Page 32 of Hidden Memories

His scowl isn’t dissimilar from the one Santi wore earlier in the parking lot. In fact, the guy looks a lot like my new nemesis.

Apparently, Ava is omniscient. “Are you friends with Santi?”

My heart races at the sound of his name. I hope she can’t see the heat that burns my cheeks.

“I’m Ava.” She lays a hand on her chest and then points to the guy next to her. “My fiancé, Santi’s brother, Enzo, and Callum and Penelope.”

I wag my chin at the foursome. Great. Related to Santi, friends with Santi, and live in the same tight-knit town as Santi. I want to make friends but I suspect my ex will make it difficult with these four. Once they hear whatever reason it is he hates me now, they will, too.

But why on earth would he anyway? I’ve racked my brain and come up short. As far as I know, we planned on running away together and he never came. Then afterward, he never answered my texts and calls. What does he think happened? It had to have been bad for him not to have ever spoken to me again. But I never did anything to deserve how he treated me in the Heritage parking lot.

And his words…some of us keep our promises?

Yeah. That someone was me.

“Nice to meet you.” Penelope waves casually.

Theo slurps his hot chocolate beside me, probably over the moon this Ava interrupted our lesson.

Even though I thought she was rude before, she has a friendly aura. All of them do apart from Enzo, who I now think might know the same untrue bit of information that’s making Santi be such a jerk. Or maybe Enzo is just one of those reserved types.

No matter. For now, Ava is trying to make us feel welcome. “Santi told me he was helping out an acquaintance. A single mom…” She gestures to Theo and shrugs. “Just figured this makes sense.”

“You guessed it. That person is me. I’m Kat. And this is Theo. We just had our first day at Heritage. I’m working there part-time.”

Ava flicks her gaze to my laptop. “And you’re a part-time teacher, too?”

There’s something about this woman that puts me at ease. Though she must have deduced I’m out of my depth, there’s not a fleck of judgment in her bright, brown eyes.

I joke, “I wouldn’t dare give myself that title just yet.”

Ava’s chair screeches on the floor as she pulls it over beside me, uninvited but somehow… welcome. I like how forward she is.

I’m not shy but I’ve always been guarded, and when I went to college, it took my neighbor in the apartment next door, Gisele, to befriend me and bring me into a small group. I struggle to make the first move. I guess with an upbringing like mine, when the people who are supposed to love you most don’t, it makes you wary.

Ava leans over into my personal space and reads my laptop screen. “I used to be homeschooled.”

Penelope mumbles, “Is that what you call it?”

I ignore what is clearly an inside story, and Ava is in full-on Miss Helper mode.

She speaks to Theo. “Do you like math?”

He shrugs.

“Whatdoyou like?” she asks.

His voice is flat. “Bugs. Being outside.”

“Well, there is a huge amount of math to learn outside. There’s the golden ratio. The Fibonacci sequence…”

This woman iswayover my head right now. I’m just trying to count pie pieces and put the right numbers on the top and bottom of a floating line.

She’s still leaning into my space. I’m both taken aback by her and relieved.

“Maybe you could come over to the ranch sometime,Theo? I can show you some of the more interesting stuff in math.”

Why is she trying to help me? I don’t want to be suspicious. I guess she knows Santi hired me. Maybe she thinks we’re friends. Maybe he never told them anything, after all, Julia couldn’t have been kinder. Then again, if I think about it, why would he want to tell them we were together? Then he’d have to say why it all ended. I’m sure then he’d have to admit he ran away withAshley, the buckle bunny chasing tail. There must have been another woman. Right?

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