Suddenly, a loud squeal echoed through the air around me as Gran hurried off the porch and directly toward Harley. She immediately took her into her arms and hugged her close.
I couldn’t hear the things they were saying, but by the smiles they both wore on their faces, I could only assume they were catching up on the last four years.
“Did you know she was coming?” I asked my dad, still not looking away.
“No idea,” he assured me.
I noticed the way she’d continued to look in my direction even when Gran continued talking. I felt a number of things, but anger and irritation outweighed everything else.
Gran looked in my direction and lifted her hand, waving me over. When I didn’t move, she offered me that look of hers that showed her own irritation—her lips pursed, her eyebrows crinkled, and her hands on her hips. “You better get moving before your Gran throttles you.” Reed lowered the barrel we currently held to the ground and brushed off his hands.
“What if I don’t want to?”
“There’s a reason behind her visit,” he stated as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Talking to her doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong, Rhett. Besides, it’s better here than later when she’s forced to show up at your place to attempt again. At least now you’ll be able to go home later and explain it all to AJ.”
My heart felt like it lurched within me.
Suddenly my feet were moving across the yard toward Gran and Harley as they both watched me approach. The closer I got, the more visible the girl I once loved became. And I’ll admit she was as beautiful now as she was four years ago, with those baby blue eyes of hers looking back at me beneath long lashes.
“Look who came for a visit,” Gran said with a smile.
“Four years too late.” The words fell from my lips before I had a chance to stop them.
“Rhett,” my name sounded more like a warning from Gran, “there is no need to be rude.”
“Can you excuse us, please?” I tried to hold my cool as I smiled back at my grandmother. I hoped she’d grant my wish, because I honestly didn’t want her hand upside the back of my head. I had a feeling if she stuck around much longer it would be that or her boot in my ass.
“It’s great to see you, Harley,” she said as she leaned in once more and hugged Harley again. “Don’t be a stranger.”
Inside I was screaming out just the opposite.
I watched in silence as Gran backed up before spinning on her heel and walked back to the house. I waited until she was inside with the door closed before I looked back to Harley. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, that’s some welcome.” She offered that smile of hers that four years ago would have dropped me to my knees, only now it did absolutely nothing. “You didn’t respond to the package I sent or the messages I sent through messenger.”
“Didn’t have anything to say about the package, and as for the messages, I didn’t even open ’em.”
Harley only stared back at me, no longer smiling as she scanned my face with her curious eyes.
“Now again I’ll ask, what are you doing here?”
“I came back to see you.” She reached out her hand to place on my arm, and I stepped back out of her reach. She actually, at that moment, had the nerve to look disappointed. “I graduated last week,” she began again, and I remained silent, still waiting for her to say anything that was meaningful or explain why the hell she felt the need to be here now. “The moment I was given my diploma, there was only one thing that I wanted to do. It wasn’t go out and celebrate with the friends I’d made, or find my parents in the crowd, it was you.” She paused, her head tilted to the side just slightly. “I wanted to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because we’d talked about the day we’d graduate so many times. We shared our dreams and the hopes we held for our future. And in that moment, you were all I saw.”
“I stopped seeing you a long time ago.” She flinched at my words. It may not have been the complete truth, but since the moment AJ and I become a couple, I’d forgotten what I felt when I was with Harley. It had all been replaced with a gorgeous brunette with the sweetest laugh, the woman who made me feel like I was her everything, every single day.
“I guess I was just hoping that you and I could somehow reconnect, despite the distance we’ve had over the last few years.”
“I’m with someone,” I told her, and again she flinched. “Someone I love very much.”
“Oh,” she said as she looked down at the ground between us. “That’s good.” I could automatically sense the sarcasm in her voice.
I thought of bringing up the guy I’d seen on her Facebook page, but the last thing I wanted was for her to think that I’d been following along with her life. So instead I remained silent, waiting for whatever else it was she felt she needed to say.
“I’m gonna be here for a couple weeks,” she finally added. “I have an interview at a dance academy in Statesboro.” I nodded my head, though I honestly just wanted to tell her to move on with her life, choose someplace else to settle. “Maybe we can have lunch, coffee even? You can bring this girl that’s stolen your heart.” Stolen…she made it seem as if AJ wasn’t worthy, and that she’d somehow taken me from Harley. Fact of the matter was I’d given AJ my heart, and I didn’t want it
