Page 12 of Merry Me
Stopping at the desk next to mine,he turned to Charlie Cordweiler,the kid occupying the chair.“Move,”he said,his tone more matter-of-fact than rude.
Charlie blinked up at him,obviously confused. “Uh,why?”
“Because I’m sitting there,”the new boy replied, flashing that cocky grin again,like he was already king of the school.
To my absolute horror,Charlie shrugged,grabbed his stuff,and moved to another desk.The kid plopped into the now-vacant chair without a second thought,immediately turning to me.
“Hi,”he said, extending a hand like we were grown-ups meeting for a business deal. “My name’s Easton Maddox,and I’m going to marry you someday.”
Laughter erupted around the room,and my face ignited.Heat rushed to my cheeks,and I stared at him,mortified,like he’d just announced he was an alien from another planet.
“You’re insane,”I blurted,willing the floor to swallow me whole.
He didn’t flinch,didn’t even blink. “Probably,”he said with an easy shrug. “But that’s okay.”He leaned back in his chair,his grin as self-assured as ever. “Are you going to tell me your name?”
“I don’t provide that information to clear psychopaths,”I said primly,beginning to organize my pencils on my desk like it was of utmost importance that they be in a straight line.
I didn’t know it was possible,but I could feel his smirk burning into the side of my face. “That’s fine,”he said,and I finally sneaked a glance at him to see what he was doing.
He was indeed smirking, and he was still leaning back in his chair like he was some kind of king instead of a seventh-grade boy. “We’ve got the rest of our lives for me to get you to trust me.”
I was torn between running out of the room and smacking him upside the head,but instead,I stayed frozen in my chair,watching him like he was some kind of exotic animal that had wandered into the classroom.
Easton Maddox.The name stuck in my head like a song I couldn’t shake.And from that moment on,he was impossible to ignore.
I shook off the memory, blinking back to the present.
The rest of our lives. Funny how that had turned out.
With a deep breath, I got out of the car and grabbed my bag from the back seat. The cold air stung my cheeks, the kind of chill that cut right through nostalgia and straight to the bone.
My mom’s voice rang out from the front porch as I walked up, warm and welcoming.
“Nat-bug, you’re home!”
I forced a smile and headed right into her arms, trying to get comfort from her hug like I used to. She still smelled like vanilla and dryer sheets, her arms strong, her embrace solid.
But as I sank into her warmth, I couldn’t shake the weight of the memories that seemed to cling to my skin.
And the fact that all of them led back to him.
The pizza was greasy and delicious—the kind that left a sheen of oil on your fingers and a warm, happy glow in your belly.
And possibly indigestion.
It was the kind of dinner that I preferred over anything else I could have been eating, including whatever gourmet nonsense my more put-together friends swore by. Some moms were really good at cooking homemade meals, others were good at ordering food. My mom had always been the latter, and I loved her for it. She never once pretended to be something she wasn’t, unless she was playing Bunco with the neighborhood moms and trying to win them over with store-bought potato salad she “doctored up.”
My parents, Aunt Kathy, and I were gathered around the kitchen island, holding greasy paper plates and swapping stories while trying to out-yell one another over the Christmas music playing from my dad’s Bluetooth speaker. It was chaotic andweirdly cozy and almost enough to forget why I’d been dreading this trip home.
Almost.
The screen door slammed against the frame, rattling like it was holding on for dear life.
“Look what the wind blew in. The party has arrived!” a voice crowed, and I didn’t even need to look. A smile was already on my lips as I glanced toward the entry and saw MeMaw walking in.
Wow.
I bit back a laugh as I took her in.
