Miles From Kara by Melissa West

the sand and then walked along the shoreline, kicking up water as we walked.
    â€œThey like you,” I said after a few minutes of walking in silence.
    â€œWho?”
    â€œMy friends. They like you. I can tell.”
    He nodded. “I like them, too.” He paused. “And I like you.”
    The butterflies in my stomach swarmed up through my chest, the words like a warm blanket over my heart. I looked away, unsure of how to respond. A pack of little girls were feverishly building a sand castle, while a pair of boys kept running through the towers, destroying them and then laughing.
    Colt began to laugh and I glared at him. “It isn’t funny.”
    He grinned as he pointed at the boys. “That? No, it isn’t, but the look on your face is bloody hilarious. You look like you’re contemplating burying those boys in the sand.”
    I smiled. “Is that wrong?”
    Colt’s grin widened. “I’ve never met anyone like you. You’re so direct. Honest. How do you manage it?”
    I shrugged, torn over how much to give away of myself. We’d just started . . . well, whatever we were. I didn’t want to risk it just yet. I didn’t want to tell him that every word that came out of my mother’s mouth was a lie. That she lied so well that often even she wasn’t sure where the truth ended and her lies began. As a kid, I used to get so excited at her promises and then would forgive her again and again as she failed to deliver. She always had a wonderful excuse. And then she’d promise something else to make it up to me, only to repeat the cycle. As a teen, I began to resent her more and more, and now I could barely listen to her without rolling my eyes. In her defense, I wasn’t sure she really meant to lie all the time. The words, the stories, just slipped out, and then one day she no longer knew how to do anything but weave her stories. When I was younger I resigned myself to the fact that I would never be like her, so I wasn’t. Good or bad, I was honest, which was why it had killed me to keep my past with Preston from Olivia. It went against the grain, but I respected his wishes, and look where that got me—I’d nearly lost the best girlfriend I’d ever had.
    I wouldn’t make that mistake twice.
    I peered over at Colt. “My mother’s a liar. Like the kind where you never know whether she’s being honest or delivering another line. She’s a doctor, so she has this way of making you feel tiny and small. Like everything she says and does is right and perfect. But she isn’t always right. And I never want to be anything like her. So, I tend to just . . . I don’t know, blurt out whatever I’m thinking. It’s like I can’t stand to feel the truth inside me. I have to get it out.”
Unless that truth is about me,
I wanted to add.
    Colt started to say something then closed his mouth. I could tell he wanted to ask me more about my mom, but I could feel myself closing off. I was honest, but I wasn’t an open book and made no plans to become one. “So . . . if I ask you a question, you’ll answer it? Honestly?”
    I bit my lip. Crap. I hadn’t expected him to take this direction. I sighed heavily, and then said, “Yes.”
    â€œWhy did you end things with Ethan?”
    I stopped walking and looked at him, curious what his face would show that his words hadn’t revealed, but he was giving nothing away. “Why are you asking?”
    His gaze held mine. “I think you know.”
    I released his hand and crossed my arms, yet again unsure of what to say. Did I admit my attraction to him had played a part or keep it to the simple facts—I’d fallen out of love with Ethan. That maybe I’d never loved him.
    â€œI’m sorry to ask, but I need to know.”
    I nodded slowly, knowing that he was right. He deserved to know.
    I walked over