Page 52 of The Leaving Road

Clearing my throat, regretting not only agreeing to this evening, but initiating it, I walked over to the employee break room to grab some paper plates for the pizza Sloan had deposited in the kitchen.

The smell of melty cheese and all my favorite toppings had me squealing in delight.Zio’s.

It was a local pizza parlor that had been aroundforever,and to be honest, I had completely forgotten about it until I smelled it. It used to be myfavorite.

I had a lot of memories with Sloan eating this pizza, so maybe that’s why I had chosen to forget it. Whenever I was grumpy or in a bad mood, he would order this pizza; whenever I was stressed about a test or my mom, he’d orderthis pizza.

“I see that Zio’s still makes you happy.”

“You have no idea.” I opened the first pizza box and groaned at the sight. It had sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions. It was my favorite pizza of all…and Sloan’s, too.

“Good call on getting two, though; I’m starving.”

Sloan slid a plate to me and then moved the box from the top of the other one and opened it. Inside lay atravestyof a pizza: pepperoni, jalapeno, and pineapple.

I frowned. “What’s this?”

“My pizza.” Sloan shrugged

“Do you no longer like this kind?”

“No, Ireallydon’t like green peppers, and mushrooms taste like wet boogers.”

I looked at him like he had two heads. “But…this is the pizza youalwaysgot us.”

“I always got it foryou,” he said while shoveling in a slice of his.

“I don’t understand.”

“My allowance only covered one pizza from Zio’s—that place was expensive for a kid.” He laughed. “But now I’m a grown up and can afford two pizzas.”

My mind was spinning.What?

“I don’t…I don’t understand.”

Sloan sighed, almost as if embarrassed that he had said anything in the first place. “YoulovedZio’s, and it made you happy…”

“So you ate the wet booger mushrooms?” I couldn’t help the smile on my face.

He smiled back at me. “So I ate the mushrooms.”

Damnit, the tingles are back.

Being a glutton for punishment, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t like mushrooms or green peppers?”

Without hesitation, he answered, “Because I knew you’d insist on getting something we both liked, and Ilikedhow happy it made you. Plus, who can’t use more vegetables in their diet?”

I knew he was trying to make a joke out of this,but for some reason,this really struck a chord with me. This was the Sloan I had tried to forget.Andmaybe that’s what made everything so much worse;Sloan was always a good guy, a good friend.He helpedhis neighbors, mowed grass for the elderly,andhelped hisparents.

“Why her, Sloan?” I whispered, looking at my pizza that suddenly felt like more than justpizza.

“You want the short answer or the long answer, Magnolia?” The way his deep voice said my name had me looking at him. My eyes met his, and I saw the regret, pain, and the almost reluctance to hear my answer.

“Short, then maybe the long version?” I answered by doing my best to be honest with how I was feeling. If I could handle the short version, then maybe I would be okay hearing the long version—it had been almost a decade since we lastreallyknew each other.

“Okay, short version. Boy meets girl, they become best friends. Boy starts realizing things he shouldn’t about hisbest friend,like the way her ass looks in the jeans she wore to a pep rally one day.”

“I remember those jeans! I remember that day! Robbie Falkens hit on me that day.”

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