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I only saw them in profile at first and was staring pretty intently, trying to determine who was who. But then, Cason looked up from what he was doing and caught me staring at them. I quickly looked away,
feeling my cheeks flushing, but it was too late. He'd caught me. Dammit.
When I turned my head, trying to salvage something of my dignity, my heart sank when another familiar face caught my eye. This time, it was a woman that called out to me from the crowd.
“Hailey Roberts?” she called. “Is that really you?”
I cringed at the familiar, sing-songy, saccharine-sweet voice of Rebekah Henderson.
She came toward me with a full head of springy blonde curls bouncing around her still perfect face. She grabbed my hands in hers and stared deep into my eyes – her striking blue eyes appearing kinder than they ever had when we were teens. She was wearing a sundress that clung to her very pregnant belly, and a silver cross laid flat against her neck.
She was still every bit as gorgeous as she'd been back in our high school years. I hated her back then and I didn't see that changing anytime soon.
“My lord,” she chirped and then laughed. “I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Where have you been all these years, Hailey? You're like the girl who just – poof – disappeared one day.”
“Uhh well,” I said, desperately trying to come up with something on the fly.
Rebekah was bright, chipper, and seemed nice. Like, genuinely nice. Which of course, is the polar opposite of what she'd been back in high school. She'd been the stereotypical mean girl – sugary-sweet to your face, and then she'd stab you right in the back a moment later.
Back then, it had been easy for me to see through her forced bubbliness. But standing there with her, I didn't get a sense of that mean girl she used to be. She'd either gotten really good at hiding it, or she'd actually changed. If she had, it might be the very first case of a tiger changing its stripes in human history.
I scratched my head waiting for the other shoe to drop when, all of the sudden, I realized that everyone was looking at me. Or at least it felt that way. The knots already in my stomach constricted painfully and I grew increasingly uncomfortable beneath their scrutiny. Almost as if operating of their own volition, my eyes darted this way and that, looking for an avenue of escape.
But I took in a breath and let it out slowly. Forced myself to calm down and act like an adult – and was barely able to manage the feat.
“I’ve been living in California for the last couple of years,” I managed to croak out.
“Oooh, how exciting,” she beamed. “So, what brings you back to Black Oak? Why would you leave a paradise like that?”
My stomach dropped. The dreaded question.
“It was time,” I said and shrugged, forcing a smile onto my face I hoped looked more genuine than it felt.
“C'mon, I need the details, girl,” she said, her smile as wide as her face. “You married? Any kids?”
I clenched my jaw tight, cursing my stomach for leading me over to that damn food truck to begin with.
“No. To both,” I said, my voice barely more than a whisper.
“Ah, well you're a pretty, young thing, I'm sure one of these fine Black Oak men will be linin' up to snatch you right up,” she said, scrunching up her fast as she squeezed my hands. “You should come into my daddy's church next Sunday, we'd love to have you. Maybe, we can even introduce you to some of our eligible bachelors.”
She looked at me with wide blue eyes that – unlike when we were younger – didn't hold a trace of malice in them. She looked and sounded like Rebekah Henderson, but it was like I was talking to a completely different person. Had the body snatchers visited my hometown?
It was completely disconcerting, and before I could stop to think about it, an entirely inappropriate, maybe even cruel, question came flying out of my mouth.
“Umm, Rebekah?” I asked. “Why are you being so nice to me? You were always so mean back in school. It's not like we were friends or anything.”
We'd been the exact opposite, in fact. Bennett McCormick had taken her to homecoming, and when they found me walking home alone – after my date had ditched me – Bennett kindly offered to give me a ride.
Rebekah was clearly furious that I'd intruded on their date and had glared and made spiteful comments to me the entire ride home. It was about the most uncomfortable I'd ever been in my life and she just kept piling on, making me feel like absolute garbage. From that day forward, she would only glare at me when we walked in the halls and whisper about me behind my back. She acted as if I had been the reason the two of them split up.
Staring at her belly, I couldn't help but wonder if that child was Bennett's. They were the perfectly beautiful high school couple everyone assumed would get married someday. It had been shocking when they split up. But, looking at her belly again, I wondered if maybe they'd gotten together again at some point.
“A lot has changed, Hailey,” Rebekah said, stroking the cross at her neck. “I've found God. Back then, I thought I knew Him, but now – well, now I really do. And I can't even begin to tell you how ashamed I am for how I behaved back then. I know I'll never be able to take it back, but I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
Her eyes glistened as she spoke and she rubbed her swollen midsection like it was an unconscious reaction.
“I'm happy for you,” I said, motioning to her stomach.
