Chapter 6
Chapter Six
PARKER
Is your name Luna or Jane?
As she stared up at me blankly, I wondered how many things I didn’t know about her, starting with her name.
“Luna,” she said, her tone forceful. She gave her head a little shake. “I know the whole thing is strange. I promise I can explain.” She looked so earnest and worried, my heart twisted a little.
I really wanted that explanation. “I’d say let’s get coffee, but you work here.”
Luna’s curls bounced as she nodded. “I don’t know, um, we could get pizza or something. I really do want to explain,” she said hurriedly. “I know I should’ve said something before, but—” Her breath came out in a rushed sigh. “I was embarrassed because you didn’t remember me.”
“Well, I thought your name was Jane,” I pointed out.
“You look familiar, but it’s been ten years.
Your hair was straight back then, and you said your name was Jane.
” I lifted my hands and let them fall, unsure of what else to say.
I experienced a twinge of guilt that I somehow didn’t completely recognize her, but people look similar in the world, and I’d chalked it up to that.
“Well, I have your number, Fuzzy loves you, and you’ve offered to be my dog sitter.” I sucked in a breath, trying to collect myself. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
Luna nodded. “I promise I was. I was just trying to figure out when. Until yesterday morning, I only saw you here every so often, and that time you scooped me out of the ocean. I wanted to say something then, but it was a weird day. I was a little flustered yesterday morning because well, the moose and falling in the mud and—” She circled her hand in the air nervously.
“I get it,” I finally said after a pocket of silence stretched between us. “For what it’s worth, I understand keeping things private.” When I’d met Luna before, it was a time filled with secrets for me. She sure as hell didn’t know my whole story.
She twisted her hands nervously. “I have to get in the back because I’m in the middle of baking.”
“I’ll text you,” I said. “I can grab dinner any night I’m in town.”
Her lips curled in a slight smile. “That would be great.”
“Your donuts are the best I’ve ever had, by the way.” I lifted the boxes in my hands in emphasis.
My heart felt pulled toward her when her cheeks went pretty and pink again. “I’m glad.”
She spun around and hurried into the back. I watched her go and remembered the Luna I’d met for a very brief time years back, a mere two weeks after I got out of juvenile detention.