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In my periphery, Mama recovered the fumble by greeting him with all the friendliness of a woman reuniting with her long-lost son. For years, he had been like a son to her, despite him having a family of his own whom he loved and who loved him. But Duke collected people that way, always had. Social currency was his preferred method of exchange. That, I noted, hadn’t changed a bit.
“My God, look at you!” Mama said, reaching up to cup his jaw.
His laugh sounded like a superhero’s too, masculine and jovial and honest, though I had my doubts as to the latter. Once upon a time, I’d believed every word that passed his lips.
I still hadn’t forgiven him for making a fool out of me.
Hadn’t forgiven myself either.
“Mrs. Blum, I didn’t know it was possible to age backward.”
Mama giggled like a schoolgirl. “Flatterer. Good to see some things never change.”
“Wonder if he’s still an asshole too?” Jo asked loudly enough for everyone to hear and quietly enough to pretend like she hadn’t intended anyone to. Mama shot her a look.
“Good to see you too, Jo,” he said without a molecule of sarcasm, a chuckle on its heels. “Daisy, how are you?”
Ever the polite one, she stepped up and gave him a hug. “It’s nice to see you, Duke.”
He shook hands with Keaton, who he’d played football with in high school, then with Grant, who watched him with more suspicion than Jo, but he was like that. If Jo didn’t like Duke, Grant would figure that was reason enough for him too.
Good to know somebody was on my side.
When he finally stepped back in front of us, he looked down at me with that godforsaken million-dollar smile.
“Poppy. It’s been a long time.”
Somewhere in the midst of his long hellos, I’d pulled myself together. I was an adult. I could be cordial.
“Twelve years,” I said, “since you ghosted me like a coward.”
Okay, maybe I couldn’t.
He lifted his chin a little and smiled, bastard. “Would it be too much to say I missed a good old fashioned Blum banter?”
“Yes,” Jo and I answered at the same time.
Without missing a beat, he casually ignored my accusation, laying his hand on the blonde woman’s back. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet Evangeline.”
“Hello,” Evangeline said with a beautiful smile and a lovely voice. “I’ve heard so much about you all, especially you, Poppy.” She extended her hand for a shake, and I did my best to show her courtesy. There was no ring on her finger, and I decided to excuse her from her association. Surely she didn’t know she’d roped herself to a lying shit.
“I can’t imagine what he’s said, but I don’t think I want to know,” I answered, shaking her hand.
I didn’t know what it was with these people and their dismissive laughter, but everything about it grated my nerves to shreds.
“Good things, don’t worry.” She smiled at me like we were friends.
“I can’t say I could return the favor,” I noted. “What are you doing here?”
“Same thing you’re doing, I figure.” Something in the way he said it sounded like an apology. An apology I instantly rejected.
A dry laugh escaped me. “You’re running for mayor? You haven’t set foot in this town in twelve years, and now you’re just gonna swoop in and run the place?”
“I left to learn how to run the place. So before you tell me I don’t belong here, just remember—that was part of what kept me away.”
Fuming. Boiling. Churning raging inferno of wrath.
And he was still unfazed, like bumping into me was regular Tuesday stuff.
“You know, if it helps you sleep at night, you think whatever you want,” I snapped.
Before I could excuse myself and leave him with a scathing one-liner I had yet to think of, he turned to my family and said his goodbyes, coming to me last.
“You won’t believe me when I say it’s good to see you, but it’s the truth,” he said earnestly, that politician’s smile shining down on me and his eyes so soft and understanding that I did believe him. In fact, I forgot for a moment that I hated his cheating guts, and that he was low-key fucking with me.
He leaned in to kiss my cheek. His lips brushed my cheekbone, sending a burst of electricity from the point of contact. But before he pulled away, his mouth came close enough that his breath disturbed my hair, tickling the shell of my ear.
“It really is good to see you. But it’s a damn shame you’re gonna lose.”
My spine straightened, the hairs on the back of my neck rising and a creep of terrible longing shuddering through me. It took everything I had to keep still so I could meet his eyes with my dignity intact. Our eyes snagged, and in his I read the same feeling.
