Page 3 of Keep My Heart
‘Is your mom picking you up?’ Matt asks as I put my phone away.
‘No.’ I smile. ‘She doesn’t like driving in the big city anymore.’
He laughs. ‘She calls Madison big?’
‘Compared to Haydon Falls, yes. If it’s big enough to have an airport, it’s too big.’ I pull the handle up on my suitcase. ‘Well, it was good seeing you again.’
‘Yeah.’ Matt gets up. ‘Hey, if you have time, maybe we could all get together and have a beer. You could meet my wife. Nick could come over. It’d be a good chance to catch up.’
‘Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll have time.’ It’s not true. I have plenty of time, but I’d rather not spend it with people from high school. They’ll want to talk about Chris, and this trip was supposed to get my mind off him and the divorce.
‘Over here!’ Matt yells, waving at someone.
I turn and see a tall, extremely handsome man in a suit coming this way. His eyes dart to me, then back to Matt, before going back to me.
Wait, that’s not Nick, is it? It couldn’t be. Nick was skinny and wore glasses and had longer hair that curled up on the sides.
‘Hey, man, welcome back,’ Matt says, giving him a hug.
‘Thanks.’ He pulls back, his eyes going to me.
‘Look who I ran into,’ Matt says. ‘Remember Lyndsay? Chris’ girl?’
Chris’ girl.That’s what people called me back in high school. Chris and I were a total cliché. I was head cheerleader and Chris was quarterback of the football team, the guy all the girls wanted. If I’d known back then how he’d turn out, I would’ve let some other girl have him.
‘Hey, Lyndsay,’ Nick says in a deep, strong voice that’s nothing like the timid voice he had back in high school.
‘Hey,’ I say, sounding breathless. I glance at Matt. ‘I need to get going. Diane’s probably out there by now.’
‘Diane Ellis?’ he says.
‘Yeah. She’s picking me up.’
He nods. ‘My wife used to take yoga with her. I didn’t know you two were still friends.’
‘Yeah. So anyway, good seeing you both.’ I glance at Nick as I leave. His head is down and he’s checking his phone.
He looks up. ‘See ya, Lyndsay.’ He gives me a smile and my insides do some kind of nervous flip-flop thing. What is wrong with me? I didn’t react this way around him back in high school. Then again, in high school, he didn’t look like this.
When I get outside, I see Diane’s red minivan pulling up to the curb. She stops and jumps out, meeting me at the back of the van.
‘Welcome home!’ She hugs me. It’s not home anymore, but I get what she means. She pulls back and looks at me. ‘How do you never age?’
I smile. ‘Believe me, I’ve aged about ten years through the stress of this divorce. If you can’t tell, it must be my makeup. I have a friend who’s a makeup artist. She taught me everything I know.’
‘You’ll have to teach me,’ Diane says, grabbing my suitcase and flinging it in the back of the van.
‘You look great!’ I say, noticing she seems thinner than the last time I saw her. ‘I like the pants.’
She has on yoga pants in an orange and white pattern that looks like a flame.
‘Thanks! I just got them.’ She winks at me. ‘Tom loves them, if you know what I mean.’
She met her husband, Tom, back in college. They’ve been married for ten years and still flirt with each other and hold hands and kiss in public. I love that she found someone like that, a guy that’s still crazy about her after all these years.
‘Was that it?’ she asks, looking around me.
‘Yeah. I’m only here for ten days.’
