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She rolls her eyes and I realize that might have been rude. I’m about to apologize, but she starts to talk.
“Lena and I came her all of the time in high school. I think that our names might still be carved into the booth over there,” she says, pointing to a booth in the back.
“Lena?” I ask and she smiles.
“Yeah, she’s one of my best friends. She went to high school with us.
I frown, trying to remember a Lena, but the only one from high school that I bothered to remember is Auden.
“What about you? What’s your favorite place in town?”
“The movie theater,” I blurt out and she smiles.
“Yeah? Are you a big movie buff?”
“Not really,” I admit.
“Then why is that place your favorite? Did you take all of your dates there or something?”
“No, I don’t date… er, or I mean I haven’t before.”
She blinks and I pray that we don’t start talking about my lack of a social life.
“Then why the movie theater?” She asks and I let out a breath that I didn’t even realize I was holding.
“I worked there in high school for a bit. It was the only way that I would be able to afford to see a movie. I guess… I guess it was one of the only times that I felt like a regular kid.”
I look up and see Auden watching me with pity and I look away. I’m grateful when the waitress comes over with our waters and takes our order.
“What about you? What were your favorite places around town when we were kids?” I ask, desperate to change the topic and make her the center of attention.
“Hmm, let me think.”
She lists off a few places and I nod. I’ve been to the hiking trail and the beach, but as she talks, I can’t help but wonder how it would be to go to them again with her.
Our food gets dropped off a few minutes later and we both dig in. We seem to be back on more stable ground, both of us careful to not bring up my childhood as we talk and eat.
Things seem to be going well and I’m about to ask her out to dinner, when the front door opens and I know that my chance is gone.
FIVE
Auden
Lunch with Wade is a surprise,in the best way. It was the longest that we had been alone together, the longest that we had talked. I hadn’t expected him to be so easy to talk to, but from the moment we sat down at the diner, the conversation flowed like we’d been friends for years.
We talked about work, of course, about the Montgomery project and all the challenges we might expect, but we also talked about life outside of Lilac Harbor. I told him about some of the places that I’d traveled to, about places that I wanted to go to next. Wade told me about some of the places that he had remodeled around the area.
“I guess I’ve always been good at building things,” Wade says, leaning back in the booth, his fingers absentmindedly tracing the rim of his glass. “I think that shop class in high school was my favorite class. I was good at it without really trying.”
“Lucky you! I almost cut my finger off in shop class. Multiple times,” I mumble and he nods.
“I know. I remember. I was the one unplugging the saws.”
A memory of his dark gaze meeting mine as the table saw whirred to a stop. I never put it together, probably because I was too scared and embarrassed that I almost lost a finger, but he’s right. He was always the one saving me.
That realization has my body warming and butterflies taking flight in my stomach. Either his reaction time is fantastic, or he was watching me back in high school a lot closer than I had realized.
Could it be that my little crush wasn’t just one sided? Is it just one sided now?
