Page 50 of I'm Yours

“What does that mean?”

“He liked the dudes.”

“Whoa. What? Since when?”

She giggles and Gabby whinnies, moving her head up and down a little bit. “Since always, I assume. Don’t get me wrong. He liked the girls, too.”

“Ahh. So he wants both?”

“Right.”

“Huh. Never would have guessed that.”

“I’m full of shocking information today, huh?”

“That you are.”

We ride in silence for a few more minutes as I let that bit of news settle in. Billy’s bisexual. Shocking is an understatement.

“Samuel? How’s he doing? What’s he up to?”

A beautiful smile breaks out across her face when she looks at me over her shoulder, eyes shimmering under the bright Montana sun. “He’s amazing. Fixing cars. Doing his thing. Being a pain in my ass. Yesterday he scared the shit out of me because I thought someone had broken into my house.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Just a weird feeling I had, I guess. Like someone was watching me. But then I went inside and he was there so it must have just been him. The jerk. I almost took him out, too.”

I don’t like the idea that she felt like someone was watching her but if Samuel was inside her house then I guess it makes sense.

“How’d you almost take him out?”

“With a broom.”

“Really? A broom?”

“It was the first thing I saw!” she defends. “Besides, it didn’t really matter because it was just Samuel.”

“Well, that brings me to the next thing I wanted to ask.”

She appears nervous as she looks forward, guiding Gabby toward the small pond. When she’s next to a tree, she swings a leg over and hops down, holding onto the reins. I do the same with Brownie and we tie them up around the tree before taking a seat side by side on the grassy shoreline. She bends her knees and wraps her arms around her legs. Before us, the water sparkles under the bright shining sun. It dawns on me that bodies of water is our thing. It’s where we have some our most meaningful conversations and where we lost our virginity to each other.

“I live next door to the lake house.”

I scrub a hand over my scruff and stretch my legs out in front of me, leaning back on my hands. So it was her that I saw the first day I was back in Lakeside. I guess I’m not going crazy after all.

“I actually thought I saw you the first day I was back in Lakeside but figured my eyes were playing tricks on me.”

“No tricks.”

“I feel like there’s a joke about treats in there somewhere.”

“Probably.” She laughs.

“Not to be rude, but…”

“Oh, trust me, I didn’t pay anywhere close to what that house is worth. Your dad helped me with it.”

“He bought you a house?” I ask, shocked. My parents are hardly buy an old friend a house rich. They’re more of the hey, we’ll buy you a steak dinner and maybe even spring for a lobster tail and dessert type.

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