I looked at him again, the lust gone for the time being at the mention of his mother, whom he loved very much. “You mean if you hadn’t scared all those guys away?”

"Yeah. I kept holding on to a hope that my dad would come back, but he never did. Do you think if I hadn’t, that we'd be friends? Would my mom have ever met yours? When I think about it, I feel sad for my mom because I was a little shit, but the more I think about it, the more I'm glad I did because I can't see my life without you in it." Finally he took his eyes off the roses and looked at me.

I looked away, unable to hold his gaze when he was being so emotionally fluent. "We would've met in school." I shrugged my shoulders softly, it hurt to even begin to think about a life without him in it at all. It had been hard enough essentially separating from him since we graduated from high school. "You probably wouldn't have wanted to hang out with me though. But it doesn't matter, the past is in the past. You've been away at college for a couple years now and your mom could've found a man if she wanted to."

"Elly, I—,“ his words were interrupted by his mother shouting through the kitchen window that over-looked the back yard.

"Hey you guys, either water the roses or get in here and help eat some of this food!"

Kent turned his head towards the sound of his mother’s voice as his resolve shattered, whatever he was going to say was lost.

"I think the roses are fine, maybe we should head back inside because she's not going to leave us alone otherwise," he said.

I nodded and stood up. I could stay mad at him or I could let go and pretend like we were ten again. I decided on the later. "I didn’t come out here for the roses anyway, I'm famished." I put a hand to my flat stomach and then punched Kent on the arm. "Last one in has dish duty!"

I took off running before he was even on his feet and reached the door only a split second before he did, my cheeks flushed, my chest heaving lightly from the brief excursion.

"Mrs. Lytle, Kent said he'd love to do the dishes for you tonight after we finish eating." I giggled and smacked at Kent’s finger as he poked me in my side. “Knock it off.”

Everyone was already seated around the table. They saved an empty space next to Jen and a single plate across from them that was meant for me. They all looked at us as we approached the table.