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and a lot of interest in her from my brothers.”
    “It always sounded worse than it was,” she sniffed.  “This damn town remembers everything.”  She squeezed herself against her side of the sofa, away from all the good smells he was laying down, and held up her fingers.  “How about I just set the record straight? About all those brothers of yours?”
    “No need,” Jim said, sliding closer again, his voice deepening an octave.  “I never much cared for keeping records.”
    “That’s because you had one as long as your arm,” Beth snorted, trying to put some space between herself and the long, tall, streak of warm deliciousness sitting with her on the couch.  “At one time,” she added, feeling maybe her reference to his stint in reform school was kind of mean.
    “Right,” Jim agreed, sitting up straighter and moving slightly away, saluting crisply.  “So maybe records are important. Go ahead then. Shoot.”
    “ Well first of all it was Matt,” Beth started.  “He was my best friend, always.”
    “Yup,” Jim agreed.  “He pretty much loved you since forever.  Came home from first day o’ school with a hand drawn picture of a freckly redhead and said he was gonna marry her.”
    “He tried to kiss me every single day of school,” Beth said, smiling as she remembered.  “But we were still pals,” she said.  “In between.”
    “Did he ever succeed?”  Jim voice was low and dangerous, and Beth tried to underst and how the conversation had taken such a turn.
    “Once ,” she conceded.  “In fifth grade.”
    “How did he catch you?” Jim looked surprised. “You were the fastest girl in school,” he said, waggling a finger at her.  “You made the districts.”
    “I had a sprained ankle,” Beth laughed.
    Jim laughed too.  “Matt never had any scruples.” He looked at her carefully, and nodded.  “Go on,” he said.
    “Well, all that ended when he met Joanne, of course,” she said.
    Jim nodded, smiling.  Matt’s wife, Joanne, always made people smile.
    Beth took a deep breath, determined to get the whole story out.  For once.  Lay it out straight. “So then there was Luke,” she said. 
    Jim nodded in a way that said go on .
    “Luke was a year older than us,” she said, trying to get the story right.
    “Yup,” Jim said.  “My folks were nothing if not predictable.  We’re all exactly eighteen months apart.  Poor Ma.”  He shook his head.  “No wonder she died so young.”
    “Well, so,” Beth continued.  “I was really flattered when he asked me to the Spring Dance.  He was kinda a big deal.”
    “Cool Hand Luke,” Jim muttered.  “Still gets the ladies hot under the collar.”
    “Well not me,” Beth said, shaking her head definitely.  “He was beautiful, but...”
    Jim moved a little closer again and she caught another whiff of the cinnamon and gasoline smell of him. “But what?”
    But he wasn’t you.  Like a carbon copy without enough carbon.  No edge.  No life.
    She couldn’t say that.
    He broke the silence. “Did you kiss him ?”
    There was a long pause as the question hung in the air between them, and Beth found herself mesmerised by his hot green stare.  Then the spell seemed to break and Jim ran his hand over his face.  “Sorry, Lizzie, I shoudna asked that. I just-“
    “No,” Beth said. “I didn’t kiss him.”
    “Huh,” Jim breathed.  “He said you did.”
    “You asked him?”
    “No,” Jim said quickly.  “No way.  I...  I didn’t want to know.  But he told me anyway.”
    “He lied,” Beth said.
    “Yep,” Jim said.  “I’d believe it. “
    They both shook their heads at the gorgeous wastrel that was Luke Canning.
    “That only leaves Mark,” Jim said.
    “Yep,” Beth agreed. 
    “Another drink?”  Jim held up the almost empty bottle.
    “I definitely kissed Mark,” Beth said, holding up her glass and remembering the moment her life changed forever.  The moment that set her on the road to