The Sweetheart Sham Read online

  As we walk I load up the email on my phone. The guys are sitting by the water, not too far from another keg. The party hasn’t been going on that long yet because by the end of the night this whole area will be make-out central. It’s what always happens. They start on opposite corners, make the rounds, and then they’re coupled up everywhere. When the Lane and Haymont kids come, the options vary. Beau and I kissed at this party, and that was the beginning of it all for us. For that one summer anyway.

  They’re laughing when we reach them.

  “What are we doing?” Will asks.

  “Watching Reyes make an ass of himself. He said he could jump across that part of the lake,” Spencer Newman says.

  Will and I look that way, and sure enough Reyes is standing on the edge of the land right over the smallest patch of water.

  “It’s at least five feet across. He can’t do that with his short, stubby legs.”

  I have no doubt they coerced him into this. Reyes isn’t really the type to go jumping over water, unless that water’s got a magic portal in it. I think sometimes that he’d be on the next trip out of the universe if he could.

  The guys all holler. “Hear that, Reyes? Will said you had stubby legs,” Jake Lexington yells. Then he looks at me, and he smiles. “What do you think, Monroe? Can he do it?”

  I glance back down the lake. No, there’s no way he can jump across that. He does have stubby legs, and not enough speed. Someone taller could, more limber, but not Reyes.

  “I reckon,” I say. Because the last thing I want to do is agree with Jake.

  Jake smirks. “Liar.”

  “I’m a Belle; I don’t lie.”

  “What do you want to wager on that?”

  Will raises an eyebrow. Jake Lexington has been pushing my buttons since we were in kindergarten. He knows all the things to say, and Will tells me all the time it’s because Jake wants to go out with me. Not that Jake Lexington “goes out” with anyone. He’s more of a one-time-use-only kind of guy. Ironically, exactly like a condom.

  And even though I know he’s egging me on, I’ve never been one to roll over and play dead. So I say, “Depends.”

  “On what?”

  Now all the guys are staring between us. Jake pulls his long, brown hair back. He’s probably already too wasted to remember this tomorrow.

  “Do you have anything I want?”

  Jake smiles and points to himself. “You mean, more than this?”

  I make a gagging sound.

  “All right! I’m doing it!” Reyes yells from across the way and everyone turns to focus on him.

  Spencer Newman stands on a chopped tree trunk and puts on an announcer voice. “Fellow men, and Georgie, today we witness a miraculous sight. ‘Stubby Legs’ Reyes will defy all odds as he attempts to jump across the lake! Pay attention, gather ’round, you don’t want to miss this.” He looks toward us in his regular voice. “Someone get a video.”

  Everyone has their phones pointed in Reyes’s direction. We watch him squat, then stand, and change his mind. Instead he backs up, kisses his fingers, and points them into the air, yells “Allonsy!” then runs. It’s miraculous for all of three seconds before he belly flops into the lake. The guys all laugh as Reyes sputters water out of his mouth.

  Yeah, this party is obviously the best.

  I glance down at my phone and scroll through the email to appease Momma. Right as I’m about to close it, there it is: the RSVP for two from Kerri Ann Montgomery. My heart races.

  Beau Montgomery is finally coming back to Culler.

  …

  Three hours later, Lyla is asleep with her head on my lap. She started puking over the side of the porch after one and a half wine coolers. The peach ones to be exact, which probably do not taste good coming up since they are nasty going down. We’re officially two of the only people not hooking up right now.

  It’s not that I couldn’t hook up with someone—I could. Jake Lexington would take me in a second, and maybe that’s the problem. I don’t want to be someone’s opportunity; I want to be everything, like Momma is to Daddy. She may annoy him to no end sometimes, but I know when he looks at her that he loves her. I want to be looked at the same way. All roads do not lead to that look, especially when someone like Jake Lexington is the gateway. No, that look comes from someone like Beau. Someone who knows you and accepts your flaws and makes you a little bit crazy, too, but has a good heart.

  At least I always thought he did, but then he broke mine. He told me I was important to him, kissed me all summer, then up and left town without a word’s notice to any of us. Worse, he never came back—and now I get to see him again. At least it’s only for the wedding, and then he’s back out of my life for good. I’ll be so busy the week of the wedding that I won’t even be able to think about him.

  I glance at my phone. It’s way after midnight. I need to find Will and get home.

  I nudge Lyla off my lap, and she curls up into a ball. Haley is only a few feet away going to second base with a boy from Lane, but she makes eye contact with me over the boy’s shoulder. I point to Lyla and Haley nods, then I bolt out of there.

  I make my way through the couples on the ground and try not to see anything. It’s not that I’m a prude. I’ve kissed boys before—three boys actually, but only one that really mattered. And he left me. So to settle for someone else when I don’t really want to a) be stuck in Culler for the rest of my life or b) be a notch on someone’s belt, I choose not to. I reckon my granny would be proud. Or maybe not. Carrying a torch for a boy who left two years ago and never looked back is kind of lame.

  But love is lame, or so I’ve heard.

  Not that I love Beau Montgomery. I don’t. The boy I knew is a stranger now, but I think one day I will be in love and it will probably have lame parts, and definitely kissing. Real good kissing. Until then, I will keep my hands and my tongue to myself.

  Something jumps out at me and knocks me to my rear and right in the mud. My dress is ruined, that’s my first thought. When did I become that girl? is my second one. Then I hear Will laughing.

  “You all right?” he asks, still laughing.

  “Help me up,” I say, and he does. That’s the second dress I’ve ruined at an End of the Year Party.

  “Where were you?” He waggles his eyebrows. I don’t know what that means right now. “Can we go?”

  “Sure. I didn’t mean to bump you.”

  Will is still beaming, practically skipping as we walk.

  “I’ll be sure to tell Momma it was all your fault,” I say. She’s less likely to be mad at him than at me anyway.

  “Do whatever you want. Nothing can hurt me tonight, Georgie.” Will takes my hand and kisses it, then he opens the door for me.

  I raise an eyebrow. “What happened to you?”

  Will only hmms in response. “Not here.”

  He doesn’t say anything until we’re in his Jeep halfway down the road. He pulls over and puts the car in park. His eyes are twinkling. They only do that when he’s really excited. He smiles so big that his dimples appear. He doesn’t flash that smile too often.

  “Tell me.”

  “I hooked up with someone.”

  I gasp. “A boy?” He gives me a look. “Sorry, of course. I’m in shock. Who was it?”

  “I can’t tell you. I swore I wouldn’t.”

  I slap his arm. “But it’s me.”

  “I can’t,” he says, drawing out the word.

  “Someone we know?” I ask, but Will doesn’t give anything away.

  “He’s not out yet, either.”

  I think for a second. It’s gotta be someone from Haymont or Lane, right? What if it is someone else in town? How did it happen? Who made the first move? I have so many questions.

  “At least I know it’s a boy,” I finally say.

  “He wants to see me again. We don’t know how we’re going to do it, but I want to see him, too.” He practically jumps out of his seat from excitement. “This is crazy! I
met a boy in Culler.”

  I chuckle. “At least one of us did.”

  Will laughs, and the sound of it makes this whole evening, and the thought of Beau being here, a little more bearable. He drives us out of the farm, toward home.

  “When are you going to see this Mystery Boy again?”

  His laughter fades and the cicadas sing louder in the silence. “I don’t know. It’s damn near impossible. If I tell my family I’m going on a date, they’ll want to meet her immediately.”

  “And there is no her.”

  “Nope. I wish there was, ya know? Someone like you I can bring home to the family.”

  “If only it were that easy,” I say.

  Will stares at me for a second.

  “What? Something in my teeth?”

  “No, no, it’s nothing.”

  “I’m happy for you, Will. You’ll find a way.” I look out the window, thinking about Beau again. I knew he’d come for the wedding, but it wasn’t until I saw that checkmark next to “Yes” that I actually believed it was true. Funny how that happens.

  Will stops outside my house and he gives me a hug. “I love you, Georgie. This was the best night ever; thank you for going.”

  “Anything for you,” I say. Will is the one person who never lets me down. We’ve always been there for each other, and he gets me more than anyone else here. He knows me and I know him. Our friendship is everything to me.

  “You really mean that?”

  “I do,” I say.

  Will gives me a hug, and then gets back into the truck. As his taillights disappear down the road, another truth dawns on me: the number of people who know Will Montgomery is gay has gone up by one.

  Chapter Two

  Beau

  I never thought I’d set foot back in Culler, South Carolina.

  After my parents separated and we left, I thought that was it. They’ve barely been in the same room since the divorce. Neither of us wants to deal with Dad; he doesn’t seem to want us, either. Then, Georgia Ann wrote me off. Will and I grew apart. Granddad calls every Thursday night like clockwork. Other than him, no one else even tries to talk to me. My old life is gone, that much has been clear to me since the night we left. All I’ve been able to do is make something new in Atlanta and keep my mouth shut about the rest.

  Truth be told, Atlanta is a shithole. Too expensive and too much traffic. The people are hit or miss. Our school has too many kids. The girls are superficial; I learned my lesson there. Basketball keeps me going. That and Ma. She’s happy here, even if I’m not.

  What would she do anyway? Uproot the life she’s built and move us somewhere else? We did that once when we came here. After a year of seeing her pretending not to cry, Atlanta brought her a new energy. The smile on her face means more to me than Culler.

  At least until Granddad’s call two weeks ago. Ever since then, it’s all I can think about.

  When I walk inside, Ma’s laugh drifts toward the front door, and the whole house smells like pizza. Ma doesn’t order pizza; she makes it all from scratch. The best pizza in creation.

  “Smells good,” I announce as I walk into the kitchen. Ma is wrapped up in her boyfriend’s arms. I catch the tail end of him kissing her neck. Ma blushes and I look away. That will never not be damn awkward.

  “Hi, sweetie,” Ma says, unwrapping herself and placing a kiss on my cheek. “You’re just in time.”

  “Evening, Beau,” he says, handing me a paper plate.

  She moves to the oven. I give her boyfriend a look. “Hey, Lawrence.”

  Ma has been dating Lawrence Davis for more than a year now. They met right after the divorce was final at some networking event for work downtown. He’s a nice enough guy. Good job. Never married and no kids. He’s bald and shorter than me—though most people are. He’s not my dad and he doesn’t try to be. That’s the best part about him. Really, he doesn’t seem interested in me much at all. We talk about college sometimes or basketball, but that’s the extent of it. But he treats Ma like a treasure and she glows around him; at the end of the day that’s what I care about.

  “You like it with onions, right?” Lawrence asks.

  “Yes, sir,” I say with another nod. Ma is smiling, as if our exchange is worth millions to her. I like that she’s happy. There was a time when she never thought she would be again.

  Before it happened, Ma and Dad were the best together. Always laughing or holding hands. They’d been in love, together, destined or whatever you call it, since they were fifteen. They knew each other their whole lives, as most do in Culler. Dad used to say it was as if one day he saw her, really saw her, and all the years before he’d been looking at something else.

  But that was before he broke us. Before Dad cheated and Ma found out. I guess at first they tried to make it work anyway, but then she couldn’t handle it anymore. She told me what happened, said she was leaving Culler, and here we are.

  We all take a seat at the table with Ma’s pizza. My leg is shaking from nerves. As soon as she says grace I pounce. “Did you decide about Culler?”

  Ma gives me a disapproving look. “Now is not really the time, Beau.”

  “Ma, please.”

  When Ma said we were going back for Drew’s wedding, I was excited. I know she saw it. It was Christmas Day exciting, even though we were only going for a weekend. Then Granddad called, on a Monday.

  “Beau needs to get his rear-end home,” he’d said. Granddad doesn’t exactly know how to use FaceTime, so he was yelling in the phone. Loud enough that I could hear him when I sat on the steps, where there’s a hell of an echo. “It’s a family event, and like it or not that boy is a Montgomery.”

  “I’ve never questioned that, Orry,” Ma had said in the phone.

  “It’s been too damn long since we’ve seen him and this here is Drew’s wedding. You divorced Hank, not the whole damn family. I want him here. You gonna deny an old man his grandson?”

  Ma sighed. “You’re going to outlive all of us, Orry.”

  Granddad didn’t laugh at the joke, not when he was on a mission. “Hank isn’t going to insist. He’s too worried about hurting you, but the boy needs his dad. This has all gone on long enough now. No more avoiding us.”

  “He is coming to the wedding. We both are.”

  “I’m talking about more than a weekend, woman. I’m talking about him being home. I’m asking for three weeks. Give the boy a break from all that pollution he’s been breathing in. Let him get some real sunshine.”

  Ma said she had to think about it, and today’s the day. Three days was a miracle, so I’m not even sure she will agree to three weeks. Even though Dad’s there too, even though it means seeing him, I hope she says yes. I’ve always belonged in Culler and part of me needs to find out if I still do. I don’t belong here, that much is sure. I have to belong somewhere.

  “Ma, please,” I say again. She doesn’t like impatience, but I’m trying here.

  “Tell the boy,” Lawrence says, pointing toward my bouncing leg. “Put him out of his misery.”

  I give him a small nod. Lawrence and I aren’t pals, but it’s nice to have someone on my side.

  Ma crosses her fingers in a tent-like shape on the table. The silence is thick, and what if she says no? What if I don’t get to go home? Lawrence takes a bite of pizza. This is not the time to eat.

  “Being a groomsman in your cousin’s wedding is an honor, which is what I told your granddad, and if you wanted to do it then I was more than happy to let you.”

  But. There’s a “but” coming. I can feel it.

  She puts her hand up. “So I emailed your father, and we discussed it. Technically, you didn’t go the last two summers, and it’s his turn. If you go, it’s for the whole summer.”

  “The whole summer?” I repeat.

  Ma nods. “It would mean missing basketball camp, but maybe your father can arrange something there. It’s also two months without your ma, because I can’t come until the wedding and—”
/>   I jump up so fast I nearly knock over the glass of water onto my pizza. Whatever she says next is muffled in my shirt. It doesn’t matter what rules or conditions she wants to have. I get to go home. I get to see my family again. I may even get to see Georgia Ann, which could be good or bad.

  “Thank you, Ma. Thank you. I love you.”

  Ma pats my back. “Love you. Now get off me and eat your dinner. We can talk about it more later.”

  I move back to my seat and stuff the pizza into my mouth. Nothing has ever tasted so good.

  After we eat, I text Will and Drew to meet me online to shoot some zombies. Really, I want to share the news and kill zombies.

  “Behind you,” Drew yells in the headset. His character races past me on the screen as a zombie hoard closes in. One move and three are down. Then, there’s an explosion on the screen and cussing in my ear.

  “You almost died, Will,” I say, stealing some supplies off the dead.

  “I missed it,” Will says.

  “Drink some coffee. Shake it off,” Drew says. Will tells him to fuck off and it echoes twice in my ear. They’re together and I’m here, but not for much longer. I’m going home.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I ask.

  “Someone has a hangover,” Drew says. Will shushes him and Drew laughs. He’s twenty-two, five years older than Will and me, but he was right there when we were growing up. We’re all more like brothers than cousins; we always have been. I’ve met up with them a few times the last couple of years, but not very often. Will and I aren’t as close as we used to be. We’re still friendly, but it’s not the same when you’re not there. Distance will do that.

  “From what?” I ask. Culler doesn’t change much. I didn’t always love that place before, but not being there makes me see how special it was.

  “The End of the Year Party was last night. My brother is a lightweight, not that I encourage underage drinking,” Drew says.