Lowering the cup from my lips, I swallow the sweet liquid and nod excitedly. “Of course I’ll be there. I’m honored you’d invite me.”
“I was worried you’d be offended because I waited this long!” She smiles sweetly, stretching her legs out in front of her. “I just didn’t want anything to be awkward for you and Denny.”
Kate turns to look at us from where she’s stacking rocks with Rhett. “But now it won’t be, since word on the street is that you two are”—she creates a circle with her finger and thumb and glides her other index finger in and out of it. The other two women begin howling with laughter, creating such a scene that even Odessa stops what she’s doing to stare at us in confusion.
“Good God, the town gossips never rest, do they?” I groan, tossing my head back to feel the sun bake my face. When we were teens, I purposely skipped sunblock on my cheeks because Denver loved my summer freckles. “For the record, we’re not doing that.”
“Well then, if it’s weird for you to be around him, know there’s no hard feelings if you decide not to come,” Cecily says.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I shoot her a smile. “Anyway, Denver and I are fine. We agreed to be friends—no awkwardness.”
Friends.We’ve nearly kissed a few times when we’ve hungout alone as “friends,” but that’s likely because it’s muscle memory. For years we couldn’t handle a single moment of privacy without jumping each other’s bones. Friends is easier, because I have no interest in being part of his fuckboy games, despite my admission in a moment of weakness.
Do you ever think about me the way I think about you?
All the time.
“Kudos to you. I don’t think I could be friends with any of my exes,” Kate remarks. Wide-eyed, Cecily nods aggressively in Kate’s direction.
“We were best friends for a long time before we started dating, though, so maybe that’s why it doesn’t feel weird to me? Plus, that was years ago. Seems silly to hold a grudge over mistakes we made as kids.”
Cass reaches over and silently squeezes my thigh.
“We’ve actually hung out a few times now, too.As friends.He came over to visit my mom, and gave me a ride home from the rodeo, and brought lunch to my office.”
Kate raises a brow. “And you haven’t…”
I hold up three fingers. “Scout’s honor. Haven’t even kissed.”
Admittedly, we were close, though. If Brickham hadn’t barged into my office, I’m not even sure we would’ve stopped at kissing.
“Incredible.You have some serious self-control,” Kate says. “Well, I’m glad we can all hang out without anybody feeling weird.”
“Definitely. No weirdness.”
None at all.Except he and I still haven’t discussed our conversation from a few days ago.
Everyone slowly becomes preoccupied with books or babies, so I grab the AirPods from my beach bag and lean back on my elbows. When I pick up my phone to choose a playlist, I find a text message instead.
Denver:If you could be any inanimate object for the day, what would you be?
Blair:Depends who’s asking and how they got my number.
Somehow, he seems to have kept the same number since his very first cell phone. But I ask anyway, because I don’t want him knowing I’ve had it saved in every phone I’ve ever owned.
Denver:You left in the middle of a conversation. I had no choice but to grab a business card from your desk.
Blair:Refrigerator, because they’re full of food all the time. Why?
Denver:I told you I want to know all about you.
Blair:And that’s what you chose as your first question?
Denver:It popped up in my head first.
Denver:Are we going to talk about the other day?
Blair:That was the second question to pop up, or what?
