Chapter 17
SIENNA
Three months later…
“Seriously, Sienna, I know you can throw harder than that.”
With gloved hands, I focus on the tin cans in front of me, all stacked in a strategic triangle with some resentment.
I’m freezing.
The chilling night air, mixed with random gusts of disrespectful wind, only makes it worse.
“You look like you just got back from Antarctica.”
“It’s twenty-three degrees, Jonah,” I shoot back. “Not exactly bathing suit weather.”
I shoot a glare his way, but he’s already smiling at me because I am the only person with gloves and I am from the South.
However, tonight feels like the town was put into the freezer, and I’m supposed to be supporting its annual Snowball Festival without the snow and without real snowballs.
Really, it’s iced sno-cones with your choice of flavors.
And games.
And rides that only these psycho children are enjoying while my date continues to tease me about how bundled up I am.
“You knock down one can,” Jonah proposes. “And we’ll skip the rest of the games, I’ll win you that bear you’ve been staring at all night, and we’ll grab some cocoa.”
“Is it Lucy Valor’s stand?”
He smirks. “She’s the only one whom the town will allow to serve such a beverage. Especially since she makes such a big deal about the quality of the marshmallows and the temperature the chocolate needs to stay at, at all times.”
I nod my appreciation because I’m going to need several cups as I turn my attention back to the tin cans. “And, if I win?”
“What do you want?”
Peace of mind.
I’ve been seeing Jonah for about two weeks now. We met at the school’s fire-safety assembly and, sue me, he’s a damn firefighter, so I was already intrigued.
Then he gave me a sticker on his way out and…well, it wasn’t like how I met Micah, and the attraction isn’t as heavy, but Jonah is refreshing.
No kids.
Not a random hookup.
No connection to the school.
I would only need his help if my house caught on fire.
“You got any more of those stickers?” I mock with a smile, pulling my arm back and chucking the ball toward the tin cans.
I miss.
“Might have some in my car,” he replies simply. “You sure you wanna make that bet?”
“That a sort of currency around here?”
“It’s going to be if you keep asking me about them.”
“Who doesn’t love a flame with a face on it? They’re cute.”
“They were for the children.”
“Don’t fight it, Jonah,” a male voice cuts into the conversation. “Give the woman what she wants.”
It does take a few seconds for my brain to register the new timbre that just blurted through my thoughts, but when it does, my whole body stiffens, and my heart slams violently into my chest because I can’t.
I can’t deal with him.
It’s been months since our conversation on his front porch, and I’ve been purposely trying to avoid places I think he’d be.
This wasn’t one of them.
“Micah,” Jonah greets happily, and I see him reach out to shake his hand. “How’s it going, brother?”
“Good,” Micah replies, and the answer grinds my gears because I haven’t been.
The rejection doesn’t feel as sharp and heavy as it once did, but it’s still there.
It will always be there.
“You out with Heath?”
Of course, he’d bring his son. It’s a festival, Sienna. What the hell were you thinking?
That Jonah is hot, and he’s been asking to take you to this for days.
“Yeah.” I can feel Micah’s eyes on me, and I fight back a maddening shiver that wants to shake my whole body. “I was hopin’ I could steal Miss Vesper away for a moment. I have some concerns about his grades.”
His grades are fine.
And, if they weren’t, I would’ve reached out via email to let him know.
Heath is still quiet, but I have seen a bit of progress with him in the last few months. He’s starting to open up to another boy named Mitchell and is becoming friends.
“We can talk about it on Monday,” I force from my throat, but I don’t dare to look over at him. “I don’t have any of his grades sitting in front of me.”
“I just needed to do a check-in,” Micah insists like a freaking jerk because he knows what he’s doing, and I’m not here for it. “I promise your arm will still be warm so you can finish your…game.”
I never threw that many to even get that far, and Jonah doesn’t help when he steps back a bit.
“I’ll go grab us some cocoa,” he quips with a smile in my direction. “I’ll let you slide on the win.”
I attempt to give him a smile back, but I know it lands short. My body refuses to react the same way it did toward Micah, nor will it ignore him because I can feel him inch closer the more space Jonah puts between us.
And when he pivots, Micah immediately steps into my line of sight, like watching any other man walk away is out of the question.
“That’s sweet,” he sasses with a shit-eating grin like that was the stupidest thing he’s seen all day. “Jonah is an upgrade.”
I wrinkle my nose because I don’t like that he mentioned several things: Jonah, that he’s better than him, and that I’m moving on.
I am moving on.
I just…don’t need Micah being involved in it.
It’s bad enough that my cheeks feel flushed and knots are tightly forming in my stomach, but Micah is just pushing my buttons with my inability to have a conversation with him without my body wanting to fall into a semi-nervous breakdown.
What’s stupid is that you honestly still care what this country boy thinks or did.
He wasn’t a boyfriend.
He wasn’t even someone I dated.
He was someone I was seeing for a very short amount of time.
Very short.
Very short, Sienna. Get it together, girl.
“You look…” Micah’s blue eyes shamelessly fall down the front of my body, and I’m not in anything that would be considered men-bait. I’m in a puffy coat, jeans with long johns on underneath, and boots. “Beautiful and cold.”
“Glad to see you can still evaluate problems, Mr. Wolfe,” I reply flatly. “What concerns did you have about Heath?”
“You know damn well I have no issues with my kid.” His gaze flicks up to me, and I stop breathing. “Saw you and wanted to come say hi.”
“Hi,” I practically choke out. “And bye.”
I begin to round his body, but Micah’s words ground me to my spot. “Don’t make me touch you, Miss Vesper, because I will. Agnes and Maebelle are around here walkin’ around in everyone’s business and, with my luck, they’ll see it.”
“I don’t want to talk to you, Micah,” I say under my breath. “There’s nothing else to say.”
“There’s plenty to say,” he retorts evenly, but his voice is still a bit playful. “However, it’s not going to do me any good or change the fact that I hurt you.”
“You didn’t hurt me,” I scoff because my pride will not allow him to believe I’ve been sculpted in any way that has to do with him. “We were barely a thing.”
“Is it the same thing with Jonah?”
Mindlessly, I avert my eyes because I won’t be discussing Jonah or any other man I’m in contact with. Whether that’s grabbing my mail, my morning coffee, or stopping to have a random conversation.
Micah is not in my life anymore, and he’s never going to be again.
“He’s a good choice,” Micah continues through my silence. “Jonah and I went to school together. He’s smart, never really got into any trouble, a country boy through and through, never wanted to leave home. Just wanted to stay in a community and help.”
“I wasn’t looking for your approval.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to get it.”
I’m surprised my neck doesn’t snap my head off when I look back at him. The sheer audacity he has going on with that commentary and his need to approach me after everything, I’m ten seconds away from either slapping him in the face or punching him in the throat.
“Excuse me?”
The corners of Micah’s lips hoist higher, a clear indication that he knows exactly what he’s doing here, and he has zero qualms about speaking his piece.
“It doesn’t matter if we were together weeks or years, Sienna…
any man that’s going to be putting his alleged time into you is going to have to show up and out for me not to put a stop to it. ”
I glower at him. “You’re not going to approve of anything, Micah Wolfe, because I’m not your concern, I’m not your problem, and I’m a grown woman who can make my own decisions and handle myself. This has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me when I wanted you first.”
My body rejects his comment because my feet move to throw some space in between us. “You’ve got a lot of nerve to be talking to me like you didn’t just slam your door in my face.”
His head drops a little, followed by his tongue pushing out his right cheek. “Bad night, sweetheart, and it’s not an excuse. I’m sorry—”
“Save it,” I grind out. “I’m not hung up on you. I’m not thinking about you. I don’t even want to be associated with you, but hey, I’m your son’s teacher. We only have a few more months until I’m not.”
“Well, half of that is a lie—”
“Good night, Mr. Wolfe. Enjoy the rest of the—”
“Sienna,” he grinds out, his tone dipping into this red zone of impatience and nonchalance. It’s confusing. And I’m not here for it anymore. “If you thought we fizzled out in one day, we didn’t. I haven’t forgotten about—”
“I wish you would.”
I’ve never seen Micah speechless before, but for once, he just stares at me with a twinge of hurt and regret.
That’d make two of us.
I, for whatever reason, opened myself up to him barely knowing him, and I got burned.
I’m not doing it again.
Not with someone so fast and not with him. Jonah hasn’t pushed for fast; he may still be navigating through it as I am, but I will not be burned twice in one year by a man.
I’d reiterate for him to have a good night, but I really don’t care if he does.
Heath, on the other hand, I do.
Stepping around his muscular frame, I make my way to the cocoa stand and look for Jonah.
Micah and I…we’re old news and, hopefully soon, an old memory.