Page 27 of Small Town Boy

“An instigating little shit?” I offer.

“Yes, that.”

“Always has been. But it’s what makes him charming. Promise.”

She shakes her head, another laugh—this one almost inaudible—escaping. Fuck, I love seeing her like this. It’s so different from the tense woman I’ve come across the last few times, and it makes all the difference. The urge to pepper her with questions, to find out all I can, rises in me, nibbling at my willpower. But I hold back, somehow. I don’t want to scare her.

“I’ll trust you on that. The truth or dare thing was kind of funny though. I mean, speaking of the eighth grade…”

Now it’s my turn to smile. A bold, wicked one as excitement fills me. Bronwyn has no idea what’s coming.

“Prepare yourself, Honey. Because that’s gonna happen.”

“What?”

“Truth or dare. We play every bonfire. It’s tradition.”

“You do not!” she gasps.

“We do. Did you think Willa was making that up?”

Bronwyn pauses, and I can see the wheels turning in her head. “I did, kinda. I haven’t played truth or dare in…shit, I don’t know, since college?”

“Need a little warm-up?”

I straighten the papers in my lap, not bothering to check to see if they are in an order that will make sense later. Shoving them in my backpack, I turn back to her, ready to see where this takes us.

“I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Fine, I will. Truth.”

“Ummm…what were you doing here so early?”

That’s her question? Okay then. She really does need some warming up.

“I always get here first to start the fire. Plus it gave me a chance to go over some stuff I’ve been putting off.”

“The papers? What is it?”

“Nope, your turn. Truth or dare?”

Her eyes go wide, her nerves obvious. “Truth.”

“Tell me a secret.”

“A secret?”

I nod. I watch her face as she tries to think of something. My insides do cartwheels as her lip gets caught in between her teeth. She’s thinking way too hard about this.

“I’ve never seen Pulp Fiction.”

Now it’s my turn to stare back at her. That’s her secret? I don’t know how shocking it is that she hasn’t seen a movie that is almost as old as we are.

“Good to know…”

“It was my ex’s favorite. And I fell asleep the first time he made me watch it with him, and so then I had to pretend I’d seen it and understood all these references to Uma Thurman dancing. Ugh, so yeah, that’s something I’ve been hiding for…well, frankly, a stupid amount of time.”

Ex. As in no longer. Leading to the reasonable conclusion that she’s single. Just what I wanted to hear.