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“Well…” Cruz looks over when I grow quiet. “You know what they say, all is fair in love and war.”
“Is that what it was?” I can’t help but ask.
“Yes,” he nods, not clarifying which he was confirming—the love part, or war.
We reach the end of the driveway and as he pulls onto the main road, I wonder if he’s had time to think about the fact this is the first time we’d been together in his Jeep since that night he ended us. When we sat in these very same seats, as he told me we were over.
“What about Skye?” he asks, while shifting from one gear to the next. “I haven’t seen her all summer.”
“She’s not coming to the beach this year,” I reply with as much interest as she’s shown me since graduation. “She and Carter want to spend the summer together before he heads to Stanford in the fall, and she, Harvard.”
“Carter Bell?” Cruz turns to me.
“Yeah,” I drawl. “Why?”
“Well,” he turns his eyes back to the road, “they’re not exactly each other’s type. At least they weren’t when I knew them.”
He’s right. They weren’t each other’s type. In fact, they were total opposites.
Skye’s dream was always to go to Harvard, become a doctor, then work for Doctors Without Borders. Carter on the other hand, was to party and well, I didn’t know what else.
“They’re still opposites in every way,” I admit. “But they’ve been going strong for a while and considering neither are in Cherry Cove for the summer but here, together, I think it may be serious.”
“Wow.” Cruz shakes his head. “Never saw that coming.”
“Why?” I ask curiously. “Because she liked you?”
“What?” he laughs awkwardly.
“Oh spare me,” I roll my eyes. “You knew she had a crush on you in high school.”
“What?” He looks at me again and his surprise looks genuine.
“You knew,” I insist. “The way you’d strut by my room whenever she’d come over.”
“I did not strut,” he laughs. “At least, not for Skye Vaughn. Maybe that was you projecting.”
“I didn’t project anything but loathing and frustration for you, Cruz.”
“Alright baby, if you say so.”
I look at him in disbelief. The way he says baby with that cocky ass grin of his, both infuriating me, and igniting a tingle in my nerves.
“Okay, let’s say you didn’t know.” I twist my hair tighter. “If you did, would it have mattered?”
“Not at all.” He smiles. “My focus was on one thing only back then.”
“Right,” I smile snidely. “Baseball.”
“Yeah,” he winks, “that’s it.”
The Jeep’s tires hum against the pavement as we speed down the road. I always loved the day after a summer storm. The skies were clear, and the weather forgiving. The humidity has dropped and my skin isn’t sticking to the seat.
“Well, whatever Skye is doing this summer,” I continue, “she’s been giving me the cold shoulder since graduation.”
“Really?” He looks over before turning his eyes back to the road. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” I reply honestly. “Everything seemed fine at graduation. We partied together that night and made plans to catch up once she got to Cherry Cove, but she hasn’t returned any of my calls, which is weird.”
