Page 37 of Lavender Moon

“True that.” I flash him a grin as I reach for the notepad and pen I see resting nearby. “So what do we need at the store, soldier?”

After making a small list of things, we hop back into the truck and drive about sixty seconds to the grocery store that’s just a block off the main street. A half hour after that, we’re loaded down with plastic bags of sandwich fixings, frozen pizzas, cereal, beers, soft drinks and plenty other snacks to get us through the next couple of days, including the canister of cinnamon rolls with the orange icing I just had to have.

We’re just placing the bags in the flatbed when a female voice calls out from across the street.

“Kaleb!” We both turn to see a blonde around our age prancing in our direction.

“Shit,” Kaleb mumbles, and I turn to notice a shadow of annoyance cast over his eyes before he puts a faint smile on as she launches herself against him.

Wow. Okay then…

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re back!” Her voice is heavy with emotion as she throws her arms around his neck. A small pang of jealousy rings like a gong inside me but it dissipates quickly when I see Kaleb taking hold of her wrists and smoothly peeling her away. At this point, I have no claim to him, not officially anyway, but a lot has happened in the last twelve hours or so, and this piles on to the things I’m already trying to process.

With this charming girl finally detached from his front, Kaleb releases her wrists but keeps his fake smile in place for her benefit.

“How’ve you been?” he mutters, while she smiles brightly up at him, forcing herself not to look at me.

“Oh, you know,” she gives an eyeroll with a crooked smile. “Still here. Working at the bar.” She tilts her head in the direction of Main Street. “We should catch up. Are you free tonight?”

At that proposition, Kaleb takes hold of my left hand and jams his other in his pocket. “No, sorry, I’m pretty busy for the next couple of weeks before I ship out,” he informs her as she looks between our joined hands and up at me for the first time. “Sorry,” Kaleb drones before clearing his throat. “Luna, this is Cheyenne.”

“Nice to meet you,” I hold my hand out. I can tell Kaleb doesn’t particularly care for this person, and I’m not sure I like her already. And though my mother is laid back and easygoing, she’s classy as fuck and taught me no different.

Cheyenne looks between my hand and my face before saying “Luna,” as if it’s some sour statement that someone put a gun to her head and forced her to say. I drop my hand but keep my expression unbothered as she adds. “Nice hair,” with a thread of sarcasm in her tone.

“Thank you,” I smile sweetly at her as she backs away.

“I have to get to work,” she mumbles before fixing her face to a flirty smile, eyeballing Kaleb. “Come find me at the bar before you leave town.”

She continues backward for a few steps, waiting for a response that doesn’t come as Kaleb has already turned away and is leading me to my side of the truck.

“Ex-girlfriend?” I ask softly, wanting to get straight to the point with no games.

“Ex-hookup,” Kaleb corrects with a shake of his head and a roll of his green eyes as he yanks my door open and I climb in. “It was never anything more,” he adds, a sincere light coming over his gaze as I buckle in. “Sorry we had to run into her.”

“It’s okay,” I nod truthfully. I believe him, and by the way he brushed her off, she’s clearly not a threat. “Looks like we’ve both got ghosts from Christmas past trying to sour our weekend,” I say facetiously, quirking my eyebrows, and he smirks back at me.

“Not a chance,” he declares and leans in, stealing a quick kiss before shutting my door.

15

KALEB

It’s fucking crazy how Luna and I, up until last night, only knew each other in a couple of isolated contexts: camp in the summers, doing outdoorsy kid shit, and writing letters that only offered each other vague glimpses into the other’s home life.

Yet here we are after less than twenty-four hours, carrying our lunch out onto the back porch like we’ve been doing it for decades. As we set our sandwiches down on the table, Luna looks up to the tree at the back of the yard, and a pleasant smile passes over her face like the light afternoon breeze put it there.

“You still have the tire swing,” she observes fondly, and again, I almost can’t fathom that this is her first time being here.

“Yeah,” I lift a shoulder as we sit. “Didn’t see any reason to get rid of it, just because I don’t play on it anymore.”

“I’m going to get you to play on it,” Luna announces, pointing towards it with one hand and holding her other in front of her mouth while she talks around her bite of food.

“No dice,” I tell her before biting into my own sandwich, and she gives me a sneaky just you wait look before moving onto another subject.

“I can’t believe you got to grow up here.” There’s yearning in her voice as she looks down to scoop a chip into the dip on her plate.

“It’s alright,” I muse, folding my hands together with my elbows on the table. “I’ve never seen anyone go apeshit over this old shack before,” I quirk an amused eyebrow.

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