Page 55 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

“You, too.”

I watched as Ray headed into the back of the bar. Seeing him again brought up memories of my dad. How could it not? This entire town did. Unlike with Nadia, they weren’t all good memories. On the bridges that go over the canals, I saw his red face yelling at me to run faster when I was training with the team, calling me lazy and weak. In the Piggly Wiggly, I saw him telling the cashier and butcher that my grades were slipping and that he wished I had two brain cells to rub together. On the pier, or in town square, or on the beach, or on the street, I saw him tell anyone who would listen that he was twice the size I was at his age, and I needed to spend more time in the gym if I was ever going to make anything of myself or become a ‘real’ man.

Everywhere I looked, I saw him.

“So, what’s the deal with you and Nadia?” Harlan chalked up his cue before leaning over the table and aiming for his shot.

“Nothing.” I modulated my tone and maintained a completely blank expression, void of all emotion.

Any sort of slight reaction would be read into and dissected. It didn’t matter that I was hanging out with the guys; they could be just as, if not more, gossipy than the ladies.

“You guys talk about old times?” Dawson dug a little deeper. “Take any strolls down memory lane?”

“Were you and Nadia together?” Miles asked.

I nodded.

“Those two were like watching a soap opera in real life,” Harlan filled him in. “They should have had their own reality TV show. They were constantly breaking up and getting back together and then breaking up again.”

Nadia had issues with jealousy when we were younger. If she thought I even looked at another female, I would either get the silent treatment or worse, she would dump me. It never lasted long, though. And honestly, I sort of thought it was cute when she got all worked up. I knew she didn’t mean anything she said.Her mom was not the best to her; she wasn’t very motherly, and neither was her grandfather. Whenever she’d get upset and freak out, I could see that it was just because she was afraid I was going to leave and to protect herself, she had to beat me to the punch. That’s why I never left. No matter what, I always stayed. Until she crossed a line that made it impossible for me to.

That’s why it hurt so much when I saw Jerry Clemons getting dressed, leaving her house at six o’clock in the morning. I’d gone over there to get back together, like we always did. I never thought in a million years that she would hook up with someone else. Especially not Jerry Fucking Clemons.

“You know she hasn’t been with anyone since you left,” Harlan said.

“What?” I spun around toward him.

“I mean, she’s dated,” Harlan clarified. “But she hasn’t been in a relationship. Not since you.”

“She hasn’t?” I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Nadia was someone who needed to be in a relationship. Or at least, she had been when I knew her. She needed affection and support. Thinking of her being alone all these years actually upset me. Not that I wanted to think of her being with another man; that thought made me physically ill. But I also didn’t want to think of her being alone.

“So what happened between you two?” Miles stood waiting for me to take my shot.

“Just…life.” I bent down and lined up my cue to the ball.

The conversation moved on to talk about the bachelor and bachelorette parties, and the wedding, both of which Miles invited me to. Before long I was headed back to my truck to finish my work at Nadia’s.

I hit my fob when I heard my name. I turned around and saw a brunette woman with emerald green eyes. It took me a second before I recognized her. It was the person who had caused atleast fifty percent of my breakups. Kendra Abernathy. She never made it a secret that she had a crush on me. She took every opportunity she could find to flirt with me, as well as took it upon herself to create her own opportunities if there were none to find—which did not sit well with Nadia.

Kendra Abernathy was the female equivalent of Jerry Clemons. I’d briefly considered sleeping with Kendra after I’d seen Jerry coming out of Nadia’s house. But I couldn’t. For one thing, I would never use someone just to get back at someone else. And also, I never wanted to hurt Nadia; no matter how much she hurt me, I still loved her.

“Hi,” I greeted her as platonically as I possibly could.

Kendra’s full lips puckered as she lifted up on her toes, kissed me on each cheek, then wrapped her hands around my neck and plastered herself against me in a hug so tight it made me feel claustrophobic. “I heard you were back in town. I was hoping to run into you.”

I patted her back awkwardly using only one hand, then took a step back from her.

When she lowered back down, her hand slid from my neck to my shoulder and down onto my chest, where it rested in the center.

“How’s Felicity?” Her voice dripped with saccharine-sweet insincerity.

“Good.”

Before Kendra’s parents, who owned half of Firefly Island, bought her the beauty salon, Kendra was a beauty influencer who came out with a diet pill that ended up causing liver and kidney failure, which ended her social media career. In her influencer years, she and Felicity ran in the same circles despite Felicity never setting foot in Firefly Island.

“Are you two still together? Every time I see her post, she’s in a different country.”

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