Page 43 of Keep My Heart
‘Yeah,’ she says with a sigh. ‘I just wish people would stop assuming Chris and I are still a couple. A lot can happen in 15 years, and everyone knows high school relationships don’t have the greatest success rate.’
‘Lori didn’t mean to upset you. She’s just someone who asks a lot of questions.’
‘I know, and I’m not mad at her. I just didn’t know what to say.’ She pauses. ‘I actually do want to go to the reunion, but I can’t, not now. All night people will be asking me about Chris. I won’t be able to just go and have fun.’
‘Kanfield,’ a guy says, coming toward me, a big grin on his face.
‘Kurt,’ I say, getting up from the table to shake his hand. ‘Good to see you.’
We went to high school together and were both on the debate team. He was a lawyer for a few years, but didn’t like it and decided to open a gym with his wife. They live in Chicago now.
‘You back for the reunion?’ he asks.
‘No, I’m just here to see my family. I’m heading out on Monday.’
‘I’m trying to talk him into staying,’ Lyndsay says, giving me a flirty smile. I can’t tell what’s going on with her. She’s almostacting like she doesn’t want our fake dating to be fake, like she’s interested in me for real.
‘Lyndsay Davis?’ Kurt smiles at her. ‘I didn’t recognize you. Your hair’s different.’
She laughs. ‘I didn’t realize I looked that different with brown hair. Lori just said the same thing.’
‘Lori’s here?’ he asks.
‘She’s our waitress,’ I tell him.
Just then, she returns to our table. She sees Kurt and her face lights up. ‘Kurt!’ She lunges at him, barely getting her arms around him because he’s so big. He’s really bulked up since high school. He’s probably added 30 pounds of muscle.
‘I didn’t know you moved back,’ Kurt says to her.
‘A few months ago,’ she says, letting him go. She looks him up and down, checking him out. ‘You look good.’
‘Thanks. I own a gym so I work out every day.’
‘You own a gym?’ Lori asks, sounding impressed.
‘It’s nothing fancy. It’s one of those 24 hour places in a strip mall.’
‘How’s that going?’ I ask. ‘You like owning a gym?’
‘It’s better than being a lawyer,’ he says, then quickly backtracks. ‘I mean, nothing against being a lawyer. It just wasn’t for me.’
‘I get that. Some days I don’t like it either. It’s a lot of hours, a lot of stress.’
‘You still working in New York?’
‘Yeah. Hoping to make partner soon.’
‘I need to check on my tables,’ Lori says, taking off.
‘Why don’t you join us?’ Lyndsay says to Kurt.
‘I would, but I already ate. I was just heading out. The wife’s waiting for me at her mom’s house.’
‘You didn’t bring her with?’ I ask, thinking it’s odd he’d eat here by himself.
‘She wanted to sleep in,’ he says, glancing around the restaurant. He seems uncomfortable, like he doesn’t want to talk about her. Maybe they’re having problems. ‘Anyway, I should get going.’ He looks at Lyndsay. ‘Hey, I heard about you and Chris. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.’
She smiles a little. ‘Thanks.’
