Page 79 of Text Appeal

Stuart shakes his head and turns his focus back to his wife’s performance.

Lu snorts. “Doubt Ava’s got time for him, Grandma.”

“Of course, she does,” says Denise chidingly. “Connor, you—”

“It’s not going to happen, Mom.” Connor’s tone is absolute. “Because the thing is, Riley and I belong together.”

Stuck in my throat is a bone or a wish or an I don’t know what. I cough into my hand and choke my heart out. So cool.

Connor pats me on the back. Talk about embarrassing. There’s no need for me to lose my shit. We’ve done lots of drama and lies in the last few days. Guess his words just caught me off guard or something. What he’s saying isn’t real. He has reverted back to faking, which is fine. Though maybe he never stopped. It’d be nice to know the truth, but it’s not like I can just ask him. Not here and now.

“What?” asks Denise with all due horror. “I am sorry to be harsh, but honey, that’s preposterous. You barely even know each other. Aren’t you rather conveniently forgetting all of the years you were happy with Ava?”

“I know Riley just fine. She doesn’t hide any parts of herself from me. From the moment we met, she’s always told me exactly what she thinks and feels,” he says. “It’s not just that I’m happy with her. The thing is, she sees me for me. Who I am now. Not some bullshit version of myself I made up long ago to try and pacify the town. I don’t have to pretend with her. I can just be myself, and you have no idea how much that means to me.”

His mom just sighs.

“I would be an idiot to let her go.”

My heart is beating hard enough to turn my rib cage black and blue. I never expected to want this so badly. For his words to be true. His tone of voice is earnest, but this has to be pretend.

Denise has no immediate comeback to his statement. Though she is throttling the drink bottle now. She licks her lips and says, “If what you say is true, then a simple conversation with Ava won’t change anything. She came all this way and–”

“Oh my, God,” says Lu with some truly dramatic eye rolling. “Grandma, you’re being so cringe. Ava’s with someone.”

“What?”

“She has a girlfriend.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Denise laughs nervously. “I know her friend came to visit her, but they’re just friends, honey.”

Applause and whistling breaks out amongst the crowd. Nicole and Katja have finished playing, apparently. They wave to the crowd. Katja hands her guitar back to Nicole with a smile. Then Katja opens her arms and Ava runs into them. It’s a pure Hallmark moment. How Katja dips her and kisses her. Ava is laughing so hard the kiss lands on her chin. But that’s okay. Because once she’s horizontal, they attempt it again and this time the kiss is epic, and it’s in front of the whole damn town.

Denise’s mouth falls open.

Lu takes one look at her and howls with laughter. Which is fair enough.

“Yeah,” drawls Stuart. “I think they’re maybe more than friends, Mom.”

Cheers come from the crowd. The smiles on the women’s faces are wide and wonderful. They’re in love and it shows. Several people do a double take and some gasp in surprise. But the bulk of the audience is delighted for the former prom queen. As it should be.

“She looks happy,” says Connor. His smile is small andthoughtful. Like he’s been waiting for this moment for a while. For them both to move on and find something better.

“Hey.” I lean in closer. “Are you okay?”

He just nods and gives my hand a squeeze. But the look he gives me, the expression on his face…something’s wrong. A sadness in his gaze that’s there and gone in an instant. Wanting to get on with his life and watching his ex do exactly this could cause a twinge or two of regret. Or not regret exactly, but something bittersweet. Life can be like that.

However, he masks it easily with a smile and says, “Tell me, Blue, what did you think of the town picnic?”

I give my best fake smile. “Heck of a day.”

My apartment is a bastion of calm and quiet after all the noise and commotion at the fair. We helped pack up some of the tents and chase down Daisy. Now there’s a cow who just wants to roam free. Ava and Katja disappeared straight after the kiss. At around about the same time, Denise started attempting to make an effort with me. I don’t envy her. Admitting you were as wrong as she was can’t be easy. She’s lucky I’m open to bribery. The quart of espresso ice cream went a long way with smoothing things over between us.

“Check it out.” I hold my hands out in front of me. “They’re still shaking. That ice cream was loaded with caffeine.”

“I wouldn’t know because you refused to share it with me. Again.”

“There are just some things that are sacrosanct. It’s not like you didn’t have your own.”

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