She sighed and her shoulders dropped some. “I know. I hope we get to start on time. I can’t take much more of this homebound stuff.”
“It’s sucked,” I agreed. Then I realized she’d said “we,” and I knew she had been hoping to go away to college, but the last I heard, her father wasn’t letting her. “Did your parents agree to let you go off to college?”
She grinned then and nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yes!” She looked like she was going to say more, then stopped and her excitement faded. That was odd and I wanted to know why. I started to ask her where, but I was interrupted by fucking Brett Darby.
“Asa Griffith. I didn’t know you were back in town,” he said before not so casually slipping an arm around Ezmita’s waist. Where the fuck had he come from? He looked down at Ezmita, who was no longer looking at me but up at him. He gave her a soft smile. “You were late. I got worried.”
“Momma had me unload the delivery in the back first,” she told him, relaxing under his touch. It appeared Ezmita’s life had gotten less restrictive since we last talked. What had happened to change her overprotective parents’ hold on her?
He glanced back up and looked at me. “Heard you were in New Mexico. How did you like the desert?” he asked. He had no idea why I’d been there. That my parents had kicked me out.
“I wouldn’t know. I was in the mountains. Didn’t make it to the southern part of New Mexico,” I replied.
He frowned as if the idea of mountains in New Mexico was foreign to him. Not surprising. I doubted he’d been to New Mexico. “UCLA isn’t sure they’re opening up campus yet. I may be staying here a little longer.” He glanced down at Ezmita again. “I don’t mind that if someone else stays here.”
Her cheeks flushed. She liked him. He was obviously into her. From the description she had given me of her life, Brett was probably her first real boyfriend. She was happy. She looked happy at least. Good for her. I was glad she wasn’t still being robbed of living a normal teenage life. Although there was a part of me that was a little jealous it was Brett she was getting to live this new freedom with and not me.
“I gotta go,” I said, not seeing a point in holding them up any longer. I hadn’t stopped to chat with Brett. Just to check on Ezmita. She was important to me. In a weird way. I didn’t know her really, but she knew my darkest moment. It made me care about her happiness. She deserved it. She was a genuinely nice person and she was beautiful. That wasn’t always easy to find. “Good to see you both,” I added, then flashed a smile at Ezmita in parting before jogging on past them and back toward Nash’s.
The tug of disappointment nagging me was hard to ignore. Pretending like it wasn’t there was a waste of time. Facing it and moving on was best. My feelings where Ezmita was concerned weren’t more than having a bond with her over my night on the bridge. That was it. She was a part of one of the worst days of my life. She had been there for me when no one else had. I’d thought about asking her out when or if I saw her again. My curiosity about the girl I knew so little about had been something that stayed with me during my time in New Mexico.
But it seemed she had a life now and that was that. I’d go off to college. She would too. Probably to California with Brett. Rolling my eyes at the fact I was still dwelling on this, I ran faster and forgot about it. Them. Her.
JUNE 19, 2020 They’re Reuniting
CHAPTER 10
EZMITA
Wicks was fairly new. They’d opened up in January, and although they’d had to only do takeout for three months like every other restaurant in Alabama, they had stayed afloat. Now that the world was reopening, they were the ones with the best setup. Most of their dining area was outdoors but under a covering with fans keeping things cool enough if you ate there in the morning or in the evening. Middle of the day, though, it was tough.
Brett loved their buffalo chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries. I thought both were just average, but not everyone had grown up eating their meals at my mother’s table. Her cooking made others pale in comparison. The waitress knew Brett’s order by heart and just asked him if he wanted his regular. He chuckled and nodded. I knew he liked that about this place too. He was a regular and they knew him.