlfriend at home?”

He runs a hand through his hair. “The kid’s not mine.”

“What does that mean?”

He unscrews the flask and tries to take a sip but discovers what I already know: there’s nothing left. He sighs and gives me a wry smile. “I’m shooting blanks.”

“I’m sorry. What?”

“I can’t have kids. Got tested a while back, after Sue got pregnant, ’cause the dates didn’t line up.”

“Should you be telling me this?”

He shrugs. “You’ll find out eventually. Everyone will, ’cause Sue is sleeping with Sterling. Has been for a while now. Based on our kid, for at least a year.”

That’s what Tawny and Allie were saying last night at the beach party, but sometimes gossip is fiction, not fact. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. “Geez, Tucker, why are you telling me all this?” I don’t want this kind of information. This is one of the reasons I wanted out of here when I was a teenager. I’m happy in my bubble, one that doesn’t include Tucker and his messed-up relationships.

He lifts a shoulder and lets it fall. “I fucked up, Darlin’. With you, I mean. I didn’t realize what I had until I lost it.”

“You cheated on me all the time or called breaks when you wanted to rub your hookups in my face, and then you ended up with freaking Sue.”

“I know.” He hangs his head. “I made so many mistakes. I thought . . . I don’t know. I was mad that you were leaving.”

“And you thought cheating and hookups would somehow communicate that to me?”

“If you knew, why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you ever call me out on it?”

“What would it have changed? The damage was already done, Tucker. I’m not saying this to hurt you, but I was biding my time. We weren’t meant to have a forever, but we were too connected by all of our friends to break up and it not be awkward. I didn’t want my last summer to be ruined. Should I have called you out? Probably. But I can’t go back and change things.”

“You’re here now, though.” He rocks back on his heels.

“I didn’t come back for you, Tucker. I came back for my family.”

“Word has it your boyfriend dumped you, and now you’re hooking up with your neighbor.”

“This freaking town and the gossip mongering is ridiculous,” I mutter. “My ex-boyfriend and I split amicably because he wanted to move to Connecticut for a job and I wasn’t interested in following him.”

“So you just came back because of what happened with Billy?”

“And because my dad needed my help.”

“There’s no chance for us, then, huh?”

I blow out a breath, frustrated, but aware that this is a conversation I should have had years ago. “There wasn’t a chance for us the second you started sleeping with people who weren’t me when we were still dating. Or calling a break and hooking up with people in front of my face.”

“I just wanted you to stay.”

“No offense, but that was a stupid way to show me you wanted me to stick around.”

“My ego got in the way back then.”

“Does Sue know that you’re aware of what’s going on?”

He shrugs.

“Does Sterling?”

“I think he thinks he’s been all sly about it.” He hangs his head. “I wanted you to come back and be jealous, but it’s pretty much the other way around now, isn’t it?”

Despite all the crap he put me through, I feel bad for him. He might have hurt me back then, but I let him get away with it, which probably didn’t help things. And then I disappeared. Neither of us ever got the closure we needed.

“I should probably go home, but I can’t.”

“Because Sue will be upset that you’re drunk.”

“Nah, she won’t care about that. I drove by the house earlier this afternoon and saw Sterling’s tow truck parked two streets over. I don’t want to go home and smell him all over her.”

I sigh. I would like to get ready for my date, but at the same time, sending Tucker home in his state probably isn’t the best idea.