Page 77 of Can't Help Falling

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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