Shaw put an arm around Coco and whispered something in her ear and she laughed. I moved closer to Adelaide so only she could hear me. “Sorry about being an asshole earlier.”
“That’s big of you.” She stared straight ahead.
“Are you seriously pissed at me?” I mean, the girl was as tolerant as you got. Her dickhead boyfriend had fucked around on her and she didn’t hate the dude. I made one asshole comment, and now she wouldn’t talk to me?
She came to a stop. “Well, why were you so rude?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Sometimes I’m rude.”
“That’s a lame answer, Jett. I tell you everything about my life, so I didn’t think asking about Kylie would make you mad.” She dropped to sit on a log that had been there for as long as I’d been coming out to this side of the lake. Shaw and Coco said they were going to gather wood to start our own fire, and Jax was still off with Lydia doing God knows what.
“I wasn’t mad. I just don’t have much to say about it. It’s not all that deep.” I looked up and she finally met my gaze. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm while we waited for the fire.
“Okay.” She looked away and gazed out at the water.
I unzipped my hoody and handed it to her. “Peace offering.”
She smiled now, and it was goddamn worth freezing my balls off for. “No way. You’ll freeze.”
“Trust me, I’m fine. Take it.”
She pulled it over her shoulders, and the navy fabric hung around her small frame like a blanket. Her hands were buried inside the sleeves somewhere and she pulled the hood up over her head.
Fucking adorable.
Jesus, dude. Pull your shit together. Adelaide Edington was not someone I could mess around with. We were friends.
Nothing more.
“Thank you. Are you hurting from the fight? It looked like he got in a couple good kicks to your ribs.”
“Look at you… paying attention to my fights, huh?”
“Something like that,” she said as she stared out at the water again.
“You shouldn’t be hanging out there, Ace.”
She rolled her eyes. “I like watching you fight. And Coco invited me, so I went. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. I’m surprised Kylie wasn’t there to cheer you on.”
What was her deal with Kylie? Jesus.
I didn’t want to dig myself into a bigger hole.
“Kylie and I aren’t really a thing anymore. I ended it a while back.”
She turned to look at me. Studying me as if she were trying to figure me out. “I thought you were seeing her this weekend?”
“I am. She wants to talk about why I ghosted her.” I shrugged.
“Why did you ghost her?”
“Hell, if I know. Just not feeling it,” I said because it was the truth.
“Why didn’t you just tell me that?”
Now it was my turn to look out at the water. “I don’t know, Ace.”
There was a group of kids walking down by the water, and laughter pulled my gaze off to a patch of oversized cypress trees to the right. Adelaide and I both stared as Alec and Karina walked out of the trees and down by the water. It was obvious they’d hooked up by the way she was hanging on him. He had a beer can dangling from one hand, and he was stumbling around like an idiot.
“I wish he’d just date her,” she whispered.
“Do you? It wouldn’t bother you?”
She laughed. “I know. It makes no sense. It should bother me, but it would almost be a relief. He’s acting like he wants to get back together, which complicates things for me with our families. If he’d move on, I think it would make things easier on both of us.”
“You dated the dude for years. I’m surprised it doesn’t hurt you to see them together.”
“It’s been very eye-opening for me too.” She shrugged. “Because it honestly doesn’t hurt me even a little. I don’t think we really knew each other at all. I realize now that we never really talked about me. It was always him telling me what our future would look like. What he wanted. We’d never talk about anything meaningful or real, you know? I just thought that’s the way it was supposed to be. But stepping away from him has shown me just how broken our relationship was. And I don’t miss it.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. He’s a selfish asshole.”
She laughed. “He’s not a bad guy, Jett. He’s a little selfish and entitled, but that’s not totally his fault. He’ll find his way, at least I hope he will.”
“Why are you so fucking nice to him?”
“Because he’s family. Because his mom has been like a second mother to me. Because I’ve known him a long time and I want him to be happy,” she said, turning her gaze to the water.
“What about you? What do you want?” I asked.
“I want to go away to school. I want to study journalism. I want my family to support my dreams. Hell, I’m still figuring it out. But I know I want—more.”
“Good for you. You deserve all those things. And you aren’t going to find them in Willow fucking Springs.” I rubbed my hands together to create some heat, scooching closer to her because I needed to.
Like my life depended on it.
“Why do you hate this town so much?”
“I don’t know. For a lot of reasons. Why do you love it so much?” I asked because I really wanted to know. Adelaide was smart and witty, so it surprised me that she had such blind faith in this place.
“What time are you meeting Kylie tomorrow?” she asked, her head cocked to the side.
“Tomorrow night. Why are you avoiding the question?”
“I’m not. Good. We had to move our Magic Willow breakfast to Sunday because Ivy’s grandparents are in town. Meet me at the diner at ten tomorrow morning. We’ll have breakfast and then I’ll show you why I love this town so much, and I’ll bet you ten bucks you’ll love it by the end of the day too. And you’ll be done with plenty of time to meet the girl you keep ghosting.” She laughed.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. But I’ve been everywhere in this shit town already, so keep your expectations low.”
“We’ll see about that.” She laughed as Coco and Shaw finally showed up and dropped some wood down in front of us. He bent down and started the fire, and Jax and Lydia walked over with a few other kids.