Page 4 of It Happened Back Then (Nilsson Family #3)

“ H appy twenty-one! You’re finally legal!”

I hug my older sister Meadow and cheer along with her friends. We’re at the Swoops Nest Bar tonight, our usual place to hang out. It’s one of the few pubs with good food and great music that welcomes everyone eighteen and up.

“I’ve been legal for years.” She flashes her brilliant smile that charms everyone she meets. Meadow is fun, wild, and a shameless flirt. She loves the chase, and I’ve always been a bit envious that she’s so confident in herself.

I’m missing our older sister, January, tonight.

She’s still in New York, and I never thought we’d be celebrating birthdays apart.

In one way it hurts so much that she left us too, but I’m also proud of her for doing something for her .

My mind wanders to Bennett, like always.

And even a year later, I’m still wondering if I made the right decision by not going with him to Seattle.

Or at least telling him why I couldn’t go.

“I wish January was here. Do you want to call her? ”

Meadow shakes her head. “I spoke with her earlier. She was going to a club with that guy Sean. She said she’d do a shot for me.”

I nod. I don’t know Sean, but my brother, Lief, doesn’t like him. And if I know anything about Lief, he will stay in New York City just to make sure she’s okay, despite what he wants for himself.

“Here we go!” Meadow’s friend, Anne, comes to the table with a tray of shots, and a pitcher of beer. She slides a shot to me with a grin. “Take it quick before someone sees you.”

“Med! Grab one!” We clink our glasses together then throw back the shot, me discreetly, and her wildly. She slams the empty glass on the table then throws her hands in the air and shakes her whole body.

The bar is full of people, and it seems like most are here to celebrate with Meadow.

We hang out for a while and I’ve been sneaking shots here and there to the point where I’m feeling pretty good. I’m feeling normal and enjoying the night out, not thinking about the fact my dad has missed another one of us turning twenty-one.

“Is this seat taken?”

A familiar voice startles me from my thoughts. Jumping up, I launch myself out of my seat. “Bennett? What are you doing here?”

He smiles, arms outstretched, and I step into his embrace. “I just drove back into town an hour ago. I’m off this week for Spring Break.”

“Spring Break and you come to Montana?” I tease him, pulling back to look up at him.

“Things are pretty great in Montana in the spring,” he replies with a wink that makes my heart flutter.

Bennett and I promised our long-distance relationship would work, but shortly after he left, I was reminded, again, that he’s too nice, too handsome, and too perfect in every sense of the word.

I had to accept that all I would do is hold him back.

Bennett deserves someone who doesn’t have family trauma, who isn’t still healing from a loss that she’ll probably never get over, and he especially doesn’t deserve a woman who keeps secrets.

But there wouldn’t have been a secret if no one reminded me that all I would be is a burden. So though our relationship had to end, no one was taking my best friend from me.

“Must be a spring thing.”

“Must be.”

We study each other for a moment, the shots of alcohol hitting me hard and going straight to my head, straight to my heart.

My body aches for something I know only he can give because if nothing else, in our time together, he made me feel everything.

I've replayed our nights together countless times since, always coming to the same conclusion: no one else has ever come close to making me feel the way Bennett did.

The way Bennett still does.

Bennett has been woven into my life for as long as I can remember. He was the man I was going to marry. We’d raise our kids right here in the same small town we grew up in. We’d have the world behind our white picket fence.

But our white picket fence was crushed before we had a chance to paint it.

Between a conversation that shouldn’t have happened and a quiet hope that was quickly stolen away, I buried lies deep and covered them with silence and added another hurt to the tally I already had.

His small chuckle pulls me from my thoughts. “Still with those cowboy boots, huh?”

“It’s my thing.”

“You look really gre?—”

“There you are!” A loud voice interrupts as a tall, thin blonde sidles up beside him and wraps her hand around his bicep. “You weren’t kidding, this place is packed! I love it here, though!”

Bennett kisses her forehead when she leans in, and my heart seizes in my chest, my breath is stolen right from my lungs. I’ve never seen him with another girl before. Even though it feels like my heart was just stomped on, I plaster on a smile like I’m so used to doing.

“Savannah, this is Blossom.”

Her eyes light up and she pulls me in for a hug.

“Oh! Um, well, hi.” I sputter as she grabs my arms and holds me out in front of her, assessing me like I’m a little kid. Our differences are quite apparent. Where I’m kind of short, curvy, and have dark hair, she is tall, thin, and blonde. It makes me hate her instantly.

“I’m so happy to finally meet you! Bennie always talks about his childhood best friend.” She brushes my hair back off my shoulder and I jerk away from her. “He’s right, you are just the cutest!”

I screw up my face. “The cutest? I’m not a pupp?—”

“Isn’t it Meadow’s birthday?” Bennett cuts in and I side-eye him. “I figured that’s why the place is packed.”

“Yeah, it is. In fact, I’m going to go find her.”

“Great! Birthday shots sound like a good time to me!” Savannah says.

I give Bennett another distasteful look and mouth, ‘talk later’, before I turn my back on both of them and look for my sister. And of course, the minute I do, I see her dancing on top of the bar. I shake my head and walk toward her.

“That’s your sister?” Savannah asks.

“Yup. Center of the show, as usual. ”

“Some things never change around here,” Bennett retorts.

Bennett and I are sitting at the back booth watching Savannah and my sister go head-to-head with shots, both dancing atop the bar now.

“She’s kinda wild,” Bennett says with a laugh.

I retort snarkily, “Is this what Seattle breeds? Modelesque party girls?”

“That sounds like jealousy, bestie.” He bumps my knee with his.

“Just surprised to see you with someone like her. You’re a big-city type now, huh?”

He huffs a laugh. “Just because I haven’t been back in a year doesn’t mean I'm a city boy now. You know I’m still country, through and through.”

“Sixteen months.” I reply sharply. “And you can understand how I have my doubts. You broke a promise that you’d be home, so who knows how else you’ve changed since being out there.”

I try to play it off like I don’t care, like I’m just giving him a hard time, but it does bother me. Seeing him with someone else bothers me more than it should considering I ended it. And now I have to live with it.

“Bloss—”

“I bet she’d never wear a pair of cowboy boots,” I interrupt, wanting to change the subject before the conversation turns too serious.

He laughs loudly. “Now that is definitely jealousy.”

“No way would they stay on her skinny stick legs anyway.”

“Blossom! ”

“It’d be like seeing Big Bird with boots on.”

He throws his head back and laughs before putting his arm around me and pulling me in close. I dissolve into giggles too and lean against him. He’s warm and smells so good.

“She is really tall,” he says affably.

“Freakishly tall.”

“And thin.”

“Too thin. Does she eat burgers?” When he doesn't respond, I look at him. “She doesn’t eat burgers?” I ask with shock. “No way you are dating a vegetarian! Bennett! What happened to you?”

He shrugs and plays it off. “It’s a different way of life out there.”

“You don’t have to conform to it! Get your degree and get your ass home!”

We watch as Savannah and my sister jump down from the bar. She stands a whole head taller than most of the women, and even some of the guys.

“You’re right. She’s not my type at all,” he says as he pulls his arm out from around me and lays his hand on my thigh.

“I need something to hold onto.” He squeezes and I place my hand over his.

Our eyes connect and that same energy that passed between us the night we gave each other our virginity happens again.

“I’ve missed you, Bennett. Why haven’t you come home more often?”

He looks past me, probably watching where Savannah is before saying, “I’m sorry, Peach. School has been hard. I needed to be there and study. I didn’t want to come back here and end up missing it more.”

“Missing me more?” I tease him.

A shadow passes over his face. “I always miss you.”

“Bennie! This little town is the best thing ever!” Savannah cuts in, and her exuberance is so over-the-top it would feel like an insult if I didn’t know better.

I hope it’s just that she’s never seen a place like Bluemoon in real life.

Because that’s what Bluemoon is. Real fucking life with love and drama and all the country you could want.

She drapes herself on him, falling into his lap, and I’m forced against the wall of the booth. Meadow catches my eye and rolls hers before making a gagging face, and I stifle a laugh.

“Bennie!” Meadow mocks. “You better take your girl home before she yaks all over the place.”

“Yup. Come on. Time to go.” He stands and carefully moves her along.

“It was nice meeting you all,” Savannah mutters, her words slurred. “Especially you, Begonia.”

“Blossom,” I correct her.

“Blossom. Yes.” She waves her hand in dismissal, and my dislike for her rises.

“Spell begonia,” Meadow says under her breath. I jab her with my elbow as Bennett flips her off, and she bursts into laughter in response.

“Be safe guys,” I urge them from the booth, needing the space. “See ya next time you promise to come home, Bennie.”

He looks like he wants to say more, but when Savannah starts to make repulsive sounds, he ushers her out the front door of the bar quickly.

Meadow turns and looks at me with a look of utter disgust. “Sister. What in the actual fuck was that?”

I shake my head. I want to rant on how it’s a woman who knows nothing about Bennett, who doesn’t have the history we do, the love we do. But I can’t make sense of it, so all I get out is, “I don’t know.”

“If he’s trying to find the exact opposite of you, he succeeded. ”

I frown and shrug. “It’s not like that with us anymore.”

“Sure,” Meadow drawls, obviously completely unconvinced. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Knowing this is a pointless conversation, I ignore her leading statement. “Can we go now? Have you celebrated enough?”

“Let’s go.”