Page 46 of Missing Pieces

He lets go of me and turns to face her completely, shaking her arm off him. “Quinn, I haven’t seen you in a month. And I am pretty sure the last time I saw you I told you to fuck off and leave me alone.”

So that is who this is. The ex-girlfriend. The one Ivy refers to as the nut-case.

She puts her hands in the back pockets of her ripped jeans, pushing out her chest. “I figured I would give you some time to cool off. You know, give you time to remember how good we were together.”

He runs his hand across the back of his neck obviously annoyed by this woman. “There was never anything good between us. I don’t know how long it’s gonna take you to understand that. And frankly, I don’t care. You were convenient at the time and now you aren’t.”

Ouch. That stung and I wasn’t even on the receiving end.

Quinn turns red in anger, her arms clenching at her sides. “Well, I hope you enjoy your current convenience. I’ll be waiting when you decide to come crawling back.”

She storms off to the bar. I look over at him and the lightness and happiness that was emitting off him before is gone. “Sorry…she’s just—“

“Your ex,” I finish for him. I’ve never seen him hesitate like that and it makes me think she was more than a convenience at one point.

I wait for him to say something and when he doesn’t, I start to walk away. He pulls my elbow back. “Please don’t run off. I didn’t think I would run into her here. She means nothing to me.”

I look at him and see the pleading in his eyes. I don’t know why but for some reason I give him the benefit of the doubt and ignore the small interruption to our date.

“How about we get out of here?” he asks, grabbing my hand. “I don’t want her ruining our night.”

“Okay,” I concede.

As we walk out, I look over to the bar and see her hanging on the arm of another man. Maybe she is a nut-case like Ivy said.

* * *

We drive for a while in silence. I try to not to think about the altercation with Quinn. But the way he talked about her being a convenience gets me thinking. What if I am just a convenience to him now?

He must sense my trepidation because he reaches over for my hand and squeezes. I look over at him. I hate the mix of emotions going through me right now. He gives me a shy smile and then turns his head back to the road.

We make our way down a bumpy dirt road and he pulls to a stop next to a huge oak tree with a treehouse that butts up to a small pond. He cuts the engine and I go to grab for the door handle, but he stops me.

“Harper, I really am sorry about earlier.” He tosses his hat to the side and goes to run his hand through his hair but stops and grips it in frustration. “I don’t want you to think poorly of me cause of what I said to her. She was my first girlfriend since Ashton. The first one to make me have actual feelings for a woman again beyond one night. We dated for a few months and I had fun. But that was all it was. She was so clingy, and she used me. A lot. I found out from one of her friends that she was cheating on me. Well, more of like sleeping with a few guys.”

He pauses and looks at me as if he just remembered the same thing happened to me. I grab his hand. “I know the feeling. It fucking sucks.”

“I just don’t want to ruin the rest of our night over that broad. She keeps tryin’ to get back with me. God, I don’t even understand what I saw in her in the first place.”

“Big boobs and big hair,” I joke.

He grabs my face and kisses me, a soft apologetic kiss.

“Thanks for telling me. It makes me feel better.”

He nods and lets go of my face. We both hop out of the truck. He goes to the truck bed and pulls out a blanket and a cooler.

“I know this is kinda cheesy, but I know in the city you can’t really see the stars. And out here there ain’t any light pollution.”

I look up and see he’s right. I’ve never seen so many stars in my life. I sit on the blanket and lay back, amazed at how beautiful the view is. I thought it looked nice back at Ivy’s rental, but this has nothing on that. There is no light anywhere near us, just the stars.

I look over at Easton. He is smirking with his hands behind his back. I sit up and he kneels down beside me producing two red solo cups. I explode into laughter so hard I actually let out a snort.

“Did you just snort?”

“Maybe,” I say.

He hands me a cup. “Well, you asked if we actually have parties out in cornfields. And since you haven’t been able to experience it in your boring city life, I thought we could do it tonight.”