The Last One(33)

She shook her head, and the chains on the swing groaned again as she resettled herself. “No, it’s okay. I don’t mind company.”

“Guess it’s strange for you here, not having a ton of people around all the time. Do you miss it?”

She laughed and stretched her arms over her head, dropping one arm along the back of the bench. “You seem to have a skewed sense of what my life in Savannah is like. I live in an apartment with Laura, not in a crazy dorm. We’re pretty quiet. She’s practically engaged, and we both work hard at school. We’re not exactly party girls.”

“Do you date?” I wasn’t sure why I asked the question or if I even wanted the answer.

She hesitated. “I do. Probably more than I should.” She leaned her head back and stared up at the velvet sky. “Laura says I leave a trail of broken hearts in my wake.”

“I bet you do.” I kept all condemnation out of my voice.

“I don’t know why. I just ...” Her finger came up and traced a link of the chain that suspended the swing. “I don’t mean to do it. I meet someone, and we go out, have some fun, and then, I don’t know. I guess it stops being fun, and I don’t want it anymore. So I end it.” She shrugged. “Sometimes it’s okay, and we stay friends. Other times, not so much.”

“Maybe you just haven’t found the right one.” What the hell was I saying? I must’ve been picking up more from their Lifetime movies than I’d realized.

Meghan laughed. “You sound like Laura. She swears I’m going to meet some guy, and he’ll turn out to be the one I’ve been waiting for. But then, she can afford to be a romantic. She’s been with the same guy forever, and they’re perfect together.” She glanced over at me. “What about you? Do you date?”

I shifted, uncomfortable. “Not really. Not like you’re thinking. I have ... friends who are women, though.”

“Ah.” There was a hint of amusement in her tone. “Do those friendships have benefits?”

There was something about the dark that made it easier to talk. “Some of them. I don’t have time for the kind of relationship where there are, uh, expectations. Right now, my priorities are my family and this farm. Ali and Bridget are the most important things in my life. And I’ve been working to keep this farm together for twelve years. I can’t afford to let up now.”

“Ali told me about your mom and dad. I’m sorry.” The soft vulnerability in her voice made me want to fold her into my arms and offer the same comfort she was expressing. I laced my fingers over my stomach to keep from moving.

“Yeah. I guess you know something about that.”

She shrugged. “A little, but not both parents at once. I still have my mom. I can’t imagine being eighteen and not only being completely on your own, but having to take care of your little sister, too.”

“It was what I had to do.” I smiled a little, thinking about my parents. “You know, the only saving grace is that I’m positive they were absolutely happy to the end. They’d gone away for their twentieth wedding anniversary, taken a trip to Gatlinburg, and they were on their way back when the accident happened. They were still so much in love, you know? They still did the stuff that makes kids pretend to be grossed out, even when they’re happy their parents do it.”

“My mom and dad were the same. They’d been together since they were kids.” She paused, and then added, “And I guess my mom and Uncle Logan are like that, too. When Mom walks into the room, Uncle Logan gets this look on his face ... like he can’t believe how lucky he is.”

“That’s your stepfather?”

She made a face. “I guess so. I never think of him like that. He’s still Uncle Logan, only now he lives with Mom.”

“Still. I never had to deal with that. I wouldn’t want to see my mother with someone else, even with someone I like.”

For a few minutes, nothing broke the silence but the creak of the swing as Meghan swayed back and forth on it. When the breeze blew across the porch, I could smell her unique scent, that musky undertone with just a hint of orange. Sitting on that bench swing, curled up with her head tilted to the side, she made such a tempting picture that I had to grip the arms of my chair to keep from getting up and joining her.

And then what would I do, I wondered. I’d pull her toward me, use my finger to lift her chin and I’d kiss her. I remembered the feel of her softness against my chest, and I wanted it again. I wanted to kiss her until her eyes went hazy and her lips were swollen.