Page 16 of The Leaving Road

The ride to the diner was quick and uneventful, but the smell that greeted us once I opened the door was comforting…it felt like coming home.

“Smells like fried food and good decisions,” Lex said loudly

“Now that, I can agree.”

Momma called over to us, “Sit anywhere and I’ll bring you two coffees.”

“Bless you, sweet woman,” Lex said as she found her way to a back booth. “This placeiscute. You told me before that you used to work here?”

“Yeah, it was my first job. Funny enough, Sloan got me it.” I couldn’t help but smile at the memory.

“Care to elaborate?” Even though Lexie was my ride or die, there was a lot I still hadn’t opened to her about. Not because I didn’t trust her, or I didn’t want to, but the pain was too great. It felt like I cracked open a piece of my heart every time I thought about Sloan and our childhood. I met Lexie the day I moved into my accommodations for my internship. Iowa State had a house set up for those whose internships started during the summer, and she was interning at some computer company. She told me she knew at first glance we were destined to be best friends. Considering what had just happened with Sloan, my heart had been effectively cut off from the world, and I’m pretty sure I ignored her the entire first month. But damn, was she persistent. She used to tell me it was a shame someone so pretty had such sad eyes, that it hurt her to look at me. After that, she made it her life’s mission to make me laugh, and a beautiful friendship bloomed. I’d go through all of it again if it meant I got Lexie at the end—that’s how much she meant to me. If I didn’t like penis so much, I’d give her a whirl.

“I’m pretty sure I could answer that for you.” Momma had impeccable timing with her coffee delivery. My mug today saidDreamer; I looked over and noticed that Momma had given Lexie a bright pink mug that saidDiva. I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of me; she pegged her without more than a few sentences.

“Please,” Lexie said with a sigh as she inhaled her first cup of coffee.

Momma decided sitting down was necessary for this story, so she shoved me over in the booth so she could start.

“No embellishing the truth, Momma,” I groaned.

“Who? Me?Never,” she said with a wink. “It was the summer that Ms. Magnolia over here turned fourteen. The entire town knew that she and Sloan were up to no good.”

“Hey! That’s not fair.”

“So, it wasn’t you who let out Mr. Tinley’s cows from the pasture? It wasn’t you guys whostolehis momma’s car before you learned to drive so you could teach yourselves? It wasn’t you who smashed my front window playing street hockey at six a.m. on aTuesday morning?”

One quick look at Lexie confirmed she was indeed crying and laughing into her mug of coffee. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said on a wheeze.

“I most certainly am not. Gave me and Papa Tuck a fright. We were a few minutes away from opening and in the kitchen, only to be met with a shattering sound, and on the other side of our busted window was poor Magnolia, looking like a deer in headlights. Sloan had the common sense to run, and when he realized she wasn’t behind him, the fool came back with all the excuses you could muster.It was my idea, Momma Tuck. It was all my fault, Momma Tuck.”

Part of me had forgotten what my friendship with Sloan was like before it was tainted. It was hard not to go over every interaction we’ve ever had and wonder if it was because hehadto spend time with me? Did our moms force our friendship? It was also a different kind of pain knowing I’d never be able to ask my mom, but I guess I could ask Lori.

“Anyway,” Momma continued, “the damage had been done, and she’d been caught red-handed, hockey stick and all. Sloan pleaded her case, and instead of calling her parents or the police, we worked out a deal where she would work for me washing dishes at a discounted wage until she paid for the window. After the window was paid for, she never left.”

Lex looked at Momma. “It’s hard to believe that’s the Magnolia you know.”

Momma kept her gaze on me as she murmured, “Because that’s the Magnolia she is.”

She tapped the table as she stood. “I’ll grab you two refills and tell Tuck you want the house special.”

Lexie started to protest, “But I haven’t even looked…”

“Trust me, you want the special.” Momma turned before she could say anything else.

Lexie let me have a few minutes of silence to digest that memory from the past.

“Want to talk about it? Or pretend it didn’t happen?”

I sighed, there was no point in hiding from Lex. “It’s just hard, you know? Every memory from my childhood hashimin it. There was a time in my life I thoughtallmy firsts would be with him, and that he’d be involved in all my life experiences in some way. Truthfully, I never thought we’d get here…I never thought it’d still hurt this much after eight years.”

“I guess that’s what happens when you love someone, babes.”

“Is it weird that the only guy I’ve ever been in love with was when I was eighteen? Is it weird that I haven’t been able to move on from that? I mean, I’ve moved on in the biblical sense, but I can’t seem to get my heart willing to let go,” I rambled, unsure how to describe what I was feeling. I was looking down at my empty coffee mug, but when I got no response from Lexie, I glanced up, seeing her lips were in a tight thin line.

“Lex?”

Still not saying anything, she nodded to a figure behind me and my ears went crimson.

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