“Nora is picking up her check.” Her voice is just a whisper, quieter than I expected.
“That’s not what I mean.”
She brings a hand up to the side of her face, the simple diamond stud in her ear catching a ray of sun streaming through the windows. As my lungs fill with air and refuse to let it go, I drag my gaze down her slender neck, over her dainty shoulders, and down her arm until it rests on her left hand.
My jaw sets, my teeth grinding so hard I can nearly hear the squeal of enamel scraping against itself. It takes everything I have not to lurch forward and jerk her hand toward me so I can see if she’s sporting a wedding band. She keeps it angled so I can’t see it; whether it’s on purpose or not doesn’t matter. Whether it’s ridiculous of me to get pissed about something like that doesn’t matter either. Just when I’m ready to pounce, she moves her wrist just enough so I can see her finger is bare.
“I, um, I’m moving back—I moved back,” she corrects, nodding her head once.
I don’t say another word. I don’t move a muscle. I just stand in place and listen to my heart beat so hard, like it’s chanting her name so she’ll turn around and look at me.
Her shoulders pull back as she pivots, turning her body so she’s facing me. Finally.
Remaining impassive is impossible as I take in the girl I once thought I’d marry. She’s more beautiful than ever with her porcelain skin, full lips, and intense brown eyes. I look ridiculous standing in front of her, not saying a word, but all I can do is fight every instinct shuffling inside me.
“How are you?” I finally ask, shoving my hands in my pockets as a security measure.
“Good. Fancy seeing you here, of all places.” She flinches as she says the words, a throwback to the fight that finally ended things between us for good. She takes a step toward me, her eyes wide. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Yeah, you did.”
“Cross…”
Her eyes flood with a mix of emotions swirling so hard I can’t separate them out. I could do what people do—pick out the one I want to see and roll with it—but I’m not most people, and I’m not a pussy.
“You look good, Cross,” she whispers, quieter this time, studying me.
“You haven’t changed a bit.”
She shakes her head, running those ring-free fingers through her hair. “That’s a nice thing to say. Total lie, but nice, anyway.” She laughs.
“Why is that a lie?”
“Look at me.”
“From where I’m standing, time couldn’t have been any sweeter to you, Kallie girl.” A smile tickles my lips as her cheeks flush. This is the girl I remember and, if I’m not careful, the one I’ll once again be jacked up over in a heartbeat.
“Look at you being all charming.”
“It’s a new trick I picked up while you were gone. I figured I needed to round out my game a little.”
“How’s that working out for you?” She tries to play her question off like it’s routine banter, but I know her too well. She’s digging, prying, asking what I’ve been up to without having to ask.
“Win some, lose some,” I say, looking her in the eye. Rocking back on my heel, I narrow my eyes. “What do you think?”
“About what?”
“Am I winning or losing right now?” My mouth fights the twitch of a smile crawling up my lips.
She takes a deep breath, steadying herself. “I’d say if we’re taking into consideration the previous rounds, it’s a split decision. This round doesn’t look bad, but the ones before it weren’t too pretty.”
Trying to hide my amusement at this girl using, of all things, a boxing metaphor on me to describe our relationship, I shrug. “I don’t think all the previous rounds were bad. I distinctly remember winning a couple of them. Hell, I thought I had the thing won a couple of rounds ago.”
“You almost did,” she says carefully, her voice steady now. “But that slip in the last round cost you the whole fight.”
“I didn’t slip,” I insist, taking a step toward her. “I had a bad game plan.”
“I can only score it as I see it.”
There’s a blip of pain in her eyes as her uncertainty fails to mask the wavering in her voice. The sound batters my heart, just like it did when she and I were together and I’d see a similar look on her face. I hate it.
We stand in the middle of Crave and don’t say a word. The only sound is the shaky breaths escaping her sweet, full lips. A part of me wants to fight with her, tell her how stupid she was for walking out of my life and destroying everything I had planned for our future. Another part of me wants to toss her to the floor and fuck her so deeply, so completely that she remembers the connection and chemistry only we have together. Yet, there’s another piece of me that wants to grab her and wrap my arms around her waist and hold her close if for nothing but to make sure she’s all right.
“You said it’s a split decision,” I say, standing so close to her, our chests are almost touching. She smells of vanilla and the shampoo she always uses, the one in the red bottle. I fill my lungs with the scent of her and blow it out slowly. “Does that mean there’s still a fight?”
She tucks another strand of hair behind her ear. “The bell rang on this fight a long time ago, Cross.”
“Maybe the scorekeeper was wrong.”
“Maybe—” She’s cut off by the sound of Nora and Machlan behind me. She looks at the floor and takes a step back, like we’ve been caught doing something we shouldn’t.
Looking over my shoulder, I shoot a glare at my best friend. “What’s up, Machlan?”
“I hate to bother you two, but I gotta get this place ready to open. You can use my office, if you want.”
“I think we’re ready to go,” Kallie says, peering around me. “You ready, Nora?”
“If you are.”
“Kallie, wait.” There’s no denying the eagerness in my voice, but I’m too focused on not letting her out of here without some sort of commitment to worry about it.
She keeps her sights set on Nora. “What, Cross?”
“What are you doing tonight?” I ask. “Or tomorrow night?” My mind races through my calendar, trying to figure out on the fly how I’ll rearrange my appointments if she takes me up on one of my offers.
“I’m pretty busy…”
“Oh, you are not.” Machlan smirks, leaning against the bar.
“Stay out of this,” she says, flashing him a look. “This has nothing to do with you, Mach.”
“Everything that happens inside my bar has something to do with me,” he teases. “So, let’s cut the shit: you really have nothing to do but you’re still pissed off about something that happened years ago. Sound about right?”
“Enough,” I say, firing a warning shot at him.
He laughs. “Fine. Just thought I’d help you two get to the point. See you tomorrow, Nora?”
“Yup,” she says before looking between Kallie and me. “I’ll be outside.”
My eyes lock with Kallie’s as the door latches behind Nora. “Name the place and time and I’ll make it happen.”
“Make what happen?” She sighs.
“Coffee. Dinner. A fucking slice of watermelon from Dave’s Farmstand, if that’s what you want,” I joke…kind of.
“Is that still open?” Her eyes sparkle, the easygoing Kallie I remember starting to come back. “How many watermelons did we eat from there over the years?”
“I think the two of us kept him busy.”
“Do you remember when Peck tried to make his own watermelon moonshine?” She laughs. “He was sick for a week, and then you all were trying to find a nurse to check him out so you didn’t have to tell his mom.”
“I forgot about that.” I chuckle. “He was sick as hell. Lance finally found a nurse somewhere.”
“Leave it to Lance.” She giggles, wiping a tear from her eye.
“We loaded Peck in the back of Walker’s truck and met her at the Four-Way Bridge to get checked out. What a mess that was.”
“Does Walker still have Daisy?” she asks, alluding to the big black pickup Walker has driven since his senior year of high school.
“I think Walker will drive Daisy until he dies. He loves that truck,” I say, shaking my head. “But back to the watermelon—Dave closed it down a while back. His wife got put in a nursing home and she passed away not too long ago.”
Kallie’s face falls. “She was so sweet. That makes me sad.”
“I see Dave sometimes over at Crank,” I say, referring to Walker’s car repair shop. “Ran into him at Goodman’s gas station a couple of days ago too. He asked about you.”
“Why would people ask you about me now?” She considers this for a long moment. “Doesn’t that seem strange?”
“Maybe it seems perfectly normal.” Unable to resist any longer, I cut the distance between us in half. With a calculated move, I raise a hand and touch the side of her face. She sucks in a breath, her skin warm and smooth under my calloused palm. “This seems perfectly normal too.”
“Cross…” She pulls her cheek away, her chin dipping to her chest. “I can’t with this.”
“You’re right,” I say, stepping back. Her gaze shoots to mine, surprised etched on her pretty features. “This isn’t the place. Meet me at the gym tonight at six. We’ll grab something to eat and take a ride or go for a walk or sit on the mats and shoot the shit.”
Before she can decline, I head for the door.
“Cross! I didn’t say—”
The door shutting behind me as I walk outside cuts off the end of her sentence. Nora is waiting.
“Kallie giving you a hard time?” she laughs.