Page 77 of Can't Help Falling

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She crosses her legs and faces me, her glass of white wine in her hand on the bar. “You recovered from all the excitement?”

“What are you doing here?” I ask, a little harsher than I mean to.

“Easy, tiger. I come in peace.”

A Trojan horse, more like.

“I thought I’d stick around for a few days,” she says. “I have some time off, and I’ve just been hanging out with my family.”

I don’t respond.

“Owen. Come on. I don’t want things to be, you know, weird between us.”

I scoff, and stare straight ahead.

“It was a long time ago.” She puts her hand on my arm.

I look at her hand, look at her, and she pulls it away.

“So that’s how it is, huh?” she asks.

I shrug.

She flips her hair off her shoulders. “I’ve moved on. You’ve moved on. Seems like you’ve got a great life now.”

I half nod. “Yep.”

There’s a moment of silence, and I almost stand and make my way to the door. I don’t need Lindsay speculating on my life.

“Are you. . .dating anyone?”

I close my eyes and shake my head.

“What? I can’t have a conversation with. . .”

I turn to her, head cocked.

“Are we really going to do this?”

“It’s a perfectly normal question,” she says.

“Not from you it’s not.”

Another lull.

“I’m actually surprised you and Emmy aren’t together yet.” She takes a drink.

That strikes me as odd.

“Emmy?” I frown. “Why would you think. . .?”

“Come on, Owen,” she says. “Her crush on you? For like, years? You can’t tell me it was one-sided.”

I suddenly get defensive of Emmy.

“What in the world are you talking about?”

She scoffs. “It was pretty obvious.”

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