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I expected a lot of answers, but not exactly that one. I tap down the jealousy that I’m feeling and try to concentrate on the here and now. “Zeke played football in college,” I tell her.
“So?”
“Muscles like that can’t be natural. Joshua is good at football, but you don’t see those muscles on him, do you?”
“You’re insane. Joshua isthirteen.”
“He’ll be fourteen in a few weeks,” I correct her. “And he doesn’t have even the beginnings of that kind of muscle. Obviously, ole’ Zeke’s come from overuse of steroids.”
“Steroids?” she says, shaking her head like I’m nuts—the smile back on her face.
“Exactly and you know what they say about steroids, Junie.”
“No, I don’t. Whatdothey say about steroids, Ben?” She asks, leaning in closer, danger lurking in her eyes and I don’t give a fuck because she finally used my name.
“Big muscles mean a tiny….”
“Tiny?” she prompts, as I’m hypnotized with the way that smile plays on her lips, the deep dark centers of her eyes expand against the blue, and her fucking long eyelashes that frame those beauties.
“Dick,” I supply, and I’m instantly rewarded with her laughter again.
“I can see you’ve put thought into this,” she says and even though she’s not laughing out loud now, her eyes are.
I shrug.
“You’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Zeke’s dick, Sheriff. Maybe you want to go out with him. I promise you, if that’s it, I can step aside for you.”
“I’m starting to see another side of you, Junie.”
“I’ve got several sides, Sheriff. You were just too preoccupied to notice.”
“I get why you’d think that, but you’d be wrong, Junie.”
“It’s kind of hard to prove that though, isn’t it?”
“Not really, if you’d take a minute to ask yourself a question,” I reply, hoping like hell that this gets through to her.
“What question?” she asks, studying me.
“Why would I hang around over a year for a woman who didn’t mean something to me?” I ask her.
I see the question register, and I think for a moment that I might have made my case.
Then she opens that beautiful mouth of hers. “Let’s say that I believe you, Sheriff. That I’m willing to give you the benefit of a doubt and that you’re all fixed up now and healed, whatever you want to call it.”
“There was nothing wrong with me before, Junie.”
“You called me another woman’s name. I think that means somethingwas.”
“I’d dated Luna for a couple of months, at least seriously, Junie. We dated on and off for a couple of months before that. We were tight, and I cared about her.”
“I’m not really sure I need to be hearing all of this, Ben. No offense, but I reallydon’twant to hear all of this.”
“Well, you’re going to. I never thought you were someone who avoided shit just because it wasn’t easy to deal with.”
“Ben, we dated for what? Maybe a month? A little over? And I’m not even sure you can call what we did as dating. So, I fail to see why all of this even matters.”
“Because you matter, Junie, and you’ve been holding a grudge against me for a year now. I’m taking that to mean that I mattered to you—at least a little,” I reply, laying it on the table, and giving it to her straight. I look straight at her too. I’m not running from this, and I don’t want her to either.
