Page 17 of The Leaving Road

“Magnolia.” Sloan’s voice wrapped around me.

Small fucking towns.

Chapter 11

Sloan

I’d spent the better part of last night tossing and turning, thinking about everything Magnolia had said.I was such an asshole.I was so much of an asshole, I had completely forgotten about that conversation with Cassie. I hated I even said that about Magnolia to someone—Cassie, of all people. And what I hated even more was that I had forgotten all about it.

I could try to blame it on the fact that I was eighteen and had no idea what I was doing, but the truth was, I was blinded by Cassie. She knew exactly how to play on a seventeen-year-old’s emotions, or should I sayhormones.I think back to the first time Cassie and I hooked up, when I had just turned seventeen and at the first party I’d really been invited to. I’d just made the school’s varsity hockey team, and it was a big deal. I remembered how it felt weird being anywhere without Magnolia. After making an appearance, I was just getting ready to leave when Cassie came up to me. She talked to me about hockey and asked me all these questions about myself. A light squeeze to the bicep here, a run through my hair there, and before I knew it, her mouth was glued to mine and I had her legs wrapped around my waist. Needless to say, my seventeen-year-old self lost all blood flow to his thinking brain and…my obsession with Cassie began. She was my first, and I had convinced myself I was in love with her.Idiot.If only I hadn’t let my dick do all the thinking, I would have remembered what a terrible person she was and how she treated Magnolia.

Unfortunately for me, therose-colored glasses were on, and I was inlove.Disgusted with both my past and present self, I decided to give up on sleep. My alarm clock told me it was barely six a.m. And while I didn’t have to be at Montgomery’s until later, I always liked to get up early and go for a run, especially before the winter hit.

Foregoing a shower—knowing I’d just take one after my run—I got dressed in a white cut off and black gym shorts, then took off at a leisurely pace since I had a free morning. I needed to find Magnolia and apologize, although I knew no apology would be enough. I wondered if I could convince Mom to make Magnolia her favorite cookies—peanut butter M&M cookies.

Fuck. Mom.

After Magnolia had so eloquently reminded me of what lies I spewed to Cassie, the past conversation hit me like a ton of bricks. I remembered telling Cassie that Mom viewed Magnolia as an obligation. See, you don’t date someone like Cassie and get away with not introducing them.

My Mom taught me that sneaking around and hiding it from Magnolia was cowardly. I rationalized it to her by not wanting to add another thing to her plate because she was already dealing with her dying mom, and then she was dealing with her dad, who was falling apart.Fuck. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how terrible I was. It’s like I blocked out what I’d done and focused on what Ithoughtshe had done. Maybe that’s how I slept at night; maybe that’s how I could look at myself in the mirror these last few years. The more I thought about it, the more nauseous I felt, and I had to stop to throw up the contents of my stomach from what appeared to be the last twelve hours.

Lovely.

Deciding to call it on the run, I made my way home and was pleasantly surprised to find out it was a little after nine AM. I would shower, then head to the diner for some coffee, and maybe a good catch up with Papa Tuck before I made my way to work. He always had good advice.

Now that she was here, it was hard to keep Magnolia from my thoughts. I just wanted to talk to her, to apologize. Seeing her face to face did something to me—she still made the world go quiet. I wanted to ask if I could sneak through her bedroom window and hold her, but I knew she’d probably punch me in the face, and rightfully so.

My thoughts of the past followed me on my drive into town, and into the diner, where I felt her before I spotted her. It was almost as if my body was moving on auto-pilot, demanding I be as close to her as humanly possible. Her back was to me, and her friend Lexie noticed me with a moment of shock on her face. And before she could scream ‘incoming’ to warn Magnolia, I was at their table.

“I mean, I’ve moved on in the biblical sense, but I can’t seem to get my heart willing to let go.” Her gaze was turned down to her mug and she looked so sad—so sadover some guy she must have left back home in Iowa—I felt a searing pain in my chest at the desolate look on her face.

I raised my hand to rub my chest to try to ease the ache. “Magnolia.”

Chapter 12

Magnolia

Lexie’s eyes bore into mine, waiting to see how I was going to handle this.

“Of all the diners in the world, Montgomery, you had to stumble into this one,” I grumbled.

Lexie quirked a smile, and Sloan let out a shaky breath. I saw him in my peripheral vision, and noticed he was very casually dressed; joggers and a T-shirt, his hair still wet from a shower.

“It’s good to see you again so soon.”

He was right. Barely fourteen hours later, and here we are, running into each other.

“I forgot how convenient, or I guess, howinconvenient,small towns can be,” I quipped.

“Listen, Magnolia, I was hoping we could talk.” I caved and finally took in his full profile, and while he was attractive, he looked, well…terrible.His eyes were rimmed red, and he was a bit ashen, which was an odd contrast to his normally tan skin. He looked pretty unkempt for someone who you could tell had just showered. My eyes darted to Lexie, who just shrugged at me.Gee, thanks.

“I don’t know if now is…” I started before Lexie’s voice rose over mine.

“Oh look, my coffee’s empty. I’m just going to go run down Momma.” She darted out of the booth before I could protest. Sloan gave her an appreciative look before he shot me a look of uncertainty.

Oh, fine, what the hell.

“Please, sit…” I gestured to the side of the booth Lexie was sitting on.

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