hadn’t even seen in years. Well, clearly there was no point in pretending with Piper. “Fine. Yes. You’re right, Ms. Mind Reader.”
Piper laughed and took a bite of the lemon meringue pie Amanda had promised her the day before. “Honey, I don’t need to read your mind. It’s in your eyes—not to mention the whisker burn on your neck.”
She slapped one hand to the right side of her throat. A quick tingle whipped through her as she recalled how it had felt, having Nathan’s whiskery cheeks buried in the curve of her neck. Of course that didn’t mean she wanted the world noticing what she’d been up to. Amanda had been so sure she’d managed a makeup miracle. Now she didn’t know why she had bothered.
“Honestly, I don’t know how they can call that foundation ‘full coverage,’” she muttered. “I should send them an email, complaining.”
“You do that,” Piper said with a chuckle. “So, how is Nathan?”
“He’s…good.” Better than good. Fabulous, really. A smile curved her mouth as she remembered the night before.
By the time Amanda had gotten home, she was more tired and more energized than she’d been in years. Every cell in her body had felt as if it had just come to life after long years of sleep. She’d felt almost like Sleeping Beauty, except that Nathan wasn’t exactly Prince Charming and she was no damsel in distress waiting to be rescued.
No, last night hadn’t been the beginning of anything. She wouldn’t fool herself into hoping for more when she was pretty sure that Nathan was considering what had happened at the river to be just a good time.
But it had been more. For her, at least. Despite what she had said to Nathan, Amanda wasn’t a sex-is-just-sex kind of girl. If sex didn’t mean anything, what was the point to it all? No. The only reason she had slept with Nathan was because she still had feelings for him.
“And so,” Piper persisted, “this means you’re back together?”
“No,” Amanda said, shaking her head. “I’m not kidding myself about that. Last night was just…last night.” She wasn’t going to invent dreams and let them soar only to come crashing back to earth again. She’d already lived through that pain once and really had no desire to do it one more time. “Nathan and I didn’t work out before, remember?”
Piper winced. “I know, but you’re both different now.”
“Are we?” she wondered aloud. Amanda had been doing a lot of thinking about this since the night before. Sure, they were older, hopefully wiser, but was it enough to make a new relationship possible? Did Nathan even want a new relationship with her?
She was getting a headache.
“I don’t know,” she said finally. “Nathan will always be important to me. But—”
“No buts,” Piper insisted. “There don’t have to be any buts.”
Amanda chuckled. “In a perfect world …”
A loud noise from across the room caught her attention and Amanda glanced at her sister, who was slamming the coffeepot back onto the warming burner. It was a wonder the pot hadn’t shattered. Amanda frowned when Pam turned her head long enough to fire a glare at her.
“Wow, Pam’s in a good mood today.”
“Yeah,” Amanda said. “She’s been like this all morning.”
“Not surprising,” Piper told her. “She’s been after Nathan for years and she’s probably guessed by now that she’s never going to get him.”
“What?”
“You probably know that she and Nathan went out a couple times while you were gone.” When Amanda nodded, Piper continued. “Well, it didn’t go anywhere. Nathan wasn’t interested. And let’s just say if I could notice the whisker burn on your neck, then Pam noticed, too.”
“Perfect.” So not only was her life in turmoil over Nathan, but she also had to worry about her sister’s anger, too.
Piper shot a quick glance at Pam over her shoulder before turning back to Amanda. She leaned in closer to say, “Everybody knows Pam’s been crazy about Nathan since school. Just like everyone knows that she’s jealous of you.”
“Everyone but me,” Amanda said and picked up her coffee for a sip. Yes, she knew Pam had had a crush on Nathan when they were in school. What girl hadn’t back then? But jealous? “Why should she be jealous of me?”
“Hmm …” Piper pretended to ponder the question. “Let’s see. You’re younger, prettier, you’ve got a college degree she never bothered to go after and most importantly—you have Nathan.”
“Had.”
Piper’s eyebrows lifted. “You sure about the past tense, there?”
The old-fashioned jukebox was playing in the corner, some classic rock and roll song streaming through the one large speaker. A couple of people sat at the counter having a late lunch and two elderly women occupied a booth and shared tea and cake. Most people around here stayed home on Sunday and had family meals together so it was a slow day for the diner, which was both a burden and a blessing.
Since Amanda hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, she was grateful to not be so busy. But not being busy meant that Pam had the time to make Amanda’s life miserable. Which, she had to say, her sister was getting really good at.
But the worst part about a slow day at the diner? It gave Amanda too much time to think. Too much time to wonder about what had happened the night before between her and Nathan. And no matter how much thought she put into the situation, she was no closer to understanding it.
She knew that the two of them together were magical. But she also knew that didn’t guarantee a happy ending.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” Piper said quietly, “you should stop it. Doesn’t look like it’s making you happy.”
“It’s not.” Amanda took a bite of her pie and let the dense lemon flavoring explode on her tongue. When she’d swallowed, she said, “I don’t know that last night meant a darn thing, Piper.”
“If you want it to mean something, it will.”
She laughed shortly. “Not that simple. What if I want it and Nathan doesn’t?”
“Make him want it,” Piper suggested with a shrug.
“Oh, well, that should be easy,” she mused.
“No, it won’t,” Piper told her. “Nothing worth having comes easy. The question is, do you want him?”
“Wish that was the only question,” she murmured and finished off her pie.
A few days later, Amanda realized she had forgotten just how much she enjoyed small-town Fourth of July celebrations.
