Page 45 of Love Felt Like This

“What does?” Nana asks.

“Well, I remember when Bev came in here all the time.” She nods to me, pointing a finger. “Her and Beau. Always up to something.”

Beau again.

From behind the counter, my mom’s lips purse. “Well, they’re much older now. They’re not together.”

“Oh, don’t remind me!” Maria chimes in from her stool. “They were always attached at the hip, even outside of school. He wasn’t as much of a coffee drinker as you were, though.”

I shift in my seat, butt squeaking over the pleather. “Yeah, well…”

My phone buzzes.

Griffin: I see it now (Sent with Car Assist)

“You and Beau would have made such cute babies, though,” Maria says.

“Maria, please,” Momma says from behind the counter. “It’s been two years. She’s moving on.”

Moving.

Not moved.

Because I’m not dating.

My body tenses. My throat feels like it’s in pain.

“Oh,” Maria sighs. “But you are, aren’t you! You’re with that man. What’s his name…”

A pitch-black SUV rumbles around a winding road. The windows are heavily tinted. Is that level of tint even legal?

My heart catches.

Fran pouts. “I really thought you and Beau would make it.”

“Oh, me too,” Maria agrees. “But there’s that new musician…my goodness, what is his name?”

“You and Beau were really cute together.”

“You two, so help me—” Nana warns.

And somehow, some way, a sentence leaves my mouth before I can stop it.

“Well, Maria’s right. I’m with someone else now, so…it doesn’t really matter what Beau and I looked like.”

And of course, that’s when the jukebox ends. That awful span of time when the song changes over. And everyone—not just nosy Fran and Maria—hears me.

I close my eyes and groan.

Dad stands at the grill with his spatula held over three silver dollar–sized pancakes. Many pairs of eyes land on him and my mom in an unspoken question.

I open my mouth to say I’m sorry, but I don’t know why.

“Who?” Fran asks.

“Yes, who?” Nana says, thin eyebrows risen to her poofy red hair.

“I…well…you saw.” I point to Maria. “Right?”