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Sailor
Istand with my arms crossed over my chest, doing my best not to feel like I’m a two-year-old with the way my brother-in-law is glaring at me. I just dropped Quinton and Liam off and filled Holden in on our evening.
“You did what?”
I shrug. “Told him my name was Candy.”
“Candy. As in Candice Allen?” Holden asks incredulously. “You want my sons’ football coach to believe their aunt is the town tramp?”
“You were not there, Holden,” I argue. “He didn’t even recognize me.”
“How long has it been? Fifteen, sixteen years? And pardon me if I’m wrong here, but didn’t you sort of reinvent yourself in high school. Was he supposed to recognize you?”
“If you didn’t see Hannah for sixteen years, do you think you wouldn’t know her?”
“Hannah was my wife, Sailor. Logan Decker is just some guy you went to school with. You weren’t even in the same class!”
“It’s Candy now, remember?”
He huffs. “Just steer clear of the guy if he gets you this bent out of shape,” he says, his voice softening. “And thank you again for taking the boys today. I’ll be able to take them for the rest of tryouts.”
“Not a problem.”
Holden might be the big bad chief of police, but he has a soft heart. My sister wouldn’t have married him if he hadn’t.
“Tell the boys goodnight for me,” I say and start toward the door.
“Go home, Sailor,” Holden urges. “Not to Phoebe’s for a drink, or even to Mary’s for a piece of pie. You are nothing like Candy.”
I give him a nod and push the door open, heading out. I would normally ride over to the Coree Harbor Bar & Grille, have Phoebe serve me a few drinks and see if anyone winds up paying for them. But I opt not to tonight and go home instead.
You are nothing like Candy.
Can’t say I haven’t compared myself to the local home wrecker. If we compared our lists, I might be shocked to find out there are more names on mine than on hers. But I don’t sleep with married men. At least I have that going for me over Candy.
“No guy tonight, sis,” I say when I walk inside my place. “Shocker, I know.”
I toss my keys and phone onto the table and sit down to take my shoes off, my rambling to my dead sister continuing.
“Can you believe Logan Decker didn’t recognize me? Yes, I know sixteen years have passed, but that’s no excuse. Not after what happened between us.”
Of course, I don’t get a response from Hannah. No sisterly advice or consoling. She is the only person who ever knew what happened between Logan and me. The only person who knew the things he said to me. The promises he made.
I’m ending things with Jolene. I’ll wait for you, Sailor. I promise.
His promises meant nothing. I should’ve known better than to trust him. He was the football star, and I was nothing in comparison. We worked one summer together, him at the docks and me at the farmer’s market. He would bring in the day’s catch that they had for sale. It didn’t take us long to realize that our social status in high school was irrelevant.
Well, I did, and he pretended to.
Jolene was away at cheer camp, and everyone else was too busy to notice the football player was falling for the nerd. I was in way over my head, his kisses making me believe we had a future together although he was graduating, and I had three years of high school left.
I suppose you’ll believe anything when you fall for the first boy you kiss.
