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“Not at all.”
“Then why do you keep hooking up with different women?”
I shrugged. “Just hoping to stumble into the mind-blowing sex people talk about, I guess. Just looking to feel something deeper.”
“How old were you when you lost your virginity?”
“Fourteen.”
“Holy crap. When I was fourteen, I was mixing potions in my backyard, not thinking about sex at all.”
“Potions?”
“You know ... making magic. Thinking about sex wasn’t on my mind. It still isn’t, really.” She looked up to me, and her color rose high on her cheeks. “Confession time: I’m a virgin.”
“What? No way,” I said, pretending that she hadn’t already revealed that fact during drunken-Hazel night.
“Total way. Not that I haven’t had opportunities, because I have with my ex-boyfriend, Garrett—the guy you had the pleasure of meeting yesterday. It’s going to sound stupid, but I didn’t want to end up like most of the people in this town. I didn’t want to end up like my mother—a pregnant-teenager statistic. I didn’t want to have the chance of getting knocked up before I got out of this hellhole.”
“That makes sense. My mom got pregnant with me when she was fifteen. I couldn’t imagine having a kid at that age.”
“Fifteen? And she left when you were how old?”
“Eight. She and Pops skipped town, chasing a high.”
“I couldn’t imagine doing that ... walking away from my child after that many years.”
“Yeah, well, you’d be better than most in this town.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you. I never knew ... it makes sense why you were so cold to me when you met me, seeing as how I had a connection to Charlie.”
“Doesn’t make it right,” I countered.
“No, but it gives a bit of clarity.”
I smirked and brushed my hand against my forehead. “Confession time, I have a fear of people abandoning me. Guess that’s why I don’t date. I can’t get left behind if I don’t let people close enough to abandon me.”
She set her pitchfork down and walked over to me. She tilted her head sideways and studied me up and down. “Confession time ... I knew there was more to your story than the grumpy man you presented yourself as.”
“I’m still working on trying to not be an asshole and come off so hard.”
“You’re doing pretty decently, if you ask me. One step at a time.”
“Any tips on room for improvement?”
“Just keep up the good work.” She smiled, and fuck, my chest did some weird tightening thing. What the hell was that?
“Okay, I gotta ask you something, and I don’t really care about the answer. Because, shit, it doesn’t matter, and it’s really none of my business, but curiosity killed the cat and all that crap ...”
“What is it?”
“Are you really a witch?” I blurted out. “You mentioned potions and crap, so I just wanted to know.”
She snickered. “Why? Nervous that I’m going to put a spell on you or something?”
“Nah. I mean. Maybe. But really. Are you into that kind of stuff?”
She shook her head. “No. I did it as a kid to escape the crappy world I lived in. I’d write spells in hopes it would change my future. In hopes that it would save my mom from her own tragedy, but at the end of the day, there’s no such thing as magic. I was just a stupid kid who wrote stupid chants that didn’t change a thing. But I do have a strong love for nature. For the stars and the moon. I feel like there is a healing connection to the elements of the world. As long as we slow down enough to appreciate our surroundings.”
