Chapter Two
Evan
“What’s past is prologue.”
The Tempest
A name from the past swam out of the foggy recesses of my memory, and as I uttered it, I braced for her to correct me.
It had been years since I’d thought of Lizzy Graham.
Or was it Grant? I started to apologize, tell her I’d made a mistake, but she flashed the prettiest smile.
“That’s right! I can’t believe you remember me. ”
It was a miracle I had. I’d blotted out most memories of high school, avoided reunions, and didn’t keep in touch with anybody.
I had almost no reason to return since my parents sold our house in the neighboring county and moved away.
Except here I was again, gravity pulling me back.
Apparently, some people never left. In fact, Lizzy wasn’t the only ghost from my past I’d run into tonight. I was getting good at playing catch up.
“Well, how could I forget? I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you right away.”
She shot me a sassy smirk, promising an inside joke, and a memory sparked of a rail-thin blond on the bus with the middle school band, acting silly. I relaxed a little. She’d been nice to me once upon a time, unlike those fuckers who’d made my life a living hell.
I could feel Bas at my side, curious. I’d promised him we were absolutely not on the prowl for a hookup.
I’d come to town to interview for a job, and all I wanted to do tonight was revisit the Downtown Mall with all the coffee shops and bars and merrymakers, but surely Bas would understand if I wanted to reconnect with an old acquaintance.
I drew Lizzy’s attention to him. “This is Basil Stavros. Bas, Lizzy and I were close friends in middle school. Small world, huh?”
She shook her head, like she was as surprised as me. “It’s been a super long time. I’ve been—”
Before she could finish her thought, a dark-haired woman at the bar swiveled around and poked her. “Lizzy, were you going to introduce me to your friend?” Without waiting, she said, “Hi. I’m Chelsea Abbott.”
I hesitated, but stuck out my hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Evan Spurlock.”
“Not the Evan Spurlock?” Chelsea said, like I was famous. I sort of was in rural Indiana, but not in my own hometown. “Oh, I probably shouldn’t tell you this.” She glanced at Lizzy as if asking permission. “But it has been a long time, right?”
Lizzy froze, panic in her eyes, and I braced for the worst. But she shrugged as if there was no stopping this oncoming train. “Go ahead.”
“Lizzy used to tell me about a guy named Evan Spurlock she had a major crush on in high school.” She tilted her head. “I can see why.”
I stood stunned. That was the last thing I expected her to say. She must have meant middle school, because nobody liked me by high school. Did she really have a crush on me? I sighed. If only I’d known.
Lizzy’s smile tightened, and as if to cut her mortification short, she turned away from me, gesturing to my best friend. “Chelsea, have you met Bas?”
Bas smiled with false bravado, like he knew the gorgeous brunette was so far out of his league, he might as well go for broke.
The bigger the challenge, the more relaxed he got, like he figured if he was destined to fail anyway, he should have fun trying.
Rejection never seemed to faze him. I wished I could be so cavalier.
Chelsea narrowed an eye, appraising him. “You look familiar. Have we met?”
Bas leaned in with a smolder that was undermined by the unflattering Doctor Who shirt I’d made him wear out tonight. “I think I’d remember you.”
Speaking of familiar, I stole a glance at Lizzy, trying to reconcile my gauzy memory with the woman she’d become. I could picture her at fifteen dressed just like this, in jeans, very girl-next-door cute. I had this image of us running around the neighborhood or jumping off the dock into the lake.
Was that her?
I stepped closer. “So tell me about yourself. What have you been up to?”
She puckered her lips, like she was unsure of the answer, landing on, “Hiking a lot.”
“Outdoorsy, huh?” That sounded like the girl I recalled. Always climbing trees, running around the woods.
“Definitely. You won’t catch me sitting inside curled up with a book before a roaring fire.” A cute smile curved her lips, like the very idea was ridiculous. “Libraries, am I right?” She shuddered.
I laughed, though I actually loved to read, living vicariously through romantasy novels since I was gun shy about the real thing. But I let it go.
In the awkward pause, I overheard Bas mention the food network. “Watching others cook is relaxing. You find it entertaining?”
Chelsea said, “It’s my porn.”
Bas leaned in. “And if I cooked for you in my kitchen?”
Internally, I cringed at his obvious come-on, but Chelsea looked like she might drool, so I decided to play wingman. “You would die if you ever ate Basil’s cooking. He’s an artist.”
She dragged her teeth across her lower lip, her interest fully piqued. “What would you make?”
Bas dunked the alley-oop. “Anything you want. I’m a chef.”
Chelsea grabbed the bar, like she might swoon. “Where do you work?”
“Do you know the organic market on Main?”
She snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “That’s where I know you! I practically live there.”
“Then it’s for you I’ve been cooking all this time.” Oh, my God. The cheese. “Come find me next time you’re in. I’ll give you a sample.”
Instead of jumping on the invitation, Chelsea just said, “You’re funny.”
Bas had his work cut out.
“Do you both live in Charlottesville?” I asked. It wasn’t uncommon for the kids I went to high school with to move closer in to town or, like me, go to college here.
Chelsea said, “We live nearby. What about you?”
“I’m only in town for tonight. I live in Indiana right now.”
“Oh, wow.” Lizzy said. “And what do you do there?”
“I’m a meteorologist for a newscast.”
“You’re a weatherman?” She sounded skeptical. “Like on TV?” As if I’d make something like that up.
Chelsea arched a brow. “Seriously?”
Why would I lie? “I work at a news channel.” I frowned as I recalled I’d been terminated from my last place of employment. “Or did. What about you? Do you still play the tuba?”
When Chelsea snorted, I thought I’d made another mistake, but to my relief, Lizzy said, “Yes,” with a sort of defiant confidence and a glare tossed at her friend. “I’m very active in the local symphony.”
“That’s exciting,” I said, trying to work out why her friend would tease her about something like that. “Is that what you do for a living?”
“Oh no,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “I earned my doctorate in zoolinguistics and travel the world giving papers on how to talk to animals.” Before I could parse that out, she added, “Of course, I had to learn several human languages as well.”
I scratched my jaw. I couldn’t tell if she was yanking my chain, but I bit. “Like what?”
She shrugged, tossing her head with an adorable nonchalance. “Oh, uh, Atlantian because of the dolphins. And of course pig Latin.”
I burst out laughing. “Is that their native tongue?”
She tried to keep a straight face, but a wry smile cracked when she added, “Pigs have a lot to say.”
“I’d rather not know that.” I covered my mouth, hiding mock horror. “Makes me feel guilty for how delicious they are.”
She winced. “Oh, yeah. Wait till you hear about their hopes and dreams.”
That made me snort-laugh like the dork I kept locked up deep down. “No, don’t ruin bacon for me. I’ll stick to conversing with clouds.”
“Clouds, huh?” She still sounded suspicious “So…weatherman? How does that happen?”
Good question. When I was younger, I’d hidden my science nerd tendencies behind sports in a failed attempt to seem cool. “You should have seen the telescope in my bedroom.”
She bit back a smile. “Oh, yeah?”
Warmth crept up my neck. “I’ve just always loved studying the atmosphere—heat waves, electrical storms.”
I sounded as cheesy as Bas, but thankfully her doe eyes softened, and she whispered, “The spark of lightning?”
Was she flirting with me? My breath caught, and I realized I was playing with a firestorm. It all felt too easy, suspiciously so.
And just like that, my walls went up. “It’s funny,” I said, testing the waters, watching her for any reaction. “I saw Kyan King earlier tonight.”
Her nose scrunched slightly. “You’re friends with Kyan King?”
Friends would be overstating it. Kyan had, aptly, been the king of the school, the center of every party. I’d entered his inner orbit briefly, but catastrophically. “He didn’t put you up to this, did he?”
“Up to what?” she asked, innocently enough, her smile fading.
Maybe it was just a coincidence I’d run into both of them tonight, but I wasn’t taking a chance. “He didn’t send you over here to mess with me?”
Her mouth twisted. “Nobody put me up to this.”
I could only imagine how insane I sounded, but I’d been the target of too many vicious pranks, and I really didn’t want to play the fool yet again.
Her head tilted. “Did he put you up to this?”
“Touché.” I had to laugh at my own paranoia. “No. I was never cool enough to be in on the joke.”
“Well,” she said. “Me neither.”
Hearing her say that felt like an antidote to the toxicity of my teen years.
She let out a shaky breath and suddenly, a memory unlocked, clear as day, of one chilly November morning at the apple orchard up on Carter’s Mountain.
The two of us sat atop a picnic table, eating cinnamon doughnuts and drinking hot cider, while we overlooked the expanse of the Blue Ridge Mountains spreading out before us.
We must have been there for the band, or maybe our parents had taken us.
A feeling hit me, like a long forgotten scent or the snippets of a song I once knew.
I’d liked her, too. I’d never gotten up my nerve to tell her.
And then I became a douchebag.
I worked up the courage to confess it now, but before I could speak, Chelsea blurted out, “You might say I have commitment issues.”
I couldn’t help but gawk. Bas was looking at her like a puzzle to be solved. “What’ve you got against relationships?”
Chelsea shot a glance at Lizzy. “I had a mean dad.”
Bas frowned. “That’s. Uh.”
Chelsea barreled on. “One therapist told me I don’t feel like I’m worthy of love and won’t trust anyone who wants to be with me.”
I averted my eyes, shocked at hearing someone so openly spill a secret that I understood too well. Maybe if I led with all my issues, I’d find someone who’d accept me for me. But I’d most likely just scare everyone away.
Chelsea wasn’t done. “Another told me I’m rebelling against my mother’s life choices. But I think I’m possibly a sociopath, incapable of mixing sex with emotion.”
Concern furrowed Basil’s dark eyebrows, and he gently said, “You’ve done a lot of work, huh? I find that admirable. Are you always so candid?”
“Actually, no.” The warble of her voice made me hope she’d stop oversharing. That woman was a walking red flag. Sadly, Bas was a bull with no sense of self-preservation. The guy ran at love over and over, and every time he failed, he got back up, his faith in romance intact.
“No?” Bas finally sounded fazed.
Lizzy broke in. “Chelsea took a truth serum earlier tonight, and it hasn’t worn off yet.”
The irreverent comment took me so off-guard, I gasped a laugh at the inappropriate comic relief. “You were always so funny, Lizzy.”
She shot me a playful wince. “Yeah, class clown. That was me.”
She had been. Funny and smart and low-key pretty.
Looking at her now, it was clear she’d had a major league glow up.
If I hadn’t chased after popularity in high school, ego-driven and shallow, how different would my life be now?
Why had I thrown away good friendships to try to impress a bunch of vultures?
I’d taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque, and here was my second chance. “If we’re being candid, I want to get something off my chest.”
She bit her lower lip. “What?”
I stepped a little closer, nervous, like we were those fifteen-year-old kids still, dangling our feet off the picnic tables, looking down on this very spot. “I had a crush on you, too. I’ve always regretted how we grew apart. It was my own fault. Can you ever forgive me?”
She ran her tongue across her teeth, and I braced for it.
This was where she’d tell me off, remind me that we could’ve been friends if I hadn’t blown her off.
But she dipped her head, then looked back up, her eyes sparkling.
“Aw, Evan. I’ve often thought about what might’ve been.
But the years passed, and here we are. I figured you’d forgotten about me. You’re probably married now.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and waggled my fingers to prove the absence of a ring. “Not even a girlfriend.”
She twisted her mouth to one side. “Sure.”
“It’s true.” I scratched my chin, feeling guilty all over again for betraying her friendship. “What about you? Are you seeing anyone?”
She held up her ring-less hand, mimicking me, then shot a glance at Chelsea. “Just a girlfriend.”
I huffed a laugh. “How serious are you two?”
“Well, we’re verging on common law marriage.”
She was cracking me up. I’d forgotten how easy she’d always been to talk to. We’d gotten so close, our hands holding our drinks nearly brushed, and I caught her pinkie in mine. I licked my lips, daring myself to take a risk. “I wish I was staying in town longer.”
She coughed, like maybe we’d gotten way too serious too fast. That truth serum must’ve been airborne.
The bar lights flickered, warning us of imminent closing time.
“You’re leaving tomorrow, right?”
I sighed. “Tomorrow afternoon, right.”
This was where we would promise to follow each other on social media and call it a night. But I overheard Chelsea offering to drive Bas home, and Lizzy said, “But you’re here tonight.”
What was she offering?
It was crazy. We didn’t even know each other anymore. But there was something so genuine about her, and I knew if I missed this opportunity, it would never come around again.
“I’m here tonight,” I echoed.