I shake my head. “Are you sure they were together? Like together together?”
“No. Not one hundred percent.”
“So don’t you think you’re being a little unfair?”
“Then ask him, Eveny,” Caleb says. “I just want to make sure Liv is aware. She’s your friend, and if she’s interested in him, she deserves to know that something might have been going on.”
We’re pulling into my driveway now, and I feel a sense of disappointment. Even if we’re disagreeing, I want to keep talking to Caleb. Forever, if possible.
“I’m only being cautious, Eveny,” he says as he puts his car in park. His eyes are wide and concerned as he turns to me. “You should be too.”
I open my mouth to respond just as he leans forward to jiggle my door handle. “It sticks sometimes,” he explains in a gruff voice. Our eyes meet, and for a moment, as he goes still, I have the weirdest feeling he’s going to kiss me. But then he retreats to his own seat and looks out the windshield with his hands gripping the wheel, like he can’t wait to get out of here.
“Bye,” I say softly as I climb out of the car.
He doesn’t reply. Instead, the moment I shut his car door, he guns the engine and pulls away.
But he lingers at the bottom of my driveway until I’ve unlocked my front door and slipped inside my house. I watch from the window as his taillights disappear.
Aunt Bea is already in bed when I get home, but I’m not even slightly tired. I sit down at the kitchen table and dial Meredith’s number.
When she answers on the third ring, all I can hear at first is club music pumping through the earpiece.
“Mer?” I ask loudly. I repeat myself a few times, until I hear her voice faintly over the music.
“Eveny?” she yells. “Hang on, I’ll go outside!”
A moment later, the music fades and is replaced by New York street sounds: people talking, car horns honking, brakes screeching. I realize with a pang just how much I miss being there.
“Hey, girl!” she says excitedly.
“What are you up to tonight?” I ask.
“Nick and Holly heard about a party in Chinatown,” she says. “So Colton and James and I grabbed a cab and came out here. This place is amaze, Ev! No cover, and the door guy didn’t even look twice at my ID.”
“Sounds cool.”
“Totally wish you were here! What’re you doing tonight?”
“Just got home from seeing a friend’s band play,” I tell her.
“Ooh, you have a friend in a band?” she asks. “Is it a boy?”
“Just the guy I told you about the other night. The one I knew when I was a kid. But the other guy drove me home.”
“Who?”
“Caleb. The one who’s insanely gorgeous.”
She makes a noise. “Girl, the hot ones are the ones you’ve got to look out for.” She pauses. “So are you coming back to visit soon, or what?”
I think about it for a minute. A few days ago, I was dying to return to New York. Now, I feel like there are a thousand answers I need to figure out here in Carrefour first. “Probably not,” I tell her. “Not for a while, at least.”
“Seriously?” she asks. “Why, your aunt won’t give you money for a plane ticket?”
“It’s not that. It’s just that so much of my family’s history is tied in to Carrefour.” I try to stay as vague as possible. “I know it sounds crazy, but I think I belong here for now.”
“In the boonies?” she asks with a laugh.
“It’s not so bad,” I say, actually meaning it.
“Well, in that case,” Meredith says after a moment, “I’ve been meaning to ask you a question.”
There’s something in her voice that makes me pause. “What is it?”
“Do you still like Trevor Montague?” she asks quickly.
“I guess.” I’ve had a crush on Trevor for as long as I can remember, though nothing ever happened between us. “Why?”
“Well, he kinda asked me out,” Meredith says.
“Trevor, who I used to ask you for advice about on a daily basis? Trevor, who I used to draw pictures of in my notebook in middle school? Trevor, whose name we carved into that tree in the park in ninth grade?”
“Yes,” Meredith replies, her voice flat.
“Well, you said no, right?”
“Not exactly.”
The silence is heavy between us. “You didn’t?”
“It’s not like you’re coming back, Eveny. You just said so yourself. And I’ve liked him for a while too.”
“No, you haven’t,” I protest. “You’ve never said anything about liking him.”