Page 21 of Hometown Hottie

Nova had been here, though. All along. I knew she’d had a lot of other stuff going on and I didn’t think that she was hung up on me at all, but she did seem to be pissed at me, and that was the only reason I could think of why she would be.

“Nova is such a darling,” Mom said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “She’s as hardheaded as her dad and her brother, though. As proud and as stuck in her ways. If you’re trying to get close to her, you may want to find a different way than to threaten something she thinks of as hers in this town.”

“I wasn’t threatening anything,” I protested, though I could understand why she might have seen it that way. On the other hand, I kind of felt like everything I did was threatening to her in some way these days, and that, I just didn’t understand. “I didn’t mean to threaten her place at the library. It’s not like I want to take over the read-alouds. I just thought it would be fun to do it together. The kids loved it.”

Mom peered up at me and pressed her hand to her forehead to keep the sun out of her eyes. “Like I said, honey. If you want to spend time with her, maybe try not to be in her way. The question I’m interested in hearing your answer to, though, is why you’re in her way at all?”

I wasn’t trying to be in her way and I knew I shouldn’t have been anywhere near her, but she really was like a magnet to me. I couldn’t explain it, but it had always been that way between us. Nova and I just worked.

She got me in a way no one else ever had—or had even bothered to try to—and she was the one woman I’d never felt like I needed to put on an act around. Nova didn’t need me to be that guy. Not the football player or the cool kid who had to pretend not to give a damn.

Back in the day, she was the only one who’d known about my fears and who had listened when I’d talked about my dreams—and not just those that involved football. I was comfortable with her but because it had always felt like she accepted me for exactly who I was.

She hadn’t wanted or needed the bullshit. Not even on the days that I had needed it.

As I thought it over, my mother fixed me with a questioning look. “I’d love to see you settle down and get married. I’m itching for grandkids and I can’t wait to see you as a dad, but if you’re not ready for it yet, I suggest you stay the hell away from Nova Murphy, baby boy. She’s the girl you marry, not the one you fuck around with before you find the one.”

My jaw dropped. “Did you just say fuck around with?”

Mom smirked at me. “I might be old, Carson, so maybe that’s not what you kids call it anymore, but I call it like I see it. Even if I never did it in front of my elders. Whatever name you want to put to it, the point remains the same. There are people you can mess around with and people you wait until you’re ready for, and Nova is someone you need to be ready for.”

Still gaping at my mom, I wondered just how much she really knew about what had happened ten years ago. I had never flat out told her, but obviously, she knew something was up with Nova and me. She’d never said stuff like this to me about any other girl.

Then again, it was possible she was saying it precisely because Nova wasn’t any other girl. What I’d told Vance the other night had been true. I was ready to settle down, and while I’d dated and had a few casual girlfriends, they’d all lacked a spark I’d been looking for since I’d been young.

A spark I’d only ever felt with Nova.

But she was off limits. As off limits now as she’d ever been before. I was only just starting to really mend my friendship with Ryan and he didn’t want me anywhere near her.

Which meant that spark or not, if I couldn’t fight these urges to be near her, I’d lose my friend. That had been true all along though, and it had never stopped me before. Partially because I hadn’t let it. Not until it had really mattered and I’d agreed that the timing hadn’t been right.

But now? I didn’t know. It seemed to me that all bets were off. While I knew which of the Murphy horses I should’ve been backing, everything in me wanted to back—and mount—the other.

And yep. Just like that, the simple life has definitely gotten really fucking complicated.