The Davis Years (Indigo) Read Free Page B

when she heard her name.
    He called it again, more softly this time. “Jemma.”
    She turned. It wasn’t fair for him to still look so good to her. He’d grown his black hair out, but not much else had changed. His baby blues still had the same knee-weakening effect on her. She watched him approach her in his khaki shorts and white T-shirt. The only sound besides that of the traffic on the nearby highway was the slapping of his flip-flops against the soles of his feet as he moved across the parking lot. A warm night breeze blew, but that wasn’t what made her shiver.
    “I—well, it’s good to see you,” he said with a smile so sad it broke her heart a little.
    “Davis,” she managed.
    He rubbed his hand across the stubble on his cheek. “You look good. Different, though.”
    She nodded. She’d started wearing her hair in micro-braids during college. Becoming a runner had given some definition to her formerly straight and thin figure. She wore a beige shift dress and gold sandals. She’d even gotten a pedicure—something she didn’t often do—so that her gold toenails matched her sandals. Not that she was trying to impress Davis or anything.
    “You look good, too,” she said, swallowing hard.
    He laughed, but there was no mirth to it. She’d never heard that laugh before. “You don’t have to lie.”
    Davis had always been slender, but now the word stringy came to mind. He hadn’t shaved in at least a day or two. And there was just something about him—defeat mixed with something almost sinister—that made him not the boy on whom she’d once had a large and problematic crush.
    “We should, um, I guess we should probably talk.” Jemma fidgeted with Mary’s car keys. Maybe coming to the restaurant had been a bad idea. She should have just accepted that he didn’t want to see her when he didn’t let her into his house the day before. “You busy?”
    He shook his head. “I was just coming by to pick up my schedule.” He paused for a moment, seeming to puzzle over something. Then he said, “What are you doing here?”
    She wouldn’t look at him as she admitted in an embarrassed mutter, “Looking for you.”
    Davis nodded. “I’ll be right back.”
    “Okay.” She watched him head toward the brick building with its green roof. It was a favorite with the locals and with the truck drivers passing through town on their way to and from the interstate. The place was kind of a dive, but the food was decent. While she waited for Davis, she tried to think of exactly what it was she wanted to say to him, but she kept coming up empty.
    Davis came out of the building and walked over to his black Acura—the one she remembered very well from high school—and sat on the hood. He waved her over. She walked to him, thinking about how she’d once adored that car almost as much as she’d adored its owner. That thing was full of memories for her, both good and bad. It probably still smelled like his cologne inside. She was glad he still wore the same kind. That was one thing she was glad hadn’t changed in all those years. The scent brought bittersweet memories flooding back to her.
    “So what do you want to talk about?” Davis asked, scratching the back of his neck.
    “The way we left things—it wasn’t—it didn’t feel—very . . . final.” She was still struggling to find the words she wanted. After picturing this day for six years, she should have been able to do better.
    Davis laughed dryly. “I dunno. Not hearing from you for six years kinda helped it feel final for me.”
    Jemma looked away. Sure, it’d been a crappy thing to do, but it hadn’t been all her fault. He hadn’t exactly made life easy for her right before she left.
    He sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry. That was an ass thing to say. I just don’t know what to say or how to feel right now.”
    “I’m sorry, too, Davis. It was just—I needed a clean break from everything and everyone.”
    “Even me?”
    “Especially