Page 30 of The Trouble with Players

He buried his hands in his pockets and moved toward me. “Liar.”

I shook my head, the list of things I wanted but couldn’t have was at the forefront of my brain: Love. Trust. Loyalty.

“You coming to the game tonight?” he asked.

“Probably not.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t hate it if you showed up.”

“Why’s that? Don’t you have a big enough cheering section?”

He laughed. “It can never be big enough.”

I groaned. “See?”

“What?”

“That arrogance—”

“Oh, come on. You left that one wide open for me.”

“For you to what?”

“I do have a cheering section. It comes with the territory.”

“You’re right. That’s why I hate all of you.” I spun away from him and headed toward the shops.

“Lucky for you,” he shouted after me. “I don’t hate you.”

He didn’t follow me which was good because I needed time away from him. Though, it would’ve been easier if his scent didn’t cling to me. I guess that happened when you slept beside someone.

I strolled through a hat shop, then a portrait shop, before walking around a jewelry shop. I needed a shell necklace—the kind you could only find by the beach. I bought a new one every summer, wearing it until it broke at some point during the year, just in time to get a new one.

“That’s pretty,” the woman behind the counter said as I pulled a white and coral shelled necklace off the display hanger.

“It is pretty,” I agreed as I held it up to my neck in the counter mirror.

“Where are you visiting us from?” the woman asked.

“I live here every summer,” I explained. “But I go to school in Alabama.”

“Well, I think you need a keepsake from the Cape when you go back to Alabama.”

“I’ll take this one.”

“Pretty in pink,” she mused.

I put the necklace on while she rang me up, knowing I’d keep it on until it broke.

“Peyton!” Gina called as I stepped out of the shop.

“Hey,” I said as she approached me.

“Whatcha doing?”

I ran my fingers gently over the small shells around my neck. “Just needed a new necklace.”

“It’s so pretty. It reminds me of the one we got when we were like ten. Remember we bought the same one?”

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