have you been up to since the last time I saw you?” she asked, a desperate attempt to change the subject.
Of course, when “the last time” came out of her mouth, she blushed even deeper. It had been three years since she’d seen Cade, five years since he had up and vanished.
One minute she’d been falling asleep next to him after he took her v-card, the next she had woken up to a cold, empty bed.
She bit her lip and tried to focus on his answer.
“Just been in Montana. Fighting fires and taking care of my Aunt Mary.”
“How is your aunt?” she asked, eager to be on safe territory.
Cade’s face fell. “She passed away almost a year ago.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry…”
Lily instinctively reached and touched his arm. She nearly yanked it back as an electric current flowed between them. When his eyes met hers, her mind went blank.
Even in the bright lights of the supermarket, it felt like it was just the two of them. And the connection between them was palpable.
Lily licked her lips and felt her body inch towards him. She couldn’t help herself. But the connection was broken when two teenaged boys ran down the aisle towards them. As one of them jolted her cart, the kid sneered at her.
“Excuse you,” he said while his friend laughed.
She sensed a shift in Cade. He cracked his knuckles and turned lightning fast on the boys.
“Hey!” he called. Something in his voice made them stop. “Get back here and apologize.”
“Cade, stop,” she hissed under her breath. “It’s not a big deal—”
“It is,” he said.
Why was he so riled up over something that most people would just roll their eyes at? Her heart started to pound in her chest.
“Are you for real?” the boy asked who bumped her cart. That teenage confidence he’d displayed was gone, replaced with a touch of fear.
“Apologize now,” Cade said.
“Sorry,” the kid mumbled.
“It’s fine—” Lily started.
“Like you mean it,” Cade interrupted.
“I’m sorry! Okay? Can we go now?” the kid asked. He looked around for help, but there was nobody.
“Can you go?” Cade repeated. “No, you can’t go. You think you can just do whatever the hell you want and there won’t be consequences?”
“It was an accident, dude,” the other kid said. He tilted his pointy chin upwards, an attempt to look more grown-up.
“It wasn’t an accident,” Cade said. “You think that would have happened if you weren’t running around the place like a couple of kindergartners? Is that how you think men act?”
“We were just in a hurry,” the kid who bumped into her said.
“And where the hell do you have to be that’s so important? Shouldn’t you be in school, anyway?”
The boys looked at each other and shuffled their feet side to side.
“What are you even getting here?” Cade asked.
“Nothing,” one of the kids started to say, but his friend shot him a look.
“What is it?” Cade asked.
The quieter one sheepishly held up a half-dozen box of free-range eggs.
“Eggs?” Cade asked. “You two think you’re Rocky or something?”
“Who?” the kid with the eggs asked.
“Nevermind. Just go buy your eggs and get lost.”
“So we can go?” one of them asked, uncertain. He looked longingly towards the front of the store.
“Yeah, sure,” Cade said. “Just don’t be a little shit again, alright?”
“Yes, sir,” the kid said, without a hint of sarcasm. “We just… we just want our eggs.”
What was that all about? Lily wondered. Sure, the kids had been jerks, but that’s what kids do.
But before Lily could say anything, Aiden appeared around the corner.
“Hey!” he said. “There you are. And you found Lily, too.”
“We didn’t come here together,” Lily said quickly.
Aiden gave her a strange look. “I didn’t think you did. But I saw both your cars outside.”
“Oh. Right,” she said. “Our cars. Yeah.”
“So… what’s going on?” Aiden asked.
“What do you mean?” Lily said, defensive. “We’re just shopping, I wanted coffee—”
“Whoa, calm down,” Aiden said. “I mean, it just seems like something weird’s going on. There’s some kind of, I don’t know, energy in the air.”
“What, are you psychic now?” Lily asked. “We were just shopping.”
“Yeah, you said that,” Aiden replied.
He looked from one of them to the other. Lily racked her brain for something to say.
Could Aiden tell? Maybe it was written all over her face. Maybe he and Elijah had always known she’d harbored a crush for Cade.
“Just some little jackass running wild through the store,” Cade said. “Seriously, were we that wild when we were teenagers? What the hell are they doing in some boutique market, anyway?”
“Probably picking up some bougie asparagus water or something,” Aiden said. “Seriously, kids these days don’t eat tater tots and crap like we used to. It’s all artisanal this and organic that.”
“Yeah, well. I don’t think it’s doing their attitude any good,” Cade said. “Hey, man, I need to head out, but we’ll catch up soon, alright?”
“Sounds good. See you at the station,” Aiden said.
“Vegetables?” he asked as he examined Lily’s cart.
She watched Cade’s broad back retreat.
Yeah, I know exactly what that “weird energy” is, and it has nothing to do with those kids, she thought.
It was attraction, mixed with
