Connor
The students were buzzing all day. Delaney James, in the flesh, at their school. The faculty was wired over it, too. I thought I was gonna have to throw elbows to keep half of my coworkers from trying to take selfies with her, despite Rutledge’s strict orders to the contrary.
And, fuck, you really can’t blame them. I’m buzzing too.
She still has that same magnetism that propelled her to superstardom as a teen.
The same magnetism I latched onto as a kid, the one that made us best friends.
She was the fiery one, while I was always more timid, preferring a quiet moment with a book over any of the wild plans Delaney cooked up.
Putting on shows, making up songs, befriending everyone, and of course, stirring up a little trouble along the way… that girl has always been nonstop.
My life got considerably calmer when she left, and a hell of a lot harder.
Turns out I’d needed some of her fire to get through the last decade on my own.
The camera in Rutledge’s hand beeps, bringing me back to the present. She turns it every which way, trying to silence it. “This darn thing, always running out of battery. Let me take a few more photos on my phone.”
Delaney, still pressed to my side with an impressively fake smile plastered on, sighs, and I don’t miss the droop in her shoulders, the sparkle in her eyes dimming a little.
I pluck the phone from our principal, with a bit more force than necessary. “Actually I think we’re done here.”
The bite in my voice takes her off guard, and Rutledge stumbles back a step. The Connor Majors she knows is reliable, compliant, easy going. I’m pretty sure she’s never heard me say the word no. But there’s always been something about Delaney that makes me feel a little feral.
As much as I love riling her up, and fuck have I missed doing it, I also know when Delaney is at her limit. It’s time to get her out of here.
“I’m sure you got lots of good stuff on the camera,” I say over my shoulder, already hauling Delaney out the door and down the hall, which is bursting with students eager to get one more look at our resident starlet. Using my size to my advantage, I navigate us out the side door with relative ease.
“I don’t need you to save me,” Delaney huffs, short legs working overtime to keep pace with me as we cross the parking lot to our cars. “Don’t need a personal body guard or whatever.”
I can’t help but laugh.
Eight years. It’s been eight years since I’ve seen her, and Delaney James is still as wily as ever.
“Tease me all you want, but I’m just looking out for you.”
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know Delaney.
We grew up next door to each other, sharing the fence line between my family’s apple orchard and her family’s estate.
Even though we didn’t go to the same school we stayed close.
Movie nights at her house, bonfires with my older siblings at our farm, and countless trips up to Crescent Lake.
All my favorite memories have her in them.
We were always together, until we weren’t.
She left, I stayed, and it’s as simple as that.
Some friendships aren’t meant to last forever.
At least that’s the lie I’ve been repeating for years now.
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
In the parking spot beside me, Delaney slams her hands on the steering wheel of her SUV before trying the ignition again. Her car sputters but doesn’t turn over.
“Dead battery. Pop the hood and I’ll jump it.” Circling to my trunk, I reach for my jumper cables only to come up empty-handed.
“Shit. I lent my cables to a buddy and haven’t gotten them back yet.”
From her car I hear a few more four letter words and can’t help but laugh.
“Delaney, it’s no big deal. I’ll take you home and sort out your car later. Easy fix.”
She tries the ignition one more time. “Fuck. Okay, fine.” Swinging her legs out of the SUV she reiterates, “I still don’t need you to save me.” She exhales, gathers up her stuff and marches to my car.
I open my passenger side door without another word, and she slides in with an eye roll and a mumble that’s somewhere between fuck you and thank you.
I choose to hear the second one.
“I gotta swing by and say hey to my dad before I drop you off back home. He still likes to debrief after the first day. It’s sort of a tradition.
” I say with a shrug and Delaney nods, her hot temper simmering in a familiar way that’s probably meant to be intimidating.
But I relish the heat, because it’s been far too cold without her.
As we roll to a stop at a red light, I take in her features in the afternoon light.
Her hair is a little more platinum than the dirty blonde I remember, and her tanned skin is glowing perfection.
And her nose is missing its tell-tale bump from an accident in ninth grade.
I always liked it: a little visual reminder of her wild side.
I lean in to take a closer look just as the light turns green. My damn curiosity gets the better of me and I can’t help but ask.
“What happened to your nose?”
Like a knee jerk reaction, she flips the car mirror down, “Oh my God, what do you mean?” Turning her face to the mirror, she studies her reflection from every angle.
“The bump. From where you broke it.”
Letting out the breath she was holding, she relaxes a smidge. “Oh, that was one of the first things I had fixed. Doesn’t it look so good now?” She turns away, letting me observe her profile.
“Looked good to me before,” I mumble.
I guess it’s naive of me to think she wouldn’t have had work done after being at the top of the music industry for nearly a decade. But I can’t help the sore spot that grows in my chest, a little whisper of longing for the girl I used to know.
Delaney keeps looking out the window, taking in the scenery that hasn’t changed too much in her absence.
I shake my head and let a little laugh escape. “Still can’t believe you’re here, Delaney. Who would’ve guessed you’d be working down the hall from me in the town you couldn’t wait to leave.”
That stokes the flames.
She nearly takes me out with her venom when she snaps, “I’m not working here, I’m doing damage control.
I had no fucking say in the matter, just like everything else in my life.
And you know that. Or have you forgotten that too, just like you’ve forgotten to show up to every event I’ve invited you to over the years? ”
There it is.
The fact that we disappeared out of each other’s lives. From spending nearly every waking moment together to nothing.
My reasons for disappearing are… nuanced. A little bit of envy, maybe some shame after I ignored her texts one too many times, and definitely a whole lot of heartache. None of it feels worth hashing out when we’re both exhausted from the long first day.
She stares at me, letting the silence hang between us.
Finally, I huff out a breath. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Lanie. You left, I stayed. And I’m just saying that it’s wild that our paths have crossed again. I’m never trying to start a fight with you.” I tell her for the second time today, one hand off the steering wheel in surrender.
So quiet I almost can’t hear her she mumbles, “It’s Delaney.”
She turns away, ending our conversation, and stays that way until we pull up in front of my dad’s townhouse.
I slow my car to a stop and steal another glance at her. Plastic surgery be damned, she still looks like all my favorite memories. Somewhere, buried deep beneath all that spite and sass, is my Lanie.
“This place is cute.” And it is. Simple and much smaller than our family farmhouse, but still enough rooms for all my nieces and nephews when they come to visit.
“Hard to imagine your dad anywhere but out on the orchard though.” And that rings true, too, and aches in a way I don’t think she’ll ever understand.
I open my mouth to explain, to begin catching her up on all the life that kept turning here in Ridgecrest while she was gone, but I’m interrupted by my dad lumbering out through the front door.
He’s a bit of a mess, dirty jeans and work boots on like always, no doubt from tinkering on something in his shed out back, and there’s a little hitch in his step that I need to follow up on.
But for someone in his late sixties, he looks pretty good.
My mom passed away when I was just a few months old, a car accident. My older siblings remember her a little, but for the most part, it’s always been just us and our dad.
“As I live and breathe! Delaney James is back in Ridgecrest.” My dad shouts, scurrying along the sidewalk to my car as Delaney slides out. “Get over here, girl.”
I sneak a glance at Delaney. She can’t help it, her face is lit up with a wide smile. My dad has some of the same charisma that Delaney radiates; people are drawn to him, and Delaney is no exception.
“Hey, Reggie. It’s been a while.” Delaney steps out of my car, beaming from ear to ear, and steps into my dad’s warm embrace.
“Much too long! You want a snack? I can fix you some caramel for dipping; you know I’ve got plenty of apples. You still like that?” Dad wraps an arm around Delaney’s shoulders and guides her into his new home.
The familiarity of the action hits me square in the chest.
I’ve missed her so much.
I’ve spent years making futile attempts to avoid all things Delaney James. I tried to watch her launch to superstardom at a distance. At arms length and in bite-sized pieces, I could manage. From far away, the ache of missing her, of wanting her, was tolerable.
But now? Seeing her arm in arm with my dad again after all these years?
I think I’m drowning.
“You coming?” Dad hollers over his shoulder, practically dragging Delaney through the door, “There may or may not be a whole chocolate cake in here with your name on it.”
I clear my throat, trying to find air again, and follow the pair inside. “I wouldn’t dream of missing out on that.”
Photos line the walls of the entryway, ones my sister meticulously picked out and hung when he first moved in. It makes the place feel less old-man bachelor pad and more like a well-worn family home.
Delaney takes it all in as she toes her shoes off at the front door. The downstairs is nice and open, with a large couch and inviting kitchen anchoring opposite sides of the space.
“I like your house, Reg.”
My dad shrugs from behind the kitchen counter.
“Nothing beats the orchard but this definitely is a bit easier to keep up with. At least the old farmhouse is still in the family.” Dad pins me with a knowing look then continues, “And hopefully Connor will get to filling it up with more grandkids for me soon.”
“Can’t I have one day of peace, dad?”
He laughs, slicing three different varieties of our apples and arranging them with care on a platter. “Nope. I’ll be teasing you for a while still, son.”
“And I’m thankful for it,” I mumble, pulling him for a side hug.
Delaney stands a bit off to the side, silently watching our interaction, and that tug in my chest ricochets through me again. It’s a bone deep sadness over the all the missed time, and good helping of guilt too, for my part in creating the divide between us.
Delaney catches my eye, and there’s no doubt in my mind that she feels it, too.
“I’ll deny it if anyone asks,” she says, voice low and thick with emotion, “but, fuck, I missed y’all.”
Dad motions her over. “Well then, get over here, Lanie girl!”
He pulls her into our hug and embraces us both.
Dad clears his throat and I don’t have to look up to know he’s got tears in his eyes. The old guy cries at just about anything lately. And we’ve never talked about it, but I know Delaney’s departure was hard on him, too.
“I know things are rough for you right now, Lanie, but maybe it’s a good thing you’re back in Ridgecrest for a bit. You know this will always be your home.”
At the mention of home, I feel her stiffen in my arms.
Delaney shimmies out of our little group hug and any trace of sentimentality falls from her face. “Not sure about all that,” she says with a laugh, “but it is nice to see you again. Is that caramel ready yet?”
Dad gets to work drizzling the fresh caramel over the apples while I bring the chocolate cake over from the kitchen to the little breakfast nook.
As handy as my dad is on the farm, his real talent is baking.
He used to run a little bakery out of the orchard until it became too much to keep up with.
His chocolate cake is sinful, probably my favorite thing he bakes, and I dive straight in with a fork, not wasting time to slice it.
Dad joins us at the table, presenting the apples to Delaney with a flourish that brings her smile back for a moment.
“Alright kids, you know the drill. How was day one? Got a good bunch of students? How’s my Caroline?”
I nod, mouth full of cake. “Caroline is good. My seniors are gonna give me a run for my money, but in a good way. Real bright group; I’m excited to watch them grow. And Rutledge has me doing a section of freshmen English… that’s gonna be mildly painful but it’s probably good for me.”
“And how about you Delaney?” Dad questions, taking the seat beside me at the breakfast table. He winces as he lowers himself down, and I make a mental note to remind him to slow down. “What did you think about Mrs. Crane?”
Delaney takes a delicate bite of her caramel apples before speaking. “She’s intense.”
My dad and I wait, but Delaney doesn’t give us anything else and I have to stifle a laugh from behind a mouthful of cake.
Delaney’s always been like this: hot and cold, swinging from happy to melancholy at the drop of a hat.
Some might find her ever-changing moods annoying, but to me, it’s endearing.
She’s a galaxy of emotion and I’ve always loved the stars.
“Well, Lanie girl,” my dad says, undeterred by Delaney’s stony silence, “it’s a good thing you’re pretty intense too.”
She grumbles a non-response and I fight back another laugh.
“I’ve missed your moody ass. Here, eat some of this.” I say, sliding the platter of cake her way.
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t protest as she sinks her fork into the half eaten cake.
Her eyes go wide as she takes a bite and I’m stuck for a moment staring at her mouth.
A little delighted hum escapes her lips and I think I might die on the spot.
Who knew watching someone eat cake could be such a turn on.
Fuck, I gotta go for a run or something.
I dang near choke on the cake in my mouth when Delaney’s tongue swipes out across her plump bottom lip to lick off some frosting. She catches my eye and shoots me a demure smile.
I scrub a hand over my face, “We gotta get going soon. Delaney, I’ll meet you in the car.”
My head is spinning, and I feel like I’m sixteen again, down bad for a girl who’s never given me a second thought. I’ve only been back in her orbit for one day and I’m just as starstruck as I’ve always been.