Page 32 of Break My Heart
‘Why?’
‘Because she married this guy, Chris, from high school, and people didn’t know she’d gotten divorced. Even when they found out, they couldn’t believe she was with Nick. He was kind of a nerd in high school and Lyndsay was a cheerleader.’
‘And what happened? Were they really dating or was it just a rumor?’
‘They weren’t dating at first, but now they are. She even moved in with him. Now they’re old news. The town doesn’t talk about them anymore.’
‘Do they talk about you?’
‘All the freaking time. It’s the same for Jason and Brody. We can’t go on a date in this town without people talking, wondering if we’re going to marry the girl. It doesn’t bother me. I’m used to it. If you want to play pool at Ted’s, I have no problem going there. I just wanted to prepare you for what might happen.’
‘Let’s go to your parents’ house. I don’t want people gossiping about me.’
‘Trust me, they already are. We don’t get many new people moving to town and when we do, everyone talks about them.’
‘Great,’ I say with a sigh.
‘When do you want to do this?’
I pause to think. ‘Today.’
‘Today?’ he asks, sounding surprised.
I guess I could’ve picked a time next week, but it’s killing me to have lost the canoe race to him. I have to redeem myself.
‘After breakfast,’ I say. ‘Why? Do you have plans?’
‘Um, no, we can play after breakfast.’
I was hoping to get some work done this morning, but I’d rather beat Sawyer at pool and wipe that smug grin off his face.
‘I just need to go home and clean up,’ I tell him. ‘I got lake water all over me.’
‘So what do I get when I win?’ Sawyer asks, his smug smile appearing again.
‘You’re not going to win. My grandpa taught me how to play. He used to win pool tournaments.’
‘Dinner. My place. Unless you want to go out, but then we have the people talking about us problem again.’
‘If you win, I have to have dinner with you?’
‘You make it sound like a punishment. It’s just dinner.’
‘You don’t have a kitchen.’
‘I have a kitchen in my apartment. I live above the brewery. My apartment’s small so I’ll make dinner and we’ll eat in the brewery.’
‘When it’s open?’
‘No, when it closes. Can you stay up that late?’
‘Of course I can stay up that late.’ I roll my eyes. ‘I work the same hours you do.’
‘Could someone cover for you? If so, I can have Wade close up for me and we could have dinner earlier, but it would have to be upstairs in my apartment.’
‘Why are we even talking about this? I’m going to beat you. I don’t lose at pool, except to my grandpa but he was a champion. He even had medals.’
‘So it’s a deal. Dinner at my place when I win.’
