Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Ezmita rolled her eyes and waved a hand at her sister as if to shoo her off. Then she swung her gaze back to me. Those eyes hadn’t changed. The way she could look at me, and I felt like she knew me.
“You’re out late,” she said once we were alone.
“Just got back from Nash’s. How was your movie?”
She shrugged. “Popcorn was the best part. They always put too much butter on it,” she replied.
“I haven’t been to the drive-in since… well, since that summer,” I admitted.
She smiled and shrugged. “Me either, until tonight. Seems my sister has a crush on the quarterback. Apparently the girls in this town can’t seem to stay away from the football players.”
“You should warn her,” I said.
“Oh, trust me, I tried,” Ezmita replied, then smirked at me.
Damn, this was nice.
It was also confusing as hell.
“How long are you here for?” I asked her, needing some kind of closure or reason to stop thinking about her being a part of Lawton.
She sighed, and her shoulders lifted and fell with the action. Her gaze went back to her house, then back to me. “I don’t know,” she finally said.
That was not helpful. Not in the least. I didn’t need the temptation of Ezmita Ramos being in Lawton. I had a decision to make about my future. My career.
“What about you? Are you leaving after this weekend?” she asked me.
That was a loaded question. One I had hoped would be easier to answer. “I don’t know yet,” I replied.
She grinned at me, then laughed softly. “How is it we are college graduates and this confused about our current situations? Shouldn’t we be settled down in jobs and know what we want by now?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, you’d think so,” I replied, not wanting to admit that I had two job offers and it was me standing in the way of that settling down. My inability to decide.
“I never expected to come back here, you know? I thought once I got out that I wouldn’t want to come back except to visit. But now that I’m here it feels like the most stability and comfort I’ve had in a while,” she said as she stared up at me, her eyes full of so many emotions. Several I understood.
“I think there is a country song about that,” I teased.
That got another laugh from her. “Probably several,” she replied, then glanced back at the store behind her. “I don’t want to work here. That’s not it. I just feel less lost being near my family, being in Lawton. I think I’ve been lost for a while now, and I didn’t even realize it.”
When I had walked across the road to talk to Ezmita, this conversation was not one I had expected; however, I wasn’t against it. Perhaps having it would help both of us.
“Lawton will always be your home. Your family is here. It makes sense for things to feel right here,” I told her.
She gazed up at me silently for a few moments. “What about you? Is it your home?” We both knew what she was asking with the unspoken words. My home life here hadn’t been like hers. The only warm memories I had were made by a woman who was buried six feet under. My mom had given me what she could until she couldn’t any longer. Even those brief moments of happiness were jaded now with the truth of what she had endured by my father’s cruelty.
“I don’t know,” I finally replied. Because there were times this was home. My friends were here, my childhood was here in this town, but was it enough to make this home?
She nodded as if understanding.
“I hope you find your home one day, Asa Griffith,” she said softly, then smiled up at me so sweetly, I felt it in my chest. Damn. I wish she didn’t have that ability still. “I need to get inside before Momma comes out here looking for me,” she said. “Good night.”
I didn’t want this to end. For five years, she had been the one thing that stayed on my mind. The one girl I couldn’t forget. Seeing her again was not helping me. “Good night, Ezmita,” I replied, and I stood there and watched her until she was safely inside before heading back to the hotel.
CHAPTER SIX
EZMITA
Going to sleep thinking about your first love when you’re twenty-three and waking up doing the same thing is rather pathetic. Perhaps it is normal, though. All part of coming home and facing the past. Getting the closure and living the new life you have made for yourself. I was going to tell myself that anyway.
Waking up in the same bedroom as my sister was nice for a visit, but this wasn’t permanent. I couldn’t move back in with my parents. They would always meddle in my life. I was used to my privacy now, and I needed that. I looked down at my phone and read over the e-mail from the principal at Lawton High School one more time.