Page 78 of The Best Kind of Bad

I didn’t pick one of the sexy ones to show him. The one I picked was sweet. A cute exchange between two love-struck kids.

I watch his eyes scan the lines, and his hard mask slips for a moment. I’m surprised at what I see there. If only for a second, heartbreak cracks those features.

Pain so deep it pushes me backwards. I sit back, studying him.

He clears his throat, looking at his hands for a while before meeting my gaze. “You look so much like her. Act like her, too.” He shakes his head ruefully. “We didn’t date. I never got her to agree to that. Maybe if I’d had more time.”

He squeezes his eyes shut and when he opens them again, the mask is back in place. He stands, fishing out his wallet.

I stand, too. “That’s it? That’s all you’re going to tell me?”

“Look, Marnie. I don’t know what things are like back in Lincoln, but out here, it’s a small pond. You can’t go five feet without running into an old girlfriend. Or an enemy. That chapter with Naomi… It wasn’t a happy one. I’d just assume not relive it if it’s all the same to you.”

He tosses a few twenties on the tables and steps around me.

I watch him go, feeling even more confused than when I started.

I expected him to laugh. To admit he was the silly kid signing his name to these notes.

That raw pain, still fresh after fifty years, caught me off guard.

It seems the rabbit hole goes deeper than I realized.

52.

Dusty

I’m standing on the barn’s roof when Marnie’s car pulls into the gravel yard. I crouch, picking up my tools, watching with amusement as her gaze first lands on the ladder, then her head tips back.

And back some more.

I’m up high. Nearly three stories, if I had to guess.

I don’t like it either, but somebody needed to put a temporary patch over this hail damage, otherwise we’d have a sunroof in a place where we didn’t want one. Between the wind and the hail, the roof is toast. Gus’s house was sheltered by the stand of silver maples, but the barn took a beating. I check that the tarp isn’t going to blow away with the next strong wind, and carefully pick my way down the roof. It’s steep, and knowing Marnie’s down there staring at me isn’t helping.

I breathe a sigh of relief once my boots hit the top rung of the ladder. Swiftly climbing down, I step off the ladder and look her over. “’Sup?”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Don’t ‘sup me. What in the hell were you doing up there?”

The concern on her face is pretty cute.

I do my best to look serious. “Fixing the hole.”

“There’s a hole?”

I scan her from head to toe. She’s got her hair slicked back in a high, tight ponytail. Between her dark slacks and tank top, she looks like a killer boss babe. “Where’d you run off to?”

“Went into town.” She says, evading the question. “There’s a hole in the roof?”

“From the windstorm.” I glance up at the barn. “Damn insurance sent an adjuster out before I could even call, but the roofers won’t be able to get to it for at least a month.”

“Show me.”

I grin at her. “You want to climb up the ladder?”

“From the inside. Me and heights don’t go together.”

She follows me into the barn, gesturing for me to lead the way.

---