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“Dick,” I mutter under my breath but loud enough for him to hear me. I look directly out at the Tanner Hayes Memorial Field. The school renamed the field in memory of Tanner four years ago. It was an emotional day, with most of the town in attendance. Every part of me thought Cooper would at least be in attendance for the ceremony that day, but he wasn’t. Tanner would be so disappointed to see the man that he became.
I rest my head on Austin’s shoulder as we stare out the window in a welcoming silence.
“Well, I better get back to my classroom,” Austin announces moments before the bell rings. His smile resembles a Cheshire cat’s, and I know something is up. “Pop quiz today.”
“Ooh, you’re evil, Mr. Hayes. I do not know how the students voted you as their favorite teacher last year. You have an addiction to pop quizzes.”
He shrugs. “What can I say?” He spins and walks backward toward the door, running his hands over his silk tie. “The kids love me. At least I waited till Tuesday to give it and not yesterday. I’m notthat cruel.”
I can’t help but match the smile on his face because you can tell he loves his job, as do I.
The last bell rang fifteen minutes ago. The chatter from the halls has quieted down as students gathered their belongings from their lockers and made their way out of the building. I’m just gathering up my things to head down to the school’s auditorium for rehearsal with the dance company when my desk vibrates.What the hell?
I look in the drawer I typically keep my phone in and come up empty. The buzzing continues. I open the drawer beside that and shuffle the bag of watermelon candies around, causing a few to spill out of the bag.
“Aha, there you are.” I don’t even remember putting it in there.
My smile falls when I see a photo of my two sisters and me on the screen.
“Yes, Lyla,” I say, answering my oldest sister’s call.
“Is that seriously how you answer the phone, Riley?”
I snicker. “Oh, I’m sorry. How about ‘hello, my darling sister, how are you today?’” I make my voice so sickeningly sweet and over-the-top that I may have just given myself a cavity from it.
“Yes, that’s much better. I expect you to answer the phone like that every time, now that you mention it.”
I roll my eyes. “Did you need something, or did you want to just call to bust my proverbial balls?”
“Such a lady with that mouth.” I can hear the humor in her voice, but if it’s really the latter for calling, I don’t have time for this.
“Okay,” I draw out. “I’m hanging up now. If you want to annoy someone, call our other sister.”
“No, wait,” she shouts, and I bring the phone back to my ear. “I wanted to check in to see how you’re doing.” Her voice changes to her concerning mom voice she uses with my nieces.
“How I’m doing? I’m doing just fine. Umm, thanks for asking.”
“Really? Because a little birdie told me that last night at Vincenzo’s, there was a bit of a showdown between you and he who shall not be named.” She says it as if Cooper is really Voldemort.
A showdown? Seriously? What is this, the Wild West? He came in with his spurs on his saddles, and I told him this town isn’t big enough for the two of us.
“Riley Mae, are you even listening to me?” she screeches, and I have to pull the phone away.
I’m pretty sure she would yell even more if I answered honestly with “no, I’m just dreaming of tumbleweeds and cowboys,” so I go with the safe answer of “What?”
She sighs. “I said, why am I having to hear it as gossip halfway across the country when I should have been hearing that straight from the horse’s mouth?”
I snort. I swear my parents should have made Lyla’s middle name “drama queen” instead of Rose. “Well, there’s no need to bring a horse into this.” I’ve been called many things over the years but can’t say that I’ve been called a horse before.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, can you be serious for one moment?” She’s so easy to get a rise out of.
“No, actually, I think I’d prefer not to be.” If I don’t joke about it, then I might let my emotions get the better of me.
“You’re such a child,” she scolds.
“Look, there’s nothing more to say. It didn’t go down like a showdown or smackdown or any other down. Austin and I were at dinner per usual on that night, and as we were leaving, we ran into him.”
“What’s he even doing back here?”
