Free Anyone But You by Kim Askew

me feel inexplicably mesmerized by her. She was a stunner, yes, but as Benny’s longtime sidekick I’d seen plenty of pretty girls. Why did this one seem so different? Perhaps I subconsciously recognized her as some sort of symbolic punctuation mark in my life. Things were bound to change between Benny and me, especially if he was truly as gone on her as he claimed. Yet that sixth sense didn’t entirely account for the fact that my heart was in my throat, and I had to stop myself from staring. My train of thought was interrupted by the less-than-symphonic voice of her sister.
    “You’re selling pizza? That’s the only thing on the menu?” Gertrude’s voice failed to mask her skepticism.
    “Yes, once we open in a couple of weeks, that is,” I answered. Her upper lip crinkled faintly in disdain.
    “From the look on your face, Gertrude, I’ll take it that you’ve either never tasted pizza, or you’ve never tasted
good
pizza. I assure you, Nick and I are going to rectify that.” I recognized Benny going into sales pitch mode, something we’d been rehearsing for weeks.
    “I’ve actually never tried it, myself, to be honest,” said Estelle. “You said it’s like a pie, Ben? There’s nothing I love more than sinking my fork into a good flaky pie crust ….”
    “A
fork
!?” Benny threw his head back with laughter, then grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Oh, Estelle, you lovely girl. A smart cookie, but so much to learn, eh, Nick?”
    “No fork,” I explained to both girls. “You can eat it with your hands. And the crust isn’t flaky. It’s more of a perfect combination of crisp and chewy.” Estelle and her sister exchanged perplexed glances.
    “You eat it with your hands? Sounds positively boorish,” Gertrude said.
    “It
sounds
delicious,” Estelle said, wrapping her arm around Benny’s waist, “and I can’t wait to try it.” She couldn’t have been more sincere in her enthusiasm. Maybe that’s what had me feeling all topsy-turvy inside. The way Benny looked at her, I could tell he was besotted. But for how long? I loved him like a brother, but he’d already left a string of spurned damsels in his wake. It was statistically a near certainty that he would break this sweet and lovely young woman’s heart into a thousand smithereens, like the remnants of broken glass I’d just swept up out front.
    “Will you excuse us?” Gertrude said abruptly, ushering her sister by the elbow to the front of the shop. They talked in whispers, but I could tell from the look on both young women’s faces that they were in disagreement with one another over something. Gertrude evidently wasn’t too thrilled about being dragged into such a “boorish” establishment. Benny sidled up next to me, meanwhile, and we both watched from across the room.
    “What do you think?” he asked. “Does she not have the most spectacular blue eyes you’ve ever seen?” My mind reeled as it hit me. Those eyes … the color of blue hydrangeas. Seven years had changed her, physically (and how!), and her “grown up” name had thrown me off, but it was her.
My
Stella. I hadn’t recognized her at first sight, and she clearly had no inkling that we’d met before, once upon a time when she wore her hair in ponytails. Certainly Benny hadn’t made the connection, nor were either of them likely to untangle our strangely entwined fates so many years after the fact. Benny had made good on his promise. He’d found her. Only this time, he was head over heels in love with her. It felt like being punched in the face all over again.

CHAPTER 7

You Kiss by the Book
    T HE DANCE FLOOR PROVED TO BE THE IDEAL refuge from Beresdorfer the younger, who was well on his way toward earning a new moniker: Pushy Perry. All was copacetic until I could no longer ignore the painfully obvious: my mom was trying to catch my attention from across the room. Communicating through a complicated system of vigorous hand waving (on her part) and eye rolling