Page 49 of Home Town

“How can I possibly be wrong?” she asked.

“Your parents aren’t here. And neither is your brother. And in their absence, I feel like it’s my responsibility to keep you safe from low-lifes like him.” He pointed toward where Kirk had made another swath with the mower and was now heading back toward them.

“I’m not talking about this out here with you.” Josie spun and headed for the house.

Corey followed close behind, easily keeping up with her shorter, quicker steps.

She flung the door open and stormed ahead, leaving him to close it behind them after he came inside.

In the living room, she spun back to face him. “You have no claim, no responsibility, no business taking care of me. You had your chance for all of that years ago and you gave it up.”

“What are you talking about?” He frowned.

She paused staring at him as if evaluating him. “How bad is that brain of yours?”

“What?” he shook his head at the change of subject.

“You do remember—us. Right?”

“Us?” he asked.

“Corey. We had sex,” she hissed the word, as if there were anyone else there to hear it besides him.

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, Josie. I remember we had sex.”

“So…” She shook her head while spreading her palms before him, as if that would explain it all and alleviate his confusion.

“So, what?” he asked.

“If you’d wanted to be responsible for me, you could have been. You would have bothered to call, or text, or I don’t know, email even. Anything. You didn’t. Hence, you get no say now about what I do or who I go out with.”

“Is that what you wanted? Me to call you? For us to…” Corey shook his head, at a loss. “Josie, I thought we were on the same page that summer.”

“And what page was that?” she asked.

“We were just…having fun.” He shrugged. “Nothing more.”

“Just fun? Nothing more?” she parroted his words but with a lot more attitude and in a good octave higher than her normal voice.

“Yes. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” She let out a huff. “No, Corey, we weren’t on the same page. We weren’t even in the same book. I was a virgin! I thought you cared about me. I th—” She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Never mind. I was young and stupid and fell for the bad boy. I knew who and what you were. It’s my own fault.”

“Josie. Stop. I was in no shape for any kind of relationship that summer. Definitely not a long distance one. My dad had just died. I was trying to navigate the biggest change of my life—being in the Navy. I was about to ship out on my first deployment, not knowing what I was going to face there plus I had the guilt of leaving my newly widowed mother home alone. I couldn’t take on a girlfriend too.”

“You had no problem taking on a quick fuck though, did you?” She scowled.

“Stop. You were never that. You saved me that summer. You were the one bright spot in a dark world. Those times with you were the only moments I wasn’t wallowing in grief or guilt… or fear. I could just shut off my brain and lose myself in you. Your smile. Your jokes…”

“My body,” she added, but she sounded slightly less bitter than before.

“Yeah. I’ll admit it. That too. Those particular memories got me through quite a few low points those first few months away.” He reached out and brushed the hair from her face. “But I am sorry. I had no idea how you felt. You never said.”

He drew in a breath and let it out, letting his hand drop as she continued to scowl.

“If I’d known…” He shook his head again. “Isn’t there supposed to be blood or something?”

She laughed. “Virgins only bleed in historical romance novels and movies. I've been using tampons since I was thirteen and first got my period. One super plus heavy flow tampon and that hymen was long gone.”

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