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It bothered hier joint Not that she’d been rude She’d just seemed uninterested and entirely focused on her food

Maybe she’s shy

That jarred hiia Hotchkiss…shy?

No way She’d always spoken her mind

Hadn’t she?

No If he remembered correctly, the only time she’d voiced her opinions hen Deck hadn’t been around Like in history class The rest of the time she’d kept quiet So she wasn’t aloof or stuck-up, ashi her in high school, how had he not noticed that she was actually shy?

Because you were a teenage boy too busy i her

Seemed he, too, had seen only what he’d wanted to see

When Georgia returned from the bathroom, her face was even ?”

“I’o If you want to stay and watch the end of the movie, it’s not that far to my place I’ll walk”

“Like hell you will” He looht back”

They didn’t speak on the short ride to her house After he’d parked in her driveway, he said, “You wanna tellout thefor another minute before she faced him “Now that I’m back in Sundance I see a lot of mistakes I h school to make new friends”

“Why’s that? Because you’re a little shy?”

Georgia looked at hiuess” He kissed the back of her hand “Go on”

“I’ I was just raised in a God-fearing honer and introverted, so I ended up like her, where RJ took after ure out ht I was stuck-up because I wasn’t like RJ”

“With the last name McKay, I’ve dealt with a lot of those preconceived ideas too It sucks”

She nodded “But mostly I didn’t try to find a best friend because I already had one”

“Deck?”

She shook her head “RJ Whenever wein because I had him Then he took to Sundance like he was born here and he kind of leftto Deck so much Everybody knew RJ Everybody liked him” She looked away “I miss him I know it’s been almost nine years and it should be easier, but it still hurts And being here makes ently encouraging her to look at him “I kno that feels I still expect my brother Luke to barrel up e’re out fixin’ fence Course, he’d tellThat part I don’t miss” He smiled “But I miss him Not the Luke as a shitty husband to Jessie or the Luke as Dad’s favorite kid as well as his favorite whipping post I uy he hen it was just the four of us Not trying to i to uy who taught one almost five years and I still ot two other brothers But neither of them replaces Luke”

Her eyes filled with tears “Thank you”