Page 12 of The Rebound Play
We both know it’s a bald-faced lie, but he has the good grace not to call me out on it.
“I didn’t know it was you, either,” he replies with a quirk of his lips. “Although the book was a bit of a giveaway. You always loved Wuthering Heights.”
“It could have been anyone. A lot of people like that book, you know.”
“Sure,” he replies, those lips of his pulling into a fully blown smile.
Of course he thinks this is funny. He’s just found me trying to hide from him like I’m a four-year-old at the playground, making the assumption that if I can’t see anyone then they can’t see me, either.
By now the blood in my veins has been replaced with liquid humiliation.
“That looks tasty,” he says, gesturing at my hand.
I look down at the half-eaten cinnamon roll. “It’s from Maple Grounds. You know, the bakery on Maple Road?”
“I remember it,” he says softly, his eyes so intense, I swear they can read my thoughts. “It’s good to see you, Kiki.”
“It’s … good to see you, too.” I do my best to pull my lips into a brief smile, my heart beating like a frenetic drum.
I just know the eyes of every member of the Mom Squad are sliding between the two of us, hanging on every word we say. They’ll be wondering why I tried my best to hide from Dan, probably putting two and two together. Some of them might even remember that we dated back in high school.
“You two dated, right?” Caroline says, as though reading my mind. “Back in the day? I was only a few years ahead of you both at high school, but we all knew about it. The bookworm and the jock.”
“That’s right!” Brooke, one of the other Mom Squad members says. “I’d forgotten about that. This must be some kind of reunion of sorts for you two, right?”
“I guess it is,” Dan replies with a smile. “We’ve not seen each other since—” his eyes alight on mine. “When was it?”
“Let me think.” I scratch my chin as though I’m searching my mind. But of course, I know exactly when it was. It’s etched in my mind along with Dan’s dimples, the touch of his skin, the feel of his lips on mine.
I clear my throat. “It was the end of summer after our senior year.”
The memories of that last summer are seared into my soul. The time we spent up at the lake with a gang of friends, all of us on the precipice of adulthood, our future lives unfolding before us in a stretch that felt like it would last forever.
And then we broke up. It was the night before Dan was due to leave for Yale. We’d talked about breaking up. Neither of us wanted to do it, but we knew it was for the best. We said we would always be each other’s first love, and at the time, that felt good enough.
But the following morning, standing outside the Roberts’ family home, watching Dan’s dad back down the driveway with Dan in the passenger seat, his eyes trained on mine, I had wanted to make the car stop. To tell him not to go, that we could work it out and do the long-distance thing.
That I could never imagine loving anyone else the way I loved him.
But I didn’t do anything. I simply stood there beside his mom and his brother and sister, waving and smiling as though this was all part of life’s great plan, and that I would move on to bigger and better things, always with a soft spot for my high school sweetheart.
Yeah. What did I know? Not a lot, as it turns out.
There was no other love. Dan was it. Period.
And I let him go.
“Dan the Man. It’s so good you’re back home where you belong,” Caroline says and I shoot her a look, knowing she’s stirring the pot.
She smirks at me.
Benny’s eyes grow to twice their normal size when he takes Dan in. “You’re him? You play for the Chicago Blizzard! You’re the best!”
Dan smiles at him. “Sure am. And who are you?”
“I’m Benny,” he replies as he takes a hold of my hand, gazing up at this 6′5″ giant.
It’s as though I can see Dan’s thoughts flit across his face as I watch him. He’s trying to work out where Benny fits into my life. Is he my son? My nephew? Am I babysitting? Why am I here watching a figure skating class with the Mom Squad?