Page 16 of The Write Stuff

“Yeah, but you looked as if you’d seen a ghost,” Nathan said. “Seriously, all the color drained out of your face. I took a mental picture so I can describe it right in my next book.”

“That really makes me feel better, Nathan,” Huxley said dryly. “Thanks.”

“I didn’t mean it as an insult,” Nathan replied. “It’s just … you looked like you were going through an ordeal.”

Brody growled, which was barely audible. “You are not making things better, Nathan. Give it a rest.”

“I’m not doing anything,” Nathan insisted. Even I could tell he was getting up to mischief. He just had that way about him.

“Did you guys date when you were kids or something?” Brody asked.

“Of course not,” Huxley replied. Part of me was glad he didn’t burst out laughing at the question because that would have hurt my already fragile ego. “That would have been a huge mess.”

“Because your mothers were best friends?”

“That, and we had to travel together often. Aggie — er, Agnes — was like an aunt to me. My mother was the same way with Wylie. I never looked at her as a sibling or anything — we really weren’t that close — but we were an odd little family.”

“Until one member of the family got slap happy,” Nathan said.

“Let it go,” Brody barked at his best friend. “It doesn’t matter what happened in Austin.”

“It doesn’t,” Huxley agreed. “None of it matters. It happened a long time ago. It’s almost as if it happened to someone else because I feel so far removed from it.”

“Are you going to be able to be around her?” Brody asked. “Like … are you going to drop out of the events?”

“I’m not dropping out of the events.” Huxley’s tone was even. “I want to do the events. As for Wylie, it’s not a big deal. Was it a shock to see her? Absolutely, but only because it’s been so long. Things settled after that and were fine.”

I let out the breath that I hadn’t realized I was holding. That was what I’d wanted to hear. It was fine. Just like me, he was fine. In a few weeks, we would laugh about this and be able to hang out in a social setting, and it wouldn’t be weird. Everything was going to be okay.

“We’re only going to see one another every other week, right?” Huxley continued. “It’s not going to be that difficult.”

“Okay.” Brody sounded as if he was relieved to hear it. “That’s good. As long as you’re not enemies or anything.”

“We’re not anything,” Huxley assured him. “It was her mother who betrayed my mother. It wasn’t Wylie. She was innocent.”

Betrayed? How had my mother betrayed his mother? My mother was the one who had been betrayed. How dare he? Anger I didn’t know I was capable of feeling bubbled up.

“I have a question,” Nathan interjected. “Did you two ever play kissy face on a dark bus, or do something a little more touchy-feely in a storage room during your travels?”

What was it with these people assuming stuff like that? Were they all perverts? I was starting to get worried.

“Of course not.” Huxley sounded exasperated. “I was older than her.”

“Not that much older.”

“She was ridiculous,” he replied. “Did I tell you she learned Klingon? Because she learned Klingon. She was an absolute menace when it came to keeping up her hair and makeup. She was a geek, so not the type of girl I was looking for.”

My heart sank. I’d known that of course — all of it — but hearing him say it was still a blow.

“I was just checking,” Nathan said. “If you guys are really determined to keep your distance from one another, it will be easier if there are no sparks to get around.”

“What’s the negative of sparks?” Huxley challenged. “Because that’s what we have.” He paused a beat, then continued. “I can guarantee that there will never be anything romantic between Wylie Dixon and me. Never.”

That was all I needed to hear. It wasn’t as if I wanted anything romantic with him. I wasn’t 16 any longer. Hearing him be so brutal about it was enough to close down my emotions, though.

Huxley Ambrose was a face from my past. Just because he was in my present, that didn’t mean I needed to acknowledge him.

No, Huxley was nothing to me, just as I was nothing to him. It was better to acknowledge that and set boundaries. It would be better, in the end, for both of us.