Page 44 of Keep My Heart
‘Who told you about it?’ I ask him.
‘The guys over at Loon’s. I went there last night for a drink. Ted and Fink were there.’ He laughs. ‘Those idiots haven’t changed. Fink even had on that shirt he always wore in high school, the black one with the skull on it that he thought got him girls.’
‘It didn’t,’ Lyndsay says. ‘He got girls because he was friends with Chris. So is he the one who told you about the divorce?’
‘Ted did. He was working the bar when I got there. Fink didn’t show up until later.’
Ted was one of Chris’ best friends. They were on the football team together. Ted wasn’t as obnoxious as Chris, but he was close. They were both jerks who thought way too highly of themselves. Fink was friends with them, but he wasn’t on the football team. He messed up his knee freshman year and wasn’t able to play. Fink is short for Finkenhauser, his last name, which people thought was too long, so everyone just called him Fink. They never used his first name because it’s Chris and the other Chris wouldn’t allow it. He wanted to be the only Chris, so the other one became Fink.
I wasn’t friends with any of them. They ignored me, which was fine. Unlike the rest of the school, I didn’t long for their attention. I had my own friends, and being a Kanfield meant Chris and his friends never tried to bully me. They knew if they did, theywouldn’t just have to deal with me, but also my brothers and half the town. My family’s orchard keeps this town in business, and back then, my dad was on city council. Even Chris, as dumb as he was, knew better than to mess with a Kanfield.
‘I guess the secret is out,’ Lyndsay says with a sigh.
‘You didn’t want people knowing?’ Kurt asks.
‘I don’t care if they know. I just didn’t want them finding out while I’m in town. I didn’t want to have to answer all their questions.’
‘So don’t,’ I say. ‘You don’t owe people answers. Just tell them you don’t want to talk about it.’
‘Is Chris coming to the reunion?’ Kurt asks.
Lyndsay shakes her head. ‘He’s staying in LA. He’s supposed to be moving out of the apartment this week. That’s why I’m here.’
‘You’re not going to the reunion either?’ he asks.
‘No. I want to, but I don’t want to show up alone.’
‘Bring Nick.’ Kurt looks at me. ‘You could come back next weekend, right?’
‘I can’t. I need to work. I’ve only been gone a day and I’m already behind.’
‘You see why I gave up law?’ Kurt says to Lyndsay. ‘You don’t have time for a life.’ His phone dings and he checks it. ‘Shit, I gotta go. I’ll see you guys later.’
He leaves just as Lori returns with our food. She almost drops one of the plates as she watches Kurt walk out the door. ‘He sure looks different.’ She smiles, almost like she has a thing for him.
‘He had to get home to his wife,’ I say.
‘He’s married?’ she asks, her eyes going back to me.
‘They’ve been married for like ten years.’
‘Figures,’ she says with a sigh. ‘The good ones are always taken. Enjoy your food.’
When she’s gone, I say to Lyndsay, ‘This wasn’t a good week to come here. Everyone thinks I’m home for the reunion.’
‘Is there any way you’d considering coming back for it?’ She pours syrup on her pancakes. ‘I know you’d have to buy another plane ticket, but you’d get to see everyone, all your old friends.’
‘I see most of them when I come home, and I doubt the ones who don’t live here will be at the reunion.’
‘Have you stayed in touched with any of them? Any of your friends that moved away?’
‘Not really. I went to John’s wedding a few years ago. He lives in Detroit now. I haven’t talked to him since the wedding, but my dad saw his uncle at the hardware store and found out John’s already divorced.’
‘That’s too bad.’
‘It is, but it’s not uncommon, which is why you shouldn’t worry about people finding out about you and Chris. Marriages end. People know that. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.’
‘But with Chris and me it’s different. Everyone had all these expectations for us. I feel like I let them down.’
