Page 52 of The Rebound
“So am I. Would you just—” He breaks off as he turns, the annoyed look on his face vanishing in an instant.
“Would I just what?”
“You…”
My confidences slips a little. It’s almost like he’s fighting back a laugh.
“You used to do that all the time,” he says finally. “I’d forgotten.”
“Do what?”
He shifts his weight, sliding one foot out as his hands go to his hips. I realize with a start he’s mirroring my stance and quickly drop my arms.
“When we were kids,” he continues. “Whenever you wanted to pick a fight.”
“I didn’t pick fights.”
“What TV shows we watched, what game we played—”
“I was a confident child.”
“You were a brat,” he snorts. “But I was a pushover, so I didn’t help the situation. Come on. We’ll hit the trail in about five minutes and then we can head back.”
“And you can tell Beth that you did your duty?”
He tips his head back, glancing to the sky as if he’s praying for patience. Maybe he is.
My irritation fades, leaving a hollow kind of hurt in its place.
I’ve never really cared what people think of me. It never bothered me if I came off as too cold or too pushy or too ambitious. I didn’t have time to care. But with Luke…
“I didn’t waltz, you know.”
He looks at me in bewilderment. “What?”
“You said before that I waltzed back here, like it meant nothing. But it was really hard. Coming back here was hard. It’s still hard.”
“And you want points for that, is that it?”
“No.But I want you to…”
He raises a brow when I don’t continue. “To what?”
I frown, distracted, as something glimmers in the corner of my eye. “To understand that I’m…” There it is again.
“Abby?”
I don’t answer, walking past him to a large oak tree up ahead. It could just be a piece of trash but it’s very…
“There.” I point at the golden egg nestled high in the branches.
Luke stands next to me, following my finger. “Holy shit.”
“That can’t be following health and safety regulations,” I say, staring up at it.
“I’ll find a stick.”
“You won’t be able to reach that high.”
