Chirp(56)

She spun on him, tears streaking down her cheeks. “I loved you! You were my first love! My first everything! FYI, a girl never gets over that.” She swiped at her nose.

He couldn’t stand it anymore. He rushed around the counter and took her in his arms.

She jerked away. “Oh, I understand. Thought you’d get a little stray before you tie the knot? And who else better than easy Hanna, right? Well, I’m not so easy anymore.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I never thought that. What did you want from me? I was eighteen.” God, he’d said it like that fixed everything, but from the way she was shaking, it didn’t.

“What’d I want? A phone call. Text. Letter. Anything to make me feel as if I had mattered. I waited, Seth. Weeks. Months. You used me and then pretended it never happened.”

He took another step forward, but she stepped back again. Fighting the urge to hold her, he jammed his hands deeper into his pockets. “You mattered. It’s just I was in Houston. You were here. Living five hours away, I didn’t see how we could . . .”

“How we could what? Keep screwing? Yeah, you’re right. That was impossible, which made it clear that’s all you wanted. I meant nothing more than a good time.”

He couldn’t fight it any longer. He wrapped her in his arms again, holding her tighter this time. The memory of her beneath him flooded back with such force he thought his chest would explode. “That isn’t true. Every time I came to visit Dessie, I tried to see you, but you were always conveniently out of town. Seems you were avoiding me.”

She broke free and glared with so much hate, he staggered backward. Her words dripped with venom. “Go home, Seth. There’s nothing for you here.” She pushed past him and slammed the shop’s door behind her, leaving him alone. Within seconds, another wood-splintering crash as she went into the house.

This didn’t go the way he’d expected. God, he’d hurt her more than he thought. She was right. He hadn’t spoken to her after he’d left that summer. But not for lack of trying. Hell, she didn’t even come to Dessie’s service. Why put this all on him? He didn’t get it.

He stepped out into the sunshine and headed home, kicking rocks as he walked. When he got back to the farmhouse, he found Rance in the laundry room.

“Where’d you run off to so early?”

“Hanna’s.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. A long time ago, she and I had a thing.”

Rance finished stuffing clothes into the washer, added the detergent, and closed the lid. “Where was I when this thing was going on?”

“It was the summer your trouble started.”

“She have anything to do with your decision about Heather?”

Seth raked his hands through his hair. He’d not been sure until today, and now it was too late. “Doesn’t matter. She made it pretty clear she hates my guts.”

“Why?”

“After I left, I never called. But in my defense, the next summer when I came for a visit, I tried to see her, but she’d gone to her grandmother’s.” Okay, maybe that wasn’t a good excuse. He had waited a year, but long-distance relationships didn’t work.

“So, you’re saying to hell with it?”

“I guess. What I don’t understand is why she’s still mad. Claims to be serious about a guy, so our past shouldn’t matter.”

“I thought you were leaving today,” Blaze interrupted.

“Decided to stay a little longer.”

Rance straightened. “Hey, what are you doing home so early?”

“No bodies.”

He went to stand next to her and spoke to Seth again. “No way she’s serious about the guy. She told me he’d proposed, but she hadn’t accepted, and that was weeks ago. Unless you saw an engagement ring, she still hasn’t.”

Seth glanced at Blaze, who had an odd expression. “Then why say that?”

Blaze averted her eyes. “I don’t know.”

Seth had taken part in enough mock trials to read body language. “I think you do. So what’s up?”

She fiddled with her hair, twirling a spiked strand in her fingers. “Maybe to get rid of you.”

Rance nodded and draped an arm around her shoulders. “Makes sense. If she’s involved, no need for you to see her again.”

“Probably shouldn’t anyway,” Seth said.

Blaze shook her head. “No!”

Her outburst caused Seth to flinch. “Why not?”

“You shouldn’t give up.”

“Appreciate the encouragement, but she practically threw me out. Can’t go back. She was leaving for work.”

“You should go there. To the Quick Mart. She can’t make a customer leave. She works until midnight. Did you tell her you weren’t getting married?”

“Didn’t really get the chance.”

“You should tell her. And if you still like her, tell her that, too.”

Before Seth could say anything else, Blaze turned and walked away.

He looked at Rance. “What do you think?”

“If you still have feelings for her, then Chirp is right. Go for it.” Rance’s phone chimed. He read the text, then smiled. “I’m needed in the bedroom.”