Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
April
The second I found out I have a long layover in Michigan, my first thought was Harlow. She moved some things around and was able to take off two days to join me in Grand Rapids. Now I’m buzzing in the passenger seat as I discreetly give her directions, not wanting to spoil our lunch plan surprise.
“Can’t you just tell me?” she asks for the tenth time.
“Nope.” I pop the “p” and steal another glance at her.
She looks so damn good in her black T-shirt—sleeves rolled—baseball cap, and joggers.
We went on a four-mile hike at a park neither one of us has been to before and are now grabbing lunch before deciding what to do next.
And despite spending all morning with her, I can’t stop gawking like I’ve never seen a pretty girl before.
“We’re almost there, you can be patient,” I say.
She rolls her eyes. “You’re one to talk about patience. I’ll remind you of that later tonight when you’re begging to finish.” She winks, and my mouth falls open.
“Don’t be rude.”
She laughs.
“Wait!” I gasp. “Take this right turn.”
She has to hit the brakes hard, narrowly missing the turn. Someone honks behind us, and I wince.
“You couldn’t have given me more of a heads up?”
“Sorry.” I shrug. “It’s your fault for distracting me.”
She snorts and shakes her head.
The sign appears in the distance, and I sit up straighter, glancing back and forth between it and Harlow, checking to see if she’s noticed it yet.
Her attention is unfortunately—fortunately?
—focused on the road as I instruct her to turn into the parking lot.
She finds a spot and looks over her shoulder at the sign.
Her eyebrows narrow in thought before she gasps.
“Holy shit! No. Is this the Burger Hut?”
I bite my lip, trying to temper my smile as I nod. “Yes!”
It’s the restaurant that was part of TeresasTravels scavenger hunt. The same one I gave her the magnet for as an apology on Christmas.
“This is so fucking cool,” she says and grabs my hand, interlacing our fingers. She meets my gaze, her expression sincere. “Thank you, Lily.”
“Of course. We can’t come to this city without eating here.” I tug on her hand. “Come on.”
The interior has had some slight improvements since I was here last for the scavenger hunt.
The walls are painted a vibrant candy red.
The vinyl booths, that were all torn up, have been replaced.
The countertops look clean and spotless despite the lunch rush.
Glancing around, I feel oddly proud of this place and how far they’ve come.
After mulling over the options with one another, Harlow settles on a double bacon cheeseburger, and I order a smashed turkey burger. Then we slide into a booth in the back corner with our food.
“I can’t believe this is your first time here,” I say for probably the third time. “Ugh, I love when I’ve been somewhere you haven’t.”
She dips a French fry into her ketchup and snickers. “You act like I’ve been everywhere.”
“Feels like it.”
She softly shakes her head. “So, are you excited about becoming an aunt?”
“Probably not as much as my mom is about becoming a grandma.”
Harlow snorts. “That’s an understatement. She talks about her future grandchild daily. Your brother already told her she had to stop buying so much stuff because they don’t want their kid to be spoiled.”
“Good luck with that.” I laugh. My mother doesn’t understand the definition of restraint when it comes to things like this.
Harlow chuckles. She wipes her mouth with a napkin then asks carefully, “Do you miss living in Michigan?”
My first thought is hell no, but then I bypass the painful memories that make me feel that way and admit, “Yeah, sometimes.”
“Would you ever move back?”
I shake my head.
“Sorry,” she says, probably sensing my discomfort. “We don’t have to talk about it. I was just a little curious because your mom is always talking about wanting all her kids back home.”
“Of course,” I grumble. Not at all surprised. I take a deep breath and ask, “Can you keep a secret?”
Harlow leans forward conspiratorially. “Obviously.”
“Okay.” The corner of my mouth tilts up.
“My mom doesn’t know this—no one but Em and Casey—but I had this best friend growing up.
Her name’s Mikayla, and we were inseparable.
She was my next-door neighbor, our parents are friends, so we did everything together.
Until Gabby moved onto our street. I didn’t …
” I falter. “I didn’t realize that the way I felt for Mikayla was more than what friends feel for each other. ”
Harlow tenses.
“We had this bad falling out, and I just … I know it’s petty, but I don’t want to live around them.”
“What happened? With your falling out?” She rushes to add, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
I shrug, pretending it’s not a big deal. “Gabby never liked me, probably because I saw through her bullshit. She’s one of those girls who is fake as fuck, you know?”
Harlow clicks her tongue. “Yep. Know that type. Please don’t tell me they got together or something?”
A sharp, unexpected laugh escapes me. “Oh no. Those two are straight as can be.”
“So, what happened?”
“The bitch stole my diary.”
“Excuse me, what?” Harlow reels back.
“Yep.” I nod.
I didn’t understand my feelings for her yet. I was confused by the fluttering in my stomach every time Mikayla smiled at me. The way I’d feel warm all over when we’d sit close to each other on the couch to watch movies. I couldn’t put my thoughts into words, but Gabby could.
“Gabby told Mikayla that I was ‘in gay love’ with her. Emphasis on the ‘gay’ because what’s an invasion of privacy and betrayal without a sprinkling of homophobia on top?” I say.
“And your supposed best friend was cool with a bigot stealing your personal belongings and using them against you?” Her voice is low and dangerous.
The words make me pause. In the fallout of our friendship, my family told me repeatedly they thought I was being “overdramatic” and “immature” when I said I no longer wanted to be around Mikayla and Gabby. I heard it so often, I started second-guessing myself.
If it wasn’t for Em and Casey constantly reassuring me what happened was messed up and—in their opinion—totally unforgivable, my family would have me thinking I was the one in the wrong.
Sure, they don’t know the whole story, but if they did and still told me I overreacted? I don’t think I could handle that.
“Mikayla had my back at first. She told Gabby off and made her return my diary, but …” My voice falters.
I wasn’t planning to tell Harlow this much.
I was going to scratch the surface and keep it moving, but at the sight of her clenched jaw and hands tightened into fists, the reaction is so surprising and validating, it makes me want to spill everything.
“I thought we were going to be okay,” I whisper. “Until Mikayla made it a point to bring up all the boys she had a crush on every time we talked. She never sat on the same couch as me when we watched movies. She stopped sleeping over.”
Harlow sighs heavily.
“Gabby apologized profusely to Mikayla—not me, go figure—until she wore Mikayla down. Slowly, they started making their own plans to hang out and invited me less and less. Gabby’s parents let her host parties—Mikayla always her eager cohost—and they became the duo all social circles revolved around. ”
“Are you serious?”
I nod and pick at my straw wrapper. “Unfortunately. Our high school was tiny with only seventy kids in my graduating class, so I became a loner rather than go anywhere near the two of them. I hung out with Landon and his friends or by myself. Casey and Em at the lake house became my safe place. Aside from those two, I’ve never told anyone what happened. ”
My family thinks Mikayla and I stopped being friends because I couldn’t handle her being closer to Gabby than to me.
Our parents are still best friends to this day, which really sucked when I lived at home.
I hated seeing Mikayla at family gatherings and having to hide how deeply I was hurting.
I kept trying to get out of seeing them—pretending to be sick, blaming it on too much homework—until I lost my shit about not wanting to hang out with Mikayla.
“Everyone thinks Casey is the first girl I had feelings for—since I came out junior year when we tried dating for a short two months—and I want to keep it that way.”
Harlow’s mouth parts slightly. “None of your family knows about this?”
I shake my head. “I used to be terrified Gabby would out me, but she never did. The two of them never said anything, not even after I came out. It’s weird.”
“Wow.” She scoffs. “So what happened to them?”
I shred the last of my straw wrapper and move on to pick at a napkin.
“Mikayla and Gabby both still live in Winston and are as tight as ever—they were each other’s maids of honor and everything.
Mikayla took over her parents’ house when they wanted to downsize, and, since Mikayla and her husband have five kids, they needed the extra space. ”
“Five?”
“She’s living her boring straight trad-wife fantasy.” I roll my eyes. “Their property isn’t huge, but it’s enough for her to pretend she’s a homesteader.”
“Wow, I hate her so much,” Harlow says. “I hope her sourdough starter grows mold.”
I snort so loud a couple heads turn in our direction.
“I have nothing against homesteading or gardening or whatever,” I clarify through my laugh.
“She’s just so fucking annoying about it.
Or, well, I’m assuming she still is. I blocked her and Gabby on social media a while back, but yeah.
I know Winston isn’t that close to Blue Skies, but the idea of running into the two of them makes my skin crawl. ”
“I understand that. Damn.” Harlow whistles. “I’m shocked they’re still friends. Gabby sounds so toxic, I’d never guess she would have any long-term relationships.”