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“Come on, Cindy.”
“Please. It’s part of the game.”
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s the rules,” she insisted. The smile was gone and in its place was adon’t mess with meglare. Eyes narrowed, lips pursed into a straight line, body language tense. At that, I laughed. When Cindy played a game, any game, she was a stickler for the rules.
“Fine.”
I flipped through the pictures on my phone and found one that I didn’t think was too ridiculous, but just embarrassing enough to satisfy the game. It was a shirtless pic that I took of myself in a mirror at the gym. And yeah, I was flexing a little, showing off for no one.
I sent it to Cindy and her phone dinged. I watched her as she opened it.
Her eyes went a little wide. Her cheeks turned red. Her lips parted a little.
And shestared.
I was dying to know what was going through her mind. Did she think I looked like a tool standing there taking a stereotypical dude gym selfie?
“I don’t believe you,” she said. She cleared her throat and rolled her eyes, but the slight breathiness of her voice gave her away. She was a little turned on.
Something hit me square in the chest as I realized that I liked that. I liked that Cindy was a little red in the face over a shirtless picture of me.
“You don’t believe what? That I work out?” I asked, letting my voice dip a little lower than I might normally.
“No.” She cleared her throat again. “I don’t believe that’s the most embarrassing picture in your phone.”
“I swear it is.”
Our eyes met for a second before she took a sip of her water. I’d switched to ginger ale and took a sip of mine as well, readying myself to ask the question that had been on my mind for a while now.
“Why did you come back to Blue Creek?” I asked her.
“You’re supposed to ask metruth or dare.”
“You were going to picktruthand we both know you’re in no shape for a dare,” I chided her. “So tell me. You could’ve stayed in the military. You could have stayed in South Carolina. Or gone anywhere else.”
“I’ve got family here.”
“You didn’t come back to visit Stephanie for nearly ten years. She flew out to see you.”
“I’m alsofromhere,” she insisted.
“Come on, Cindy.”
“What kind of an answer are you looking for?” she wondered.
“Cindy, you left this town and didn’t come back for anyone. For ten fucking years. And then suddenly, here you are,” I sputtered.
“Luke.”
“No, please just tell me so I’ll stop wondering. Why come back? Why now?”
“I just felt like enough time had passed,” she finally said.
“Enough time has passed since what?”
“Since… since you…”
