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Amelia chases the toddler as she runs on pudgy, little legs toward me and catches her, swooping her up into her arms, right before Harper wraps herself around my calf.
"I'm sorry." Amelia steps out of the way and leans against the mirror, a wiggling Harper held tight in her arms. "She's so excited to see you and she's gotten fast, Asher."
I set the barbell onto the squat rack and take Harper from my sister. "Why were you excited to see me?"
Harper pats my arm and scrunches up her face. "Ew. Why are you wet?"
"That's sweat, sugar. Did you come with your mom to take me to lunch?"
But Harper wiggles to get away from my sweaty body, and I hand her back to Amelia. Harper's dark curly hair is in two tiny buns on the top of her head, and she pops her thumb in her mouth and glares like she's angry at me for being sweaty.
"We're early," Amelia says. "We needed to get out of the house."
The office where Amelia works as an animal control officer is open six days a week, and she has Sunday and Monday off. Since I don't have Sundays or Mondays off, she and Harper offered to meet up with me on my lunch break today.
"It's no problem. That was my last set." When the gym's slow, Russell lets me work out as long as I stop whatever I'm doing to hurry over to the check-in desk or answer the phone when necessary. He figures being fit is part of my job description, so I ought to be able to work out on the clock. He's far more generousthan any boss I've ever had before. "I can rinse off and be ready to go to lunch in fifteen."
Amelia nods. "We'll meet you at the park in the center of town. It's really nice out today. Maybe we could have a picnic?"
"Sure. Text me what you two want to eat and I'll pick it up and bring it to the park."
Harper pops her thumb out of her mouth, shouts "Wisto's," and pops it back in.
Amelia laughs. "She loves the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the kids' menu at Calisto's Bar and Grill. Because they use the jelly and peanut butter loaded with sugar, right, Harper?" She jiggles Harper as she speaks, and Harper laughs around her thumb.
"No problem," I say. "What does Mommy want?"
"Coffee," Harper mumbles, not even bothering to take her thumb out of her mouth this time.
Amelia laughs, her love for her daughter clear on her face. "Just get me a turkey wrap."
"No problem." I walk to the door with them, just to make sure no one drops a weight on one of them or they step into the path of a swinging bag.
In record time, I get my shower done, poke my head into Russ' office to let him know I'm taking my lunch break, and head out into a beautiful spring day.
The streets are full of college students, tourists, and locals. I wave to folks I know and get back a few congratulations and a few hard looks. I don't give anyone a chance to let me know what they think of me kissing Clover, but it's clear everyone knows and has an opinion of one sort or another. It might be none of their business, but that's not how people in this small town view it.
I'm about ten feet from the entrance to Calisto's when someone shouts my name. I spin and see a woman about my agewearing jean shorts and a tiny t-shirt declaring she reads banned books, a full face of make-up, and her hair in a bouncy, curly ponytail. She's on the other side of the street and she hurries across and steps right into my personal space.
"I didn't know you were even back in town, Asher, until I saw the video on the town page. Why haven't you been in touch?"
I'm too embarrassed to admit I have no idea who this woman is. In high school, I was more than a little wild, and it's very possible I slept with her or at least kissed her behind the bleachers. "I've just been really busy settling in. How are you? What's been going on since school?"
She swats me on the shoulder. "You have no idea who I am, do you?"
I take a step back to put some space between us, but she follows, so close I'm worried if I take a deep breath my chest will brush her boobs. "I'm Ellery Green. Remember me now?"
Nope. Not a clue. And our school wasn't even that big. "Ellery. Right. Of course. How the hell are you?"
Somehow, she leans in closer, breasts officially brushing my chest, and whispers in my ear. "I did that thing with my tongue at the movies."
And that's all I need. Ellery Green comes back to me in full, Technicolor memory so intense I'm half hard. "Fuck. Yeah, I remember." Ellery was one of the nice girls in school, quiet and sweet, not someone even on my radar until she asked me out and blew my mind in a movie theater. "I was a fucking idiot back then." Too stupid to realize what I had, because she belonged to Catalpa Creek and I wanted to enjoy as much as I could and get the hell out of here. I wasn't letting anyone tie me down, and Ellery was the kind of girl who could do it. So I'd ghosted her like a dick and, clearly, forgotten all about her until this moment.
"Are you still an idiot?" She asks. "Or are you and Clover Weston an actual thing?"
"We aren't anything. But I'm not looking to date right now. I've got too much on my plate to be anyone's boyfriend."
Her smile widens. She really is adorable, but I feel nothing. There is definitely something twisted about me that a frown and a sharp look from Clover makes me want to kiss the smirk off her face, but I feel nothing when confronted with Ellery's cheerful interest.
