"Spindler, Erica - In Silence" - читать интересную книгу автора (Spindler Erica)

CHAPTER 3

Talk of Hunter drained the joy from the gathering, and the remainder of the evening passed at a snail's pace. Lilah's smile looked artificial; Cherry's mood darkened with each passing moment and Buddy's jubilance bordered on manic.

Finally, pie consumed, coffee cups drained, Avery said her thanks and made her excuses. Cherry and Lilah said their good-byes in the dining room; Buddy accompanied her and Matt to the door.

Buddy hugged her. "You broke all our hearts when you left. But no one's more than mine. I'd had mine set on you being my daughter."

Avery returned his embrace. "I love you, too, Buddy."

Matt walked her to her car. "Pretty night," she murmured, lifting her face to the night sky. "So many stars. I'd forgotten how many."

"I enjoyed tonight, Avery. It was like old times."

Avery met his eyes; her pulse fluttered.

"I've missed you," he said. "I'm glad you're back."

She swallowed hard, acknowledging that she'd missed him, too. Or more accurately, that she'd missed standing with him this way, in his folks' driveway, under a star-sprinkled sky. Had missed the familiarity of it. The sense of belonging.

Matt put words to her thoughts. "Why'd you leave, Avery? My dad was right, you know. You belong here. You're one of us."

"Why didn't you go with me?" she countered. "I asked. Begged, if I remember correctly."

Matt lifted a hand as if to touch her, then dropped it. "You always wanted something else, something more than Cypress Springs could offer. Something more than I could offer. I never understood it. But I had to accept it."

She shifted her gaze slightly, uncomfortable with the truth. That he could speak it so plainly. She changed the direction of their conversation. "Your dad and Cherry said you're the front-runner in next year's election for parish sheriff. I'm not surprised. You always said you were destined for great things."

"But our definitions of great things always differed, didn't they, Avery?"

"That's not fair, Matt."

"Fair or not, it's true." He paused. "You broke my heart."

She held his gaze. "You broke mine, too."

"Then we're even, aren't we? A broken heart apiece."

She winced at the bitter edge in his voice. "Matt, it...wasn't you. It was me. I never felt—"

She had been about to say how she had never felt she belonged in Cypress Springs. That once she'd become a teenager, she had always felt slightly out of step, different in subtle but monumental ways from the other girls she knew.

Those feelings seemed silly now. The thoughts of a self-absorbed young girl.

"What about now, Avery?" he asked. "What do you want now? What do you need?"

Discomfited by the intensity of his gaze, she looked away. "I don't know. I don't want to return to where I was, I'm certain of that. And I don't mean the geographical location." Sounds like you have some thinking to do."

A giant understatement. She turned to the Blazer, unlocked the door, then faced him once more. "I should go. I'm asleep on my feet and tomorrow's going to be difficult."