My Online Crush Swore He Wasn't the Idol, Then His Song Sang My Secrets novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Closing Week

"Your peach girl?" I said.

He turned the phone face down on the dock.

"That's how Hal talks. Everybody's a label."

"What comeback?"

"Northline's. Jasper's." He rubbed his face with both hands. "The label's bringing them back with a new single. Once he's back in front of cameras, nobody needs a double hiding in Ohio."

"So you leave."

"I don't know what I do."

"That's before the benefit. You said after the benefit you'd tell me your name."

"I will." He took my hand again. "I will, Lena. Midnight comes and goes. Then it's Saturday, and it's your night, and then it's us."

I believed him.

I believed every word.

The next morning Hal's office put out a statement to the Columbus station.

"Northline is aware of a photo from Ohio. The individual is a lookalike with no connection to Mr. Larkspur. We ask the public to respect his privacy."

The news van left that afternoon.

The comments on the cast photo turned mean overnight.

"LOL a lookalike. Imagine crying over a knockoff."

The little girl's mother deleted it.

After that the summer got quiet.

It was the best month of my life.

He came to every Friday and Saturday show and sat in F7 with his cap pulled low.

The town got used to him.

The feed store man called him "Jasper's cousin" and sold him bait.

The owner of the Blue Plate gave him free pie because Gwen told her to.

He learned to drive the orchard tractor.

He learned the name of every peach we grew, Redhaven and Contender and Glowingstar.

He messaged me every morning at five.

"Good morning, girl in rubber boots."

One night in the second week of August, I didn't go home after the show.

I drove out Route 9 with the windows down and the porch scene still in my mouth.

He was waiting on the cabin porch in the dark, with no lights on.

This time he didn't stay behind the screen door.

He came down the steps and kissed me before I'd shut the truck door.

We never made it inside.

He backed me up the porch steps one at a time, kissing me on every step.

My back hit the porch post.

His hands were in my hair, then on my waist, then under the hem of my shirt, spread wide on my ribs.

I pulled his T-shirt over his head.

I'd never done that to anybody.

His skin was warm from the day, and he shivered when I put my palms flat on his chest anyway.

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