Page 10 of Can’t Say No

“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.