Jovie turns her head down the instant we step inside and it takes a moment for me to realize why.

I shift between their judging eyes and her downturn face. “Come on,” I tell Jovie.

She digs her heels in but finally caves, letting me lead her toward the back corner. I feel her one step behind me as we navigate the sea of pool tables and fluorescent lights. We settle at a small table-for-two in the back, farthest away from them as possible. As we settle down, the others go back to doing what they’re doing but there’s still the occasional glance in our direction.

“You remember that old movie with the killer birds?” Jovie asks as she takes a seat. “Where the people walk through the center of the herd of crows, hoping they don’t suddenly get attacked and have their eyes plucked out?”

“A group of crows is called a murder,” I say.

She chuckles, glancing around. “Well, that’s fitting.”

“Just ignore them.”

“I don’t even recognize half of these people,” she says. “How do they know me?”

“From the wanted sign poster up in the post office, I’d imagine.”

“Okay, I honestly can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

“It’s a joke,” I say.

“Thank God.”

Lucky arrives at our table, her red hair pinned up in a hive on the top of her head. She locks on Jovie and she throws on a sly smile. “Jovie Ross...”

“That’s me,” Jovie says.

“I wondered when you’d come rolling back through town.”

“Well…” She shifts uncomfortably. “Here I am.”

“Here for good?”

“Here for now.”

“Yeah,” Lucky chuckles, “I’ve been saying that for thirty years.”

Jovie ignores it and throws on her classic, bullshit-eating smile.

Lucky eyes me instead. “What can I get for you two?”

“I’ll take a beer,” I say. “Whatever you’ve got on tap is fine.”

“Same,” Jovie adds.

“Coming right up.”

Lucky walks off to the next table and Jovie twists her head around to watch her go. Her eyes slowly scan the place, shifting in her little skull as they land on one prying face to the other.

I clear my throat, drawing her gaze back to me and we sit in a silent holding pattern until Lucky returns with our glasses.

Once she’s gone, Jovie sighs.

“Okay,” she says. “Go ahead. Ask away.”

“Ask what?”

“You have questions, right?”

“One or two,” I confirm.

“Then, go ahead.”

“All right.” I take a sip of my drink first. “I’ll start with the most important question. How are you, Jovie?”

She cracks a smile. “I figured the most important one would be ‘where have you been, Jovie?’”

I shrug. “I figured baby steps.”

Jovie nods once, gently biting the edge of her mouth for a moment. “I’m okay,” she says. “Being on my own was rough at first but I got the hang of it.”

“So, you were alone?”

“For the most part.” She exhales. “What about you? How are you, Will?”

“I’m okay,” I answer. “I’ve got a good job, supportive parents, a cool nephew, a loving sister — who, by the way, is really unnerved by your sudden appearance.”

Jovie smirks. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, she does not like you being here.”

“She never did.”

“Any idea why?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Her smile fades. “It sounds like you still like it here.”

“Yeah, Clover’s great,” I say. “It’s quiet, simple…”

Jovie’s eyes start to roll but she stops them. “I’m sure that’s great for some,” she says. “But there’s a lot more in the world than Clover, Kansas.”

“I’ve heard that but…” I shrug. “They call it The Forgotten Paradise for a reason, right?”

“Deceptive marketing?” she quips.

“Come on, Jove.” I chuckle. “Tell me one place you’ve been that’s better than this.”

She goes silent and presses her lips together. Her nail taps against the table before she reaches for her glass.

I’ve already opened the door. Might as well walk on through.

“Where have you been, Jovie?” I ask.

“Around,” she answers.

“Is that really all you’re gonna give me?”

“Yeah.”

“One day you were here and the next you were gone. You didn’t tell anybody you were leaving. Even your dad was blindsided.”

“And everyone else threw a goddamn party.”

“Just…” I lean forward. “Forget about everyone else. I’m asking for an explanation. I mean… don’t you owe me that?”

“Why?” she asks. “It’s not like we were together at the time. You broke up with me.”

“Yeah, like twelve hours before.”

“Would a week have made a difference? Or a month? Pretty sure we were as broken up by hour twelve as we would have been by hour one hundred.”

I sit back. “Okay. You’re right about that, but… Come on, it’s been a long time. I can hardly even remember what we fought about in the first place.”

“I can.” She takes a slow, quiet breath. “We broke up because you wanted to get married and start pumping out kids… and I was a nineteen-year-old girl who’d never even seen the ocean yet.”

“Yeah, I did. I wanted our lives to start. I didn’t want to wait. That makes me a bad person?”

“Our lives were already happening, Will,” she argues. “What was wrong with how we were? Why couldn’t we be Will and Jovie for just a little bit longer?”

“I wanted more.”

“You weren’t entitled to it.”

“I never said I was!”

“You called me a selfish child.”

“Well,” I pause, “some people would argue that your behavior was childlike and self-absorbed.”

“Some people like your sister?”

“Not everything is Sara’s fault, Jove.”

“And not everything is mine, either.” She frowns. “When is the blame going to fall on you for once? But no — not perfect Will Myers. He can do no wrong.”

“Gee, that’s funny. Because I certainly didn’t get that memo when you up and disappeared on me without so much as a note. Do you have any idea how horrible that felt?”

“Probably about as horrible as it felt to have you break up with me less than a day after proposing.”

“I’m sorry. Did I beat you to that punch? I kind of figured it was over when you rejected the proposal in the first place.”

She leans back. “I didn’t reject the proposal.”

“You didn’t say yes.”

“I didn’t say no. I asked for a few days to think about it.”

“Well, you’ve had four years. What’s your answer?”

She doesn’t even hesitate. “No.”

“And there it is.” I throw up my hands. “This is awesome, Jove! Real happy we did this.”

“I know you’re joking right now, but honestly, this feels really good to finally get out,” she says.

“I agree!”

“Then, why are you shouting?”

“I’m not!”

She tilts her head at me and I close my mouth. We go silent, our chests rising and falling fast as we glance around at the wide-open eyes of everyone around us.

Well, what do you know? Ten minutes face-to-face and we’re already at each other’s throats. Life with Jovie Ross is a constant rollercoaster. Sometimes, you’re riding high on passionate adrenaline with your hands in the air. Other times, you’re digging your nails into your restraints, eyes squeezed shut, just waiting for it all to be over so you can get the hell off.

Maybe Sara was right. This was a mistake.

Jovie waits, staring hard at the nosier patrons until they shift uncomfortably and turn away. Then, she clears her throat and looks at me. “I did leave you a note, by the way.”

I frown. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Where’d you leave it?”

“On your window, like always,” she says.

“No, I checked that,” I say, thinking back. “Nothing was there.”

She shrugs. “If you didn’t get it then someone else did.”

I search her face for bullshit but the tone in her voice speaks truth. “What’d it say?”

“I don’t remember,” she says, her eyes dropping to her glass.

“Yes, you do.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not important anymore.”

“You wouldn’t have brought it up if it weren’t.”

“Will, can we just…” She exhales. “We’ve already paved over memory lane enough tonight, haven’t we?”

I nod with defeat. “I guess so.”

Jovie takes a long drink, her throat bobbing at least three times before she sets it back down. “Wow,” she says, her voice numb. “It all comes back so quickly, doesn’t it?”

And I want it to. For fuck’s sake. Part of me is actually enjoying this. I’m livid and screaming on the inside but it’s all worth it just to look into her eyes again.

“So, did you?” I ask.

“Did I what?”

“See the ocean?”

She thinks for a moment. “Yes,” she finally says.

“Atlantic or Pacific?”

“Both.”

I wait for more but she says nothing. “Cool.”

She lays her hands in her lap beneath the table. “Listen, Will…” she sits a little taller, “I think it’d be best if we didn’t see each other while I’m in town.”

I scoff. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is.” She nods. “You’re doing well now. You don’t need—”

“Cut the crap, Jove,” I interrupt. “We both know you’re doing this to make yourself feel better. Don’t put it on me.”

Her brow arches, followed closely but the quick intake of hot breath. I sit still and prepare for a classic and brutal Jovie Ross tongue-lashing but she says nothing. Instead, she exhales slowly and stands up from her seat.

“I’m gonna go,” she says, staring down at me with tired eyes. “Have a good night, Will.”

“Wait, Jovie…” I shift forward as she walks off. “Let me drive you home.”

“I’ll walk.”

I grunt as a bolt of adrenaline fires through my veins but I’m far too exhausted to act on it. I watch her go, my eyes falling to her boots and up her legs as her hips sway with her quick, purposeful steps toward the exit.

Jovie. My Jovie.

At least, she used to be.

Now, I’m not even sure I know who she is anymore. She looks like Jovie. Talks like Jovie. But this isn’t the same Jovie Ross who pulled the fire alarm on prom night or senior pranked the vice principal by moving his office furniture to the school roof the night before graduation.

But that’s not a bad thing.

This Jovie is more restrained. Mature, even. The dark humor and quick wit are still there but she’s older, wiser, and more beautiful than I was prepared for.

Lucky hovers over my shoulder with a broad smirk on her middle-aged face. “Anything else I can get you, hun?”

I take a breath and reach into my wallet for my debit card. “No, thanks.”

She swipes it from my fingers and walks off. I ignore her smug glance back at me and check around at the innocent bystanders.

The water cooler chatter around Clover should be awfully colorful tomorrow, that’s for sure.