I look away. I know he’s right, but I don’t need the reminder. My family has been the patron of this town for a very long time and we basically own it all, so if people are struggling, it almost feels like that’s our fault. Even though we stay out of politics, and we don’t have much to do with the warehouses.
“Do you still plan on leaving here one day?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I doubt it,” he admits. “Unless my dad opens up a new dealership in Texas.”
I laugh. “Right, I still think it’s a good idea.”
“Well, it’s probably not going to happen. I mean, I don’t hate it here. Just a small town, you know?”
“Sure. Small town.”
He grins at me. “I know you don’t spend too much time in town, Lora. It’s okay, I don’t blame you.”
“Oh, come on. I totally do. I mean… I guess…”
He laughs. “Right. Exactly.”
“Shut up. I’m not just some rich, spoiled girl.”
“I know that.” He gets serious for a second. “I’m happy I ran into you.”
“Yeah?”
“Sure. Even if you are a spoiled rich girl, you’re not bad.”
“Asshole.”
He laughs and puts an arm around me. It’s so natural and I lean against him almost without thinking. He feels so good, so warm and strong. I tilt my chin up toward him and our gazes meet for a long moment.
My lips part and my heart starts beating fast. I don’t know how I ended up here, but now that I’m so close to him, I know I want this. When he leans down and kisses me, it’s like the kiss I’ve always been waiting for.
I return his kiss with a hunger I didn’t even know I had inside of me. I press tight against him and drop my beer. It hits the bed and spills everywhere.
“Shit,” I say, pulling back. “I’m sorry.”
He smiles and shrugs. He picks up the can and dumps the rest out. “Don’t worry about it,” he says and tosses the empty in the back of the bed. “I’m hosing it down later anyway.”
“Right. Mud.”
He nods and stares at me for a long moment. I can tell he’s looking at my body, maybe thinking about me touching him, and I like that idea. I love it, in fact. I love the idea of kissing him slow and letting his hands touch my body, every inch of my body, moving down my skin, touching me the way I’ve always wanted.
But the spell is broken. He hops down from the bed. “We should head back,” he says. “Before the owners of this place come out and shoot us.”
“Don’t think they won’t,” I say. “Our security’s been very tight lately.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“It’s been nuts.” We get back in the truck and he turns it around. I tell him a little bit about what happened with my brother Brent and his wife, about her crazy dad and all that. He barely believes me, and I can’t blame him.
All my brothers have been through crazy relationships. Even Delia had something nuts happen to her. I know it’s going to be my turn sooner or later, but right now, I’m happy sitting in a truck with a handsome boy.
“You ever miss it?” he asks as we get back on the main road.
“Miss what?”
“West.”
I shrug. “Sometimes.” I want to say, I missed you, not the school, but I can’t bring myself to admit that.
“Yeah,” he says. “Me too.” He goes quiet. “How come you never called me back?”
I wince. I was waiting for this.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“You don’t have to apologize. I was mad for a while, but I got over it.” He looks at me. “What happened?”
I stare out the window and can’t answer right away. Truth is, I don’t know what happened.
We were really, really close. But then I went to college out in California and he stayed behind in Loftville. We were in different time zones, leading different lives, and it started to get hard. We started missing each other, texting less, talking less, and then one day I just…
I just didn’t call back.
I don’t know why. I hated myself for it. I wanted to call him so badly.
But it was like ripping off a Band-Aid.
I had to do it fast and quick, or else it would just keep hurting longer and longer.
“Things just got hard,” I say finally.
He accepts that without a word. I know it’s not a good explanation, but I’m not ready to tell him just how bad it hurt trying to maintain a friendship with him when all I really wanted was so much more.
He pulls up out front of the manor. I turn to him and tilt my head. “That was fun,” I say.
“Yeah, it was.” He looks at me for a long second. “Hey, look, I’ve got this thing to do tomorrow. But do you want to come along?”