“Mind your own business! Go get our chicken, munchkin.”
His sister bursts out laughing, clearly pleased she’s gotten under her brother’s skin. I remember teasing Nick like this when he first started bringing girls around.
Jennifer darts back into the house with Maggy the dog loping after her, leaving me alone with him. It’s peaceful out here. The wind blows lazily, jingling the wind chime and rustling the grass. I breathe the warm air in through my nose. This house has no memories of my life, of high school, of Kyle. This place is just blank. I like that, the feeling of nothingness.
Jeremiah pats the seat next to him. I sit down and sway back and forth on the swing, listening to church ladies bustling about the backyard.
The screen door swings open and a woman appears on the front porch. “Jeremiah, your sister said—” She takes one look at me, one look at him, then rubs her eyes. I sneak a glance at Jeremiah. He’s gazing at her head-on.
“Mom, this is my friend, Annie.”
Oh, we’re friends now?
Then Matt crashes onto the porch, throwing me a worried glance. “Mom, I need to talk to you. Now.”
She gives me another look, then disappears inside. Matt nods at his brother and me before following his mom. What happened to southern hospitality? If this were Kyle’s house, his mother would’ve offered me lemonade and invited me in to chat about my college plans and my work at the Roadhouse. Jeremiah’s mother didn’t even say hello.
“What was that about?” I ask.
He plays with the glasses hanging from his shirt collar, hesitating. “My summer break from college started a few weeks ago and I moved back in. My mom didn’t want to let me live here again…but Matt convinced her I won’t upset her.”
I can’t imagine my mother not wanting me to come home. “How would you upset her?”
“She just didn’t want me around my little sisters until I figured some stuff out…and, well, my family’s too important to me to f**k everything up again…”
I’m not sure I want to know what’s going on. I have enough to deal with. But what could it be? Drugs? No, he’s too athletic for that. Steroids? He doesn’t look totally muscle man.
When the screen door opens again, Mrs. Brown gazes down at Jeremiah’s injured ankle, then approaches me with an extended hand. “Hi, Annie dear. So nice to meet you.”
“You too, ma’am,” I say.
“I’d love to talk but I have guests.” She gestures toward the backyard.
“No problem, nice meeting you,” I reply as she leaves as quickly as she arrived. What in the world? I mean, clearly Matt intervened, but what did he say to her? And why was she so distant and somewhat rude at first?
Jennifer comes out of the house balancing two paper plates loaded with chicken legs, mac ’n’ cheese, and biscuits. Jeremiah rewards his little sister with another kiss, and she runs off toward the back of the house.
“She’s sweet,” I say.
Jeremiah bites into his biscuit. “She’s only nice to me because I’m her ride to ballet.”
I smile at how much he loves her, then take a bite of fried chicken. I groan as it melts in my mouth.
“It’s good, huh?” he says, and I nod. We chow down in silence. A freight train chugs by in the distance, and when the sound dies away, I hear him clearing his throat.
“I didn’t just invite you over to say thank you for yesterday,” he says softly.
“I know. You invited me for fried chicken.”
He looks up at me and shakes the hair out of his eyes as he chews. He swallows and takes a deep breath. Wow. I didn’t figure a guy like Jeremiah ever got nervous. “I wanted to say I’m sorry about what happened between us on the trails last month.”
“It’s fine—”
“No, it’s not. I let things get out of hand…” Since when do guys fess up for having one-night stands? Or in our case, a one-morning stand. Does that mean he didn’t want to hook up with me? That makes me feel relieved…and a bit let down at the same time.
He drags a hand through his light brown hair. “After what happened between us, I was a little freaked out but really happy, and I asked Matt about you. Yeah, he doesn’t want me dating any of his clients, but I wanted to ask you out anyway—you’re totally worth the risk…and then he told me why you’re running a marathon.”
I don’t want him to spoil this peace I’ve discovered here. A place that has no memory of Kyle. “Jere, don’t. What happened between us was my fault. Please stop talking.”