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Wade seems like such an open, lighthearted guy. It’s hard to imagine him closing himself off to anything. “When did things end between you?”
He huffs a short laugh. “High school, junior year. About thirty seconds after it started.” And then he’s shaking his head. “It was so stupid. We were at my buddy’s party. I’d just broken up with my girlfriend and I was drunk enough that all I wanted was to find an empty bedroom and clock out until the next day. But then she was there too, coming to check on me. A little drunk herself. Didn’t want to go home, so she crawled in with me.”
Ahh. “You slept together?”
If I were a real girlfriend, I’d probably have liked to know that before walking in blind. Lucky for Wade, I take thefakepart of our relationship very seriously.
“Slept together in the literal sense of the word. But… sometime during the night, we must have started fooling around some. Hell, I barely remember how it started. Just the moment when I realized it had and it was Kelsey. She deserved better than some drunk dickhead. So we stopped, thank fuck. But ever since…”
He blows out a long breath and moves to the far corner of the mattress to sit. “It doesn’t matter how many times I tell her it isn’t happening. I’ve tried to be nice. Hell, I’ve tried to be less nice. But every time I see her, it’s still there. The hope and then the hurt. And it guts me, because while I don’t feel about Kelsey the way she feels about me, I care about her a hell of a lot.”
Oh man. Wade is areallygood guy.
“How long has she been living at your house? She seems pretty close with your family.”
He laughs but there isn’t any humor to it. “Since before we graduated. Her home life wasn’t ideal. My mom’s the high school cheerleading coach, and she and Kelsey bonded early on. Somehow she found out about the situation at home, and when things got really bad, Mom just moved her into our spare room. I’m glad my family could be there for her when her own wasn’t. But—”
“It makes things tricky when you come home. Does your family know how it is?” But even as I ask, I remember those nervous glances and what Wade told me before the trip. That the whole town was waiting for him to come home and marry a girl from Enderson. I hadn’t realized they’d actually picked her out already. “Never mind. Of course they do.”
“Pretty safe to say that everyone knows how it is. Or at least they know how Kelsey feels. It’s been thisWill They, Won’t Theygame since sophomore year. Everyone waiting for it to happen. Setting us up, pairing us off… scheming ways to get us alone. Totally ignoring the fact that I was not interested.” He gives me one of those shrugs like it’s no big deal, but I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t. “Last time I was home, my dad was ‘working on her car’ and I became her ride to work at the courthouse each day… and her lift into the city an hour away that weekend.”
“Wow. Your own family?”
“That’s nothing. My mom left us at the high school together after practices once. Drove right off without us so we had to walk together. Strangely, no friends available to pick us up either. Social blowing up so bad for the rest of the night with everyone asking what happened, I was ready to turn off my account.” He shakes his head. “But it’s the guilt that gets me, you know? I don’t want to be an asshole, but I don’t want her wasting her life waiting for something that will never happen.”
“Honestly, I can’t even imagine.” My life leans so far in the other direction, I wouldn’t even know where to begin trying to explain it to someone like Wade. “So what happens when you’ve brought dates home in the past? Everyone just backs off?”
Wade laughs. “So we’re clear here before I answer, I’m not some stunted emotional moron. I’ve had girlfriends. In high school and college. But since then, girls haven’t really been the priority, so my relationships have been more”—he pauses and clears his throat—“casual.”
Translation: No room for someone to catch expectations.
He gives me the side-eye. “Regardless, I’ve never brought a girl back with me. I just—hell, maybe I figured they weren’t serious enough for what it would cost Kelsey.”
“But this time?”
“It’s my baby brother’s wedding. Mostly, I just wanted to be able to spend some time with the guy without finding myself accidentally marooned in a field overnight with Kelsey. I don’t want to be having the same conversations with her this trip I do every other.” Making a fist, he presses his knuckles into the bed and then stands. “And hell, maybe I was hoping bringing someone home with me would be enough for her to finally let go.”
Chapter 7
Wade
When we get to my parents’ place at six, the drive is already filled with cars and there’s music coming from around back.
I have a bottle of bourbon for my dad, and Harlow’s got some fancy box of chocolates that my mom will swoon over, for sure. We follow the flagstone path around the side and find the patio crowded with the outdoor set I got them for their anniversary last year, three other tables that I’m guessing came from the neighbors, and an arsenal of folding chairs that extend well into the grass.
Harlow takes my hand, and I point out Janie’s parents and her two older sisters and their families. I recognize a few guys my brother hung out with in high school, but there’s also a handful of people I don’t recognize at all. In Enderson, that doesn’t happen too often, so they’ve got to be his buddies from college.
Harlow says everyone’s names back when she meets them, and I can’t resist the urge to tease. “So you remember alltheirnames but not mine?”
Her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink. “I remember your namenow.”
Small miracles. “And my ego thanks you.”
It’s going to need mouth-to-mouth after this week.
Mom sees us and waves us over with that big smile she’s always had whether I was running off the field, out of the rink, or in from the rain on any given day.
It’s good to be home.
