Page 77 of Cajuns. Love. Curves.

“Well, I wasn’t sure how much detail to give you. He’s some sort of orgasm inducing machine. He gave me an orgasm with penetration alone.” I lower my voice. “I thought that was a myth.”

Callie chuckles. “Definitely not a myth. What exactly are you concerned about? That you slept together or that he wasn’t there when you woke up?”

“The latter. Both. No, mostly the latter.” I bury my head in my hands. “I don’t know. I just know that my intention that led to us having sex wasn’t to catch feelings, but then by the end of the evening, that ship had sailed.”

“Don’t you think you’ve just always had those feelings?” she asks.

“Probably. I don’t know. Can you truly fall in love, like the real stuff that lasts a lifetime, when you’re sixteen? That just seems silly.”

“It happens though. My parents were desperately in love, from what I remember. They met in high school,” Callie says.

I squeeze her hand because I don’t know what else to do and certainly don’t have the right words to say.

I know from our previous conversations that the car accident that mangled her hip, also killed her parents.

“My parents hated each other,” I say. “I don’t even know why they ever got married. Oh, wait, yes I do, it’s because my dad knocked up my mom. They thought getting married was the right thing. Then they tried to stay together for my benefit. But I never heard them exchange loving words ever. Of course, they’re both incredibly selfish people.” I sigh and shake my head. “I had lots of therapy through college.”

“Your parents’ marriage doesn’t matter. Your previous marriage doesn’t matter. None of that determines or sets your future. Unless you let it,” Callie says.

“Has my old therapist been sending you notes?” I say with a wry chuckle.

“Kelli, listen to me. This is about you and Wade and how everything that happened between y’all makes you feel. Are you still hurt with how things played out in high school?”

“Yes and no. I mean we were kids. I made a huge declaration in front of everyone.” I wince at the memory. Then I tell her the whole story.

“I’d been tutoring Wade in French,” I tell her. “I was so damn sure that he cared about me, too. That my crush wasn’t one-sided. That my crush wasn’t a crush at all. That it was love. The kind of real, deep love I’d read about in books and seen depicted in countless rom coms.”

“Oh, Kelli,” she murmurs.

The pity in her eyes as she shakes her head is … well, it’s annoying as fuck is what it is. Mostly because I’ve gotten those pitying looks on and off from the citizens of Saddle Creek since that damn day.

“I foolishly believed that Wade loved me too and was just holding back because … I don’t know why I thought he was holding back. What excuses I made for him.” I give a bitter laugh full of self-recrimination. “Now, as an adult, I know the truth. If a guy wants to be with you, he’ll be with you. And if he doesn’t want to be with you, he’ll fuck his secretary in his office where you can easily walk in on him.”

Callie winces visibly. “Yeah, Mitch is an idiot. Everyone in town knows that. Including that secretary who left him and moved back to Houston.”

“Apparently, I have a thing for idiots. Because at the time, at the time, I was sure Wade loved me and just needed a push. So, I pushed. I borrowed the Cheeto costume and—”

“Wait. What? Cheeto costume? Like the snack?”

“No. That was the name of the high school mascot. We were the Wildcats. But somehow the mascot was named Cheeto.” I wave my hand dismissively. “I don’t know why. Small towns are weird like that.”

I give her a side-eye. “I thought you grew up here. Shouldn’t you have known the mascot was named Cheeto?”

She shrugs. “I was homeschooled and not into sports, so, maybe I should have known, but I didn’t. But, finish your story. You borrowed the costume of the poorly named mascot, Cheeto the Wildcat and …”

“And, it was the day of the big parade to celebrate the football team. And I crashed the parade and asked him to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with me.” I wince at the memory. “And he just ruffled my hair, called me kiddo, and turned me down. In front of the entire town.”

She doesn’t say anything for a long moment. She just smiles at me like I’m the most pathetic creature she’s ever seen.

“Go big or go home, right?” I release a watery laugh and it’s then I realize that I’m crying. Shit.

“You know he was just a kid, right? You know that eighteen-year-old Wade and adult Wade aren’t the same person.”

“Obviously.”

“So he might feel differently now. And don’t you think you owe it to yourself to find out?”

“I’m in love with him, aren’t I?”

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