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“I don’t believe it,” she mumbles, my sentiments exactly. “What are you going to do?”
Standing up, I answer, “What can I do? She’s the homeowner. I’m the landscaper. There’s nothing there anymore.”
Liar.
“Liar,” Harper states with a grin. “If there wasn’t, you wouldn’t be here.”
Know-it-all.
Crossing my arms, I stare down at my smug sister. “Fine. It was hard seeing her. It’s going to be hard tomorrow too. It’s been twelve damn years, and now all of a sudden, she’s back. I hate it. I hate that just the sight of her affects me the way it does, but at the same time, I’m… I’m happy,” I say, that final word barely a whisper.
Harper stands up and come to me. “Of course, you’d feel both of those things.”
“But I shouldn’t,” I insist, making Harper shrug.
“Maybe, maybe not. Did you get to talk to her?” she asks, giving me a pointed look that lets me know she’s not meaning about landscaping or the weather.
I shake my head.
“Well, Jensen, I believe you’re never going to truly move past this until you talk to her. Maybe that’s exactly what you need for closure. Find out why she left and then move on. You’ve been in this crazy state of limbo since the summer after your high school graduation. Even when you moved on with Ashley, you were still closed off.” My all-too-knowing sister glances at her boyfriend. “Take it from me, don’t just assume shit. Talk it out and then move past it.” Her blue eyes meet mine. “And you and Kathryn are a decade past time to talk.”
I sigh knowing there’s nothing she said I can dispute. “You’re right,” I confirm aloud.
“Of course I’m right. Your big sister always is!” she bellows, a beaming smile on her pretty face.
“Bullshit,” Latham coughs, making her turn and glare at him.
“Excuse me?” she asks, a hint of humor in the way she glares at him.
“I didn’t say anything, Sweetheart. I just had a little tickle in my throat,” he replies, wide smile on his smug face.
“No vagina hugs for you,” she tells him before turning back to face me.
“And that’s my cue to leave,” I tell them, throwing my half-full beer bottle in the outside trash bin.
“It was nice to see you, man,” Latham says, standing up and throwing his empty in the trash too. “Stop by anytime.”
As I head around the side of the house to the driveway, I hear my sister holler, “But maybe call first. Next time, we might be in the middle of the vagina hug.”
I almost reach my truck before I turn back around to face them. They’re standing on the edge of the porch, laughing grins on their faces and their arms around each other. “If Latham is able to stop and answer the door, I’m pretty sure he’s not doing it right,” I tease before realizing what we’re really talking about.
“Oh, he does it right,” Harper confirms, making me wince.
“I’m out, and I’d appreciate never talking about this again,” I wave off as I slip into my truck and head for home.
A home that’s quiet.
A home that’s not really a home, not without Max there.
The fact I’ll be trapped inside the walls with nothing but my overactive imagination doesn’t settle well with me, but there’s nowhere else for me to go. It’s late and I’m tired. My bed is calling to me. I’m just pretty damn sure I won’t be alone in that bed. No, there’ll be a ghost beside me and all of the memories she’s resurrected.
It’s going to be a long night.
