Page 16 of Keep My Heart (The Haydon Falls #1)

‘It didn’t,’ Lyndsay says. ‘He got girls because he was friends with Chris. So is he the one who told you about the divorce?’

‘Ted did. He was working the bar when I got there. Fink didn’t show up until later.’

Ted was one of Chris’ best friends. They were on the football team together.

Ted wasn’t as obnoxious as Chris, but he was close.

They were both jerks who thought way too highly of themselves.

Fink was friends with them, but he wasn’t on the football team.

He messed up his knee freshman year and wasn’t able to play.

Fink is short for Finkenhauser, his last name, which people thought was too long, so everyone just called him Fink.

They never used his first name because it’s Chris and the other Chris wouldn’t allow it.

He wanted to be the only Chris, so the other one became Fink.

I wasn’t friends with any of them. They ignored me, which was fine.

Unlike the rest of the school, I didn’t long for their attention.

I had my own friends, and being a Kanfield meant Chris and his friends never tried to bully me.

They knew if they did, they wouldn’t just have to deal with me, but also my brothers and half the town.

My family’s orchard keeps this town in business, and back then, my dad was on city council.

Even Chris, as dumb as he was, knew better than to mess with a Kanfield.

‘I guess the secret is out,’ Lyndsay says with a sigh.

‘You didn’t want people knowing?’ Kurt asks.

‘I don’t care if they know. I just didn’t want them finding out while I’m in town. I didn’t want to have to answer all their questions.’

‘So don’t,’ I say. ‘You don’t owe people answers. Just tell them you don’t want to talk about it.’

‘Is Chris coming to the reunion?’ Kurt asks.

Lyndsay shakes her head. ‘He’s staying in LA. He’s supposed to be moving out of the apartment this week. That’s why I’m here.’

‘You’re not going to the reunion either?’ he asks.

‘No. I want to, but I don’t want to show up alone.’

‘Bring Nick.’ Kurt looks at me. ‘You could come back next weekend, right?’

‘I can’t. I need to work. I’ve only been gone a day and I’m already behind.’

‘You see why I gave up law?’ Kurt says to Lyndsay. ‘You don’t have time for a life.’ His phone dings and he checks it. ‘Shit, I gotta go. I’ll see you guys later.’

He leaves just as Lori returns with our food. She almost drops one of the plates as she watches Kurt walk out the door. ‘He sure looks different.’ She smiles, almost like she has a thing for him.

‘He had to get home to his wife,’ I say.

‘He’s married?’ she asks, her eyes going back to me.

‘They’ve been married for like ten years.’

‘Figures,’ she says with a sigh. ‘The good ones are always taken. Enjoy your food. ’

When she’s gone, I say to Lyndsay, ‘This wasn’t a good week to come here. Everyone thinks I’m home for the reunion.’

‘Is there any way you’d considering coming back for it?’ She pours syrup on her pancakes. ‘I know you’d have to buy another plane ticket, but you’d get to see everyone, all your old friends.’

‘I see most of them when I come home, and I doubt the ones who don’t live here will be at the reunion.’

‘Have you stayed in touched with any of them? Any of your friends that moved away?’

‘Not really. I went to John’s wedding a few years ago. He lives in Detroit now. I haven’t talked to him since the wedding, but my dad saw his uncle at the hardware store and found out John’s already divorced.’

‘That’s too bad.’

‘It is, but it’s not uncommon, which is why you shouldn’t worry about people finding out about you and Chris. Marriages end. People know that. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.’

‘But with Chris and me it’s different. Everyone had all these expectations for us. I feel like I let them down.’

‘Forget about them. It isn’t their life. It’s yours, and you’re the only one who knows what happened. It’s not fair for them to say what you should or shouldn’t have done.’

She smiles. ‘I really like talking to you. You always make me feel better. It was like that in high school, too. If I was having a bad day, you always made it better.’

‘Didn’t Chris do that?’

‘No. He was too wrapped up in himself and football to notice if I was having a bad day. And he’s not much of a talker. He’d rather watch TV or be looking at his phone than talk.’

Seriously, why did she stay with him for so long? She’s funny, sweet, and fucking gorgeous. She could have any guy she wants, so why’d she stay with a jerk like Chris ?

After breakfast, I follow her back to her mom’s house.

‘You can wait here,’ Lyndsay says, coming up to the car as I get out. ‘I just need to run in and tell my mom I’m leaving.’

As she says it, her mom comes out of the house, smiling when she sees me.

‘I was hoping she wouldn’t come out here,’ Lyndsay mutters.

‘It’s fine.’ I walk up to her mom, smiling. ‘Hey, Mrs. Davis. It’s good to see you again.’

‘Nick, call me Patty.’ She laughs. ‘You’re not a kid anymore.’ She does a quick glance of my body, then says to Lyndsay, ‘He’s sure changed a lot, hasn’t he?’ She winks at her.

Lyndsay clears her throat. ‘Mom, we were just leaving. I just came home to drop off the car.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘We’re not sure yet, but Nick doesn’t have much time. His mom’s party is this afternoon.’

‘Your father is such a sweetheart to do that for your mother,’ Patty says to me. ‘He’s setting such a good example for you boys, that is, if you ever get married.’ She smiles. ‘Are you seeing anyone, Nick?’

‘No, not right now. I’m trying to make partner at my law firm so I don’t have much time to date.’

‘Mom, we really need to go,’ Lyndsay says.

‘Nonsense.’ Patty waves her hand in the air. ‘I’m sure Nick has time to come in for a cup of coffee.’

‘But don’t you have to leave?’ Lyndsay asks. ‘You have to get to your hair appointment.’

‘She just called. She’s running behind and moved my appointment to 11. C’mon. I never see either of you. Can’t you just come inside for a minute?’

Lyndsay glances at me, then back at her mom. I can tell she doesn’t want to disappoint her mom, but doesn’t want me feeling like I have to go inside.

‘I’d love some coffee,’ I tell Patty.

‘Wonderful! I’ll go start a fresh pot!’

As she goes back inside, Lyndsay walks up to me. ‘You don’t have to do this.’

‘She’s your mom, and she never sees you, and she really seems excited about that coffee.’

‘But what about our .?.?.’ Lyndsay pauses, like she’s searching for the word. ‘Pretend date?’

‘Part of dating someone is meeting the parents, getting to know their family. This will be good practice for when you have to bring a guy home to meet your mom.’

She smiles and rolls her eyes. ‘My mom already knows you. She’s known you forever.’

‘As a kid. She doesn’t know me as a grown man. I’m totally different now.’

‘You kind of are,’ she says, that flirty smile appearing again. ‘Just don’t tell my mom this is a date. I don’t want her getting her hopes up.’ She walks off, giving me a view of the back of her in that dress. Damn, she’s hot. Her body looks even better now than it did in high school.

‘You coming?’ she asks, turning back.

‘Yeah.’ I force my mind off the dirty thoughts it’s having and follow her inside the house.

I need to stop looking at Lyndsay that way, and stop thinking this dating thing we’re doing is real.

It feels real, but it’s not. I’m going back to New York on Monday, and in a week she’ll be going back to LA.

We might continue to talk, but I doubt I’ll ever see her again, and if I do, she’ll probably be with someone else.

I just hope it’s not another guy like Chris.