the phone last year and she told them that she finally kissed him. That was it—Jeremy Crandle was never seen again.”
“Doesn’t he live in New York or something?” There were a lot of rumors about Jeremy Crandle. Maybe Savannah wasn’t his type only because she was a girl.
“Exactly. So me and you? Friends forever and never more. Okay?” She grabs the ball and tucks it into the skirt of her dress.
“Did you not like the kiss?” I ask. She can tell me. I might ask her to be my practice buddy, but I want her to tell me before I play another game of Spin the Bottle.
Her cheeks flush like they did that night in her basement. “I did, but I can’t bear to lose someone else.” A tear slips from one eye then another.
“But I…” Another tear falls and I stop talking.
The moment I’ve been waiting for is happening and I’m alone with no one else to comfort her. I look through the window and no one is in the backyard. I slide closer to her and put my arm around her shoulders.
She buries her head into my neck, her fingernails clawing at my shirt as if a black bear is ready to attack us. “They left me. How could they leave me?”
I hold her while her tears soak my shirt.
As the sun sets and the air gets cooler, Grandma Dori yells from the bottom of the tree. “Juno!”
Juno straightens her back, swipes her tears away, and puts on an act. “Yes, Grandma?”
“Come eat now, you’ve been up there long enough.”
“Coming.” She hurriedly puts her shoes back on, struggling with the small buckle until I finally take over and do it for her. “Friends forever, right?”
I nod and she smiles, tossing the ladder through the opening and climbing down from the treehouse.
Once she’s gone, I whisper, “But what if I like you more than a friend?”
Eight
Juno
On Saturday evening, I walk out of my room and find Kingston sitting on the couch, gaming. Since it’s spring and he works as a smoke jumper, in a few weeks, he’ll probably be gone more than he’s home.
He looks me up and down with raised eyebrows. “Where are you going?”
“I have a date.” I walk over to my purse and shove my lipstick into the clutch.
Brooklyn has the perfect crossbody purse to go with my outfit, but I didn’t call her to borrow it because I haven’t told anyone I’m going on a date. Mostly because they’ll look at me like Kingston is right now. That look that says, “What the hell are you doing, Juno?”
“Not with Colton?” He’s turned back to his game now, his thumbs pressing buttons a million times in a row. Obviously, from the shorts and shirt he’s wearing, he’s not planning on going out tonight.
“I assume Colton is going out with his soon-to-be wife.” I slide into the kitchen, needing to get rid of the nerves that won’t stop making me feel as though my salad from lunch wants to come back up. I haven’t been on an actual date in a long time. Trey wasn’t a date; he was a hook-up. A mistake, really, because I didn’t think I’d have to see him in Lake Starlight as much as I do.
I crack open a beer and come back into the room.
“You haven’t shut that down yet? I thought maybe you guys figured your shit out the night of the baby shower.” His eyes stay fixed on whatever war game he’s playing.
“I wouldn’t sleep with someone who’s getting married.” I act offended, but the truth is I would have, and I can’t get over what a horrible person I am for that.
He tosses the controller next to him on the couch. “Fuck. I’m dead.”
Standing, he disappears into the kitchen and, from the sound of it, gets himself a beer.
He sits back down and stares at me. “So who’s the new guy?”
That’s the Kingston we all know and love. He never digs too deep into any of our business. Just prods our shells gently in case we feel like opening up and talking. Sometimes I think he doesn’t push because he doesn’t want the questions poised back at him.
“A guy who came in to be matched,” I say.
“I thought rule number one was not to date the clients?” He tips back his beer, then grins.
“Well, I’m amending that rule for when you feel sorry for yourself and a guy seems pretty smitten with you. I need to move on