“So nice to meet you,” Emily offers, holding out a hand and covering mine with her other one when we shake. I tug her in for a cheek kiss, and she sweetly blushes at the motion. Jess wraps an arm around her, and I notice how happy he is. He’s had a rough patch with the divorce, his father’s death, and his daughter’s issues. He has a tough exterior. Some would call him brooding, but he’s smiling in a way I remember from when we were young.
“I’m honored to be part of your wedding.” Jess and Emily will wed in roughly ten days, and I’ll be standing up as a groomsman for my old friend.
Emily steps away when Katie tugs at her hand, and I smile at Jess. “She’s beautiful, man.”
He chuckles softly. “Yeah, life is good.”
“So, how are things?”
Jess turns to me, his eyes finally pulling away from his future wife. “Where do I start? It’s been such a long time.”
“Give me the highlights.”
Jess smiles bigger and nods off toward where his woman just wandered. “You just met her.”
Jesus. He looks ridiculously happy, and I’m fighting the jealousy I feel toward him.
“What about you?” He turns back to me, and I have nothing to report that will top the look in his eye.
“Been busy. Traveled a bit and excited to present this film tomorrow night.”
Jess chuckles. “Now that I have your resume, how are you?” Jess eyes me like he knows something isn’t right with me. “I’m sorry about baseball, but I’m sure you hear that often enough. Got a girl? Will she be here?”
“No, Zoey and I broke up a few years back,” I sheepishly state. “She’s still my manager, but she won’t be here.” Zoey wouldn’t have attended, even if we were together. Once the game was gone, so was she. Strangely, I wasn’t sad about the end of us.
“Hey, can I ask you something strange? Do you remember that girl I dated after we graduated? Britton McKay. She was staying at her uncle’s place on this lake. She was Duke Braun’s cousin.”
“Duke?” Jess shakes his head. “I haven’t seen Duke in years.”
“Yes, but his cousin, Britton. Have you seen her around town?” I’m digging for information from a man who’s only been back in the area himself a few years, not to mention I don’t expect him to remember who I dated back when Debbie was his life. However, it’s a chance I need to take.
“Can’t say I recall her.” His eyes narrow.
“Blond, blue eyes, great body.”
Jess chuckles, scratching under his chin. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you just described my future wife.”
I laugh off the implication. “I’ve just described half of the women we ever knew.” Shaking my head at how ridiculous I sound, I turn my gaze to the party, not focusing on anyone in particular. “Just thought I’d ask, though.”
“Why?” Jess’s gaze narrows on me.
“I saw her. I thought she’d left. In fact, I know she did.” When we ran into each other thirteen years ago, we literally met on the street. She was walking down the sidewalk toward me, and I did a double take. She’d been back in town visiting her uncle. She lived in Grand Rapids. “But she’s here again.”
“Does she live here?”
I shake my head once more. “I have no idea. She was at the ballfield on the lake and then slipped away from me.” Again. Like that morning she slipped out of our hotel room and I never saw her again.
“Where was her uncle’s house? Maybe she’s back there,” Jess offers.
“I don’t know if I remember exactly,” I admit. “A lot has changed around here.” At the thought, I turn my head, thinking her uncle’s house was somewhere near here, but I just can’t remember where. The lakefront properties have considerably changed with some huge homes. Tom and Karyn’s house is modest when compared to newer places.
“Yeah, but some things haven’t changed,” Jess says, patting my upper arm. I don’t know what he means, but before I can ask, he says, “I’m going for a beer. Want one?” His eyes are set on his girl, though, so beer is really code for getting over to her.
“I’m good,” I say, deciding to step away from the chaos as the party seems to grow with more than just our families. It’s a Wednesday night, but Tom loves to gather people. This week also overlaps Elk Lake City’s annual festival called Harbor Days, so the town is growing in population.
I wander through the crowd, working my way to the front of the house where a basketball hoop is on the driveway, and a group of boys is playing ball.
“Gavin Scott, it’s really you.” Tricia Carter, Jess’s youngest sister, addresses me and comes in for a hug. When I left, she wasn’t even in eighth grade, but she’s turned into a beautiful woman, and she’s very pregnant.
“What happened?” I gasp, although the mechanics of sex are not lost on me.
“I got divorced.”
What? “Oh, I didn’t know.” How do I not know these things?
Tricia smiles. “And then I met someone.” Her eyes travel to the driveway court where a man in black dress pants and a black tee is playing hoops with the boys. “That’s Leon. He’s my husband.”
When I glance back at Tricia, she’s rubbing her belly and grinning at him, looking just as happy as her brother. I hate to say it, but all this happiness is choking me.
“Hey, I’m stepping out to make a phone call. I’ll be back.” Reaching for my phone, I use it as a scapegoat from the sappiness while not really having anyone to call. I walk to the end of the drive and then turn right for some reason. Glancing from side to side on the darkening road, I’d like to say I recognize homes and locations, but I don’t. I’ve been down this inner drive at some time, but I can’t recall who used to live around here because the houses are so different.
As I walk, lost in my thoughts, I hear a shout behind me.
“Gee, slow down.”
Spinning, I turn just in time to see Gee on his bike. He whizzes past me without a glance, and Britton follows. She looks up, noticing me on the road, and the front tire of her bike wobbles, causing her to swerve.
“Whoa,” she cries, laughing at the same time the bike skids from side to side before it stops, and she hops off, cursing. I jog up to her.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, my foot just slipped, and the pedal got me in the shin.” She looks up from her wounded leg and down the road. “Gee,” she calls out.
“Want me to chase him down?” I’m not really dressed for a run, but I run every day, and I’ll go after him if she needs me to.
“Nah, I guess he’ll be okay. We were almost . . .” Her voice drifts.
“Almost where?” I glance up, scanning before her and behind her, still uncertain of my bearings.
“Almost home,” she whispers, lowering her head.
“You live here?” The question slices through the quiet of the night as I stare back at her. Britton doesn’t answer, her eyes avoiding mine as she focuses on the bike she straddles.
I do another sweep of my surroundings, trying to place things, and then I narrow my sight on the road ahead of us. “Your uncle’s place. It’s right up there.”