Page 63 of Don't Call Me Sweetheart

Kate retreated so quickly I almost fell over. I wasn’t in the habit of holding grudges—who had time for holding on to the past when the future was always just out of reach?—but I had a feeling that it would take some time before I felt friendly toward the petite, dark-haired woman who had kiss-blocked me.

“Nora!” Suzie waved her over. “Come meet everyone.”

“I’ll take those cupcakes from you, darlin’.” Luke scooped up the tray she balanced in her arms and grinned. “And maybe you could explain how you got lost when you live right next door. Hard to pull that off, isn’t it?”

Nora laughed. “You would think so, but I am a woman of many talents.” She turned to Suzie. “Actually, I was coming from Hot and Wired, where I picked up the cupcakes, and thought I would try the old tractor road from town. Your dad told me it was a shortcut. But I couldn’t find it and ended up driving the perimeter for a good twenty minutes or so.”

“Tractor road?” Suzie frowned. “There isn’t a tractor road.”

Sam cleared his throat. “Well, there was, once. Not in our lifetimes, though. My dad used to tell me he and your dad took it as kids, because it goes right to town. But there’s a split where one way goes to your grandparents’ old farm, and the other here to Barnett Farm. They made that split themselves, so they could hang out while getting their chores done.”

“Oh,” Suzie said softly. A look of worry crossed her face. “I should call Michael.”

I had the uneasy feeling I was an uninvited witness to an unfolding family drama. I shot a questioning look at Kate, who sported a matching furrowed brow to Suzie’s, and she clarified, “Michael is Suzie’s older brother. He left Hart’s Ridge a couple years ago and now leads hikes and backpacking trips all over the world.”

I nodded. It didn’t explain everything, but it was enough to tell me that Suzie was worried about her dad. The rest of it wasn’t really my business, especially when my role in Kate’s life was temporary. I watched Kate squeeze Suzie’s arm and wished there was something I could do to help.

Not just because Kate cared about Suzie, but because I cared about Suzie. I liked her. I also liked Sam and their kids. I liked all of Kate’s friends, really. Even Luke and Eli—maybe especially Luke and Eli. I hadn’t ever had real friends before. Colleagues, sure. Someone to grab a drink with after a long day of dealing with feral preteens. But not friends. I hadn’t known that was something I even wanted.

But Hart’s Ridge was a small town, and they knew Kate first. What would happen to those fledgling friendships when I was no longer Kate’s boyfriend?

I was pretty sure I knew the answer to that.

Dammit.

Chapter 21

Kate

“Didn’t I tell you the country club would be the perfect venue for George’s commemoration?” Mom asked.

She stood on the stone terrace with her hands on her hips, surveying the rolling green hills of the golf course in the distance. How they remained green in November was a mystery, and probably not great for the environment. Behind the hills, the Great Smoky Mountains were dusted with snow along the ridgeline.

“You did.” It was a lovely spot; there was no denying that. I unzipped my coat. The autumn chill dissipated considerably in the sunshine. “It is beautiful here.”

Mom smiled. “I knew you would agree. It’s the perfect way to honor him.”

An interesting take, since I hadn’t agreed. But Mom always interpreted everything through a lens that best framed her own agenda. But in this, at least, my mother’s agenda matched mine: to give George the remembrance ceremony he—and Hart’s Ridge—deserved.

The event was two weeks out now, and I was torn between wanting to put it off forever and wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible. I knew my mother was probably right about the venue, but deep in my gut, it still felt…wrong. At least my friends would be there for emotional support. And Max—

Well, no. Not Max. Because our relationship would expire in a week. Why would he show up to honor a dead man whom he had never met, just to support an ex-girlfriend’s fragile emotional state? No one would do that.

Which was probably for the best, because I had no idea how Maria and Juan would react to Max being at George’s commemoration. The thought of it made my stomach hurt.

It had been so much easier introducing Max to my friends. They had never been as invested in the idea of me and George as a romantic fairy tale because they hadn’t known George very well. He had gone to Piedmont on a scholarship, unlike Suzie, Emma, Luke, and Eli, who had all gone to the local public school.

In fact, almost everyone George and I had been friends with in high school had left Hart’s Ridge for college and never come back. Fourteen years ago, Hart’s Ridge wasn’t the kind of town people stuck around in unless they had no other options.

It had been a new experience for me, at the bonfire. Like all the pieces of my life suddenly clicked into place. Mother, friend, girlfriend. It had felt like, for the first time, I truly had it all. We had shared a moment, an almost kiss, right there in front of Jessica and all of my friends, and it had felt like the most natural thing in the world, that I would kiss him there.

And I knew that if I had kissed him, not one of my friends would have batted an eye.

By now, Maria and Juan had to know about Max. All of Hart’s Ridge knew, so I couldn’t imagine that somehow the rumors had escaped their ears. I should have told them myself rather than let them hear about it from someone else, but somehow the timing was never right. It was completely different, telling George’s parents I had started dating again, versus telling my friends.

As George’s parents, Maria and Juan had front-row seats to our relationship, even if they never really knew how things were behind closed doors. Heck, they still referred to me as their daughter-in-law, because in their minds, a little thing like death couldn’t terminate a family relationship.

I doubted they’d feel the same way about remarriage.

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