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It was definitely not my first kiss…
… but I knew right then and there it would forever be the best kiss of my entire life.
Chapter Nine
HENRY
So many memories for such a small town.
The aftermath of that situation wasn’t the greatest.
Sage froze up in front of Leon when questioned about a lot of things which led Leon to think I was sneaking around with his granddaughter, wanting to get into her panties.
The next time at practice with Leon, he handed me a puck and told me I had to carry it around for twenty-four hours straight.
You shower with the puck. You sleep with the puck. You take a shit with the puck! You got that, boy? You want something to protect? There it is. It’s in your damn hand. That’s all you need to protect!
I kept the puck in my hand for twenty-four grueling hours…
“I know the past is a long time ago, Henry,” Sage said.
I looked at her. “Has a way of being that way.”
“I threw you under the bus with that whole thing.”
“Sage, don’t even bring it up. We were kids.”
“We were not kids, Henry. We were both seventeen, weeks away from eighteen.”
“And when you think back to it, we were kids. The allure of turning eighteen and taking on the world, right? How’d that work out?”
“For you? It seemed to have worked out great. For me? I somehow figured out enough to learn how to do web sites and coding and other nerdy stuff, which doesn’t seem like much in a small town… and it isn’t.”
“You don’t want to leave here though.”
“Travis likes it here. But now? Who knows…”
I saw the way she shivered at that statement. Every fresh moment in her life, revolved around the absence of Leon. Same for her son too. Poor kid lost his great-grandfather and his mentor.
“I just want you to know I am sorry about that situation,” Sage said. “It’s something that’s always bothered me and I never brought it up. I should have told him everything that happened.”
“Sage. Look at me.”
She looked at me.
Her eyes, even in the moonlight… fuck.
“If Leon found out about Keith… think about it. He would have killed him. Literally killed him. It worked out okay. Leon loved to punish me. I was used to it. And again, we’re talking about the past here. It’s been a while. Long enough.”
“It always bothered me.”
“You always had that kind of heart,” I said.
I caught myself gently inching closer to Sage.
I still thought about that night.
The look on her face.
