Not So Far Away (Worlds Collide The Duets #1) - LL Meyer Page 0,27

leave it, okay? Gunnar and I are done. Say hi to Candy for me.”

Despite my very clear cue that I don’t want to continue this conversation, he lingers for another tense moment before he finally shakes his head and leaves. I do my best to pull myself together and shake off the dull ache of wounds that I wish were better scabbed over. The apology I was forming in my mind for Scott vanishes when his hand brushes my knee.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I say, sounding brittle. “Of course. Absolutely. Should we get out of here?” Fueled by the desire to escape, I twist off the stool and head for the door. I know he follows me because outside, I hear the locks on his truck disengage, which lets me slide onto the seat.

Once he’s beside me, the silence is awful. I’m about to launch into some topic, any topic, to fill the void when softly, he says, “Hey.” That single word comforts and disquiets me in equal measure. I hate that he’s so together, that he brims with confidence and self-reliance, while I so plainly do not. Too bad I’m not his type. Or even his equal. Too bad I’m such a mess. Maybe in another lifetime, I could have been someone to him.

“Hey, look at me,” he soothes, and when I finally find it in me to meet his eyes, they’re not full of pity like I was expecting, but understanding. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say your ex wasn’t just a random, ordinary ex.”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you don’t have the market cornered on those. At least you don’t have a kid with him . . . right?”

I give him a wry, half-smile. “No, I don’t have any kids.”

“Then you can make a clean break. You don’t ever have to see him again if that’s what you want.”

I take a deep, fortifying breath. “You’re right. I just wish I didn’t miss them so much.”

He frowns, obviously confused, which makes two of us.

“Don’t listen to me,” I say. “Gunnar was a terrible boyfriend. I do miss Candy though.”

“You can’t still be friends with her?”

I shake my head. “You have your questionable friends and I have . . . had mine. I’m trying to keep myself out of trouble these days and Candy definitely wouldn’t help with that.”

“Ah, say no more,” he says like he really does understand. “But did that guy really call her Candy Cane? What kind of name is that?”

The change of subject mutes some of the unwanted emotion swirling inside of me and even brings a small smile to my face. “A made up one, just like Piper. We were quite the pair.”

“Honestly, they sound like stripper names.”

I try to smother my rising amusement with an exasperated glare, but I can feel my lips twitching anyway.

Laughing at my expression, he starts the truck. “Do you have any plans for tonight?”

I shake my head.

“Me neither. You got Mario Kart on your Switch?”

A real smile comes over me. “Yeah. You want to come over?”

“Yeah, but we’re going to need caffeine or I’ll fall asleep.”

So that’s what we do. On the way home, we stop for supplies. Two large coffees and a giant bag of potato chips for him, and a jumbo pack of Twizzlers for me.

While we’re settling in on either side of the couch, waiting for the Switch to boot up, he asks me, “So who came up with the name Piper?”

“Oh, I did. I started ninth grade at a new school and I figured it was the perfect opportunity to lose the old, nerdy me. Piper was the coolest name I could come up with.”

“So your stripping career started earlier than I thought. You must be really good.”

I throw a half-eaten Twizzler at him. “Would you stop? We both know Piper would only qualify as a mediocre stage name. If I’d wanted to be a professional, I’d have gone with Diamond, or Ruby, or maybe Sapphire.”

He chuckles. “I’m sensing a pattern.”

I waggle my eyebrows at him, making him laugh harder.

“I think,” he says when he’s settled down a bit, “that I’ve got the perfect stripper name for you, way better than Piper.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Opal.”

“Opal?” I scoff. “I can’t believe you said that with a straight face.”

“No, no, it’s perfect. My grandmother has an opal necklace. It’s white and shiny, just like you.”

I pull the cushion from behind my back and chuck it at him, both