Wind

• • F O U R • •

The night had other things in mind for me.

"Harper!"

Kate Kramer's grinning face greeted me when I turned around.

"I thought that was you!" She leaned in and hugged me awkwardly like we were friends. I knew her from high school, but damn, I hadn't spoken to the girl since graduation. Even back then, I wouldn't have called us friends.

She finally let me go from the hug, but she kept her hand on my arm. Her eyes drifted over me. "Hey, are you all right? You look like you're bleeding."

"Oh, it's nothing." I quickly whipped my head with the back of my hand. A small trail of blood stained my skin.

"Oh, okay." She paused for a second. "It's been ages since I've seen you, how have you been? You look good."

"Wow..." I said. It was a dumb thing to say, but unfortunately that was what happened to fall out of my mouth.

Kate ignored it and kept smiling eagerly, waiting for me to say something else. She played with a strand of her auburn hair. When we'd been in middle school, she'd chewed it nonstop. She'd sat right in front of my desk, too, and the habit was unbelievably distracting.

"You look good too, Kate," I finally said, trying to recover from the "wow."

She beamed. "Thanks!" Kate had always been heavy-set in high school. She was far from thin now, but she looked like she had lost a decent bit of weight.

"So how have you been?" I asked.

"Great! College has been great! I love living in New York. I'm graduating this year, you know? I've already got a job lined up in Brooklyn and everything."

My heart pounded against my chest after a skipped beat. Of course she would be living in New York. I reached for my glass, taking a drink and trying to calm my nerves. "That's awesome, Kate, congrats," I finally responded after setting the glass down.

"Thank you!"

"So what brings you back into town then?"

She sat down on the bar stool next to me, brushing her hair back behind her ears. "I'm just here for the weekend. My parents are moving out, and I'm helping them pack."

Suddenly a gust of cold air rushed into the bar, stirring the stagnant humidity around in a miniature whirlwind. An unacknowledged hush fell over the room. A shiver ran down my spine, and my head automatically turned to the door. Two middle-aged men staggered in, chuckling as they made their way to the bar. One glanced my way, and when his eyes met mine, for a second I swore it was Joshua.

My hand twitched, nearly knocking over the glass I hadn't realized I'd been clutching in my fist. I steadied it hastily and shook my head before glancing back at the man.

No, his face was too thin. His hair was too grey.

The taller of the two men shut the door behind them, and the room itself breathed a sigh of relief as it relaxed once again. The conversations returned to a dull drone. I turned my attention back to Kate.

"Why are they moving?" I asked, but I felt like I already knew the answer. It pounded against the back of my head, but she wasn't going to say it, of course. Not the real reason. No one ever spoke about it... everyone just knew.

"My dad got a job on Long Island." There it was. There was always some "other reason." Some lie even the people telling it wanted to believe.

"Cool." My answer came out too quickly, almost before she had even finished her sentence.