It was fabulous.
He licked at the ice cream that smeared across his upper lip. “It was good. It’s always nice getting to sit and talk with my mom.”
Trey Turner really was a sweet boy, inside and out. I didn’t know if it had something to do with his obvious appreciation for his mom, but I went quiet, realizing just how easy it was to be enthralled with this boy in the short time I knew him—or remembered knowing him.
I placed my finished custard in the cup holder before leaning my back against the door to face him. “So, we were friends before, correct?”
He eyed me, taking a bite of his custard before nodding.
“What was that like?”
He turned his body to me, head tilting curiously. “What was what like?” he asked, discarding the rest of his custard into my finished one.
“Our friendship,” I answered. “Were we always like this?” I flapped a finger, indicating the unseen connection between us.
He stared at me thoughtfully for a moment before putting the car into drive. “Put your seat belt on.”
I folded my arms over myself, refusing to let him avoid my questions. Trey didn’t argue. He only put the vehicle back into park, extended over me with ease, grabbed the belt, and quickly locked it into place over me.
Before retreating to his seat, he flicked my nose. I snorted, giving him a playful shove back to his side of the Jeep.
Smirking, he drove out of the parking lot, back onto the main road. “Uh, our relationship was—” He hesitated, rolling over his words before he continued, “Let’s just say our friendship was blossoming before your accident.”
I watched him intently, my knuckles pressed to my lips as I studied him and worked over his words in my head. “What does that mean?” I finally asked, not able to figure out his implications.
Trey let out a strained sigh as the vehicle rolled to a stop at a busy intersection. With the red glow of the traffic light reaching in through the windshield, painting the tension between us a deeper shade of want, he turned his eyes to me. He held my gaze in a way that hummed with quiet fascination. That one long look was enough to tell me there was something intimate Trey was hiding with knowing delight.
I sat up and leaned an elbow on the middle console.
“You had a big fat crush on me, huh?” I asked,wagging my brows. He snorted, like he’d instantly deny the claim, but he, instead, didn’t confirm nor deny my accusation. He only turned his focus back to the traffic lights that were now green, a shy smile playing across his lips.
I grinned to myself, sidling back to my side of the vehicle.
We soon stopped in front of a small house with a sign across the front door that spelt,Mason. Immediately, I whipped my head to Trey, who was already out and walking to my side of the car. He opened my door and gestured for me to get out. I stared at him, trying to catch up with whatever was going on.
Noticing my hesitation, he stood himself beside me, his body pressing into the open vehicle. One hand pleasantly rested atop my knee, the other on my upper arm. I watched him, glimpsing back and forth between the front door and those happy, deep green eyes.
“What are we doing, Trey?”
“This is the surprise.”
He dug into his back pocket and pulled out a set of keys, dangling them in front of me.
“Liam gave me keys to the house. He was always forgetting stuff that he needed me to grab for him. Or sometimes after parties he’d be so wasted, I had to sneak him into bed without your mom seeing. So, he gave me keys to come and go as I pleased,” he said this with a sad smile pulling at his lips, no doubt recalling such memories.
Memories with my brother. My family.
For the first time, I envied him for the memories he could remember and be sad about.
I envied his recollection and claim to the house that laid before me. I never ached to remember what could hurt me. The people, the lost life. Here was the one place I was born to belong in, and I couldn’t remember it. He could see and feel for this place more than I could, andit made me feel so…misplaced.
I turned my attention ahead, fighting back the sudden rush of emotion that threatened to drown me.
I couldn’t go in there. I didn’t belong there.
Trey brought my knee out past him, turning me until I faced him and the house fully while he fit himself between my legs. I sat slightly above him due to the massive wheels and lift of the Jeep.
He cupped my face in both of his calloused hands as he surveyed me. “You don’t have to go in if you don’t want to. But I have a few things I wanted to grab for you in there. You’re welcome to wait out here if that would make you more comfortable.”
