“Sounds like you,” he said simply.
I stopped smiling. His comment wasn’t meant to upset me. I knew that. But it did. If he didn’t want to remember and he wanted to keep things in the past then he needed to not reply as if he had that kind of knowledge. He didn’t know me. Not really. Not anymore. That girl was no longer.
The Bagel Hut had a line out the door. “Figures,” he muttered.
Most of the good places to eat had lines. I glanced around and saw no other option with a shorter line. Maybe it would move quickly.
“Will you freeze?” he asked me.
“Possibly,” I replied.
He chuckled and one of the girls in front of us glanced over her shoulder, got a good look at Creed then nudged her friend, whispered in her ear and the other girl glanced back at him. Creed, however, wasn’t paying attention. He had crossed his arms over his chest and was leaning back against the building watching the activity on the street with a bored expression.
I understood why they were looking at him. I looked away. Appreciating the view was off-limits for me. He wasn’t a stranger on the street. The past made me feel guilty for looking.
“Is your mother still crazy?” he asked me then.
I nodded. Creed knew more about my mother than Griff. I’d wanted to start over when I went to college. When I’d met Griff, I kept most of my sordid family life from him. I wanted to forget it, so I never spoke of it.
“Sorry to hear about your Gran,” he said. His mother had come to the funeral. I’d mentally prepared myself to face him again but he’d not come. The blow hadn’t been as hard because Griff had been by my side. Part of me was relieved he hadn’t come to the funeral.
“It was sudden. As hard as that was I’m thankful she didn’t suffer,” I told him. That had been how I had dealt with losing her. Reminding myself that although I hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye at least she didn’t suffer from a terrible disease that killed her slowly. “She was asleep. It was peaceful.”
He studied me a moment and I felt self-conscious having his focus on me. The line moved and we moved up with it. One of the girls did another glance back at Creed then me before turning around. I was sure she was trying to figure us out. We didn’t look like a couple. There was too much space between us for starters. If he were Griff, I’d be snuggled up to his side.
“When was the last time you were there?” he asked.
“To see Gran or in Portsmouth?”
“Both,” he clarified.
“I saw Gran three months before she passed away. She came to Nashville for Christmas. The last time I was in Portsmouth was for the funeral.”
“I was there last month. My mom decided to move back. She and her husband, Chet’s uncle, bought a house on Dearborn,” he told me even though I hadn’t asked. The line moved again.
His parents had divorced and moved from their home beside Gran about six months after Cora’s death. Although I hadn’t come back to Portsmouth that next summer, I knew they’d moved that winter. Gran had told me. Before Cora’s death, our plan for that summer had been for the three of us to hike the Appalachian trail. Not the entire thing but start in Maine and go as far as we could before we all went to college that fall. I’d forgotten that until now.
“Where did y’all move after…” I couldn’t finish the question. I glanced up at him, wishing I hadn’t asked that or mentioned it.
“My dad moved to Simsbury, Connecticut. Mom moved to Burlington, Vermont, to live near her mother,” he replied but said nothing more. There were so many things I could ask him but I didn’t. I didn’t need to know about his life. He was no longer a part of mine. We would rarely see each other after I left tomorrow. I didn’t need to know which parent he lived with after the divorce.
When the line moved again, we were finally inside the warmth of the Bagel Hut. I sighed from the pleasure of it. A small grin lifted the corners of Creed’s mouth. The girls in front of us both turned around this time. The blonde was smiling at Creed, but the other girl’s focus was on me. They must have listened to us enough to know we weren’t a couple and were ready to make their move on Creed.
“Excuse me but I need to know,” the brunette asked, looking directly at me. “Are you Sailor Copeland?” she asked. The other girl was looking at me now too.
This wasn’t new. I was used to this, in Nashville. It had never happened in New England. I’d loved that about coming here in the summers. I opened my mouth to respond, but Creed spoke first.
“Who?” he asked.
The brunette looked more unsure now than she had before. She studied me again then glanced at him. “Sailor Copeland. Denver Copeland’s daughter,” she said, and I saw a couple people turn to look at us. Crap.
“Whose Denver Copeland?” Creed asked.
The girl looked at him like he was crazy. “The country singer, CMA entertainer of the year, several times over,” she said the words like he should know this.
He laughed loudly then and nudged my arm. “Does your pops sing, Nyx?” he asked me.
I wasn’t used to denying who I was. Not because I wanted attention but because I was a terrible liar. However, a few of the other people who had turned to look at us had turned away now. Creed was a much better liar than me.
I shook my head but didn’t say anything for fear I’d mess up this ruse.
“Last I checked her pops sat at a desk all day balancing books,” he told the girl then flashed a smile that I was sure could melt any female in a hundred-mile radius. She turned her attention to him then and gave him a seductive smile.
“I’m Sierra,” she told him.
“Dan,” he replied with a nod. The line moved then and it was their turn. “Better order up,” he told her then winked.
He had her so flustered she forgot her order and her friend kept giggling. I shot him a grateful smile and waited for them to get their order in so we could finally make ours. Before they moved out of the way the blonde turned around and handed “Dan” a napkin. “Call me,” she said then licked her lips before walking over to the pickup window. The extra sway to her hips as she walked was slightly over the top.
Creed ordered for everyone but me and I added my request for an avocado with over easy egg bagel. He pulled out a card to pay and I handed him my debit card. He shook his head. “I got this.”
Frowning, I put my card away but didn’t like him paying for everyone’s meal. “I’ll pay you back for ours at the apartment. I don’t have cash on me right now.”
He didn’t respond and when we moved over to the pickup window, the girls had already gotten their food and had to move out of the cramped area. Creed took his cup and went to get some of their coffee. I doubted theirs was any better than the coffee at the apartment. I didn’t say anything though. Standing in line at a coffee house was the last thing I wanted to do.