Page 2 of Where We Call Home

It had been years, but damn.

Hazel eyes, full lips, and those damn pigtails framing her round face. She wasstunning. My heart thudded against my ribs, my pulse kicking up faster than I cared to admit.

“No, thank you. I’m okay,” she said, polite but distant. There wasn’t even a flicker of recognition in her eyes.

Heat crept up my neck.

“I, uh, didn’t realize it was you,” I fumbled, feeling like an idiot. “Nice to see you again.”

Smooth, Rhodes.Realsmooth.

Theo and I had gone to school together, but we ran in completely different circles. She and her two best friends had always kept to themselves, never bothering much with the rest of us. From what I remembered, she wasn’t a Faircloud native. Theo moved here later and never fully assimilated into the small-town culture. She gave off adon’t fuck with meenergy that kept most people at a distance.

She had one of those faces you didn’t forget, though: naturally gorgeous, fair skin dusted with freckles, a button nose, and those hazel eyes flecked with specks of brown and blue.

Theo stared at me, expression blank.

I braced myself for the sting of embarrassment—until her gaze softened.

“You too,” she said, her eyes scanning me from boots to ball cap. “It’s been a while.”

So… she did recognize me.

“Yeah, it has.”

I hoped she liked what she saw, because I sure as hell did.

“I’m sorry to hear about you and Jess.”

The shock must’ve shown on my face because she smirked, clearly amused.

Everyone in high school had known about Jess Cunningham and me. We’d beenthecouple—inseparable, the kind of love people bet on lasting forever.Most Likely to Get Marriedin the yearbook. Homecoming King and Queen.

And when we broke up? Yeah, that had been the talk of the town, too.

“It is what it is,” I said, pulling out the same rehearsed line I’d used a hundred times before.

Theo scoffed, like she saw straight through the bullshit.

“You didn’t recognize me until you got closer, huh?” she teased, popping her hip out with an infuriating little smirk. “Do I really look that different?”

“It’s the hair,” I admitted, motioning toward it. “How’d you get it like that?”

The second the words left my mouth, I cringed.Seriously?

“I mean—it looks great.Youlook great.Reallygreat.”

And there it was. Full-blown crash and burn.

Heat crawled up my neck, my cheeks going red-hot. If I weren’t standing in front of the most beautiful woman I’d seen in years, I probably would’ve face-palmed. Instead, I debated fainting. Just right here. Right now.

But Theo only laughed, throwing her head back, her throat glowing in the fading sunlight.

God, I wassoscrewed.

“Rhodes Dunn,” she said, grinning, “are you trying to flirt with me?”

“Is it working?” I asked, half-joking, fully mortified.

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