Page 19 of Passing Notes
He took my hand and squeezed. “No apologies. You buried everything, didn’t you?”
I nodded.
“I get it. You buried it deep and moved on, as we three were wont to do at that age. And as you still are.” He was sympathetic even though he was calling me out.
“But I can’t seem to do that now for some reason.” My voice was small, I hated how weak I sounded. I let out a huge sigh and reached for the cooler bag full of food. I unearthed the quiche and dug straight into it with the fork Leo had so thoughtfully included. “Probably because he moved in right next door.”
Leo’s eyes bulged. “Oh shit.”
“I know.” I practically wailed, hand over my mouth, through a huge bite of quiche.
“What the heck, Clara?” Molly stared at me stunned, her mouth hanging wide open and her head shaking side to side. “You’re telling me you hid an entire relationship. With Nick Easton? Hot quarterback Nick? With the great hair and the big shoulders and that spectacular football player ass?!”
“Not the point, Molls,” Leo playfully scolded her.
“Right. So, you hid it? For all these years? Damn, girl. He’s a nice guy. I like him. He always buys a crap load of Leo’s brownies for his kids before he leaves. You and Nick Easton. Damn, girl.”
I chewed and swallowed before answering. “Yeah, that frickin’ Nick.”
“I’m so sorry. I wish you had told me so I could have been there for you.” Her head tilted toward Nick’s place. “And now he lives right there?”
I nodded.
“And we’re the only ones who know?” she continued.
“Yeah, and Sadie. She’s always known.”
They nodded in unison. “Obviously.”
I flopped back against the swing. “It’s like, I want to punch him in his stupid face, but I also want to find out what happened to make him not want me anymore. I kind of want to kiss him, too. I almost did this morning when he saved me from a huge-ass demon bug on my bed. It’s stressful. I’m confused and mad and sad and there’s more.”
“Oh crap, what is it?” She reached in the bag and pulled out a muffin to take a huge bite.
“I’m about to become a substitute down at the high school. Once my background check goes through, it will be official.”
“What?” Leo’s head drew back on his neck. “Why would you do that? That seems a bit out of left field. You were an attorney.”
“Uhhh...” I couldn’t tell them about Gracie; that was not my secret to spill. “I guess I need a change. I can’t spend the rest of my life out on this porch Rear Window-ing my neighbors and puttering around in my yard.”
“But-but—substitute teaching? Kids? Like, actual children?” Molly sputtered. “The only thing you’ve ever taught is a pole class down at Suzie Samuels’s studio.”
“That’s hardly what I’d call teaching experience, sugar.” Leo turned his attention from Molly to me. “What’s really going on?”
“Hey! It counts, okay? Plus, there’s a nationwide teacher shortage, you know. I’m doing my part to help out the youth of America. I’m college educated and I’m fully qualified.”
Molly huffed a laugh. “Okay, sure. We can wait. You’ll tell us the real reason sooner or later. We all know that. Even if it takes fifteen years,” she added with an eye roll.
“I’m sorry, I should have told you about Nick ages ago.”
“No, it’s okay.” Her face softened. “You don’t have to apologize to us. None of us were in our right minds back in high school. Didn’t his dad die? And his mom got married right away to her boss, right? Damn, that must have been hard for him.”
“Yeah, it was. Plus, he thought she’d be pissed about him dating me. She was pushing him hard to go to college, constantly nagging him about his grades and extracurricular activities, his SATs and GPA or whatever, and, as you know, I was not exactly a good influence back then.”
“Oh, hell no,” Leo snapped. “You’re torturing yourself over someone who wouldn’t even stick up for you?”
I lifted one shoulder in a resigned half shrug. “He had problems too. His family was a mess after his dad died, and he didn’t want to drag me into it. He didn’t want me getting hurt by her.”
“Hmph,” Leo scoffed. “I don’t know about all that. Sounds pretty weak to me.”
