Page 34 of Again, In Autumn

“Like…what kind of girls does he date?” I force out.

She shakes her head. “Short-term ones.” She raises her pointer finger. “But I know he’s capable of deeper. Something happened along the way that made him stop eating strawberry ice cream.”

The screen door slams and both of us look in its direction. Adam stands just outside the porch, fixing the collar of his layered shirt. His head swivels side to side.

“Ads, over here!” Maggie calls out.

I take a step backward, thinking about strawberry ice cream, and announce, “Thanks for the chat, Maggie, but I’m gonna head out on my run!”

“Wait, wait.” She gestures for Adam to come towards us. “I hear you’re a fabulous cook, Vienna.”

As Adam joins our pairing, he and I reply simultaneously, “Baker.” He kneels to pet Copper and focuses solely on that act.

I flash back to his hands tussling Amber’s floppy ears.

With a wobbly voice, I explain, “I cook, for sustenance, and because Francesca demands it, but baking is more my passion.”

“Well –” Maggie picks a fallen leaf off her shoulder. “I am bringing a dessert tonight, and I’m horrible in the kitchen. I’ll probably end up getting something premade, but if I decide to make something from scratch, what’s the one thing I can’t mess up?”

I pause. The question hangs and I can’t not answer it. “Brownies,” I say quickly, and then: “What’s happening tonight?”

“Dinner,” Adam says, standing upright. He scratches at the bridge of his nose, dark eyes drilling into mine. “Fran invited us for dinner.”

We’re focused on one another now. I’m talking with my eyes, and he’s challenging me to say something. His gaze once felt like being held, now I feel like I’m being backed into a corner.

“Oh,” is all I manage.

His right eyebrow lifts. “Problem?”

“No.” I kick a stone. “That’s great. So great. I’m glad. Everyone eats. Obviously. Heddy has a big dining room and it’s just begging for a dinner party.”

Maggie laughs. “I’ve heard about Heddy’s house. My parents always said an eccentric family lived next door, and I’ve been dying to see inside ever since. Fran told us some stories last night. Heddy seems like my kind of people.”

“She’s okay,” Adam replies. “A little overbearing.”

He liked Heddy. Is he talking about that day?

His neck muscles tense. “And that dining room is a little suffocating.”

He is talking about that day.

We were in the dining room listening to my father tell us we couldn’t marry, that we were too young, we barely knew each other. He refused to pay for my college or ever speak to me again, and I remember reaching for Adam’s hand under the table and not being able to find it.

Emboldened by the cool wind, I decide to pick at wounds.

“What is your favorite part of the house?” I ask.

He squints. “The woods in between our houses.”

Adam stares me down, and there’s no mistaking his statement. The woods are a barrier, a boundary, a place that belongs to both of us and neither of us, just like whatever feelings we once shared.

We hang for a second in our thoughts, an imperceptible handshake of acknowledgment exchanged, and Maggie continues, oblivious, “Brownies sound good! I can empty a box and stir in an egg.”

“Sounds good,” I say with a polite smile. “Let me know if you need help.”

“I will!” she calls out as I jog off, turning my back as quickly as possible. Before I get too far away, I hear her say to Adam, “Oh, brother.”

Chapter Eleven

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